Ok Joni.....here is one excerpt. I am getting more comfortable with this as I have read and re-read, and talked with my sister over this issue:
this is from page 74 if anyone is interested.
"At the intestinal level, foods can cause inflammation of your intestinal wall through such things as allergies, bacteria, or other toxins. When food incites inflammatory responses in your gut, it's as if a grenade has been launched thrroughout your digestive system (see figure 4.1 on page 81). Then in response to this already damaging grenade, your body tosses more grenades to create an apocalyptic digestive War of the Worlds. The effect is that the more inflammation we have in our intestines, the more toxins can enter our bloodstream.
During this firefight along the digestive border, your body perceives a foreign intruder and assigns its special forces--mast cells and macrophages--to eliminate the culprit. These are the cells that start and immune-response process throughout your body by ingesting foreign elements and alerting the rest of your body's protecting cells that intruders have entered the area. Foods that don't agree with your body's sensibilities are seen as foreign invaders, so the macrophages attack these foods and tell everyone that this war is going on. This causes your whole body to start firing away at these foods and at innocent bystanders--and thus causes inflammation in your bloodstream. (**this is the part that has me confused......the inflammation in the bloodstream...does he mean inflammation of the blood vessels???**) that way, eating unhealthy food is really like having a chronic infection that triggers an immune response, which then causes inflammation.
One of your body's goals is to get glucose into your brain cells--to feed those brain cells so that they can function. But inflammation in your body prevents sugar from getting to those cells, so you end up wanting more glucose and eating more sugary foods, which then increase inflammation and starts the whole cycle again. (**again, my question is, does he mean that sugar causes inflammation??**)
While we should be concerned about decreasing our body fat, we should also concentrate on decreasing our body's inflammatory response so we become more efficient in managaing potential complications of our waist size. There's some genetic component to inflammation (some of us have more than others, and smokers tend to have higher levels of inflammation that nonsmokers). Most important, the process of gaining weight if often a process of inflammation. YYOU-reka! When you decrease your body's inflammatory response, you will decrease your weight and waist as well.
The more inflammation you have, the less efficiently you use your food calories, and the worse you feel. The worse you feel, the more bad foods you eat to try to make yourself feel better. The more bad foods you eat, the less well you can respond to the normal stresses of life, and the more inflammation you experience. And the more inflammation you have, the higher your risk of developing:
*Diabetes
*High blood pressure
*bad choloesterol numbers
*and all f the other conditions that contribute to your increase in size and your decrease in health.
Plain and simple: Inflammation ages your body by making your arteries less elastice and by increasing atherosclerosis (the rusting of blood vessels). Inflammation also makes it more likely that your DNA will be damaged, and a cell will become cancerous. And it increases your risk of infections. If the inflammatory mediators are fighting in the arteries, they can't be defending elsewhere, and this situation increases the risk that your body will turn on itself, causing an autoimmune disease in which you attack your own tissues (for example,s ome forms of rheumatiod arthritis and thyroid disease).
Inflammation stresses your body.
Inflammation fattens your body.
Obesity isn't just a desease of doughnuts and bake ziti. Obesity is a disease of inflammation. As we travel through the rest of our digestive journey, we'll be stopping at three digestive landmarks to see how foods influence inflammation, and how inflammation influences fat."
Ok, I can try for more later.......it is pretty involved, but very very very interesting.
I will paraphrase a bit, as i looked toward the end of this chapter....he says these are foods that are known to help fight inflammation:
*Omega 3-Fatty acids....found in fish oils..he recommends three 4 oz. servings of fish per week, or a 2-gram fish oil capsule a day or an ounce of walnuts a day.
*Green Tea..."Studies have found taht drining three glasses of green tea a day reduced body weight and wasit circumference by 5 percent n three months. It also increased metabolism."
The authors also say the following substances MAY help fight inflammation:
*Beer (in moderation)
*Timeric--a pinch
*Jojoba Beans (they really are seeds)...dose is about 2.5 grams to 5 grams for most people (50 kilograms per kilogram of weight)
They also list the following they may have anti-inflammatory effects:
*Soybeans and all soy products
*Flaxsee, flaxseed oil, whole grains such as rye
*Tea, fruits, vegatables
*Cruciferous vegetables such as brocollli and cauliflower
*Rosemary
*Red wine, grapes, red or purple grape juice
*Dark chocolate
*Cabbage, spinach, garlic
Ok, ladies, I have to get back to my boys. Sorry if there are a ton of typos in here, I typed real real fast
Does anyone have any comments on this inflammation theory. I realize that more info is needed, and I will try to add to it as time permits, but what is your gut instinct on this info????
DR. OZ / You on a Diet
I did ask my co-worker and she did mention that Dr. Perricone mentioned the inflammation theory a lot in his books. He basically talked about foods you should stay away from. Foods that cause organ inflammation.
