INFLAMMATION

Inflammation, especially chronic, systemic inflammation seems to be involved in nearly every disease under the sun. Obesity, cancer, depression, heart disease, stroke, migraines, IBS, Alzheimer’s, elevated blood sugar, autoimmune disease which covers rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Hashimoto’s– if it’s killing people, increasing health care costs, and reducing quality of life, inflammation is bound to be involved at some level.

WHAT IS INFLAMMATION?

Inflammation is painful redness or swelling of a part of your body that results from an infection, injury, or illness. This includes parts of the body you can’t see or really feel until it’s an emergency, like an inflamed liver, gut or cardiovascular system.

It’s the body’s natural response to injury, infection or a foreign invader that may cause acute or chronic reaction. The inflammatory response serves several important functions:

1. The body is defending itself against what it perceives as a foreign invader such as a virus, bacteria, parasite, fungi, metal, chemical or food allergen.

2. The body is attempting to detoxify.

3. The body wants to facilitate healing.

ACUTE INFLAMMATION

The initial response to a pathogen or an injury is acutely inflammatory. In other words, it is brief, lasting several days or less. All sorts of things can cause an acute inflammatory response – cuts, infection, a blow to the body, allergic reaction, etc.

CHRONIC INFLAMMATION

When we refer to Chronic Inflammation, we mean the immune response never turns off completely and the pro-inflammatory immune cells continue to be active, sometimes whether they are needed or not. This can cause a problem in our body and result in weight gain, high blood sugar, arthritis, atherosclerosis, depression, digestive issues, poor energy levels, skin problems (acne, eczema) and allergies which can be caused by stressors such as food intolerances, metals, chemicals and microorganisms (yeast, parasites, bacteria, viruses) facilitated by leaky gut.

The long and the short of the causes of inflammation are stress, poor diet, toxins in the environment and poor digestion.

STRESS

Modern life is stressful. Bills, work, commuting, politics, exercise – it all adds up and it doesn’t seem to let up or go away. And if it becomes too much for you to handle, your body will have a physiological, inflammatory response to emotional stress causing the release of cortisol, a stress hormone that contributes to inflammation in the body.

As a normal reaction to stress, your body reacts by pulling blood to the major organs (as a defense mechanism and response to real or perceived danger). This reaction interferes with portions of the body’s normal function, resulting in an inflammatory immune system response that can cause digestive issues, joint pain, and skin reactions – like breaking out in a rash or hives.

POOR DIET

For most people, diets high in sugar and carbohydrates (carbs turn into sugar in the body) are inflammatory. When you eat these kinds of foods, you produce lots of insulin, so you won’t have high blood sugar. There’s a complicated interaction between the inflammatory messengers and insulin and blood sugar levels. Because of this, I’ve seen that low-carb diets reduce inflammation for most people.

Food allergies and intolerances can create an inflammatory response in the body, also. All sorts of foods can create this problem, not just the ones you always hear about – gluten and dairy. This is why I encourage my clients to do an in-office, minimally invasive, food intolerance test to so see what may be triggering their inflammation. I’ve had clients intolerant to all sorts of foods they never suspected and which are actually healthy – (just not for them) such as fava beans, lettuce, broccoli.

Popular cooking oils like Canola, safflower, sunflower, corn, peanut and soy, are some of the first things I will take everyone off of, even if they don’t have joint pin or cardiovascular inflammation. These oils are high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 essential fatty acid that the body converts into arachidonic acid, another omega-6 fatty acid that has a predominantly pro-inflammatory influence. These same oils contain almost no omega-3’s (found in rich supply in coldwater fish, phytoplankton, and flaxseed), which soothe inflammation. Our prehistoric ancestors ate a diet with an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 1:1. Our current ratio is anywhere between 10:1 and 25:1!

DIGESTION

Hippocrates said over 2000 years ago, “ All disease begins in the gut.” Intestinal bloating, frequent bouts of diarrhea or constipation, gas and pain, heartburn and acid reflux are early signs of an inflamed digestive tract.

These digestive issues are a result of eating sugar, carbohydrates, inflammatory foods and oils, medication, toxins, stress, as well as not having enough stomach acid.

An inflamed digestive tract allows undigested food, bacteria, viruses, parasites and such to leak into the lymph system causing the immune system to work over time and create inflammation.

So the first step in cooling inflammation on a cellular level is to pay attention to your diet (in particular your carbohydrate and sugar intake), consume only non-inflammatory oils, watch your stress and address your digestive system.

As we get older, our production of stomach acid declines, leaving us susceptible to foods that never bothered us before, like dairy and wheat, that may trigger chronic low-grade indigestion or other seemingly minor symptoms that put our immune system on guard — with additional inflammatory concerns to follow.

It isn’t necessary to suffer from any of the above symptoms. They can all be addressed with a proper assessment of what your body really needs to repair itself.

After a thorough interview and analysis, we can recommend a Designed Clinical Nutrition Program that includes diet, lifestyle adjustments and supplements, specifically tailored to you, to help you address your health concerns and goals.

See below for information on our Complimentary Health Analysis…

Kay Curtis is a Board Certified Nutritional Consultant and founder of Curtis Nutrition in Los Angeles, California. Curtis Nutrition is a personalized, boutique nutritional consulting practice specializing in Digestion and Blood Sugar and the health issues that arise when these systems are not functioning properly, such as: inflammation, weight gain, poor energy, hormonal imbalance, poor mental outlook/anxiety and compromised immune system.

At Curtis Nutrition, Kay practices personalized nutritional therapy, which helps facilitate the body’s inherent ability to restore and maintain optimal health and minimizes the risk of harm.

She teaches you how to eat for your heath and lifestyle and puts you on the correct supplement program to help you address your health issues.

Curtis Nutrition is located in the Burbank/Toluca Lake area of the San Fernando Valley. If you live outside of Los Angeles, Kay Curtis is equipped to provide health analyses and consulting via e-mail, phone and skype.

Take the first step to restoring optimum health by selecting one of the options below:

• Complimentary Health Analysis survey which will help Kay zero in on the cause of your symptoms
• Services and Resources page where you’ll find Kay’s Client Services Packages, Educational Resources and Nourishing Recipes
• Contact page where you can also schedule appointments