1. Ready. Set. GO!
In addition to naturally lowering
inflammation throughout the body, exercise has been proven to reduce the risk
of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, while lowering blood pressure,
cholesterol, and improving mood and anxiety (lowering the risk of depression)
and improving blood sugar levels, helping to optimize body weight, while
reducing fat. If you’re not accustomed to exercising, start slowly by simply
walking every day. Yoga and water aerobics are two low-impact forms of
exercise—as you build more stamina and strength, you can begin to incorporate
more into your life. An important point to drive home is this: exercise need
not be stuffing yourself into a gym. Gardening, cleaning, walking, biking, and
other forms of physical activity is something we all require, so simply moving
every day, in conjunction with eating a healthy diet, are the two most
important thing you can do for your body.
2. Redefine Your Sweet Tooth
Simple sugars, such as those found in
most processed foods, wreak havoc on our bodies, causing an abrupt spike in our
blood sugar levels, while raising insulin levels to counterbalance the spike.
This leads to lowered immune system function, promotion of obesity, and a rise
in inflammation, increasing the levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of
inflammation in the body. Eating complex carbohydrates, whole grains, fruits,
nuts, seeds, vegetables, and healthy sources of protein can help balance blood
sugar levels while improving satiety and decreasing inflammatory processes in
the body. As a general rule, the more natural and unprocessed the food source,
the more regulated your blood sugar levels will become.
3. Trim the FAT
Excess fat stored in fat cells (adipose
tissue), by itself, causes inflammation and inflammatory processes to occur in
the body. In fact, these very inflammatory processes can lead to insulin
resistant type II diabetes as well as resistance to cortisol, making it even
more difficult to lose weight in those suffering from obesity. Diet
modification, regular daily exercise, food portion control, chewing your food
twice as long as you normally would (while eating at a slower pace), and having
the support of family and friends can help overcome obesity once and for all,
helping to avoid the many health conditions associated with obesity.
4. Break the Habit
Aside from smoking being the number one
cause of preventable disease and premature death, smoking has also been linked
with causing inflammation and raising C-reactive protein inflammatory markers,
contributing to heart disease, stroke, lung disease, and atherosclerosis. From
a chiropractic perspective, patients who smoke have altered healing times, so a
bone fracture can take considerably longer to heal for a smoker in comparison
to non-smokers.
The body has a tremendous ability to
heal itself and quitting smoking today can greatly improve the chances of
avoiding the harmful and potentially life-threatening effects smokers face.
5. Tea Time
The beneficial effects of tea,
especially green and white tea, has become well known in popular culture, but
it’s worth highlighting the many benefits of tea, stemming primarily from the
polyphenol compounds they contain—helping to hold inflammation at bay through
the powerful antioxidants they contain. Tea has been shown clinically to reduce
the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, atherosclerosis,
bowel disease, and liver disease (to name a few), while helping with weight
loss and the effects of arthritis (and other inflammatory diseases). When
choosing a tea, make sure it’s organic. Also, realize that all non-herbal teas
contains these beneficial polyphenol compounds, from green tea to black tea,
but the darker the tea, the more fermentation and processing has taken place
and the more caffeine is present, so choosing a white tea or green tea will
give you more of these beneficial compounds.
6. Find Your Inner Peace
Stress is an absolute killer, yet the
degree to which stress kills is remarkable. Stress has been linked with heart
disease, stroke, high cholesterol, depression, diabetes, colds, kidney disease,
asthma, ulcers, and cancer (to name a few) and has been shown to raise
C-reactive protein, driving inflammation in the body. Finding ways to curb
stress in your life is of the utmost importance. Some stress reducing methods
include: daily exercise, meditation and prayer to clear the mind, talking it
out with loved ones or a therapist, yoga and tai chi (or qi gong), taking time
to spend with family and friends, laughing daily. In chiropractic, we find many
people carry stress in their neck, shoulders, and low back and much of the pain
our patients experience can be attributed to stress. We have found that regular
adjustments in our clinic have helped our patients deal with the side effects
of stress, aiding in stress management.
Good posture is the correct alignment of body parts supported by the right amount of muscle tension against gravity [4].
