So, what is inflammation? Generally speaking, inflammation is the body’s response to an irritant. For example, if you get a cut, that swelling that develops is inflammation. The cut signals to your body that there is an injury and your body sends inflammatory cells to engage in tissue repair. So, inflammation is how our body protects itself from things that may harm it.
We now know how the integrity of our gut impacts our health and body weight. An article written by Harvard Health indicates that when we eat food, our gut breaks it down into small pieces. Only the smallest pieces get absorbed into our blood. The rest is eliminated as waste material. The rest is eliminated as waste material. Some bacteria are better able to chop food into those smallest pieces that get digested, add calories to our body and thereby tend to increase our weight. Theoretically, if our guts have more of those kinds of bacteria, it should be harder to lose weight.
An article published in Bio Medical Central discusses that Owing to the essential role of the gut ecosystem in maintaining host physiology, its alteration can trigger a wide range of physiological disorders, including low-grade inflammation, metabolic disorders, excess lipid accumulation, and loss of insulin sensitivity, which increase the risk of developing metabolic diseases.
Now, let’s talk about Oxidative Stress. He is Inflammation’s rowdy cousin. Well, according to Health Line Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in your body. Free radicals can cause large chain chemical reactions in your body because they react so easily with other molecules. These reactions are called oxidation. They can be beneficial or harmful.
Oxidation is a normal and necessary process that takes place in your body. Oxidative stress, on the other hand, occurs when there’s an imbalance between free radical activity and antioxidant activity. When functioning properly, free radicals can help fight off pathogens. Pathogens lead to infections.
I came across this article on Medical News Today that Oxidative Stress that indicates that Mild oxidative stress may also protect the body from infection and diseases. Mild oxidative stress may also protect the body from infection and diseases. A large body of scientific evidence suggests that long-term oxidative stress contributes to the development in a range of chronic conditions. Such conditions include cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
A Pub Med study indicates that oxidative stress is involved in several age-related conditions (ie, cardiovascular diseases [CVDs], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, neuro-degenerative diseases, and cancer), including sarcopenia which is the lost of muscle as we age and frailty.
Now, Oxidative Stress and Inflammation sometimes work together. Another Pub Med article indicates that oxidative stress can activate Inflammation pathways. In fact, The inflammation triggered by oxidative stress is the cause of many chronic diseases. So then excess of both is damaging to our bodies in so many ways!
SO! Let’s talk about some ways to reduce both!
- Get quality sleep
- Reduce stress levels, including Oxidative Stress
- Improve your Omega 6 to Omega 3 profile. Inflammatory vs Anti-Inflammatory. According to an article in Pub Med Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1
- Eat foods that are gut friendly. This may mean more non-gmo, organic fresh foods.
- Eat adequate fiber
- Do not ignore micro nutrients.Our bodies and cells need vitamins and minerals to properly function.
- And of course! Follow my Instagram @zecohealth and subscribe to The ZecoHealth Show on Spotify, Google, Amazon and Apple Podcasts.
- Now, these are just some things we can do, but it is a good place to start!