Is Inflammation the Silent Culprit Behind Your Pain?

You may know that inflammation is at the root of so many serious diseases that plague our civilization.

In fact, in 2018, Harvard Medical School released a report stating that, “Chronic inflammation plays a central role in some of the most challenging diseases of our time, including rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and even Alzheimer’s.”

But did you know that it could be the silent culprit behind your simple day-to-day aches, pains , and health troubles as well?

And those seemingly minor aches and pains (with no recognizable injury that brought it on) could be warning signs of more serious health concerns down the road.

Today, we’re going to address all of the issues that stem from inflammation, as well as how to put an end to any inflammation that is the root cause of aches, pains, or diseases. 

2 Types of Inflammation: Acute & Chronic

Most people are plenty familiar with minor, acute inflammation. If you slam your fingers in the door, it will begin to swell, as the body is bringing blood with nutrients to help it HEAL…this is the helpful kind of inflammation is at work.

There’s a local response that you’ll notice because you’ll feel:

• Swelling
• Pain
• Redness
• Heat to the touch
• Stiffness or difficulty moving

This acute inflammation keeps your body healthy and functioning properly. This is inflammation at its best because it also warns you not to continue the activity that caused the inflammation in the first place. 

But acute inflammation can linger for longer than it should, and not only that, but our lifestyle leads to inflammation that doesn’t go away quickly.

This is known as chronic inflammation. 

Many times, chronic inflammation initially goes unnoticed because it’s happening internally with no visible symptoms… for a while at least.

Chronic inflammation is the type we’re concerned with today. It can affect any body part or organ. Once symptoms appear, they can be anything, including:

• Rash
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Abdominal pain or problems like IBS
• Chest pain
• Frequent infections
• Fever
• Arthritis-like joint pain
• Depression or anxiety

Based on that list of potential symptoms, you can see how what might seem like a minor irritant, ache, or pain could actually have a more serious root cause.

What Causes Chronic Inflammation?

There are a few different reasons our bodies sustain chronic inflammation at the cellular level. The first is autoimmune and inflammatory diseases like:

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Lupus
• Multiple sclerosis
• Asthma
• Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis
• Heart disease

Beyond those, there are a number of lifestyle factors that contribute to chronic inflammation:

Obesity – excess fatty tissue creates low-grade inflammation

• Stress – people under chronic stress or mood disorders like depression are more likely to exhibit chronic inflammation
• Digestive imbalance – if the microbiome contains too much bad bacteria, it can cause inflammation in addition to symptoms like constipation or diarrhea
• Untreated, acute inflammation – such as an injury you don’t seek treatment for, which means inflammation persists
• Long-term exposure to environmental toxins – like pollutants or unclean air
• Infectious Diseases – Lyme disease, herpes virus, sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, and yeast/mold in your body will all cause chronic inflammation as your body goes on the attack
• Sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, excessive drinking, or smoking – it’s no coincidence that the markers of so many diseases are also the markers of chronic inflammation 

It’s that last one – poor diet and lifestyle choices – that you have the most control over (although you can control some of the others and should if they are an issue for you) so that’s where we’re going to focus our efforts to reduce your overall inflammation.

But before we get to that, let’s look at the long-term effects of chronic, cellular inflammation.

What Does Cellular Inflammation Lead to?

When you have chronic inflammation, your cells are in a constant state of emergency. That can lead to all sorts of unwanted, dangerous effects. In fact, most of the major health issues of our time stem from inflammation.

• Alzheimer’s – Research links chronic inflammation in the brain to memory diseases including Alzheimer’s. In fact, Alzheimer’s parallels inflammation of the brain!  It comes from sugar, too many Omega-6 fats (soybean and corn oil), and exposure to infectious disease over time
• Cardiovascular Damage – Cellular inflammation in blood vessels leads to dangerous plaque buildup, a key marker of heart disease. There is almost always a magnesium deficiency, and too much calcium
• Type 2 Diabetes – Chronic inflammation is a risk factor for diabetes and the opposite is also true – reducing inflammation lowers your risk for developing diabetes.
• Cancer – Chronic, cellular inflammation actually damages your DNA, which can lead to cancer. This is why people with chronic bowel inflammation like Crohn’s and colitis are at increased risk of developing colon cancer. Other cancers linked to inflammation include: stomach, pancreatic, liver, cervical, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ovarian, gall bladder, esophageal, oral, lung, and skin cancer.

That’s one scary list! The degree to which you want to avoid those problems, including most of the cancers our society faces, cannot be overstated.

So how do you avoid chronic, cellular inflammation?

The Inflammation Solution

Hint: It’s not a pill! For far too many people, when they hear the word inflammation, the first thing they think to do is pop a pill.

But over the counter anti-inflammatories are not the solution to our chronic inflammation problems!  In fact, did you know that NSAIDS like motrin and advil are the 16^th leading cause of death in our country!

So what does reduce inflammation, especially if you’ve had it for years?  Here are the 3 most important steps that you can take to start reversing chronic inflammation and its negative effects.

1. Avoid Inflammatory Foods

Many of the foods common in the Standard America Diet cause inflammation, which is why this diet is so SAD:

• 
  Sugar (especially when it combines with a protein, a process known as glycation
• Gluten and other processed carbohydrates
• Dairy, especially anything with casein protein like cheese, milk, and yogurt
• Beef, unless grass-fed
• Artificial sweeteners like aspartame
• MSG
• Alcohol
• Bad fats, including anything with trans fats like baked goods, fried foods, and margarine, as well as pro-inflammatory Omega-6 fats:
  • Chicken and other poultry
  • Soybean Oil, Corn Oil, Canola Oil
  • Margarine
  • Eggs
  • Safflower, grape seed, and sunflower oils
  • Flax oil

The average American eats 20 times more pro-inflammatory Omega-6 fats than anti-inflammatory Omega-3 fats! The ideal ratio is equal amounts of the 2 types.

And we wonder why we have a chronic inflammation problem in this country!

2. Eat an Alkaline, High Vegetable, High Fat, Anti-Inflammatory Diet

One of the main reasons I designed the Get Off Your Acid plan was to give people an easy way to fight chronic inflammation.

The healing, nourishing foods in the alkaline lifestyle are full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and healthy fats that help diminish inflammation and restore cellular health. 

Dark, leafy greens

• Vegetables like broccoli, carrots, onions, and garlic
• Low-sugar fruits like tomatoes, lemons, limes, and grapefruit
• Healthy fats like avocados, and chia seeds, wild-caught salmon, small fish like anchovies, sardines, and extra virgin olive oil
• Beans, lentils, chickpeas, and hummus
• Spices, especially turmeric, and herbs
• Hydrogen water (LAST opportunity to take advantage of our webinar special – click link for details), green juices, soups, and smoothies, and Detox Tea

       3.  Take a Quality Omega-3 FishOil Supplement

It’s very difficult to eat a diet rich enough in Omega-3 fatty acids – the best inflammation fighter you can consume – and unless you eat salmon 3 meals a day, you are deficient without a supplement (which you don’t want to do, as the tradeoff would be mercury poisoning, PCBs, and dioxins).

It is critical that the average adult take a full 3,000mg of Omega-3 fish oil every single day. That’s far more than you’re likely getting from a standard fish oil supplement.

It will help you balance your Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio, regulate healthy cholesterol, and keep inflammation levels at bay in your brain and your body.

While I am a plant-based guy, here is one exception to the rule. I mentioned above eating more Omega-3 rich foods like chia, but there is one problem – those plant-based foods do NOT convert well to the DHA and EPA that you need.

Research shows that the most they will convert is 1% – this is why it is VERY hard for vegetarians to beat inflammation. Plus, there is not a single vegetarian source of EPA, the component of fish oil that fights inflammation (there is a VERY negligible amount in algae, but you would have to literally consume 40-50 softgels daily to get the amount you need, plus it’s in a very poor ratio).

This is why, even if you are a vegetarian or vegan, I really want you to start taking fish oil, and if you are using another brand, finish what you have, then make the switch to Alkamind Daily Omega-3 because it is the BEST fish oil you will find!

I’m not just saying this because it’s my fish oil – in fact, did you know that I NEVER planned on making a fish oil when I launched Alkamind!?!

That’s right – when I wrote GET OFF YOUR ACID, I really realized how important this form of Omega-3s are to your health and LONGEVITY, but what I also realized, was that the fish oils out there, even the ones I considered the best and were taking myself, were lacking in one way or another.

What’s our secret to being the best?

Our supplement is triple organically purified (most companies do this only once) to eliminate every heavy metal and over 400 contaminants. In doing so, our fish oil is also concentrated, so you TAKE LESS to GET MORE.

Most fish oils, you would have to consume 8-12 softgels to get the 3,000mg I recommend you take daily. With Alkamind, you only need to take 3.

Plus, we formulated our fish oil to provide the ideal 2:1 ratio of EPA to DHA to fight inflammation and optimize brain health. We are the ONLY fish oil in the world to do both!

Unfortunately, with this supplement, you pay for what you get. Many companies will offer their fish oil at a very cheap price, but when investigating, you will find INFERIOR oils that actually CAUSE inflammation.

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