Inflammation: The Hidden Storm 

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. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks chronic diseases as the greatest threat to human health. Chronic inflammation can be low-grade and long-lasting and can go unnoticed for months or even years. It quietly affects nearly 1 in 3 adults and is linked to over 50% of all deaths, playing a role in heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, fatigue, brain fog, and even depression. But what’s often missed? Inflammation doesn’t just affect your body — it impacts your mood, memory, and ability to show up fully for your family and your calling. 

Inflammation Triggers:

It happens when the body’s natural defense system doesn’t shut off or are constantly triggered by things like stress, certain foods, poor sleep, lack of movement, or environmental toxins.

Inflammatory Foods

Inflammatory foods don’t just affect your body—they can cloud your mind, disrupt your mood, and make it harder to feel full. 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 fat isn’t the only problem. Other foods that can cause inflammation include:

• Ultra processed Foods

• Sugary snacks and drinks

• White bread and other refined carbs

• Diets high in red and processed meats due to their content of saturated fats and compounds formed when cooking meat at high temperatures (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—it sends chemical signals to your brain that can mess with how you feel full. These signals can make it harder for your brain to “hear” the hormones that normally tell you to stop eating. So even if you’ve had enough food, you might still feel hungry, moody, or stuck in a cycle of cravings.

To make things worse, ultra-processed foods (UPF) can damage the healthy bacteria in your gut known as the microbiome. 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.

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”-- 3 John 1:2