Inflammatory Food Triggers

Acute Inflammation is our ally, aiding in recovery, protection, defense, and one of the body's most powerful healing tools. However, chronic inflammation is more common—and more dangerous—than people realize, contributing to chronic diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks chronic diseases as the greatest threat to human health affecting nearly 1 in 3 adults, linked to over 50% of all deaths, playing a role in heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, fatigue, brain fog, and even depression. Inflammation doesn’t just affect your body, it impacts your mood, memory, and everyday life.

Inflammation Triggers:

Inflammation can be a slow accumulation. It happens when the body’s natural defense system doesn’t shut off or is constantly triggered by lifestyle inputs like stress, diet, poor sleep, lack of movement, and environmental toxins.

Inflammatory Foods

Inflammatory foods don’t just affect your body, they can cloud your mind, disrupt your mood, and influence food decisions. Choosing nourishing foods is a way to protect your energy and health. For instance, eating a lot of foods that are high in fat, especially saturated fat doesn’t just trigger inflammation; they also mess with the body's hormones like leptin, insulin, and GLP-1. These hormones help your body know when you're full, manage your weight, digest food properly, and keep your mood and brain balanced.

But excess fat isn’t the only problem contributing to weight gain, inflammatory foods disrupt your body's signals and digestion, including:

• Ultra processed Foods

• Sugary snacks and drinks

• White bread and other refined carbs

• High saturated fatty meats, processed meats, and meats cooked at high temperatures contain (Advanced Glycation End products, or AGEs -Hot dogs, bacon, sausage, deli/lunch meats (bologna, salami, pepperoni), and fatty cuts of beef or pork)

• Fried foods

• Alcohol & preservatives (sulfites, nitrites)

• Trans Fats and Partially Hydrogenated Oils -margarine, commercially fried foods, and many processed snack foods 

• Packaged and processed frozen or refrigerated foods (refrigerated dough, TV dinner meals)

When your body is inflamed from stress or poor diet, your brain's chemical signals and feedback loops can become dysregulated. These signals can make it harder for your brain to “hear” the hormones that normally tell you to stop eating. Even if you’ve had enough food, you might still feel hungry, moody, or stuck in a cycle of cravings.

Not only does inflammation damage the healthy bacteria in your gut known as the microbiome, but it also becomes more inflamed with Ultra processed foods (UPF). In fact, scientific data on UPF is consistently linked to significant alterations in gut microbiome composition and low-grade inflammation. This imbalance (called dysbiosis ) causes even more inflammation, which keeps the cycle going. Luckily, the diet's impact on gut health and overall health can be improved through making healthier food choices that foster microbiome resilience.