Emily Joshu in Eating well:
Chances are, if you have put on a few pounds, the cause is deeper than eating too much junk food or skipping one too many workouts. Chronic, low-grade inflammation that swells in the body is to blame for this gain. And the relationship is cyclical. Weight and inflammation go hand in hand, and working to maintain a healthy weight through diet, exercise, sleep and stress management can help tame inflammatory markers as well.
Inflammation, however, comes in two varieties: acute and chronic. Most of us are accustomed to acute inflammation, such as after sustaining an injury. This temporary response doesn’t serve as a catalyst for serious health conditions but actually protects the body.
Chronic inflammation manifests as a slow burn in the body. “Inflammation is designed so once your body needs some healing, inflammation rushes in, but it’s only supposed to be short term. Chronic inflammation is more subtle, and it’s caused by irritation in the body,” says Carolyn Williams, Ph.D., R.D., author of Meals That Heal. “And that may be environmental things, that may be food-related things, that may be stress, that may be lack of sleep. Just about any kind of irritation to the body can trigger subtle inflammation.” Williams compares chronic inflammation to a fire in the body that will continue to grow without intervention. Research suggests that reducing chronic, low-grade inflammation may even be as crucial a component as diet and activity, Williams says. And the relationship goes both ways.
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