So what more can we do to calm our inflammation in the way of supplemental support? I do use Curcumin to target inflammation in the gut and the body in general. It can work to reduce pain, for instance, if a patient has arthritis. It does not inflame the gut or contribute to permeability in the gut like an antiinflammatory medication like NSAIDS or ibuprofen could do. Curcumin has antibacterial effects in the gut as well as antifungal effects. It helps strengthen the intestinal barrier which helps reduce endotoxemia which is associated with LPS. Curcumin increases alkaline phosphatase that deactivates bacterial LPS  which helps lower inflammation all throughout the body. Curcumin also increases production of antimicrobial peptides.

I use L-glutamine powder to support healing in the case of leaky gut. It is well tolerated and helps reduce inflammation after you have taken the food sensitivities out of the diet. It is instrumental in repairing the gut and intestinal lining. I usually dose it 20 minutes before a meal. It has a benign taste and can be added to water. 

Cloves also help increase intestinal mucus in the GI tract by its’ eugenol compound. Drinking a tea made from whole cloves can be a safe way to ingest some of the protective properties. William Davis, MD talks about how to make this tea in his new book “Super Gut.” I highly recommend reading it as he talks about healing the gut in an extensive way. He also describes how to make therapeutic yogurt as a way to address many health issues. 

Consuming fresh herbs and spices like oregano, rosemary, ginger, cinnamon and cumin help stimulate the proliferation of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species in the gut by their polyphenol constituents. Taking probiotic bacteria that contain Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidum bacteria can help support the residence population of gut bacteria. I use HMF Intensive as a good combination of these 2 strains. It has been shown to be clinically effective in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Sydrome in studies. The GI Map is a stool test that can taken a close look at the bacteria populating your gut if you are interested,

I also stock Megaspore probiotics which is a game changer for gut function in my opinion. Megaspore helps seal up the gut in just 30 days. It also helps reduce circulating levels of LPS levels shown to have a disruptive effect on serotonin and dopamine function. It inhibits LPS from accumulating in the brain where it can damage neurons and increase inflammation. LPS otherwise known as lipopolysaccharide originates in the cell walls of organisms of gram negative bacteria like E. Coli and Klebsiella common inhabitants of the colon. When these microbes die, their cell wall contents can be liberated and pass into the blood. This drives a lot of inflammation in the body not to mention the blues. Megaspore helps reduce LPS therefore can be helpful in improving gut health. To learn more and have a consultation about yout gut health, please come and see me at Parallel Wellness.  Dr. Robin Vinge  4032321283

References: Super Gut, William Davis, MD, Eat Dirt, Josh Axe, MD, Microbiome Labs, Megaspore probiotics, Genestra HMF Intensive probiotics.

To reduce inflammation, it is necessary to eat more fibre. Eating fibre causes the production of short chain fatty acids by gut microbes. These short chain fatty acids inhibit inflammatory signals in your body like TNF-alpha, NF-KB and IFN-y. Short chain fatty acids also communicate directly to our T regulatory cells to cool off our immune system and suppress inflammation.  Butyrate is one of the short chain fatty acids produced by eating fibre. It improves integrity in the gastrointestinal system. Fibre is found in both insoluble forms as well as soluble forms of fiber. Think the color of the rainbow when you choose foods -eat more foods that are coloured and increase the variety- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, golden, white.

Choose  polyphenol rich foods like green tea,  pomegranates, purple cabbage, unsweetened cranberries, wild blueberries, leafy greens, organic  kale, whole unprocessed gluten free grains like red rice, black rice, wild rice, quinoa, buckwheat. Eat 12 cups of low glycemic fruits and non starchy vegetables including the cruciferous family (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, kale, radish) which is so esteemed for its cancer fighting properties. Raw nuts and seeds, lentils and legumes if tolerated are a great source of fiber. Soaking these foods in water overnight can assist digestion as can soaking whole grains in a little water.

Some people that are really inflamed may benefit from following a vegan diet. It is important to have an experienced practitioner provide you with guidelines for doing that. It is easy to run into deficiencies when following a vegan diet like B12, zinc, omega 3 fatty acids, iodine. Always use non-GMO  organic soy sources when following a vegan diet and make sure you are using fermented sources like miso if possible. Miso has strains of bacteria that support gut function. 

Make bone broth in your slow cooker regularly. Bone broth contains gut healing amino acids like glycine, proline, glutamine and collagen which is well assimilated by the body. Eat prebiotic foods (asparagus, jicama, artichokes, leeks, onions, garlic, spices. etc regularly. Eat organic spices such as oregano, rosemary, turmeric, cumin, etc. which help keep bad microbe counts down in the gut. Eat probiotic foods like fermented sauerkraut and kim chi regularly too. This will help you provide the right bacteria for your microbiome. Fermented foods offer more species of bacteria in your gut. The increased diversity of species introduced tend to lower inflammation. Also include resistant starch which can be found in cooked and then cooled rice or cooked and then cooled potatoes. This type of starch does not get digested like regular starch. It does not spike blood glucose and provides food for the microbiome.

So just to recap, we are going to reduce inflammation by cutting out foods and inflammatory factors in the diet.  We are going to lower inflammation by eating more fibre. Once inflammation subsides, you can work with your personal trainer or your chiropractor who can assist you further to achieve your goals whether it be by implementing stretching into your routine or regular chiropractic adjustments. 

Others things that may help you include food sensitivity testing, targeted supplements like l-glutamine, curcumin. I will talk more about this in Part 3. To book an appointment to discuss your inflammation, call Parallel Wellness at 4032321283 Thanks! Dr. Robin Vinge, ND

References:  The Peigan Diet Mark Hyman, MD; Fiber Fueled Will Bulsiewicz, MD 

Why are we so inflammed? Epidemics of chronic disease are on the rise including diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease and cancer. How can we begin to address the inflammation and start to reverse it? Some of the reasons for chronic inflammation include our levels of stress in Western culture, our sedentary desk bound lifestyle, inflammatory diet and our poor gut function. Stress is often the tipping factor in our Western Culture. We do not value our families enough or community in general. Spending time with people that we love helps reduce inflammation. We are more concerned with productivity and running ourselves ragged versus taking really good care of ourselves and valuing rest and relaxation.

We all have an individual threshold where we start to feel stressed. It is important to know yourself so you understand how prone you are to feeling stressed. We all need tools to live in balance with our stress. I suggest doing a daily meditation practice for 20 minutes, exercise for at least 30 minutes- the important thing is that you move your body doing something that you love. Hydrotherapy in the form of hot saunas followed by a cold shower can reset the nervous system. Cold showers in general can help the body feel less inflammed and support your mitochondria (the energy producing organelles in your cells). Massage, acupuncture and healing touch can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) versus the sympathetic system which is stimulated by stress.

Sitting is the new smoking so we need to do consistent exercise every day. As we age, we are prone to sarcopenia which is a decline in our strength and loss of muscle. We need to build our strength by going to lift weights three times per week or incorporate strength building yoga into our routine or resistance band exercises. Work with a personal trainer if you need more direction. See a chiropractor who can adjust you and offer you more pointed exercises for your particular goals.

To lower inflammation, we need to eliminate factors in diet that increase inflammation and this is a vast topic. Eliminate natural sweeteners in the diet for starters- read labels.  Artificial sweeteners like Splenda mess with metabolism and cause you to be prone to weight gain. There was a study in Medscape this past week linking aspartame with higher rates of cancer. Avoid all sweeteners which lead to more inflammation. Sweeteners on occasion that are fine include stevia, monk fruit, maple syrup, honey, date sugar, coconut sugar or molasses. 

To lower inflammation, we need to eliminate processed food, white flour, refined grains. We need to eliminate bad fats such as trans fats and hydrogenated fats. We need to cut out sugar and alcohol which leads to permeability in our intestines. We need to potentially cut out common food sensitivities like gluten and dairy products. In my patients that have arthritis, I often recommend cutting out nightshade vegetables which can contribute to chronic pain (white potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers and hot peppers, eggplant). An elimination for 21 days followed by an reintroduction could elicit some valuable information for you to cut down on your inflammation.

Because 70% of your immune system is in your gut in the form of GALT (gut associated lymphatic tissue), most inflammatory diseases have some underlying dysbiosis (imbalance in good and bad bacteria) brought on by eating a poor diet, environmental toxins like pesticides and herbicides, food sensitivities and more. 

For starters we need to eat an antiinflammatory diet. It is best to focus in eating a diet high in non starchy vegetables, berries, low glycemic fruit, protein from high quality sources like organic pasture raised eggs (if there is no sensitivity to eggs), pasture raised poultry, grass fed beef, omega 3 from wild fish (SMASH) sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, herring). Monounsaturated fats from avocado, raw nuts and seeds can be incorporated as well. Soaking overnight in water can help with digestion of nuts or sprouting if necessary. Nuts come up on food sensitivity testing a lot so if you have poor gut function, you might need to wait before you introduce nuts.  Come see me if you want to talk about this subject at Parallel Wellness in downtown Calgary. Dr. Robin Vinge 4032321283

References: The Peigan Diet Mark Hyman