Ashley’s answer: Great question! While “anti-inflammatory diet” is actually a great nutrition approach to help your health and prevent chronic diseases, the name can be confusing since it’s a bit of an oversimplification. What we are really talking about here is “chronic inappropriate inflammation”, and it’s something that diet and behavior choices can reduce. But what is that, exactly? Inflammation is a natural, healthy part of the body and acts as our alert that we’ve overdone it or injured something. It’s our body’s way of telling us that it’s in (or needs to be in) repair mode—so you were right to think fever or swelling. This type of inflammation is acute, the opposite of chronic. Diet-related inflammation occurs when the body gets too much of certain nutrients—highly processed foods, non-organic fats, poor-quality animal protein, or an excess of added sugar—or not enough of others, like organic sources of omega-3s, high-quality organic, unrefined fats, spices, or organic whole-food plant protein sources. (You can accessorize your diet with quality organic, grass-fed, or wild animal meats and products.) When your body doesn’t recognize what it’s getting, inappropriate inflammation occurs. So there we have it: the inflammation you can control through dietary and behavior choices is called “chronic inappropriate inflammation”, and it’s a major risk factor for so many of our major diseases and symptoms of poor health today. Go douse that inappropriate inflammation with some whole foods! Chewing over a food quandary? Send it to AskAshley@Prevention.com Ashley Koff is a registered dietitian, Qualitarian, nutrition expert, and
