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Sounds wonderful doesn’t it – An Anti-inflammatory Life - something to strive for even if you are not quite sure what it means!
That is the challenge, no-one is quite sure what an anti-inflammatory lifestyle means in terms of recipes, measurements and targets – but most of us want to feel good as we get older. To do that, it’s important to focus on reducing inflammatory factors in your life as chronic inflammation can become an issue as you age.
Chronic inflammation is best described as slow, long-term inflammation lasting for prolonged periods of several months to years. Chronic inflammation is something you feel rather than see. We have described the signs of chronic inflammation in a previous blog (read more here).
The problem with chronic inflammation is that its long-term nature means it can gradually damage cells, organs, bones and muscle leading to chronic disease like dementia, type-2 diabetes, some forms of cancer, auto-immune disease, cardiovascular and lung disease.
Living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle looks like this:
- Healthy, balanced diet.
- High in a variety of whole fruits, seeds and vegetables, as a source of prebiotic fibre and phytonutrients.
- Good quality protein, like lamb, beef, salmon, chicken, beans, tofu.
- Good quality fats, like walnut oil, fish oils, hemp oil, avocado oils, first-press olive oils.
- Regular exercise.
- Muscle-building activities for reducing blood sugar levels, improving insulin sensitivity and promoting strong bones and good balance in aging. (see our blog on building muscle as you age)
- Cardio activity for improving respitatory and cardiovascular performance - see our previous blog on the importance of improving your VO2 Max as you age.
- Good metabolic health.
- Yes, this may mean weight loss (read our blog), but there are also people who look skinny and have poor metabolic health – sometimes known as “skinny-fat people”
- Quality sleep.
- You need as much quality sleep as you age as you did when you were younger, but there is significant variation in this for individuals. Read our blog on sleep.
- Stress management.
- This involves incorporating much of the above, but also allowing for downtime and gratitude for what you do have.
- Recognising when you are in a time of high stress, whether it be work, health or family, is important too, so you can take extra care measures during those times.
- Good social connection.
- Frequent engagement in volunteering reduces chronic inflammation as measured by C-reactive protein levels (read more here).
- It has even been shown a chat with someone at the local dairy or grocery store is good for your health.
- Avoidance of toxins.
- Minimise everyday toxins of alcohol and cigarette smoke.
- Be aware of other toxins in your environment, so you can minimise them too. Where do you start? Check out our podcast with Dr Wendy Trubow Episode 23.
Living like this sounds simple – when you say it fast!
In reality assess where you are now and which of these areas is your weakest. When you focus on making small, cumulative changes in that area you will be amazed at the difference in how you will feel over a period of time. Then you can make another small change and before you know it …. Hey ho, you are living your best, anti-inflammatory life!
All the best, Anna and Darcy.
If you would like to discuss any of this further, please contact Darcy or Anna (who you can contact at +64 27 599 2255 or +64 27 4861418 respectively) or via info@zesttwellness.com.