Beat Diabetes! Here’s How Reducing Inflammation Will Help
By Aliyah N.A.
Type 2 diabetes is a disease diagnosed among many Americans. It is commonly managed through medication prescribed by your doctor. Though Prescribed medications manage type 2 diabetes, this will not cure or reverse the illness. Because it is an imbalance brought on by specific lifestyle choices, the only way to heal from Type 2 Diabetes is by actively making diet and lifestyle adjustments to promote healthy weight, fat reduction, and correct insulin resistance. Some of the most common dietary adjustments include reducing sugar intake, restricting carbohydrate intake, and increasing fiber intake. Did you know reducing inflammation can also help reverse Type 2 Diabetes?
Understanding the dangers of type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is an imbalance within the body caused by lifestyle factors such as obesity, poor diet, and physical inactivity. Having type 2 Diabetes means your body is unable to use insulin properly to regulate blood sugar levels. This leaves excess amounts of sugar in the bloodstream. Excess sugar in the blood causes damage to blood vessels, like your veins, arteries, and capillaries, by causing a buildup of plaque. Because your blood vessels are responsible for pumping blood from your heart to other organs, long-term type 2 diabetes damages other vital organs in your body. Having type 2 diabetes increases your risk for heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. Today, 49% of the American population are either diabetic or prediabetic. Without significant dietary and lifestyle changes, this percentage will continue to increase.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation. It’s a word that gets thrown around with a lot of negativities especially in relation to the effects it has on the body. You may have heard of chronic inflammation, or medications to reduce inflammation associated with arthritis like Aleve or Ibuprofen. But what exactly is inflammation? What causes it and how does that relate to diabetes?
Inflammation is the body’s natural healing response when it experiences a perceived threat, injury, infection, or irritant. Think about when you get a splinter. You may notice swelling and redness at the site of injury. This response, the swelling and redness, is inflammation. In small doses, inflammation is healing because your body is sending white blood cells to the affected area to fight the infection. However, when our bodies are in a prolonged state of infection, disease, or injury, this leads to chronic low-grade inflammation.
What is chronic low-grade inflammation?
Chronic low-grade inflammation is when your body is continually responding to an imbalance, infection, or irritant in the body with constant inflammation. Though mild, this type of ongoing inflammation is harmful because it is present throughout your body and causes damage to cells, tissue, and organs. Imbalances or diseases that contribute to chronic low-grade inflammation can be triggered by illnesses like depression, autoimmune disorder, and Type 2 Diabetes, or lifestyle factors like poor diet, stress, smoking, inactive lifestyle, and lack of sleep. Being overweight or obese induces chronic low-grade inflammation as well. Left untreated, chronic low-grade inflammation increases the risk of developing cancer because of DNA damage.
How chronic low-grade inflammation affects diabetes
Inflammation increases cellular insulin resistance. Insulin resistance does not allow sugar in your blood to pass through insulin in your cells because there is a buildup of too much fat. Just like fat, chronic low-grade inflammation prohibits healing diabetes because inflammation causes cells to become insulin resistant. Because insulin resistance is a main contributor to high blood glucose levels, the more ways you can reduce insulin resistance the better. Thus, reducing fat and inflammation are both necessary to beat diabetes. An effective way to reduce inflammation in the body is by consuming anti-inflammatory foods.
What are anti-inflammatory foods?
Anti-inflammatory foods are foods associated with reducing inflammation in the body. Often these are whole plant foods high in antioxidants and phytonutrients. Anti-inflammatory foods are the opposite of inflammatory foods like red meat, refined grains, saturated fat, and processed foods. While increasing anti-inflammatory foods in your diet is important, inflammatory foods should be avoided as well to further reduce inflammation.
List of foods
Here are the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods you can eat every day:
Green leafy vegetables - spinach, kale, lettuce, arugula, cabbage, watercress, micro greens, collard greens, beet greens
Berries and Cherries - blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries
Colorful peppers - red, green, orange, and yellow peppers
Mushrooms - portobello, lions’ mane, oyster
Spices - ginger, turmeric, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, fenugreek
Omega 3 fatty acids - found in fatty fish, avocados, nuts and seeds
Other lifestyle approaches to reduce inflammation
In addition to eating large amounts of anti-inflammatory foods, lifestyle factors can help to reduce chronic inflammation. Lifestyle triggers such as stress, lack of sleep, and dehydration increase inflammation in the body. Try adopting these practices to limit lifestyle factors that increase inflammation
Sleep- Avoid napping during the day. Develop a nighttime routine that focuses on calming activities with limited light like meditation, night yoga, or reading before bed. Try lavender or chamomile tea before a soothing bath or shower. Stop eating 3-4 hours before bed and stop phone use at least 1 hour before bed. Make sure to give your mind and body time to wind down before bed.
Stress-Spend more time outdoors and be physically active. Whenever you feel stress rise, get through it with deep controlled breaths from your diaphragm. Practice mindfulness and living in the present moment. Engage in fun hobbies or activities you enjoy doing. Spend uninterrupted time with the people you love.
Hydration- Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Try drinking at least 1/2 gallon of water every day. Always have water available. Add lemon, mint, or cucumber to your water to boost flavor. Hydrate with unsweetened herbal tea.
Make time to exercise- Living a sedentary lifestyle alone is enough to trigger chronic low-grade inflammation. That’s why 30 min of daily exercise is the minimum requirement to be healthy. Even with a busy schedule, there are ways to increase physical activity. Here are some tips:
Circle parking lots - walk the perimeter of each parking lot you enter. The grocery store, work, mall, etc.
Exercise while watching TV - We make time to binge-watch our favorite series or movie. Take this opportunity for an uninterrupted workout instead of snack time
Join a sport - In some cities, they have recreational sports leagues for adults. If there isn’t one in your city, start one!
There are several ways to increase daily physical activity. Get creative and have fun! The most important part is you start.
Improvement in these lifestyle areas will significantly help in reducing chronic low-grade inflammation naturally and improve your health overall.
Conclusion
Because diabetes is an imbalance that causes internal injury to blood vessels, it triggers the body’s natural inflammatory response. Thus, living with type 2 diabetes means living with chronic low-grade inflammation. Inflammation makes cells less responsive to insulin. This further contributes to insulin resistance and leaves excess sugar in the blood. In addition, eating a high fiber whole food diet that is balanced in healthy fats, protein, and carbs to increase fat loss, while including specific anti-inflammatory foods to reduce inflammation will help in the fight against diabetes.
Taking this 2-step approach is essential in the fight to beat diabetes.