Your Anti-Inflammatory Summer Reset: 7 Daily Habits To Lower Inflammation
Eating in an anti-inflammatory way doesn’t have to be intimidating - find out how to quell inflammation in the summer months with our suggestions.
Happy Monday! Today, we’re diving into ways to eat more anti-inflammatory foods with a simple Anti-Inflammatory Summer Reset! We both eat in an anti-inflammatory way and truly believe it’s one of the most effective ways to boost overall health without sacrificing flavor or enjoyment.
We’re also sharing practical tips for getting more vegetables into your day - something we’re asked about often - including Diana’s tip for getting kids to eat more vegetables.
Coming up this week, Diana discusses the connection between sleep deprivation and cravings, and we share our perspective on nightshades and whether they should be avoided. On Friday, we explore the importance of choline for eye health and serve up a new choline-rich recipe.
If you enjoy this post, let us know by liking it - it helps us spread the word of how to eat anti-inflammatory!
Your Anti-Inflammatory Summer Reset
The newly updated Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid has been popular with our readers, and we wanted to share some of the basics we suggest to make eating this way easy and delicious. Here are seven ways to get started - all are simple to implement. We’re also including some recipes and guides to help spark creativity!
Seven Steps to Eating More Anti-Inflammatory
Use healthy fats. For your main dietary fat, choose extra virgin olive oil and other sources of monounsaturated fat, like avocados, avocado oil, and almonds, which can help counteract inflammation. Increase your consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in some varieties of oily, cold-water fish, freshly ground flaxseed, walnuts, and hemp seeds.
Anti-Inflammatory Healthy-Fat Recipes:
Minimize unhealthy fats. Polyunsaturated vegetable oils, such as safflower, sunflower, corn, and soy oil, are rich in omega-6 fatty acids, which can promote inflammation, as do the trans fats in margarine, vegetable shortening, and partially hydrogenated oils. They are found mostly in manufactured foods, which we recommend avoiding. Instead focus on healthier oils like extra-virgin olive oil. Our VIPS can learn more about olive oil in our Olive Oil Guide:
Pump up the produce. Eating the rainbow of fruits and vegetables gives you a variety of protective phytonutrients, including antioxidants, which help neutralize free radicals, the highly reactive byproducts of metabolism that may contribute to inflammation.
Anti-Inflammatory Produce-Rich Recipes:
Limit high glycemic load carbohydrates. Foods made with flour and sugar can cause rapid increases in blood sugar, leading to abnormal reactions between proteins and sugars that can result in pro-inflammatory compounds.
Cut back on red meat. Red meat and chicken tend to be high in unhealthy saturated fats and have been linked to a number of diseases. They are also high in iraqodonic acid, a pro-inflammatory fatty acid. Instead, the Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid stresses plant-based sources of protein such as seafood, whole soy, and other legumes.
Anti-Inflammatory Plant-Based Recipes:
Spice things up. Using turmeric, ginger, and various peppers can add depth of flavor to your meals and provide natural anti-inflammatory protection. Check out our Building an Anti-Inflammatory Spice Rack post for more info!
Anti-Inflammatory Spice Recipes:
Drink up. Sip pure, filtered water throughout the day. Use glass instead of plastic and avoid sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages.
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4 Ways To Eat More Veggies (+ A Tip For Kids!)
As mentioned above, vegetables provide protective phytonutrients, including antioxidants, which help neutralize free radicals. We are big proponents of having a serving of vegetables at every meal, but not everyone feels the same… these ideas can help you get more produce into your and your family’s diet.
Below our VIPs will access ways to get more vegetables into their diets, tips on getting kids to eat veggies, and access to our 12-Ingredient Anti-Inflammatory Meal Plan!
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