Did you know that your eating habits could be making your chronic inflammatory disease worse?
Despite not being a topic addressed by the vast majority of health professionals, the truth is that there is already a lot of scientific evidence that associates the consumption of certain foods with the increase in the intensity of chronic inflammatory diseases. We’ll tell you which foods to avoid if you want to better control your chronic inflammatory disease, or if you want to reduce silent inflammation.
Fat
Let’s start with the quality of the fat in your diet. As we have already mentioned, our diet must be balanced in terms of the supply of essential omega 3 and omega 6 fats, and these must not be subjected to excessively high temperatures as they can form trans fats, with a high pro-inflammatory capacity:
A diet that is too rich omega 6 fats and trans fats favor inflammation, so it is best to avoid food sources of these fats:
– Vegetable oils(such as soy, corn, sunflower) or margarine (obtained from these oils) are concentrates of omega 6 vegetable fats. Fried and cooked foods with this type of fat are therefore to be avoided.
– Cakes, cookies and biscuits made with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable fat are normally contributors to the supply of these omega 6 fats, and often have high levels of trans fats. “Maria” type biscuits, or some wholemeal biscuits richer in this type of fat may not be so healthy, especially if you have a chronic inflammatory disease;
– Processed products made with oil, margarine, or those that mention hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable fat on the label are also rich in this type of fat. This is the case with puff pastry, pizza bases, quiches, different snacks and ready-to-eat products, and many other processed foods… just start reading the list of ingredients of the products you buy;
– Meat, especially fatty meat, should also be avoided, given their richness in arachidonic acid, the main pro-inflammatory fat from the omega 6 family. Red meat, even without visible fat, should be reduced, as its fat content is always higher. Pork is one of the most implicated, as not only does it have this type of fat, but the meat itself has other compounds that increase inflammatory processes, especially allergies;
– Eggs, especially the yolk, and dairy products, in particular the fattest cheeses also have this fat, so some caution is recommended in their consumption.
Sugar and excessive consumption of carbohydrates, especially refined ones.
This type of food increases the production of insulin (the hormone responsible for ” tidying up” the sugars that are absorbed), which in itself already increases the production of pro-inflammatory molecules.
when associated with a sedentary lifestyle, they contribute to weight gain, particularly in the abdominal area, which in itself already constitutes a pro-inflammatory factor.
Reactions to foods
Individual reactions to certain foods can contribute to the worsening of your inflammatory processes. The ingestion of foods to which our immune system reacts leads to the production of pro-inflammatory mediators at the intestinal level and can condition intestinal hyperpermeability.
The inability to fully digest some foods can make your intestinal bacteria have to do it, which can lead to a change in their quality, favoring the growth of “less good” bacteria or even fungi such as Candida, which can also lead to intestinal hyperpermeability.
This hyperpermeability allows foreign molecules to enter your body, triggering different inflammatory reactions and the release of numerous pro-inflammatory mediators, contributing to the worsening of different chronic inflammatory diseases, or to a state of silent inflammation that contributes to different chronic diseases.
Given the specificity of this subject, we recommend that you speak with a nutritionist or dietitian to create an elimination diet that is suitable for your case, as in most cases it will be necessary to remove foods classified as healthy.
EsmeraldAzul – para uma vida saudável, consciente e sustentável.
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