Why is Nutrition Important?
We all know that we should eat healthy to provide our bodies necessary vitamins and minerals. This is very true, but also very hard for a lot of us to do with the seamlessly never ending amounts of prepackaged and fast food available. Unfortunately, most people don’t take the saying “You are what you eat” to heart. However, this couldn’t be more true! Picture a lazy junkfood-junkie sitting on the couch all day compared to someone who is active and eats fruits and vegetables instead of chips and pop. Who do you think will have more aches, pains and other health problems? Of course the junkfood-junkie! But do we really know why? The reason has to do with inflammation. The same inflammation that occurs with injury occurs when people eat unhealthy foods. Foods like fruits and vegetables are anti-inflammatory, while high fat foods (excessive saturated fat, trans-fats, and omega-6 fatty acids) and sugar foods, cause inflammation. A few examples of pro-inflammatory conditions are chronic pain, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. As important as it is to get the right nutrients, it’s also very important that we eat a diet that is anti-inflammatory.

Inflammation and Dietary Imbalance.
Inflammation is your body’s normal reaction to any kind of injury. Everyday we experience injury whether from macro-trauma such as falling or twisting an ankle to micro-trauma which occurs with everyday living. When the inflammatory process occurs various chemicals are released to create tissue healing. Without the inflammatory process healing would not be possible, however chronic inflammation can promote disease.

Another form of injury that we typically do not think of is “dietary” trauma. Eating the wrong foods on a consistent basis will lead to subtle biochemical injuries in tissues causing a chronic state of inflammation. A diet that is deficient in fruits and vegetables and high in fats, sugar (all forms including high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, turbinado in smoothies, and more), processed/refined foods (trans fats), and vegetable oils (soybean, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil and cottonseed oil) all promote chronic inflammation. The reason these poor dietary habits lead to chronic inflammation are due to the following:

* Inadequate nutrients and minerals
* Increased tissue acidity
* Free radical production
* Fatty acid imbalances
* Production of pro-inflammatory mediators (most well known PGE2)

Well-known drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, corticosteroids, and COX2 inhibitors such as Celebrex are all taken to reduce inflammation. Prostaglandin E2 or PGE2 mentioned above, is the most well known chemical mediator that these drugs are aimed at reducing. PGE2 is a stimulator of pain, promotes breakdown of cartilage in arthritis and the breakdown of bone in osteoporosis. PGE2 is also present in many other pro-inflammatory diseases that are prevalent in our society. What is not as well-known is the PGE2 is mostly formed from omega-6 fatty acids found in many foods we eat. Common omega-6 fatty acid foods are the following:

* All grains
* Flour products
* Most packaged foods
* Commonly used cooking oils (soybean, peanut, corn, sunflower, safflower, and cottonseed)
* Most meats and eggs that are fed grains and corn


As health conscious people we can get overwhelmed that most foods we love to eat are nutritional deficient and promote some degree of inflammation. However, after reading this maybe we will begin to think more about the food we are putting into our bodies and less about what over-the-counter pain medication should I take next.

What Can We Do? The Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Omega-3 Fatty Acids!

First, I’m going to point out the obvious EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES! EAT LESS FRENCH FRIES, DESSERTS and FROZEN MEALS! With that out of the way let’s get a better understanding of why consuming more foods with omega-3 fatty acids will have anti-inflammatory results.

The most common source of omega-3 fatty acids are from fish. We get them in fish such as salmon, tuna, and halibut to name a few. When we look for omega-3 fatty acids in foods and supplements we want to see the words EPA and DHA. EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are thought to reduce the chance of arachidonic acid (bad) forming pro-inflammatory mediators like PGE2. As mentioned above, PGE2 is the precursor to several pro-inflammatory diseases and pain. The benefits of EPA/DHA in the human body are numerous and we need to consume more fish and/or supplement EPA/DHA through fish oil regularly in our diet.

By eating an anti-inflammatory diet we are going to start feeling healthier, younger and more energetic. Below are dietary guidelines to follow for the anti-inflammatory diet.