Let’s be honest. Life is hard. Work is stressful. Family life can be draining. And, quick-fix solutions – binge-watching, scrolling, fast food, pill-popping, substance abuse and numbing out – that put a band-aid on everything are so easy and can provide instantaneous relief.
Unfortunately, these lifestyle factors can be highly inflammatory. A sad but true fact. An even sadder fact is that inflammation is the root cause of almost all illnesses, including chronic diseases. In fact, chronic inflammatory diseases are now attributed to the vast majority of all deaths. For more information on chronic disease and inflammation, read our article Chronic Disease & You. In this article, we’ll focus on the Ayurvedic holistic healing approach to taming the flames of inflammation so you can live a happier, healthier and longer life.
Ayurveda’s Approach to Inflammation
Each person’s ability to fight inflammation in their body is different. Specific constitutional types are far more prone to inflammation than others, and for different reasons. This means that the treatment of each person’s inflammatory response needs to be different. In other words, popping a pill isn’t a solution.
From an Ayurvedic perspective, those with more fire in their constitution (pitta dosha) are more prone to inflammation but any constitutional type (air-types or vata dosha and earth-types or kapha dosha) can be susceptible, but in different ways.
- Fire-types (pitta dosha) naturally tend toward inflammatory responses simply due to higher metabolic energy, which creates heat, burns more fat and creates more muscle. This inflammatory response can be healthy but, when pushed out of balance, it can burn up and degrade all the cells and tissues. When DNA or immune cells are damaged due to inflammation, disease is far more likely.
- Air-types (vata dosha) tend toward depletion. When something becomes depleted, it becomes inflamed because there is nothing left to support its natural, healthy growth or disease-fighting capability. And, depletion that leads to inflammation creates more depletion. It’s a vicious cycle.
- Earth-types (kapha dosha) are the least likely to experience inflammation so long as they stay healthy. Earth-types can, however, tend toward an accumulation of unhealthy fat, which creates toxins and leads to inflammation and disease.
Inflammation and the Subtle Body
When we become inflamed, we don’t just experience it in our physical body. The subtle body also becomes inflamed, creating fiery emotions. We become quick to anger, snap at others or feel intolerant. We can also become very intense, hyper-focused or tend toward overworking. In the worst of cases, we pass through anger into utter dejection – our emotional fire has completely burned out and we have nothing left to give but the remnant ashes.
In Ayurveda, this is considered “high fire in the nervous tissue and mind channels”. Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to this as having an “angry liver” and Ayurveda supports that fire in the mind can originate from fire in the liver, which overflows into the blood (the liver filters your blood). Sound implausible? Let’s look at it from a modern perspective.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) explores the cyclical interactions between the mind and body, specifically those that occur between the nervous system and the immune system. PNI studies how emotional states and nervous system stress can influence immunity as well as how immune system responses, such as inflammation, can affect emotional states and stress. PNI has discovered that serotonin levels (one of the “happy” neurotransmitters in the brain) generally decrease due to an imbalance in the body – usually inflammation.
How does this happen? Cytokines are markers of inflammation in the body that can cross the blood-brain barrier, communicate to the brain, trigger the limbic system and tell the brain that it is constantly under threat, or stress. In other words, inflammation leads to psychological dysfunction: anger, anxiety, depression and overwhelm.
In modern times, most of us are in a constant state of stress – be it low-level or high-level. And, many people consume a highly inflammatory diet. This renders us in a constant state of inflammation throughout our body, including in our brains and our nervous systems. In short, inflammation breaks the harmony between mind, body and spirit.
Taming the Flames – How to Fight Inflammation
For thousands of years, Ayurvedic medicine has proven that excess “fire” in the mind and body (stress and inflammation) will degrade the tissues and cells, lead to chronic health problems and compromise quality of life in mind, body and spirit. Therefore, nutritional and lifestyle support practiced together are key to long-term healing.
Each person needs an individually-tailored approach to any imbalance, including inflammation. Because the source of your inflammation is likely unique to you, we suggest working with a Clinical Ayurvedic Practitioner for the best results, especially if you have any form of chronic disease.
The Path Wellbeing approach incorporates the best of both Eastern and Western principles of combating inflammation naturally. We find that combining these approaches is the best way not just to reduce acute inflammatory markers but also to keep chronic inflammation at bay.
Nutrition
If you Google “anti-inflammatory diet” you will get thousands of hits from different sources, some very reputable. In all honesty, anything you can do to increase anti-inflammatory foods and decrease inflammatory ones will help. It is always best to work with a practitioner to get a custom-tailored food plan that works for you but below are some general guidelines that most can follow:
- Enjoy foods warm or at room temperature. Cold foods are more difficult to digest and can lead to toxic build-up, which drives inflammation.
- Raw vegetables are best in the summer and so long as digestion is strong.
- Eat small meals throughout the day to ensure full digestibility of your food.
- Eat mindfully – no distractions.
- Eat to 75% full.
- Eat fresh, organic, locally-produced and seasonal whole foods as much as possible.
- Eliminate all processed sugars and foods, which are highly inflammatory.
- Start with eliminating all gluten products. Not everyone needs to eliminate gluten to reduce inflammation but it’s a good place to start. Once your digestion has normalized, you can work with your practitioner on specific wheat products that might work for you once inflammation has subsided.
- Avoid nightshades (potatoes – except sweet – eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes) if you have a known allergy or notice an increased inflammatory response after eating these foods.
- Avoid all hot, spicy, acidic, fermented (except yogurt), alcoholic and caffeinated foods/beverages as much as possible and especially when out of balance.
- 40% to 50% of your diet should come from carbohydrates (grains, fruits, and vegetables), 30% from fat (dairy, oils, nuts, meat) and 20% to 30% from protein (nuts, meat).
- Excellent sources of anti-inflammatory fruits and vegetables include:
- Tomatoes – lycopene is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. Avoid if you have a known nightshade allergy or trouble digesting tomatoes, which can oftentimes be too acidic. Buy only sweet, organic vine-ripened tomatoes and avoid all tomato sauces and canned or processed tomatoes.
- Apples – the skin contains quercitin, which is anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy. Try our Cooked Apple Recipe for easier digestion.
- Beets – cooked or juiced raw help to reduce blood pressure and cool the liver. Try our Beet Soup Recipe or our Liver Cleansing Juice
- Cherries – contain melatonin, which helps with gout and insomnia. Tart cherry juice has also been found to help offset inflammation.
- Strawberries – contain antioxidants called anthocyanin, along with other phytochemicals and Vitamin C, which help to reduce inflammation.
- Rhubarb – has long been used as an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anticancer medicine in China. It blanches the gut microbiome, thereby playing a positive role in inflammation, immunity and other aspects of the body. Try our Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp Recipe .
- Increase antioxidant support with supplements and herbs recommended by your practitioner. Antioxidants help to reduce inflammation by clearing toxic accumulation in the cells and herbs help to cool and nourish the entire system.
- Omega-3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation and support heart health. They also may help reduce symptoms of depression. Sources of Omega-3 fatty acids include high quality, extra virgin olive oil (cooked at low heats or added to food after cooking), fatty fish, walnuts, and flaxseeds. Omega-3s were abundant in traditional diets, but they aren’t as present in modern diets, which tend to be higher in Omega-6 fatty acids, which in excess can promote inflammation and heart disease.
- If you struggle with adding Omega-3s into your diet, we recommend this fish oil-based Omega supplement, which supports brain health, cardiovascular health, skin health, and the immune system with a powerful 3-in-1 blend of Omega-3, Omega-7, and Vitamin D, which also helps to protect neurons and reduce inflammation.
- Other food sources of Vitamin D include cold-water fish, seafood, mushrooms (exposed to sunlight), and egg yolks. A high-quality Vitamin D supplement is also helpful.
- If you struggle with adding Omega-3s into your diet, we recommend this fish oil-based Omega supplement, which supports brain health, cardiovascular health, skin health, and the immune system with a powerful 3-in-1 blend of Omega-3, Omega-7, and Vitamin D, which also helps to protect neurons and reduce inflammation.
Detoxification
No matter how hard you try to avoid them, everyone is exposed to toxins to different degrees. Holistic healing aims to avoid, disarm and excrete toxins, which lead to oxidative stress, inflammation, cell damage and mitochondrial breakdown. You can start today by eliminating the toxins in your environment. Visit the Environmental Working Group’s resource page on Toxic Chemicals to learn more.
Your liver is one of the main detoxifiers in your body. It’s like a conveyor belt – toxins get metabolized, transformed and disarmed then excreted through bile into the gut. The liver releases bile but, all too often, it becomes stagnant, causing a toxic build-up. The liver needs nutrients, minerals, fatty acids and consistent support to keep it working properly. Fiber is essential to liver and gut health. Our Liver Cleansing Juice is a good place to start.
Ayurveda is famous for its supportive, nurturing detoxification system. Check out our latest article on the Ayurvedic Approach to Cleansing. Working with a practitioner to cleanse and rejuvenate the liver is the fastest and most effective way to jumpstart your system!
Lifestyle
It would be so easy for us to tell you to just reduce stress to reduce inflammation…as if it were a light switch you could just turn on and off! That said, the correlation between stress and health issues has been researched, studied and written about for decades.
The link between stress, inflammation and chronic disease is on the rise. Stress is negative terminology because it is associated with negative feelings, experiences and outcomes. And, certainly, if you only look at it through this lens, you will experience stress as something that drains your energy, your body, and your health. Learning to befriend the stress in your life that you can’t necessarily eliminate is essential. It is also very hard to do, which is why we are here to help support you.
From a holistic healing perspective, learning to manage your emotional energy – and thereby better managing excessive cortisol levels that rise under stress and create more inflammation – by building more gratitude, empathy and non-judgment is key to any healing path. Below are some meditations that can help you on your anti-inflammatory lifestyle journey.
- Introduction to Meditation
- Pratyahara – Withdrawal of the Senses
- Yoga Nidra – Healing Energy
- Loving Kindness Meditation
- Chakra Meditation – Grounding
We know meditation isn’t for everyone. Finding anti-inflammatory lifestyle practices that work for you may require support. Finding a new personal balance with stress enables you to to change your life without necessarily changing your external situation. Click here to start exploring. For more information check out our articles on allergies, inflammaging and preparing for the Ayurvedic “fire season” (pitta time of year).
The information contained within this article is for educational purposes only and should not replace the direct advice of a qualified healthcare professional. Always consult a medical or other professional healthcare provider when considering a new health regime.
