Once upon a time, the word "inflammation" was almost exclusively used in doctors offices while treating patients with IBS or possible gluten allergies. However in our never-ending quest to feel good, it’s now popular to avoid inflammatory foods in search of mental clarity, good skin, and a healthy BMI.
How do you figure out what foods you should avoid, though? Is that list that pops up when you Google "inflammatory foods" standard for everyone?
Let’s start with a basic vocab lesson and get to the bottom of this.
Inflammation: When the body releases chemicals that trigger immune response to fight or heal.
An inflammatory response is important and it’s not something we should consider to be a problem or something we want to rid our body of in normal instances.
The problem arises when our body is undergoing constant inflammation particularly when no harm is or was imposed on us. For the sake of simplicity, let’s look at this idea in only the scope of nutrition and skin health.
When you are experiencing an inflammatory response from your diet, the pro-inflammatory molecules (called cytokines for my science nerds) increase. This rise in response can cause a slew of health problems, and because your skin is the largest organ it will definitely be feeling the wrath.
But how do we know what foods cause increased inflammation in the body? Here are a few extremely common ones:
Fried foods
Alcohol
Processed foods (i.e. snack foods)
Sugary foods
Living your life with great balance by keeping those above food types to a minimum may already be in the works for you! I applaud you!
And maybe you’re thinking, “Alison, I minimize these foods but I’m still dealing with what I think might be skin issues due to inflammation”. To that I say, “I’ve been there!”
While the topic of inflammatory foods can be both endless and highly debated, we cannot deny that every person is different. Therefore, the foods that your body disagrees with will vary and it’s not a one size fits all method.
This is why it’s crucial to delve into what affects YOU in particular. While I could provide you a list of foods that may cause acne flare-ups, rosacea worsening, or increased aging, you are going to benefit most from learning what foods are causing this inflammatory response to stick around in your body.
Increased consumption of foods that your body is sensitive to increases inflammation thus taxing the liver, throwing off hormone function and affecting blood sugar balance. This can show up through your skin due to ways the skin compensates for poor liver and hormonal function.
I am not an “elimination” kind of gal these days. I like to use the “add” method and make sure I am throwing in as many nutritious items as I can in my meals. I also like to use the “minimize” method. I am a margarita, red wine loving human and I won’t be “eliminating” that anytime soon. But do I use moderation and self-awareness when it comes to these? Yes! (Most of the time, unless it’s Cinco De Mayo). I encourage my clients to do the same. Learn your problem foods and minimize them.
So now you’ve grown to understand what inflammation in the body is, why it’s occurring, and an idea that you need to learn your body's specific needs. But how does one go about doing this?
That’s where I come in! While I won’t be prescribing you nutrition plans and I cannot order or diagnose you through blood tests, I can be your advocate in learning further on how to navigate the right resources for you. Resources like your own at-home blood tests, food experimentation, how to make sense of all the information and most importantly how to apply it to promoting healthy, radiant, glowing, age-defying skin!
If you want to learn more about finding out what foods are causing annoyance in your skin health, energy levels, and more, I’d love to chat with you!
Citations:
Pahwa R, Goyal A, Jialal I. Chronic Inflammation. [Updated 2023 Aug 7]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/
Hänel KH, Cornelissen C, Lüscher B, Baron JM. Cytokines and the skin barrier. Int J Mol Sci. 2013 Mar 26;14(4):6720-45. doi: 10.3390/ijms14046720. PMID: 23531535; PMCID: PMC3645662.
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