If it ends in “-itis,” it’s inflammation.

Key Causes of Excess Inflammation

Here are the main drivers of excess inflammation in modern life:

1. The modern diet. This has euphemistically been called the Standard American Diet or SAD. The key problems are that it:
   • Includes as much as 140 pounds of sugar per person yearly, dumped in during food processing. This, and having 18% of our calories coming from white flour, powerfully drives inflammation.
   • Has lost most of its omega-3 (often known as fish oils) intake. The balance of omega-3 to other kinds of oils sets the volume on our inflammation system. It used to be that we ate about the same amount of these omega-3 oils as we did other vegetable oils. Now we are getting almost 20 times as many seed and vegetable oils relative to omega-3s.
2. The misguided advice to avoid sunshine. Sunshine is what makes our vitamin D, which regulates our immune system. Low vitamin D is associated with an increase in autoimmune and inflammatory problems, as well as pain. The proper advice? Avoid sunburn, not sunshine!
3. The increased societal tendency to make people afraid and mistrustful of each other. Our immune system takes cues from how we feel. If we feel safe, it settles down. If we’re constantly afraid, it lashes out blindly.
4. Poor sleep. The average night’s sleep in the United States until light bulbs were invented was nine hours per night. We’re now down to under seven hours on average. This is associated with changes in inflammatory activity and pain perception. 
5. Excess body fat. Excess fat drives inflammation. Being sedentary and eating a high carb diet leads to increased weight.

Balancing and Restoring Healthy Inflammation Made Easy

Here are simple measures to decrease excess inflammation. It is not necessary to do all of these. Simply pick those that are easy and feel best to you.

Dietary Changes That Help

• Decrease sugar intake. This doesn’t mean you can’t have any sweets. But it does mean cutting out sugary sodas and fruit juices. Also read the nutrition labels on processed foods before you buy them. Divide the grams of “added sugars” by four, and that’s how many teaspoons of sugar there are per serving. That will give you the information needed to make an informed decision. I would note that chocolate, in moderation, is a healthy food.
• Eat whole grains instead of white flour when convenient.
• When convenient, increase fatty fish consumption (salmon, tuna, herring, sardines). Fast food fried fish does not count.
• When convenient, use grass-fed beef instead of grain-fed beef.
• Switch from seed oils (e.g., canola, corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, cottonseed, and peanut oil) and artificially saturated fats, to olive or avocado oil. Which helps support a healthier inflammatory balance.

Are You a Sugar Addict?

Many of us are sugar addicts. Literally. It is much easier to come off sugar if you know what kind of sugar addict you are. When you address these four key causes, not only do sugar cravings go away, but most people notice that their overall pain lessens as well.

It is not uncommon to have several types of sugar addiction.

Type 1: Hooked on “Energy Loan Shark” Drinks—chronically exhausted and hooked on caffeine and sugar.

Quiz question: Do you repeatedly crave sweets or caffeine to give you the energy to get through the day?

Solution: Create healthy energy by using:

• Energy Revitalization Drink Mix multinutrient powder.
• S.H.I.N.E. D-Ribose 5 gm 1–2 times a day plus Smart Energy capsules 2 each morning.
• HRG80™ Red Ginseng Chewable Tablets ½–2 daily.

My published research showed that this combination often more than doubles healthy energy. These can be taken individually or combined as needed.

Type 2: Feed Me Now or I’ll Kill You—when life’s pressures have exhausted your stress handling adrenal glands.

Quiz question: Are you irritable when hungry? Do you get “Feed me now or I’ll kill you” episodes? You’re feeling “hangry,” and hangry equals adrenal fatigue.

Bonus question: Are you in marriage counseling or divorce proceedings? The mood shifts driving your problems often come from low blood sugar. Treating adrenal fatigue may get you off sugar and save your marriage!

Solution: Get adrenal support with licorice and other key nutrients. One to two capsules of Adrenaplex taken each morning make this easy.  As does a high protein, low sugar diet.

Type 3: The Happy Twinkie Hunter—experiencing sugar cravings caused by yeast or candida overgrowth.

Quiz question: Do you have chronic nasal congestion, sinusitis, spastic colon, or irritable bowel syndrome?

Solution: Treat the candida (see my book From Fatigued to Fantastic).

Type 4: Depressed and Craving Carbs—experiencing sugar cravings associated with the menstrual cycle or menopause.

Quiz question: In the week before and around your period (or in general if you no longer have periods), do you experience noticeably worse insomnia, pain, headaches, fatigue, hot flashes or sweats?

Solution: Consider discussing bioidentical hormonal support with your physician. Getting bioidentical hormones from a regular pharmacy by prescription is now easier. All estrogen patches and prescription progesterone (Prometrium or it’s generic) are bioidentical.

My book, The Complete Guide to Beating Sugar Addiction, will teach you about the four main types of sugar addiction, and how to get rid of them. Then, it becomes easier to reduce excess sugar intake.

Lifestyle

• If able, go for walks in the sunshine.
• You won’t put food in your mouth that tastes awful. Similarly, you shouldn’t pay attention to information that leaves you feeling angry, afraid, or hateful. Basically, if it feels bad and it’s not something you need to do anything about directly, switch your focus to things that feel good. This helps your immune system settle down.

Natural Healthy Immune Support

• Fish oil. This can be simplified by taking 1 capsule a day of a product called Vectomega®. This can have the same benefit as seven large fish oil pills. Without the “fish oil burps.”
• Herbals. Two major inflammatory-driving enzymes are:
  1. COX (cyclooxygenase). This is what ibuprofen and other arthritis medications suppress.
  2. LOX (lipoxygenase). This is especially important for lung and intestinal inflammation.

I take Curamin, which is a mix of four natural herbs and compounds. Curamin is very effective at balancing and creating healthy inflammation.

• Antioxidant support. These include vitamins A, C, and E; the minerals zinc, copper, and selenium; and NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), which helps produce glutathione. All of these are in the Energy Revitalization Drink Mix.

The medications used to suppress inflammation are problematic. For example, arthritis medications are associated with a 35% increased risk of heart attack and stroke as well as bleeding ulcers. Fortunately, these herbals have been shown to be as or more effective. But with “side benefits” instead of side effects.

Also worth noting? In some, severe pain can be caused by food sensitivities. Especially dairy and gluten. If the pain is persistent despite other treatments, it is worth taking a month to go strictly gluten and dairy free to see if that helps.

Natural Inflammation Balancing Made Easy

Eliminate sugary sodas and fruit juices. Use whole grains and grass-fed beef when convenient. Increase oily fish intake. Switch from seed oil to olive or avocado oil.

• Balance healthy inflammation with the natural herbal mix Curamin. Its unique high absorption curcumin balances the COX, and the boswellia (also known as frankincense) settles down the LOX. As an added benefit, it includes natto kinase to break up inflammation and DLPA to increase production of your body’s own pain-fighting endorphins. For many people, this is all that is needed to balance inflammation.
• Use a well-designed high-potency multivitamin. This will supply antioxidants, vitamin D, and NAC (N-acetyl cysteine, which helps replenish glutathione). I recommend the Energy Revitalization Drink Mix.