As a fitness and nutrition specialist, whether I’m talking to women in person, on line or by phone, we always discuss nutrition.
We discuss how they can improve their nutrition, what they need to know, how they can integrate better nutritional habits, and the list goes on.
One adjective I’ve started using to describe the nutritional plan that will optimize their health and give them abundant energy is ANTI-INFLAMMATORY.
Anti-inflammatory nutrition.
Reducing inflammation in your body is one of the best ways to guard against chronic disease.
In fact, inflammation has been linked to everything from Alzheimer’s to cancer.
One way to reduce inflammatory factors (by up to 14 percent) is by eating just two servings of strawberries a week.
Another suggestion is to get more fiber into your diet. This will help too.
Another suggestion to keep your cells functioning their best: get more vitamin C.
Why?
A recent two month study of 400 healthy people found that taking 1,000 mg of vitamin C daily reduced the best-known inflammatory factor, C-reactive protein (CRP), by 17 percent.
It also showed that vitamin C was as effective as statin drugs in reducing inflammation. That’s good news because then you can avoid the harmful side effects of the statin drugs.
How to get your 1,000 mg of vitamin C every day:
Sip a smoothie. Fill it with oranges, kiwis, cantaloupe, strawberries and it’ll be delicious and packed with C.
Enjoy citrus. Make your drink of choice water with a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy oranges and grapefruits too. Avoid high-sugar juices because they contain too much sugar and not enough real fruit.
Snack on berries. Blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries all help you by providing abundant vitamin C.
Choose crucifers. Broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, and other members of the cruciferous family of veggies are all rich in vitamin C.
Pick peppers. Peppers are packed with antioxidant vitamin C. Eat them both raw in salads or as snacks, and cooked in stir-frys.
Vitamin C is destroyed by heat, so when you cook foods high in vitamin C be sure not to overcook them!
Think vitamin C when you think about improving your anti-inflammatory nutrition and you’ll be doing yourself a world of good!
Send me any of your favorite recipes that you use to boost your vitamin C and I’ll be glad to pass them along!
shelli
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