Playing with Fire...

Inflammation is like a fire in your body you cannot see or feel. It's a smoldering process that injures your tissues, joints, and blood vessels, and you often do not notice it until significant damage is done, it's also one of the key reasons that are linked to poor health and when left to run wild, this process can lead to arthritis, heart disease, Alzheimer's and is the key factor in obesity So how can you in a week or less get dramatic relief from all these symptoms you thought you had to live with the rest of your life? Keep reading.

It's simple actually, avoid foods that cause inflammation and incorporate foods that fight inflammation into your regular meals such as onions, turmeric, red grapes, and green tea. All types of berries also are rich in polyphenols which are anti-inflammatory, as are cherries and plums, as well as dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, and collards. Olive oil, flaxseed oil, and fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel offer healthy doses of omega-3 fatty acids, which have long been shown to reduce inflammation. Omega-3s may even lower levels in the brain.

If you cannot lose weight or you have plateaued before you've reached your body goals, make sure you've kicked the inflammatory foods in the list below to the curb.

We found over 30 examples of the foods that cause inflammation and categorized them into different inflammation-causing food groups.

1. Sugar - Common Culprits: Soda, snack bars, candy, baked sweets, coffee drinks

2. Vegetable oil - Common Culprits: Mayonnaise, salad dressings, barbecue sauce, crackers, bread, potato chips

3. Fried Foods - Common Culprits: Mayonnaise, salad dressings, barbecue sauce, crackers, bread, potato chips

4. Refined Flour - Common Culprits: Pizza, white bread, crackers, pasta, pretzels, flour tortillas, breakfast cereals, bagels

5. Dairy - Common Culprits: Milk, soft cheeses, yogurt, butter

6. Artificial Sweeteners - Splenda, Sucralose, maltodextrin

7. Artificial Additives - Common Culprits: Breakfast cereals, processed foods containing fruit, candy, ice cream

8. Saturated Fats - Common Culprits: Burgers, pizza, candy, chips

9. Grain Fed meats - Common Culprits: Beef, chicken pork Because cattle, chicken, and pigs didn't evolve on a grain-fed diet, many producers have to load up their animals with antibiotics. These drugs not only keep the animals from getting diseases in cramped feedlots or getting sick from their unnatural diet, but they also help them and us gain weight faster. Look for antibiotic-free or grass-fed, or free-range chicken and try limiting your red meats to 3 times a week.

10. Processed meat - Common Culprits: Bacon, hot dogs, bologna, sausage, jerky. Processed meat is the worst...just sayin

11. TransFat foods - Common Culprits: Deep-fried restaurant meals; baked goods like doughnuts, cookies, and muffins - I recommend staying away from all processed food while you are on the path to a healthy body.

Being overweight is simply being inflamed.

For the next week try and avoid the foods that cause inflammation and add more of the foods that help with inflammation and always pay attention to how food makes you feel.

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