By Amy Bowers, Holistic Health Coach, Founder of Optimum Wellness and Nutrition, Wife, Mom, Foodie / www.optimumwellnessandnutrition.com / Facebook / Instagram
Over 100 years ago, Hippocrates said, “All Disease starts in the gut.” He was the first doctor of medicine, and his quote confirms how important the health and integrity of our gut is and how crucial it is that we get rid of inflammation that can wreak havoc in the gut.
Simply put, inflammation is our body’s response to an injury. It is one of the most important jobs of our immune system. There are 2 types of inflammation. The first is acute inflammation. This is the good kind, like when you stub your toe and it swells, or hit your knee and get a bruise. The swelling and bruising is your body activating your immune system to help heal the injury–and in time, the inflammation goes away. The second kind of inflammation is chronic inflammation. This kind is very harmful and is related to many diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and auto-immune diseases like arthritis, lupus, celiac and multiple sclerosis. Chronic inflammation is related to poor health habits, such as eating too much sugar, and processed foods, not exercising, not getting enough sleep and having too much stress in your life. Studies show that chronic inflammation can also lead to weight gain. Interestingly enough, as weight goes up, so does CRP (C-Reactive Protein), which is a chemical triggered when our immune system is activated, hence triggering inflammation.
My goal as a Health Coach is to help my clients get rid of inflammation by eliminating processed foods, sugar, gluten, dairy, GMO soy and corn and reducing alcohol intake. We want to crowd out these inflammatory foods by ‘crowding in’ anti-inflammatory foods.
Foods that help get rid of inflammation are:
Fruits and vegetables, especially:
Leafy green vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables
Berries
Oranges
Avocados
Onions
Garlic
Leeks
Shallots
Green onions
Healthy Fats, such as:
Olive oil
Coconut Oil
Salmon
Tuna
Sardines
Nuts, like:
Walnuts
Almonds
Pecans
Peanuts
Pistachio
Cashew
Hazelnut
Seeds, like:
Pumpkin/Pepitas
Hemp
Flax
Sunflower
Chia
Sesame
Poppy
Herbs and spices, such as:
Turmeric
Cinnamon
Ginger
Clove
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper
Living a healthy life should not mean one of deprivation. I like to help my clients focus on all of the wonderful foods you CAN have instead of focusing on what you can’t have. There are so many delicious and healthy recipes that you can eat to help get rid of inflammation, like my Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie recipe below.
By reducing foods that cause inflammation and increasing anti-inflammatory foods, combined with exercise, healthy sleep habits and stress reduction techniques, you are setting yourself up to look and feel great!
Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie:
Ingredients:
½ frozen Banana
¼ Avocado
½ cup Blueberries
1 handful Spinach
1 handful Baby Kale
1 tbsp. Almond Butter
1 tbsp. Hemp Seeds
1 tbsp. ground Flaxseed
¼ cup Almond Milk (possibly a few tsp. more if needed to blend)
1 Date (optional to add sweetness)
Optional: Berries, nuts and seeds for toppings
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a blender. (I use my Vitamix, but any high speed blender should work.)
Blend on high, adding more almond milk if needed, but not too much that it becomes too thin. You may need to occasionally stop the blender and scrape down the sides so that it becomes easier to blend and smooth.
Pour the smoothie into a cup and top with berries, nuts and seeds. Enjoy!
ABOUT AMY BOWERS, HEALTH COACH
Amy Bowers is a Certified Health Coach. She graduated from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in 2014. Amy studied under the foremost leading experts and doctors in functional medicine and nutrition.
Amy is passionate about assisting her clients with nutrition and lifestyle changes. Through her extensive knowledge and health coach training, her mission is to help clients reach their goals by getting rid of inflammation. She helps clients do this by educating them on foods that cause inflammation, and instead, eating anti-inflammatory foods that nourish the mind and body. She is a firm believer that the food we are eating can be our medicine and help heal us from the inside out.
Amy believes that although nutrition is extremely important, it is only one component that plays into overall health. Her approach to health coaching and what sets her apart is her belief in bio-individuality–each person is unique and has specific individual health and nutritional needs. Stress, work, sleep, relationships, and activity levels all play into this equation. Finding a balance and a plan that works with YOUR lifestyle is the key to success. Get ready to OWN Your Health!
You can find Amy on her website www.optimumwellnessandnutrition.com, Facebook and Instagram!