When things feel concerning, we all need a big dose of calm. Yes, that could be actually just "chilling out" but it could also mean our immune system needs some calm. Establishing what we can truly influence with our diet, lifestyle, and habits allows us to positively impact ourselves, our immunity, our families, and our communities. Less worry, more action! It's time to bring some "calm" to our systems so we can also tame the flames of inflammation.
The first step is to calm internal inflammation. I know you might be thinking, "what is that, exactly?" Ever have a day when you just feel "puffy." Make it through most of the day until a headache hits around 3pm? Does is take FOREVER to get over a cold? Those, my friends, are downstream symptoms of systemic inflammation. There are some things to remove, but also some things to add. Removing the biggest inflammatory triggers is key: gluten, dairy, refined sugar, alcohol, processed foods, PLUS anything that is individually inflammatory for you (for me, it's eggs). Yes, removing stuff can be HARD - trust me, there are days when I long for a fried egg with my nitrate free bacon, but when I think about how different I felt before (when eating eggs) and after (now - w/out eggs), the longing goes away pretty quick.
Now, think of what you get to add that helps calm internal inflammation: herbs and spices like garlic, ginger and turmeric, to name just a few. That's a good curry right there, seriously! Another easy way to calm is to eat as many colors of the rainbow as possible and keep your veggie intake up. I have a rainbow chart that I use at home that I got from Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, a functional medical doctor. You can download his FREE printable chart here: https://drchatterjee.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Rainbow-Chart.pdf.
And then of course, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate to keep things flowing like they should be. Hydration can be water, herbal tea, broth, and vegetable juices. When you start adding things with a lot of sugar and caffeine, that has the opposite effect and will ramp up your inflammation.
If you're not sure what is causing your inflammation or want more tailored help in getting to the root cause of why you just don't feel like yourself, I'd be honored to guide you on the journey. Feel free to take this quick survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9QCBJB5.