Inflammatory Eating

Do you ever get the feeling that your energy is just not what it used to be? 

Does it seem like you have more hard slog days, than easy coasting days?

Does your head ache, skin itch, nose run, and your joints ache more than you'd expect?

You may chalk this up to aging or work or many other possible diagnoses, but there is one probable cause you may not have considered : allergies.

Even if you don't believe yourself to have the classic form of allergic hay fever, it is still very possible that you have developed a sensitivity to your environment simply due to over-exposure.  One of the most major environments we expose ourselves to is our own diet.

Believe it or not, food is actually an external extension of our own bodies.  Because the digestive tract is continuous from mouth to anus, and there is no blood flow nor cell production nor any other biological process happening within this cavity, whatever is in the digestive system is actually considered "outside the body".

Not until nutrients and toxins are absorbed are they considered inside the body.  And yes, there are plenty of toxins in food.

We all know that narcotic drugs, alcohol, and poison are toxins, but so too are things like sugar, fat, salt, and to many people, certain proteins.

The first thing we think is, wait a minute, proteins are the building blocks of cell synthesis and are necessary to survive.  This is true, but if we dig deeper, not in to the function of proteins but rather the synthesis itself, we discover that the body uses finite materials to absorb and utilize proteins.  These materials are called enzymes.  Primarily gut enzymes.

You can imagine that, if we have a finite amount of enzymes to process individual proteins, then the possibility stands to reason that we may have an over-abundance of any particular protein relative to usable enzymes.

If we consider our body a car, and proteins as fuel, what would happen to the car if we over-filled it with gasoline?

Fortunately, our body does not necessarily come to the same solution as an over-filled gas tank (regurgitation).  In some severe cases, however, it does.

Rather, for the less severely affected food sensitivity sufferer, an over-abundance of protein induces an allergic or, at minimum, inflammatory response.  While food sensitivities may or may not induce histamine production indicative of an allergy, it's the inflammation that causes all those feelings that make you think you're not quite yourself.

Personally, I believe that due to our diet changes over the past 50 years, and due to the shift from agrarian to industrial farming, it is much easier to over-load our systems with specific nutrients while almost completely neglecting others.

Considering this shift in the methods we use to feed ourselves, we can look at what we eat differently than our parents and grandparents.

What are the largest food staples on earth?  

Corn, wheat, rice, soy, and livestock/animals. 

There may be some others in there, but for this discussion, these items will suffice.

Corn, wheat, rice, soy and, from animals, milk and eggs can be found everywhere - in almost everything!  Next time you go to the market or a restaurant that will show you ingredients, take a look and see if you can find any packaged product that doesn't contain one of these foods.  It's nearly impossible.

The packaged food innovation has also given us the opportunity to store food for a longer period, so it is much easier to manage and more accessible than fresh produce, grains and meat.

Greater abundance + Greater accessibility = Greater Consumption

We're consuming more of the same types of things in the last 50 years than we had in the previous 100,000.  What is the chance that our enzymatic availabilty has caught up with agrarian innovation?

Hence, food allergies.

So, what's the problem with that? 

Clearly, if you're severely allergic to any particular food, your body has an emergency response and you end up in the hospital.  Not a good thing.  But what if you're response is not severe?

A mild response is less likely to be noticed, yet more likely to compound over time.  Little by little your body becomes more sensitive to the food that it recognizes as a toxin.  And little by little that toxin creates more inflammation in your system.

Inflammation is your body's method for fighting infection or damage.  It requires energy and resources and induces mild to severe pain.

If your body is interpreting your food as damaging or infectious, as long as you consume that food, you'll feel lower energy and a heightened sensitivity to aches and pains...  

These days of abundant food, its all that much more important to be mindful of what we eat.

If you're frequently feeling tired, sick, achy or even in a regular bad mood, consider your fuel -

- consider your food.