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inflammation is part of your body's natural immune response however there is a difference between the short-term inflammatory response that happens when your body is healing a cut or infection and the long-term chronic inflammation resulting from a poor diet chronic inflammation is the root cause of many diseases and starts to show itself in a variety of ways if you are bothered by aches pains fatigue depression anxiety and unexplained weight gain an anti-inflammatory diet is worth your while this video shows you which foods to eat and how to put them together for a full day of eating if we peel away all of the layers to get to the root cause of diet related inflammation we see that much of the problem lies with processed and packaged foods or fast foods or sweetened drinks like soda these items are easy and convenient but you can't outrun the health consequences of a diet that is focused on them no one's diet is perfect but by switching your food choices to those that limit inflammation you give your body what it needs and in return you get the health and weight control that you want foods that contain antioxidants vitamins and minerals unrefined carbohydrates monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids are at the top of the list when it comes to anti-inflammatory foods these foods include things like vegetables berries avocados raw nuts and seeds extra virgin oils wild caught fish spices tea and dark chocolate and from this list we can create a sample menu for a full day of eating in the morning you can break your overnight fast with a pepper and mushroom omelet a salad topped with salmon walnuts and vegetables makes a good anti-inflammatory lunch if a snack is desired a blueberry and avocado smoothie provides a rich dose of antioxidants you can round out your day with dinner of baked chicken with homemade mexican cauliflower rice and a couple of squares of dark chocolate and a cup of green tea allow you to enjoy dessert without promoting inflammation let's go over how to make this menu doable and how you're benefiting from each of these foods you can start your day with a two egg omelet filled with a quarter cup each of chopped green pepper and mushrooms cooked in a tablespoon of avocado oil peppers and mushrooms contain antioxidants antioxidants are compounds that protect your cells from being damaged by unstable molecules called free radicals cooking your omelette in a heat resistant oil like avocado oil adds to the anti-inflammatory effect that you are after when you are cooking you want to avoid unstable polyunsaturated oils like vegetable oil or soybean oil because they degrade when they're exposed to heat choosing extra virgin oil is also a good step in the right direction extra virgin means that the oil is the first to be extracted which contains more antioxidants and helpful compounds than regular oil eggs by themselves are not classified as anti-inflammatory foods but can be included in a day's menu for most people if eggs are not something you tolerate you can swap out the omelet for the smoothie or skip breakfast to practice intermittent fasting and i will talk about the smoothie in a moment after we talk about lunch also i put these recipes together for you in a blog post so if you want to create this menu at home you can download the recipes at drbeckyfitness.com forward slash anti-inflammatory menu for lunch you can enjoy a large salad topped with five ounces of wild caught salmon a couple of tablespoons of walnuts tomatoes and assorted non-starchy vegetables for salad dressing a simple olive oil and vinegar dressing can be mixed up at home a typical ratio for oil to vinegar is three to one for instance you can mix three teaspoons of oil with one teaspoon of vinegar for a quick salad dressing for a bit of flavor i like to add a small amount of dijon mustard salmon is a fatty fish that provides a good source of inflammation preventing omega-3 fatty acids if you're not much for cooking or you're looking for a quick lunch you can use packaged wild caught salmon walnuts not only enhance the flavor and crunch of the salad but they also provide healthy fats that help your body to absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the vegetables tomatoes are high in lycopene which is an antioxidant that gets a lot of praise for its anti-inflammatory properties and for vegetables you can choose any non-starchy vegetables that you enjoy chopped broccoli and dark leafy greens are good choices broccoli is a type of cruciferous vegetable vegetables from this family have been shown to play a role in cancer prevention dark leafy greens such as kale and spinach are rich in antioxidants vitamins and minerals but low in calories so you can fill a large bowl with two to four cups of leafy greens to get a lot of satisfying volume that will take a long time to digest keeping hunger away if hunger returns you can fuel your body with an anti-inflammatory smoothie a smoothie is a fun food that you can pack with beneficial ingredients for instance you can whip up this anti-inflammatory smoothie by placing a half of an avocado a half a cup of frozen blueberries into a blender along with a cup of almond milk a handful of spinach and a tablespoon of almond butter almond milk is a non-dairy milk dairy is not an issue for everyone but some people do not tolerate it so we are omitting it from our anti-inflammatory sample menu almond butter can be included but avoid almond butter with added sugar or soy bean oil the two anti-inflammatory stars of this smoothie are avocados and berries avocados are a great source of healthy fats and minerals that your body needs like potassium and magnesium berries are a rich source of inflammation fighting antioxidants they're also lower in carbohydrates than many fruits making berries a good way to add a touch of sweetness to a low-carb diet our sample menu dinner includes six ounces of chicken with a serving of seasoned cauliflower rice like eggs chicken is not classified as an anti-inflammatory food but can be worked into a full day of eating when you're choosing an entree for an anti-inflammatory diet higher quality meats are your best choice if it is feasible for you look for grass-fed meats with no hormones or antibiotics and avoid convenience meats like lunch meats hot dogs and similar processed items and dinner does not need to be complicated chicken can be seasoned with salt and pepper and baked in the oven if you don't have time to cook you can pick up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store for a side dish you can prepare mexican cauliflower rice on the stove cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli that we discussed earlier for convenience you can pick up a one pound bag of frozen cauliflower rice at your local grocery store and cook it with a couple of tablespoons of avocado oil to get it tender cauliflower rice can be spiced up in many ways for this side dish i used a homemade taco seasoning mix with added turmeric most spices contain compounds that benefit your health turmeric gets extra attention because it is a source of an inflammation fighting antioxidant called curcumin and remember that you can download this mexican cauliflower rice recipe and all of the recipes that i've discussed for free at my website by going to drbeckyfitness.com forward slash anti-inflammatory menu a couple of squares of dark chocolate and a cup of tea can be enjoyed to wind down after dinner dark chocolate contains antioxidants however the chocolate must contain at least 70 cacao and limit added sugar to reap the health benefits if your dark chocolate bar has sugar listed as one of the top three ingredients it does not give you the inflammatory protection that you're after tea is a non-caloric drink that gets a lot of praise as a healthy beverage green tea is the most extensively studied tea for its beneficial effects on inflammatory diseases its praise is partly due to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of compounds in green tea like egcg if you watch my channel you've heard me refer to tea as a stopper a stopper is a food drink or activity that allows you to separate from the act of eating hot tea takes a long time to sip allowing your body time to tell your brain that you are full therefore having a cup of tea after dinner is not only a way to control inflammation but also a way to prevent overeating this full day of eating provides just over 1500 calories and only 56 grams of carbohydrates which works perfectly for low carb dieters it is a sample menu to show you how to combine anti-inflammatory foods the calories can be adapted to suit your needs by changing the portion sizes and of course all of the recipes are available on my blog you can visit drbeckyfitness.com forward slash anti-inflammatory menu i hope this helps you to jumpstart your healthy eating if you would like more videos like this you can please subscribe to my channel before you go have a great rest of your day
