hronic inflammation may be the biggest health threat that we face today. Why? Because it is related to the most common chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. By understanding inflammation and taking steps toward preventing it, you could lower your risk of all aging-related diseases, not just one in particular.

Inflammation is actually an immune system response to damage, irritation, or infection. It's our first line of defense when our bodies want to destroy a harmful substance and then repair the affected tissue. Acute (short-term) inflammation is a good thing; it means your immune system is responding properly to an infection or a foreign body. When your body has healed, inflammation usually ends. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, may indicate that a good thing has gone bad. Sometimes, acute inflammation progresses into chronic inflammation, as in the case of a long-running bacterial infection, but chronic inflammation most often occurs on its own, unrelated to acute inflammation. Belly fat is now believed to be the main underlying cause of chronic inflammation.

Your belly is not just a storage space for fat; abdominal fat is considered to be an organ of metabolically active tissue that produces hormones, such as IL-6 and CRP, which help turn on your immune system's inflammatory responses. Once the immune system is activated through this pathway, the risk for many diseases increases significantly. If you are apple shaped (carry your weight around your middle), or a man with a waist circumference of 40 inches or more, or a woman with a waist circumference of 35 or more, you're at greater risk for inflammation-related health problems. Inflammation can act in different ways and lead to many conditions including:

Obesity Diabetes Metabolic syndrome Hypertension Alheimer's disease

Heart Disease Gum Disease Rheumatoid Arthritis Asthma

Of course, you don't want to develop any of these conditions and, if you do have any of them, you want to manage them as well as possible. The heartening news is that inflammation, a major risk factor for all of these diseases, can be controlled by dietary and lifestyle measures. Depending on what you do, your lifestyle can either increase your risk of inflammation, and therefore other chronic diseases, or it can lower your risk of inflammation and its related diseases.

What causes chronic inflammation in the first place? While abdominal fat is the major cause of chronic inflammation, there are other important players as well: food, pollution, stress, trauma, poor dental hygiene, sedentary lifestyle, chronic sleep deprivation, and smoking. Depending on your personal situation, some of these pro-inflammatory stressors may be more important to your health than others.

• Smoking is the absolute worst thing you can do for your health, so if you still smoke, stop immediately.
• Second, lose the weight you're carrying around your middle. For information about healthy and successful weight loss, visit the Nutrition Notes archives at www.gelsons.com.
• Limit your exposure to pollution and second-hand smoke and avoid exercising outdoors during rush hour.
• Take good care of your teeth by brushing at least twice daily, flossing daily, eating plenty of crunchy foods, and keeping soft foods to a minimum.
• Although stress is unavoidable, you can change the way you deal with stress. Meditation, breath work, yoga, tai chi, and exercise in general are all excellent ways to dissipate your stress and focus your negative energy on positive movements.
• Exercise not only helps control stress, it also helps reduce inflammation, manage weight, boost the immune system, and improve insulin sensitivity, which in turn can prevent the onset of many diseases, including cancer. If you are sedentary, belly fat can accumulate quickly, but the encouraging news is that when you are more active, abdominal fat burns off faster than fat in other areas of your body.
• Chronic sleep deprivation can cause inflammation. If you think you may have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor; otherwise, commit to a normal, adequate sleep schedule to improve your weight and health.

Last, but certainly not least, what you eat is obviously important to your overall health and weight. The way I see things, there are two categories of foods: those that damage health and those that promote health. In order to combat inflammation, you need to first remove the harmful foods from your diet and then add in the salubrious foods. The following is a list of foods that you need to remove from your diet as the first step towards fighting inflammation. They are mainly unhealthy fats, processed foods, and processed foods that contain unhealthy fats. Once these items are removed, any excess weight you are carrying should slowly start to come off. There is emerging evidence that foods containing partially hydrogenated fats encourage the accumulation of belly fat and, as we know, it's belly fat that proliferates inflammation, so be especially vigilant of foods that contain this ingredient.

Pro-inflammatory foods

If you're now wondering what's left to eat, then we've got a lot of work to do! Natural whole foods that are organically rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients should form the basis of your healthy eating plan. Plant foods in general are excellent inflammation fighters. They are high in phytonutrients that quell inflammation and oxidation. These foods also tend to be high in fiber, which binds to pro-inflammatory substances in our bodies and sweeps them out of our systems. Inflammation is often provoked by free radical reactions, like LDL oxidation inside our arteries. Since antioxidants help prevent the free radical reactions, foods high in phytonutrients and vitamins C and E should be emphasized. Fruits and vegetables are abundant suppliers of these nutrients, especially if they are deeply colored.

The following is a list of anti-inflammatory foods, categorized by food group, that you should work to include in your diet frequently. Remember that variety and moderation are key when it comes to eating healthy foods.

Anti-inflammatory foods

I hope this inflammation information has inspired you to lead a more healthful lifestyle or at least has renewed your interest in doing so. Now you know that aiming your efforts at minimizing one risk factor can help prevent a whole host of diseases, and the goal of staying healthy should seem much more attainable. We're all faced with health-impacting choices everyday. From now on, when you're faced with yours, choose the healthiest, most anti-inflammatory option.