The reasons we like these group Health Challenges is very simple: for a short time, we remove potentially inflammatory and allergenic foods from someone’s diet, theoretically letting them settle into a nice, balanced internal state of digestion, absorption, and health, And then – after a set number of day, 14 to 21 (30 days ideally…but we never make that!) – add back the foods you miss the most, while also trying to justify each, and see if there is a substitute that might be healthier. When you do this, one food at a time, you’ll notice pretty rapidly if you experience any adverse reaction. Then, you can decide if it’s a reaction you can live with or not. Joint aches, headaches, skin conditions, and dehydration…might be things you can’t live with. Or, maybe you recovered quickly from that headache, so you choose to leave them in as special occasion foods. You make that decision personally based on your individual experience. n=1.
Why remove certain foods when trying to reduce inflammation? Because many foods are known allergens and causes of inflammation, especially if you’re already suffering from conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, stroke, high cholesterol, cirrhosis, and now, osteoarthritis. Why osteoarthritis(OA)? Isn’t that a wear-and-tear disease? Um…things are changing. Now we know OA to also be caused by inflammatory conditions in the body related to lifestyle. We used to think that excess weight contributed to mechanical stress on the joints, but now we know it’s much more than that.
Most people with joint pain, especially if they know they have OA, won’t first consider their diet, sleep, or activity level as reasons they have pain. But these are the FIRST things you should consider, as we have quite the network of people with radiologically diagnosed OA who are asymptomatic. That’s right – they have no pain or stiffness. Well, maybe occasionally, but it’s not a chronic, everyday thing. To think that you’re going to age without some joint and/or body discomfort is kind of ludicrous. It happens. But it doesn’t have to be debilitating. Many of the lifestyle conditions I mentioned above can be improved, and some- reversed, with diet, exercise, sleep, and a few other lifestyle modifications.
But first, let’s clear the elephant in the room. One of our goals in reducing inflammation is to normalize body weight. Being overweight is a cause of inflammation. Fat cells are very metabolic and produce pro-inflammatory proteins, hormones, and chemical messengers that not only cause diseases but can also increase symptoms in conditions such as OA. We previously thought OA to be a wear and tear disease, but quickly science caught on that marathoners and other athletes who subject their bodies to repetitive weight-bearing motion a) don’t have more or as severe OA as others and b) if they do, it tends to be less symptomatic than the norm. Then it was noted that people who were overweight or also suffered from one or more of the lifestyle conditions I mentioned above also show higher levels of pain and stiffness from OA. It’s all coming together. We have to reduce inflammation. We need to find the source of the inflammation and address it, versus medicating, supplementing, and trying to hit it from the top down.
Back our diet – the crux of our Challenge – one of the things we try to do here is remove inflammatory foods. Sure, you could go the way of the gold standard and find an auto-immune diet – but we fear our compliance with that would be low because it’s very restrictive (especially when you don’t already eat well).
Known inflammatory foods that exist in unfortunately high amounts in our food system include:
- Industrial oils (corn, canola, soy, cottonseed, rice, grapeseed, safflower, sunflower, peanut)
- Sugar
- Trans-fats, often found in packaged starches from manufacturers like Pillsbury, Sara Lee, and Marie Callendars
- Gut irritants (gluten, gliadin) typically found in ultra-processed foods
Known Allergenic Foods
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Fish & Shellfish
- Tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, Shea nuts, walnuts)
- Peanuts (legumes)
- Wheat and other grains
- Beans & Legumes
- Soy
As mentioned above, the most extreme of the “elimination diets”, which should be trialed as a base from which to work to find the optimal energy levels and health for you individually, would be the Autoimmune Diets. There are several sites you can Google to find these, but as previously mentioned, they’re restrictive, and for good reason: all known allergens and inflammatory foods including FODMAPS and Nightshades are removed. You’re left with a very restrictive list of foods to eat. Over time people who have health issues and symptoms tend to find relief. The subsequent step is to put one desired food back in at a time and see if you react physically or even emotionally to it. If so, it may be a culprit in your health issues, so you remove it and try another. Again, n=1, everyone is different…but it’s a fun experiment, especially if you’re in a group! (misery loves company!)
First and foremost, we have to get a handle on what we are putting in our bodies for fuel and nutrition. 100% – if you eat like crap you’ll eventually feel like crap. Yes, our food system isn’t what it used to be. But ignoring the basic needs of the human machine from food is also a recipe for disaster.
- Eat food in its most natural form.
- Prioritize protein. Our needs are greater as we age, and if we train for performance.
- Different colored vegetables provide different nutrients. Variety is good – routine is the enemy – even in your diet. Cook your vegetables if you struggle to digest fibrous foods.
- Fat will not make you fat. It will, rather protect your brain, improve nerve function, and make your skin glow. Choosing healthy fats is the key.
It’s not that hard, but it may take work to rework old habits in the beginning.
Now, to address the second elephant in the room. Why didn’t we, like Google, list “red meat” as an inflammatory food? Because like wheat, the way a food is grown or raised affects its impact on us as a consumer. We’ve discussed at the gym how European wheat is different from American wheat and the numerous reports of people visiting Europe and eating their way through the country (grains, particularly) without any of the adverse effects they feel with American grains. With red meat, the studies that make the mainstream never differentiate between a fully pastured and grass-fed cow and a cow raised in a confined feeding operation, fed grains, and treated with antibiotics. There is a difference, and without these considerations, you cannot make a blanket statement about red meat – and the same goes for wheat. We control what we can control.
To wrap this sucker up, there is a reason we do burpees, and there is a reason we bludgeon you with the WHYs. Learning why allows you to build on your own beliefs and continue to improve over time…versus complying with a provider’s suggestion only to find fault with it and not understand why it failed. Understanding why you are doing or trying something gives you the ability to own why you’re continuing, discontinuing or modifying, and re-trying a new strategy for health. n=1 or n -of-1 is a “thing”!
Finally, supplements for inflammation…oye! We need to address this, but no lists will be provided here. There are a few that are common, effective, and not terribly costly. However, like the saying “you can’t out-train a bad diet”, you also can’t out-supplement a bad diet”. Let’s clean that up and then we’ll talk about supplements. The outcome could be a double-whammy in favor of less pain and more function!
BONUS QUESTION: (might require some research on Nightshades and FODMAPs)
Which of the following could be considered “inflammatory”:
a) Tomatoes
b) Shellfish
c) Beans
d) Brazil Nuts
e) All of the Above