— Sarah Duke

That's an excellent question because almost every disease that we get is set up by inflammation. So making sure that you are not inflamed is a really good thing to keep your eye on. So when it comes to inflammation, I think of it in two ways. Both what should be added to your diet and perhaps what should be removed from your diet. So practicing for decades, I have often found that people that have an inflammatory response that is exaggerated, um, are usually reacting to a food ingredient that they've either always been allergic to or sensitive to. And I'm not gonna get into the differences between allergy and sensitivity, but for a lot it's either dairy or it's gluten or it's wheat or it could be some other type of food allergy. But usually those show up really quick right after you consume the food. These that are more subtle, you might have something and then three days later you're feeling really bad kind of thing. So what's been shown to help with decreasing inflammation is the Mediterranean diet. And the reason for that is it's high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains. You wanna make sure that your colon's working right and you're like, um, pooping every day. I like to say, because you need to make sure you're getting, getting a lot of fiber, you're getting those toxins outta your system. Um, the essential fatty acids like omega threes are also really important. So having some fish or some flax seeds in your diet are also really good. And not having a lot of saturated fats, which are the fats that are solid at room temperature. So avoiding ultra processed foods and processed foods as much as you can and sticking to ingredients that you can pronounce and understand and actually buy. So that would be my number one advice for someone with inflammation. And usually the only way that I've seen over many years to tell if you are reacting to a food is to remove that one food from your diet for a couple of weeks and see how you feel and then reintroduce it and see if it, it flares something and then see a nutritionist or dietician about it. That's great. So that's interesting you mentioned the Mediterranean diet for styles as well. When I, when I first saw the question and um, I actually went right to Ayurvedic cooking is kind of one of those styles. 'cause the, a lot of the spices that they use are anti-inflammatory as well too. So, um, yes there are a lot of different diets, but you can combine and get those, you know, use those spices and all kinds of cuisine too. So it's a wonderful thing just to kind of point out that, you know, it doesn't have to be a specific cuisine, it's just specific ingredients and I think you're right on point where, um, usually you're gonna find out right away if something's inflammatory. Um, you know, gluten has been one of those things where a lot of people will instantly feel when they're eating gluten, they'll get that gut bomb when their belly will swell right away where it's a little easier. But some, some things are a little harder to be able to find and kind of, you know, reducing things out I think is a great place to be able to start with that.