Speaker 1: You're listening to the Plant Based Diet podcast, where we
Speaker 1: talk about all things plant based. I'm Ester Garfin, the
Speaker 1: host of this show and founder of Alternative Food Network.
Speaker 1: Join me in my amazing array of guests who are
Speaker 1: a mix of healthcare professionals, industry executives, and people with
Speaker 1: an interesting story to tell about their plant based journey.
Speaker 1: Let us help you with your journey wherever you're at
Speaker 1: to learn the what, why, and how to eat plant based. Hello. Friends,
Speaker 1: I hope you've been keeping well. Today I'm going to
Speaker 1: do something a bit different and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1: Rather than an interview with a guest, I'm taking the
Speaker 1: liberty of sharing with you some important information about inflammation,
Speaker 1: specifically chronic inflammation. It's such a big and important topic
Speaker 1: because chronic inflammation can contribute to heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions,
Speaker 1: and much more. Now, I'm not a doctor, but I
Speaker 1: produce another podcast series that is hosted by a physician.
Speaker 1: On that show, which is called Ullinary Medicine Recipe, Doctor
Speaker 1: Sabrina Folk shared such great information about inflammation that I
Speaker 1: just needed to share it with you, my Plant Based
Speaker 1: Diet audience. It's episode forty of culinary medicine and recipe
Speaker 1: if you want to listen to that full episode, but
Speaker 1: in the meantime, here are some clips that hopefully get
Speaker 1: you to start thinking more about this topic.
Speaker 2: Chronic inflammation is preventable with proper food choices, sleep, stress reduction,
Speaker 2: and regular hydration. Now, chronic inflammation, compared to a cute,
Speaker 2: is a persistent, low grade information that contributes to disease.
Speaker 2: We don't feel it. We don't feel the pain like
Speaker 2: we do if a sprain or burn or the common
Speaker 2: cold symptoms, so it's happening in the background without us
Speaker 2: being aware of it. It can be triggered by nutrient
Speaker 2: poor diet, specifically pro inflammatory foods or foods that increase inflammation.
Speaker 2: The most common ones are things like processed food like
Speaker 2: fast food or packaged snacks, refined sugars that we find
Speaker 2: in sugar sweetened beverages like SODA's, pastries and candy. Also
Speaker 2: in transfats that are not as much used in the US,
Speaker 2: but they're still used worldwide over processed fats that are
Speaker 2: used especially in commercially fried foods, and processed vegetable oils,
Speaker 2: also used in pre made salad dressings or pastries. Excessive
Speaker 2: alcohol intake, red and processed meats, over consumption of salt
Speaker 2: or sodium, which is especially found in packaged foods or
Speaker 2: restaurant foods, and a lack of whole foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds,
Speaker 2: whole grains and plant based proteins, as well as adequate hydration.
Speaker 2: Also important to go beyond the food, so it's not
Speaker 2: just food that causes chronic inflammation. It's stress environmental exposures
Speaker 2: which happen naturally, but there's also some that we have
Speaker 2: control over. So these are things like cigarettes, living in
Speaker 2: large cities, also environmental pollutants like buses, subways, trains, airplanes,
Speaker 2: and also lack of sleep. So all of these of
Speaker 2: food and these other environmental exposures can lead to long
Speaker 2: term tissue damage and development of disease. So to put
Speaker 2: the dots together, every single day our body has natural
Speaker 2: cell damage that occurs and that needs to be repaired.
Speaker 2: So we need to have number one the building blocks
Speaker 2: to be able to repair that damage. And ideally we're
Speaker 2: also not adding pieces that are dating additional damage. So
Speaker 2: the body needs nutrients to repair and replace damage cells,
Speaker 2: and if the repair mechanisms are overwhelmed. That's when chronic
Speaker 2: inflammation occurs.
Speaker 1: So what really is happening in our bodies when it
Speaker 1: comes to inflammation, Doctor foul K explains to.
Speaker 2: Give you kind of a scary statistic. We all have
Speaker 2: this natural cell damage on a day to day and
Speaker 2: in our bodies and humans, there's about ten thousand DNA
Speaker 2: damages that occur every day per cell and this is
Speaker 2: per the NIH That's a lot of damage that needs
Speaker 2: to be repaired. And as a reminder, we have additional
Speaker 2: cell damage with the triggers as follows. So a nutrient
Speaker 2: poor diet, so if we're adding this ultra processed foods,
Speaker 2: the lack of whole foods, daily stress, daily environmental exposures,
Speaker 2: as well as lack of sleep, and so what are
Speaker 2: some of the chronic conditions that can occur if we
Speaker 2: have this constant cell damage without the ability to repair fully.
Speaker 2: These include things like heart disease, high blood pressure, plaque
Speaker 2: build up that can lead to heart attacks. There's also
Speaker 2: type two diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases like rheumaturd arthritis, lupus,
Speaker 2: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease which causes inflammation in the brain,
Speaker 2: which is accelerated by the cell damage and can lead
Speaker 2: to cognitive decline, cancers because of that chronic inflammation that
Speaker 2: contributes to DNA damage and tumor growth and digestive disorders
Speaker 2: like chrome's disease and ulcort of colitis. So why do
Speaker 2: we want to turn to certain foods no matter what. Antioxidants,
Speaker 2: for example, again help decrease that cell damage. These are
Speaker 2: found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole foods. They help
Speaker 2: neutralize that cell damage and they help prevent that chronic inflammation.
Speaker 2: So we want to stop that process of chronic inflammation
Speaker 2: forming It can also help reverse chronic inflammation that may
Speaker 2: already be there. I want to emphasize that sometimes when
Speaker 2: people already have a diagnosis like diabetes, they feel like
Speaker 2: they've already gone to that space. There's no point in
Speaker 2: making changes there always is. It can help reduce the
Speaker 2: amount of medications one needs, the amount of chronic inflammation,
Speaker 2: which can lead to even more problems with diabetes. Sometimes
Speaker 2: we can even reverse diabetes with lifestyle changes, which is
Speaker 2: absolutely fabulous. So when we're talking about antioxidant rich foods,
Speaker 2: we are specifically talking about things like berries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries. Again,
Speaker 2: those dark leafy green vegetables we have crsifered vegetables like
Speaker 2: brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, dark chocolate over sixty percent has
Speaker 2: a lot of flavonoise which are also antioxidants, and then
Speaker 2: red and orange vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, sweet peppers.
Speaker 2: The goal of all this is to have foods to
Speaker 2: help reduce chronic inflammation.
Speaker 1: If you're open to eating fish, doctor Foulka also recommends this.
Speaker 2: Adding nuts, seeds, and proteins like beans and also fatty
Speaker 2: fish can really help reduce inflammation.
Speaker 1: As you heard, a lot of the foods that we
Speaker 1: talk about on this show, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, sleigoomes
Speaker 1: are suggested to reduce levels of information. So yet another
Speaker 1: reason to consider a whole food plant forward diet, which
Speaker 1: is what we'd like to talk about on this show.
Speaker 1: And if you're wondering what you can do with some
Speaker 1: of these types of foods and are looking for some recipes,
Speaker 1: please remember to check out our YouTube channel, which you
Speaker 1: can find by typing Alternative Food Network on YouTube or
Speaker 1: clicking the link in this episode description. I'll be taking
Speaker 1: a short hiatus during the summer, so that I can
Speaker 1: replenish the creative juices and bring you more good stuff shortly.
Speaker 1: I hope you can enjoy a bit of downtime yourself.
Speaker 3: I hope you found this episode helpful. Please share, rate,
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Speaker 3: Until next time, Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: All content provided or opinions expressed in this podcast or
Speaker 1: for informational purposes only, and are not a substitute for
Speaker 1: professional medical advice. Please seek advice from your doctor or
Speaker 1: other qualified health care practitioner.