Work life has been hectic and somewhat stressful lately, hence the sporadic posting. There have been frustrating setbacks, a fair amount of pivoting and a lot of stink eyeing my computer. Stress is a natural part of the human experience. So is the inflammation it causes. I can accept that and I know I am not alone. The whole damn world is stressed in old, new and challenging ways. When we are experiencing higher levels of stress or more persistent/chronic stress the inflammation response hurts more than it helps. We have all heard it before, inflammation is the cause of all dis-ease. Imagine a tiny isolated forest fire. That is not such a terrible thing as can be part of a natural cleansing process with many real benefits. They do what they need to do and then burn out naturally. Now imagine several tiny not so isolated forest fires. They spread and join forces in the blink of an eye. Now you have a natural disaster instead of a serene place that many adorable and majestic creatures call home. Not ideal. Stress can lead to this very not ideal reality and generally leads to behaviors that double down on the inflammatory situation. Fire. Everywhere. We jam junk food, sweets and coffee. We lose the energy to exercise and our internal dialogue can become negative, limiting and unrealistic. This may be why so many people drink.. and I have to mention that drinking causes inflammation as well. How could it not? Booze is FLAMMABLE. We know this. But did you know that inflammation is what they find when looking at brain scans of depressed people? At first they thought the inflammation was a side effect of the depression. Researchers are now flipping this theory and starting to approach treatment differently. There are a lot of tools to keep these internal fires under control, but it takes awareness. Are we breathing? I mean deeply, truly? Are we getting enough exercise? AND of course, WHAT the hell are we eating? Your diet plays a big roll in all of this. I could remind you to eat your greens and all those omega 3’s we talked about before but lets look at herbs and spices. They can can be kept in your pantry or grown on your patio and have major benefits. Ingredients that are just laying/growing around to be added to anything and played with to switch up flavor profiles while doing a body honest good. Below are the MVP’s when it comes to fighting inflammation. Keep these things on hand and learn how to use them. Play around with them. Imagine if we played half as much as we stress..
Turmeric
Green tea
Chili peppers
Rosemary
Sage
Cloves
Ginger
Cinnamon
Garlic
Cayenne
Want some ideas on how to use these ingredients? I’ll post some recipes in the coming weeks but for now… Make oatmeal with golden milk instead of water or OG milk. How about you keep a jug of peppermint green tea in your fridge.. all summer long. Put a mega load of garlic in everything.. no one is really kissing much these days anyway. Add peaches and slivers of ginger to your drinking water.. or maybe rosemary with lemon and cucumbers. Sprinkle cinnamon in your coffee grounds before you brew it, that’s a favorite of mine… damn, I miss coffee.
Day 184: Kitchari Bowl from Curcuma with a Chlora Vida shot. Quinoa, mung beans seasoned with Ayurvedic spices (read: anti-inflammatory)with spinach, pickled red onion, carrots, hemp seeds, lemon, nutritional yeast and avocado. I didn’t have time to cook for myself today so I found a healthy option on my way to the office.