inflammation

• Dolar (Pain)
• Calor (Heat)
• Rubor (Redness)
• Tumor (Swelling)
• Functio Laesa (Loss of Function)

Like I said, these are the signs of local inflammation.  Hit your finger with a hammer, and besides the pain, you will experience some degree of everything on this list.  However, inflammation is not just a local problem; it can (and all too frequently does) become a systemic problem that can affect the entire body.   When your body is exposed to bad things, or things that it simply perceives as bad, it mounts an immune response against.  Because the body’s response is often over-the-top in relationship to what it is actually “fighting” (DUST, for instance — or GLUTEN), it frequently makes far more inflammatory mediators than are actually needed. 

Although inflammation can remain in a local area (I stub my toe, the toe gets red and inflamed), they can invade the blood stream and have a systemic (whole body) effect as well.  Although doctors do not typically educate their patients about this important little tidbit of information, these chemicals that we refer to collectively as “inflammation” (prostaglandins, leukotrienes, thromboxanes, cytokines, chemokines, certain enzymes, kinnins, histamines, eicosanoids, substance P, tumor necrosis factors, interleukins, along with dozens of others) are being touted by the medical community as the primary cause of a whole host of physical ailments (HERE is a list).  

It is not that Inflammation is a bad thing in and of itself.  These chemicals that make up “Inflammation” are actually your body’s normal response to tissue damage.  In the correct amounts, these chemicals are crucial not only to healing properly, but to insure immune system responses to various attacks or injuries to your body.

However, as these chemicals become increasingly elevated systemically (think of high histamine levels that people try and control with anti-histamines), they drive the body’s Immune System Response to higher and higher levels causing scads of major health problems —- including obesity.  This is because Chronic (long term) Inflammation is characterized by destruction and healing in the affected tissue —- at the same time!  Some of the other problems that Inflammation is known to cause includes;

• Disc Injuries, Slipped Disc, Disc Herniation, and Disc Rupture (HERE)
• Heart Disease and virtually all forms of Cardiovascular Problems (HERE)
• Skin conditions including Eczema and Psoriasis (HERE)
• Arthritis & Fibromyalgia (HERE & HERE)
• Asthma (HERE)
• ADD, ADHD, Depression, and various forms of Dementia (HERE)
• Neurological Conditions (HERE)
• Female Issues (HERE)
• Cancer (HERE)
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease / Leaky Gut Syndrome (HERE)
• Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Hypoglycemia, and other Blood Sugar Regulation Problems (HERE)
• Obesity (HERE)

Whoa!!! That is a whale of a list!  Simply put; inflammation causes pain, ill health, and eventually, death.  It also happens to be part of the UNIVERSAL CAUSE / UNIVERSAL CURE of most disease — even many of those that you doctor has been trying to pawn off on BAD GENETICS.  Trying to get healthy or get to a normal weight without addressing underlying “Inflammation” is a game that you can never win.  Oh, you might think that you have everything under control for awhile, but eventually the problem(s) will return.

Now that you have a basic understanding of inflammation; the questions should become: How did I get it in the first place (HERE’S A SELF-TEST)?   And maybe more importantly; How do I get rid of it or prevent it?   Since there are no drugs that safely lower the over-abundance of inflammatory chemicals in the body (HERE or HERE); how can you go about lowering Inflammation yourself?

I can answer this question in one word, “Lifestyle”.   A diet of processed food,  JUNK FOOD, and SODAS; with little or no fresh FRUITS & VEGETABLES, will seriously elevate your levels of systemic (whole body) inflammatory chemicals. CIGARETTES, obesity, lack of exercise, and CONSTANT STRESS, will cause these levels of inflammatory chemicals to climb even further.  On the other hand…..

A lifestyle of CONTENTMENT, EXERCISE, WHOLE FOODS, and supplementing with Omega Three Fatty Acids (PHARMACEUTICAL GRADE FISH OIL is our #1 best-seller for ten years in a row) will help keep inflammatory chemicals in check, and often help reverse the associated disease processes as well as the pain and symptoms that go with.  Even though our medical community is slow to admit it (HERE), a growing body of scientific research is showing us that in regards to our overall health and well-being, drugs are usually not the best solution (HERE), nor are they the safest solution (HERE).   It comes back to common sense, lifestyle, diet, and exercise.   Ah…… but you already knew that.