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How To Make Every Meal Anti-Inflammatory, From A Functional RD
Balancing inflammation is about not just what you eat but how you eat. As a functional dietitian, I know how easy it is to get lost in the nitty-gritty of finding the "perfect" anti-inflammatory ingredients.
However, it's much more important to look at the big picture when adopting an anti-inflammatory diet rather than losing the forest for the trees and focusing on individual foods first.
By that logic, here are a few foundational principles of an anti-inflammatory diet and how to make each one work for you:
Build your plate for balanced blood sugar
I'd consider imbalanced blood sugar to be the greatest contributor to inflammation. This means that following an anti-inflammatory diet is mostly about keeping blood sugar balanced at every meal.
Adding more anti-inflammatory foods is a bonus, but it won't make a big difference if your meal is already triggering an elevated blood sugar response and sending you on an inflammation and stress roller coaster.
What to do:
Keep your plate balanced when building meals. A balanced plate contains protein, fiber, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. When paired, these macronutrients work together to reduce elevated blood sugar responses to meals. While everyone's nutritional needs are different, here is a quick-and-dirty breakdown of how I typically recommend structuring your plate:
- Aim for ½ of the plate to be nonstarchy veggies like zucchini, bell peppers, leafy greens, fennel, etc.
- Aim for ¼ of the plate to be protein such as fish, seafood, beef, eggs, chicken, turkey, tofu, etc.
- Aim for ¼ of the plate to be carbohydrates such as starchy veggies like beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes; or grains like rice and quinoa; or starchy legumes like chickpeas or lentils.
- Aim for a serving of healthy fats from olive oil, nuts & seeds, avocado, etc. Your healthy fat can be part of your protein source too.
Don't go too long between meals
Going too long between meals or even waiting too long in the morning to eat breakfast can cause your blood sugar to dip. In the absence of food, the stress hormone cortisol is released1.
This mobilizes more blood sugar from our stored energy in the liver, raising our blood sugar2, and before we know it, we are back on the stress-inflammation roller coaster.
What to do:
Do your best to stick to a general eating schedule. Our bodies like to eat around the same time each day, so aiming to have meals within an hour window of your ideal schedule is very helpful for overall health and inflammation.
Again, everyone is different, but this rough schedule is an example of how to structure your day to keep your circadian rhythm, stress levels, and inflammatory response in check:
- Eat breakfast within 1-2 hours of waking.
- Have lunch 3-4 hours after breakfast.
- Eat a protein-forward snack midway between lunch and dinner.
- Have dinner at least 2-3 hours before bed.
Eat a diversity of foods
The foods you eat nourish your gut microbiome. And the more diverse they are, the more they'll help create a diverse, nourished microbial environment. In turn, your gut will produce powerful anti-inflammatory compounds called short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) that calm inflammation in both the body as well as the brain.
What to do:
Feed your microbiome a diverse array of fiber-rich foods daily!
Start with starchy plant carbohydrates such as carrots, beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, rutabaga, chickpeas, and lentils. These are a preferred food source for the microbiome, and they help it produce more anti-inflammatory byproducts.
These starchy plants are also fiber-dense, so they help to balance blood sugar. Plus, their slow-digesting carbs help to clear and reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which can contribute to inflammation in high amounts.
Aim to eat five different plants daily and 30 different types of plants each week. Remember, plants are fruits and vegetables, but there are also legumes like chickpeas, lentils, nuts, and seeds.
So get creative with recipes, rotate different types of berries or leafy greens into your smoothies weekly, try one new food each week from the grocery store, enjoy fruit as part of your daily snack, and have fun with food!
Spice up your meals
Spices and herbs (fresh or dried) are some of the most anti-inflammatory foods out there. Herbal teas are also anti-inflammatory powerhouses that don't always get the credit they deserve.
What to do:
Think of ways to add more spice to the things you eat or drink daily. Think adding cinnamon to your coffee, cardamom to your smoothie, or fresh herbs to finish off your soup or stew.
All types of spices and herbs have powerful concentrations of anti-inflammatory compounds, so any type will benefit you, but here are some of my favorites:
- Ceylon cinnamon
- Oregano
- Rosemary
- Parsley
- Basil
- Thyme
- Turmeric
All teas also come with amazing benefits, but here are my go-to picks:
- Peppermint tea
- Ginger tea
- Chamomile tea
- Nettle tea
- Dandelion tea
- Hibiscus tea
The takeaway
Optimize your health at every meal by following these four anti-inflammatory food principles. The best part about them is that they don't require running out to the store to snag the latest superfood; you can work with what you already have to keep your inflammation in check.
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