I hope you are well. This article is going to cover inflammation and healing. Ways to bring down inflammation, allowing the body to heal and relax/rejuvenate. These are just ideas from my own perspective from my own experiences and research.
Inflammation is a mechanism of the body meant to heal from injury and infection. It’s necessary and helps keep us well. But what happens when the signal is continually turned on? There is damage and injury and the body is working over time to try and heal whatever needs to be healed. This is what is at the root of so many conditions. So if we work with the root of it without reacting and keep inflammation down through nutrition, movement, other practices, we will heal and feel better over all.
Anti Inflammatory Nutrition
Sticking to anti inflammatory foods is the best thing you can do for yourself, health and nutrition wise. Essentially, it’s sticking to real good with healthy fats, high anti oxidants and polyphenols, and probiotics. I look at it like this- if you take in natural food, your body knows what to do with it- how to utilize it. If you take in toxic substances or processed foods with high sugar and artificial flavors, your body turns on the alarm. It causes a stress response as your body doesn’t know what to do with. As a colleague of mine would say, “there is no twinkie tree in nature”. So as you take in those foods- think GBOMBS or Mediterranean Diet- your body says “ahh okay, this is what we need. Rest and digest. Let’s utilize these nutrients.”
So what are some of these foods? Well GBOMBS (a list of the worlds most anti inflammatory and disease fighting foods) would say GREENS, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, seeds. Wild caught fish- get some sardines. These are all healing foods. Also seeing that different colored fruits and vegetables show us the different vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant the food has. Also herbs like turmeric, ginger, and anything calming, like lavender, chamomile- I consider these healing and anti inflammatory. Getting some probiotics helps us in many ways too- assisting with nutrition and accessing nutrients. Along with helping us feel joy and motivation.
Healing Movement
If you take the idea of anti inflammation and healing to other areas, you’ll see some amazing things. For instance- exercise, a simple walk in nature is anti inflammatory. Any exercise is great. Knowing how much at any given time- so listening to your body. And regarding nature- there is a passage from the book “Go Wild”, where the author talks about how a picture of nature in someone’s office can lower blood pressure. Plants in the office do the same thing. So just seeing nature is healing. So we have exercise, the sight of nature, smells (some trees and bushes give off chemicals that calm us humans), sounds (think birds chirping, wind rustling leaves, water, rain), and SUNLIGHT. That is all healing and anti inflammatory! In many eastern traditions it is said that the blockage of chi energy, or the leakage of it causes disease. So when you are taking in nature’s energy, and also moving and letting it circulate, you are creating health for yourself.
Gratitude And Prayer
So we have nutrition and movement covered. What else can be considered anti inflammatory and healing? Maybe something as simple as an idea. If you had two choice- one, you spend 10 minutes watching the news. Two, you stand or sit with someone or by yourself and look at something in nature and practice gratitude. How different would you feel between the two? I can assure you, your body will feel much less inflamed and stressed if you chose the second option. So can a simple gratitude practice change our state and body? Yes. Also something like a forgiveness practice. The Ho’opono’pono prayer is very helpful for forgiveness and releasing ideas that are not helpful and may be blocking us. These types of things have a big impact regarding inflammation. Prayer and meditation are very beneficial for healing.
Take note of your inputs for a day- how much noise was there? Not to mention inner noise. And how much of it was helpful messages that helped you feel at peace? How much causes distraction or agitation? Just take note of it.
So when it comes to bringing down inflammation and healing, there are many things you can do and it starts with recognizing you’re worth it. Many of these ideas in the article came from books I’ve read (I mentioned Go Wild by John Ratey- another good book on the topic is Super Genes by Deepak Chopra), personal experience (seeing what works), and contemplating how our ancestors would have eaten and moved.
One last thing- a great teacher once told us- if you say “I’m depressed”- change it to “I am feeling low energy. And then change your energy.” And to do that, she says to change how you’re walking, change your facial expression, and change your words. These all impact the body and inflammation- and it teaches you, you’re in control!
Thank you for reading- you got this, step by step. Wishing you health and strength.
Ryan
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