Your body is your health, and what you put into it matters.

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Here we will discuss the relationship between food and inflammation. I have improved my quality of life, and you can too. This has been compiled from medical references and research studies.

+ There is a proportional relationship between food and inflammation
+ There is a proportional relationship between inflammation and pain

Therefore there is a proportional relationship between food and pain

The foods we eat have a direct effect on our blood sugar levels. Each time we put food into our mouths, we increase our blood sugar. The goal of this program is to minimize the highs and lows of our blood sugar levels and to especially reduce spikes. By reducing blood sugar spikes, we help stabilize our blood sugar throughout the day. This in turn stabilizes our energy level during the day.

What I came to learn is key to decreasing pain through diet:  as our blood sugar spikes, so does our level of cellular inflammation. See “Recent Advances In The Relationship Between Obesity, Inflammation, and Insulin Resistance“. See also “Hyperglycemia-Induced Production of Acute Phase Reactants in Adipose Tissue“. Therefore, a low-sugar diet can be thought of as “anti-inflammatory”. An anti-inflammatory diet can help reduce the intensity and frequency of pain that we may feel during a day. That is because as the blood sugar “spikes” level out, cellular inflammation is reduced. Also, you won’t have that crazy energy crash.

I like to think of it this way: inflammation in the skin can be seen as acne, redness, swelling, etc. And many chronic diseases involve inflammation. However, the inflammation in chronic disease is often cellular – not seen by the naked eye. See article “Cellular Inflammation“.

As inflammation within the body decreases, the symptoms that can be associated with inflammation (like pain), can drop! A must-read is the link between inflammation, pain, and chronic disease from Center for Integrative Medicine. See also: Definition of Inflammation.

In my book, I show the mechanism by which this process works, including publications by the American Journal of Medicine. Please see “My Book” tab for excerpts!

Eating an anti-inflammatory diet can help reduce pain associated with inflammation.

How do we do that? We learn the GLYCEMIC INDEX value of each food we eat.

Note:  other inflammatory foods include processed foods, foods that produce an allergic response, and certain fats. Even red meat should be eaten in moderation.

What made the difference:  for 30 days, I devoted myself to eating foods that were low to medium on the Glycemic Index Chart.

It made a huge difference in increasing my energy.

Having more energy allowed me to exercise. I had to develop a way to exercise while having chronic pain. As a result, Regan MOVES was born. Regan MOVES allowed me to move without hurting, and increased my muscle strength. As a result of exercising, my pain was reduced. It changed my life. The long-term effects of exercise are anti-inflammatory and that’s why the program works.

Once you become strong and enjoy reduced pain and increased energy, you can modify your diet to what works for you.

This is something that I recommend to everyone, and you can use these tools to develop your own path for maintaining a healthy exercise and dietary lifestyle.

Other wonderful things happened after my pain went down. My stress and anxiety decreased, and I became more accepting of the world around me. I became a happier person.

I then simply realized that I deserved to take care of myself!

This journey brought about a sense of power.

I highly recommend that you go to the Glycemic Index Chart and do your best to eat low to medium-grade GI foods. Do it for 30 days, start exercising, and watch a healthy, happier life unfold.

+ If you love rice: replace it with quinoa and barley.

+ If you love pasta: replace it with brown rice pasta.

+ If you can’t live without white bread or wheat bread (even whole grain bread can be high on the glycemic index scale), eat rye bread and rye crackers. Delish!

+ If you’ll go crazy without white sugar:  agave! Agave is not necessarily “low” on the glycemic index chart, but it is lower than sugar.

So, if and when you have a sugar craving, go for the plant syrup. It’s a much better alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners.

+ If you’d go nutty without peanut butter:  eat it! Just make sure it’s healthy:  don’t buy roasted (roasted nuts can be a cancer risk), and make sure it is raw. Almond butter is a delicious nut butter.

+ Use turkey to replace red meat. The fats within red meat can increase blood cholesterol.

+ Buffalo meat is a wonderful alternative to red meat.

+ Oils:  the healthy oils are beneficial and can help reduce inflammation – olive, sunflower, and grape seed oil.

+ If you must have butter, reduce it by a third, or eliminate it altogether, and see above point!

+ If you need your carbs:  lentils, a starchy food, are filling and can give us that carbohydrate fix.

+ If you like potatoes:  sweet potatoes are lower on the glycemic index chart than are white potatoes.

+ If you need some spice:  blueberries and cinnamon add a wonderful aspect to your morning bowl of oatmeal.

And yes, I recommend eating oatmeal over typical breakfast cereals. Oatmeal can help reduce cholesterol and is a low-GI food! Buy steel-cut if you like, which is even lower on the glycemic index chart than quick-oatmeal.

+ Eggs:  gotta have ’em. They are a wonderful source of protein, and since food cholesterol does not contribute to blood cholesterol, an egg a day keeps the doctor away!

These are just some of the foods I have done well with. I also have had good results eating protein with each meal. According to the literature, it helps absorb the food we eat, and therefore helps maintain our blood sugar levels throughout the day. I eat 5 to 6 small meals a day with the goal of continually maintaining my blood sugar levels. Of course you should get permission from your healthcare provider before you start any program including this eating plan. I am not a doctor, but this has worked for me.

As we have learned, there’s a process where inflammation can be reduced by how and what we eat. It pertains to a “cascade of inflammation” – how inflammation begins, builds, and then causes damage, and how eating certain foods and avoiding others can help reduce or prevent dramatic spikes in cellular inflammation.

Here’s how it is applicable to lupus and other chronic conditions including arthritis, MS, Parkinson’s, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Diabetes, and more. It applies to people without chronic disease, too.

Common to all autoimmune diseases is inflammation, says Dr. David Roth, director of clinical development at Glaxo SmithKline, a co-developer of Benlysta. Auto-immune disease, in all of its forms, including lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, is an inflammatory condition. An acceptable amount of auto-reaction within the body is normal. B cells are responsible for creating the sequence of events whereby autoreactive antibodies are produced. B cells are also responsible for creating a protein called BlyS. Certain levels of BlyS are acceptable and indeed necessary for regular healthy function. However, when too much BlyS is present, these autoreactive cells tend to live longer and proliferate more profusely. The result is more, longer-living and stronger autoreactive cells. And when the body attacks itself, inflammation, on a cellular and macro level, occurs.

So, we are all working towards reducing inflammation, which can have such harmful effects on our bodies. Since diet can help reduce inflammation, diet can help people with chronic conditions feel better.

Decreasing inflammatory foods can be helpful for other conditions as well. Eating a low-sugar diet can help greatly contribute to a reduction in blood cholesterol levels. When I began my anti-inflammatory diet, my cholesterol levels decreased by a third. Of course, lowering one’s blood sugar levels can also significantly impact weight loss, another side benefit I was happy to experience.

There are many additional compelling reasons to reduce the inflammation in our bodies. Inflammation is linked to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), the principal cause of heart disease and stroke. Fat tissues also increase insulin resistance, leading to type 2 diabetes. Ref.: “The G.I Diet” by Gallop (p. 135).

Additional References:

The Relationship Between Sugar And Inflammation (what I call, “The Proof”)
The Relationship Between Foods And Reduction Of Inflammation And Pain
Chronic Inflammatory Nature Of Lupus And The Relationship Between Inflammation And Pain

Aim to eat foods with a low to medium Glycemic Index