Reducing Inflammation to Relieve Pain

Why is Reducing Inflammation So Important?
Your body wants to be healthy. It is always seeking equilibrium. When something is out of balance, the body compensates, sometimes painfully so, as any chiropractor can explain if you have strained a muscle, or simply sat in a position such as at a desk, or repeated movements such as typing or driving over a long period of time.

Every day we hear about sickness and pain. But how do we acquire health and participate in our own wellness? Simply put: reducing inflammation helps reduce pain in joints, muscles, skin, and organs. When an ankle sprain, for example, causes the ankle area to swell we are told to put ice on it for 15 minutes in order to reduce the swelling, and then to walk on it and get movement in the joint to help the body's blood flow remove the lactic acid that builds up in the affected area.

But some of the inflammation causing back pain, neck pain, and joint pain and arthritis, among other muscle and joint pain, can be prevented even when no apparent injury has occurred, by eating more nutritional foods and by reducing or eliminating certain foods from the diet. For example, drinks such as sodas with added refined sugars, especially high-fructose corn syrup, should be avoided at all times, because the spike in insulin production they cause can increase inflammation.

Reducing inflammation in the body
Eating is the safest, most effective, and least expensive medicine for preserving and restoring overall health. Studies have shown that increasing our intake of certain foods & nutrients, while decreasing others, can lead to significant reduction in inflammation in our system, which can lead to a healthier, happier, pain-free you!

Inflammation reducing foods
Did you know that for centuries in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, turmeric, which contains a chemical called curcumin, has been used as a natural anti-inflammatory recipe ingredient? Doctors tell patients to use it today! And this seasoning can be found in your grocer's spice aisle.

Reducing inflammation naturally
Omega-3 fatty-acids are a powerful, natural anti-inflammatory. The richest source of these essential fats is cold water oily fish, such as salmon, trout, and tuna. Fish oil, for example, contains EPA and DHA, which your body uses to maintain healthy heart function, maintain levels of triglycerides, as well as reduce the pain and inflammation of arthritis and overused joints. That's good news for people who may have restricted activity or movement.

A study conducted by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their university colleagues suggests that cherries may reduce painful arthritic inflammation, as well as reducing the risk of other inflammatory conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. But there is more.

How to relieve pain and reduce inflammation by diet
Inflammation is attributed to various ailments and many diverse conditions such as cancer, heart disease, chronic back pain, osteoporosis, migraines, dementia, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Dieticians and health experts say that increasing your intake of natural anti-inflammatory foods can significantly help reduce or even eliminate inflammation and pain.

Although there are many excellent foods people should try, and learn to enjoy, the Western/American diet is sadly lacking in quality choices. Too many people are habitually choosing the convenience of eating quickly and consuming heavily processed foods and refined products with all sorts of chemical additives to enhance or sweeten the flavor.

These foreign substances are inorganic and deposit into the body and over time become difficult for the body to eliminate. So often in Western civilization the results are patients with aches and pains in joints, muscles, and organs from the inflammations and swellings caused by their bodies reacting to and trying to adjust for this imbalance that has been building over years of abuse.

Another fact to consider are the amounts of pesticides, depleted soil from over-harvesting and too little crop rotation to maintain nutrients in the soil, artificial fertilizers, and bio-engineered foods known as Frankenfoods, where the foods are genetically engineered to reduce spoilage, repel insects, and other things meant to improve the value of harvests.

The need for vitamin and mineral supplementation to ensure enough nutrients are consumed is apparent. Studies conducted by the Mayo Clinic have linked Vitamin D deficiency with chronic pain, lending to voices calling for increased fortification or supplementation of this important nutrient among others, in diets.