A Fire Within?

By Author: Dr. Ronald Blankstein
Total Articles: 3
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Have you ever noticed that some people can eat whatever they want and never gain weight? I don't know about you, but that rattles my cage. Most of us have to be very careful what we eat.

Their secret is simple, though - it's a healthy metabolism at work.

Is a Silent Blaze Destroying Your Metabolism?

Your metabolism does more that help control your weight though. It actually regulates the conversion of the food you eat into fuel for your body. Some conditions like diabetes are a sign that your metabolism isn't working the way it should.

It turns out that one of the main contributors to a declining metabolism is something you've heard about just not in connection with diabetes.

Inflammation can lead to heart disease. It contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease. It's even linked to some forms of cancer.

Doctors Uncover Link Between Inflammation and Diabetes

Our understanding of the role of infl ammation in chronic disease keeps growing. Until recently, medical scientists hadn't really considered that inflammation could contribute to diabetes. Research in February's ...
... issue of Diabetes shows that it can and does contribute to this devastating condition.

The good news is that with this understanding it becomes possible for you to make changes that will protect against the development of diabetes. Even better, the same changes I'll show you here can also help to reduce your risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases.

Your Cells are Under Attack

Diabetes puts the cells of your entire body under attack. High levels of glucose and insulin damage the cells that line your arteries contributing to heart disease. They damage cells in your brain. They damage nerve cells, cells in your eyes, and the cells of various organs.

Your insulin and glucose levels become chronically high when you consistently eat too much sugar and starch. Chronic low-level inflammation also affects how your body uses glucose and insulin.

Researchers looked for relationships between inflammation markers (compounds your body produces when inflammation is present) and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is an early sign of metabolic dysfunction and can lead to diabetes. They found a clear relationship. When patients had higher levels of certain inflammation markers, their body's ability to use insulin declined up to 30%. (1)

In a separate study published in the same issue, researchers compared the insulin resistance of patients with diabetes with their levels of other inflammation markers, and again found a correlation. (2)

Researchers aren't yet sure how inflammation works to disrupt your body's normal ability to use glucose, but the link is clear.

Put an End to the Inflammation That's Making You Sick

Some doctors believe that inflammation is at the root of all chronic disease. I have to say that the more research gets done, the more it looks like inflammation does play a critical role in the development of most diseases that we associate with aging.

That means that reducing the levels of inflammation in your body is one of the best things you do for your health.

Fortunately, along with research about the damage inflammation does to your health, there is also plenty of research that shows how to control inflammation in your body.

Low-level chronic inflammation results from poor food choices, a sedentary lifestyle, and stress. Not surprisingly following common sense health advice-eating more fruits and vegetables, becoming more active, and finding healthy ways to cope with stress-all help to reduce inflammation.

You can go one step further, though, and specifically target inflammation with the foods that you eat.

Specifically some foods contain a compound that drastically reduces low-level inflammation. These foods even work in small amounts-you don't have to eat plateful after plateful to see a benefit.

The compound is anthrocyanin and you can find it in fruits and vegetables with deep, rich colors. Foods like spinach, kale, carrots, sweet potatoes, raspberries, cherries, and tomatoes are rich in anthrocyanin. Two servings a day of foods like these can cut your infl ammation levels in half. (3) That's just a handful of baby carrots or a half a sweet potato or a small spinach salad with dinner or a half of cup of your favorite marinara. Try these foods twice a day and enjoy the difference it makes.

Remember - as always - to discuss changes you plan to make to your diet, exercise, orsupplements with your doctor first.

Sources:

1. De Victoria EOM, et al. "Associations With Adiposity, Age, Infl ammatory Markers, and Whole-Body Insulin Action in Healthy Pima Indians," Diabetes 2009; 58: 385-93

2. Haus JM, et al. "Plasma Ceramides Are Elevated in Obese Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes and Correlate With the Severity of Insulin Resistance," Diabetes 2009; 337-43

3. Fortin, Judy. "Health Report: Anti-Inflammatory Foods," WNCT. 2/9/2009.

© 2009 Chesapeake Nutraceuticals