This is an “Inflammatory” Advice!
One is almost certain to get injured occasionally due to various reasons – and millions do suffer from sports related injuries every year. It could be your bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments or any other structure.
The body always responds to an injury with a predictable inflammatory response, as a first step towards healing. It’s an immune response to protect it. It’s generally localised and it gets better with rest.
Now, what happens when your entire body is filled with chronic inflammation even without being physically injured? You struggle with joint pain, you feel tired all day, your mental clarity plummets, you have hormonal imbalance and you put on weight. This is a systemic inflammatory situation.
Studies tell us that all inflammation starts at the cellular level. Each cell has its own intelligence. It responds to an environment that you subject it to. If you put your body in a happy surrounding, then your body will respond to you favourably with a healing touch. But when you expose your body to harmful habits and chronic environments like chemicals, eating the wrong food, not moving your body enough, hanging around with bad company, choosing a wrong job, then the body has to face a physical, emotional and a chemical barrage – it then tries to protect itself by creating a systemic inflammatory reaction.
The cell wall (membrane), which is otherwise stretchable and permeable to movement and nutrients, now gets inflamed to prevent the toxins from entering it. This also restricts the flow of nutrients, vitamins and hormones that need to enter the cell for its well being. To overturn this we need to slow down our bodies by giving some rest to the liver (“time-restricted-eating”) – just like we would have rested our inflamed ankles as a part of recovery.
An Inflamed liver leads to cirrhosis, low grade inflammation leads to insulin resistance. Also inflammation in the vessels of the kidneys causes it to fail, inflammation is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and likewise inflammation in the brain can lead to Alzheimer’s (type 3 diabetes), to name a few of its malign effects.
Nutrition, or lack of it, is the key factor. Sugar, fructose, alcohol, processed vegetable oils, processed foods/grains, and obesogens (chemicals that make you put on weight) are all highly inflammatory.
Remember that we are rhythmic beings. We constantly need to move, expand and contract (like the cell wall). And so, go back to eating home cooked food. Eat natural, exercise (move your body), and sleep for 8 to 9 hours a day. You will then be good to go!
Zareer Patell – Black Belt, Personal/Online fitness Trainer and Wellness Columnist (since 1972).
