What you eat can heal you or make your suffering a lot worse. Chronic inflammation can lead to further complications. So, knowing what food to eat and what to avoid can help prevent inflammation. Anti-inflammatory food Inflammation is an immune response. Injuries, infections, and so on result in inflammation because that is one of the ways the immune system alerts your body’s defense mechanism. The inflammation shows where the action needs to be taken in order to begin the healing process. This is good because it helps you fight off diseases and heal injuries. However, inflammation can also be triggered unnecessarily. There can be causes other than injury or infections. Stress, long hours of work without adequate sleep, heredity, and autoimmune disorders can all cause persistent inflammation without a good cause. Another possible cause is the food you eat. What food to avoid When you are not careful about the healthiness of your diet, you are not only risking obesity, but you may also be making yourself vulnerable to chronic inflammation. Refined sugar and grains, fried food, processed meat, preservatives, artificial color, and flavor additives in your food can contribute to causing inflammation. This type of food can lead to weight gain. The food also has an impact on the good gut bacteria, reducing them and promoting the chances of improper digestion and several other problems. They can also induce inflammation. Chronic inflammation has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and so on. They can also worsen conditions like arthritis, causing excessive pain. What food to eat There are many types of food that several research studies have shown to help reduce inflammation. In fact, if you stick to an anti-inflammatory diet, it can give you better results than anti-inflammatory medicines. Here are some food items that fight inflammation:

High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition where the blood pressure along the artery walls becomes high. As time passes, the increase in the blood pressure can cause damage to the blood vessels, leading to heart diseases, strokes, or even kidney diseases among other health problems. Hypertension is known as a silent killer because it does not show any symptoms. In some cases, it even goes unnoticed until the symptoms get out of hand. Over 75 million people in the country have hypertension. DASH diet The most popular and effective way to control high blood pressure is through a DASH diet. It stands for a Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. This diet includes plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and nuts. Meats like poultry and fish are also a part of this diet. Low-fat dairy is another vital part of the DASH diet. The diet is curated to ensure that it has low amounts of sugar and salt, which will lower the blood pressure over time. There are no sweet beverages, red meat, fats, and desserts in this diet. People who follow this diet for a long time can also reduce their risk of strokes as well as artery diseases. Here are the recommendations that one needs to follow according to the DASH diet. Ideally, one should only consume 2,000 calories per day as a part of this diet. Grains with eight servings: You can include half a cup of pasta or one slice of bread. You can vary the portions and types of whole grains that you consume each day. Vegetables: That includes half a cup of cooked vegetables as well as raw green leafy vegetables. It is an essential part of the diet that one must consume every day. Fruits are also a vital part of the diet.

Potassium plays a significant role in balancing the fluids and minerals in the human body. It also helps the muscles to function properly. If there is a deficiency of potassium in your body, then it can cause fatigue, high blood pressure, and anxiety. Potassium is a nutrient which is needed by the organs to functions in a healthy manner. These organs include the heart and kidneys as well. Following is a list down of some foods with potassium that will keep the level of this vital nutrient balanced in your body. Acorn squash This food item contains potassium in a huge amount. One can say that avocado has potassium as one of its main contents. Studies have also shown that those who have a regular intake of avocado in their diet tend to have healthier bodies and lesser chances of getting any metabolic problems. Beans A single cup of beans has nearly 1000 mg of potassium. Consuming beans will keep away the troubles of inflammation. Even soybean is one of the best beans which are rich in potassium content. Sweet potatoes and potatoes Potatoes may not have many nutrients, but, they are a good source of potassium. One-third of the potassium content of white potato is in its peels and the rest is in its body. This is the reason it is always advised to eat potatoes without peeling off the skin. On the other hand, sweet potatoes are also a food item that is rich in potassium. To be precise, 180 gm of white potato provides 18% of RTI. Spinach Spinach has always been popular when there are talks about potassium-rich food items. People who suffer from potassium deficiency are recommended to involve spinach in their diet to balance the level of potassium in their body. Not only potassium, but spinach is also rich in the plant content called chloroplasts which are believed to have cancer-fighting qualities.

Cholesterol is a waxy substance that is found in all the cells of our body. It is essential for the proper functioning and production of hormones like vitamin D and pepsin. Cholesterol is also found in food items from animal sources like egg yolk, cheese, and meat. Even our body is capable of generating all the cholesterol it requires. The thing with cholesterol is to maintain its equilibrium as too much of it tends to combine with other food substances in the blood and form plaque which eventually sticks to the arteries, leading to a condition called atherosclerosis. This can subsequently cause multiple coronary heart diseases blocking up the blood flow through the arteries. But as it is said there is always a solution to a problem. Likewise, cholesterol can be easily eliminated by many methods. One being, use of prescribed drugs like statins that function by inhibiting an enzyme needed to produce cholesterol. But with the interaction of these drugs, specific food products can turn out to be very dangerous causing severe side effects like joint aches, muscle pain, vomiting, increased blood sugar, kidney damage and many unexpected neurological side effects. It has also been reported that statins can cause a breakdown in muscle cells leading to permanent muscle damage. Alternative to statins Cholesterol absorption inhibitors If statins are not your savior, then a common alternative to statins is cholesterol absorption inhibitor. These drugs function by preventing your small intestine from properly absorbing the cholesterol you consume. It is pretty evident that what is not absorbed cannot reach your bloodstream. One such inhibitor is “Ezetimibe” which when combined with a low-fat diet helps reduce cholesterol efficiently. Resins Other common alternatives to statins are sequestrants or acid-binding resins. They are efficient and function by binding itself with the bile in your intestines, blocking cholesterol absorption to a great extent.

Gout is a form of arthritis which involves swelling, pain, and inflammation of joints. Most gout cases tend to affect knees, heels, fingers, wrists as well as the big toes. It is estimated that about 8.3 million citizens in the country face the problem of gout. Usually, the symptoms of gout occur when a person’s blood has excess uric acid in their body. This acid is a waste product the body makes while digesting certain foods. So, when the levels of uric acid are high, some crystals of it accumulate in the joints, triggering intense pain, swelling, and inflammation. Luckily, one can control this health problem with some lifestyle changes, effective gout diet plans, and medications. This article will review the best foods for gout including the foods you should exclude from your diet. Understanding how diet affects gout When you have gout, some food can trigger an attack by increasing the levels of uric acid in your body. Trigger foods are often high in purines, and when digested, the waste product formed is uric acid. Healthy people don’t have to worry about excess uric acid because their bodies can efficiently get rid of it. However, a person with gout cannot effectively remove excess uric acid, and this leads to a gout attack. Luckily, research has shown that taking the right medication and avoiding a high purine diet can prevent gout attacks. Best foods to include in your diet to fight gout Although an anti-gout diet eliminates most foods, there are a lot of low purine foods one can still enjoy. Low purine foods are the ones that have at least 100 mg of purines/100 grams (3.5 ounces). Here is a list of gout foods you should include in your diet. Vegetables: One can have most types of vegetables like mushrooms, peas, potatoes, dark green leafy vegetables, and eggplants.

The path to a healthy and energetic life is known to all but very few can follow all the “rules” of consuming a balanced diet, regular physical exercise and sleeping properly. If you are worried about feeling a lack of energy throughout the day and feel drowsy even after a good night’s sleep, chances are that you have vitamin deficiency in your body, which can be fulfilled by none other than the vitamins for energy. Ensure that your diet also contains magnesium, folic acid, omega 3 fatty acid, amino acid etc to make it a truly healthy meal. Vitamin A (Retinol) As the name suggests, Vitamin A enhances the activity of retina or eye health. Animal liver, fish oil, eggs, milk, orange or yellow vegetables like carrot, papaya, tomato and pumpkin and fruits like apple and citrus are rich in Vitamin A. It keeps the central nervous system and immune system working properly so that your energy levels are boosted up. Being a powerful antioxidant, it fights radical damage to stop premature aging and keeps you young. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Legumes like beans and peas, yeast, beef, pork, fish, liver, seeds, eggs, milk, asparagus, oats, nuts, and oranges are rich in Vitamin B1. You can also consume cereals, bread, flour, rice, and pasta to fulfill the deficiency of this Vitamin. It is one of the most important vitamins for energy as it breaks down carbohydrate for converting into energy. It keeps your blood sugar level normal and supports proper functioning of the major organs of the body including the brain. Thiamine also keeps the cardiovascular health normal so that your body gets proper blood flow to keep you energetic throughout the day. Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Fish; especially tuna, chicken, turkey, liver, and avocado are the commonest sources of B3. Mushrooms, peanuts, green peas, and sunflower seeds also contain this vitamin.

Hair loss is a common condition that affects thousands of men and women across the country. A person can experience it on the scalp or other parts of the body. Frequent hair loss can affect a person’s self-esteem and can be an indicator of underlying health conditions. It is vital to know about the essential vitamins for preventing hair loss that can help in controlling the condition. Why does hair loss happen? First, let’s take a quick look at the causes and symptoms of hair loss. This condition is often a result of medication, hormonal imbalances, lifestyle or hereditary factors. Male pattern baldness or excessive loss of hair from the scalp, commonly known as alopecia, is mostly a result of genetic factors. Different people may experience different types of hair loss. Men and women lose their hair in different ways. Some people may experience symptoms such as thinning of hair or bald patches while others may find clumps of hair fall after brushing or washing their hair. People who have gone through radiation or chemotherapy experience hair loss all over the body, although this hair grows back once the treatment is complete. Other factors such as age, traumatic experiences or nutritional deficiency can also result in hair loss. The intake of nutrients in the form of vitamins is essential for preventing hair loss. Essential vitamins for preventing hair loss Vitamin A This vitamin is one of the best options for controlling hair fall. The cells in the body need vitamin A to grow and develop. This vitamin also helps the glands in the skin release a greasy substance known as sebum which conditions the scalp and maintains the overall health of the hair. However, an excess quantity of vitamin A can cause hair loss. Vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, kale, and spinach are rich in beta-carotene which gets converted into vitamin A in our bodies.

Aging is a stressful process. While it does bring about a change in your environment as your children move out, get married, and start a family of their own, you start experiencing changes in your health as well. You do not look the same when you see yourself in the mirror and your skin may lose its glow as well. The skin also loses the ability to make vitamin D from sunlight and it is essential to bring about a change in your diet. Changes in your diet can go a long way in helping you fight the aging process and appear to be younger than your age. While there are several medications available in the market for the same, the best remedies always start at home. For your body to run the way it has over the years, you need to maintain a healthy diet. The best diet for women? Look no further. We have made the process of choosing the best plan for you much easier. The best diet for women as they age Here are a few of the best diet plans you should follow: Mediterranean diet:  The Mediterranean diet derives its origin from Mediterranean countries. The people living in these countries commonly follow this diet plan as it is generally associated with better health and longevity. The Mediterranean diet is surely among the best diet for women. The diet consists of vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts, olive oil, and other healthy fatty food. Try to avoid eating junk food and processed food. It is quite simply one of the best diet plans and is quite commonly followed by people around the world. MIND diet:  True to its name, the MIND diet is perfect for women as they age. Alzheimer’s is a disease which commonly affects aged people.

Crohn’s disease has been known since 1932 when Dr. Burrill B. Crohn and his colleagues described this inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It is estimated that over 750,000 citizens are living with this condition. Crohn’s disease information continues to be uncovered, though gastroenterologists are yet to pinpoint what exactly causes this disease or come up with a cure. For people living with Crohn’s disease knowing as much as possible about the disease and its management is the best option for relief. What is Crohn’s disease? This is a type of IBD that usually affects the small intestines and the colon, but can occur in any part of the digestive system. Common symptoms include fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and blood in the stool. This is why some people mistakenly referred to it as the ‘bathroom disease. There are several types of Crohn’s disease: Crohn’s colitis This occurs in the large intestines and is the lesser common type, occurring in about 30% of people with Crohn’s disease. Ileocolonic Crohn’s This occurs in the small intestines and the top of the large intestines. It is observed in about 70% of Crohn’s sufferers. What causes it? Researchers are yet to discover the exact causes of the Crohn’s disease. But the Crohn’s disease information has linked some factors to the disease, including: Body immunity robustness Environment Genetics – It is observed that about 20% of people with Crohn’s disease have a history of the disease in the family. What are the symptoms of Crohn’s disease? Many people take longer to get the disease diagnosed. This is because its early symptoms are also indicators of other digestive system problems including food poisoning and severe stomach upsets. Some of these early symptoms include: Loss of appetite Diarrhea Abdominal pain Frequent urge to move bowels Blood in the stool Weight loss Constant fatigue Fever Unattended Crohn’s disease can lead to the elevated severity of symptoms including:

When it comes to supplements—the dose makes all the difference. There are some supplements that are more needed than others. Omega 3 is one such supplement. However, choosing the right kind of supplement for the right kind of nutritional requirement is important. If you’re reading this, then you have probably might have been prescribed with supplements by your doctor—in which case this isn’t an issue for you. Your doctor would probably recommend a prescription that includes one of the best omega 3 supplements. However, if you’ve simply been notified of a deficiency and if you are on the lookout for supplements—knowing how to pick the best one can make a world of a difference. What is Omega 3 and why do I need it? This is a crucial question that needs answering before you choose a supplement for you. Omega 3 fatty acids are crucial for your health. What makes them special is that your body cannot simply synthesize it when needed—it needs to be taken through one’s diet. A typical western diet will undoubtedly leave you with an Omega 3 deficiency. Omega 3 is found in fish, nuts, and very few plants. On the other hand, a strictly vegetarian diet can also likely leave you deficient of Omega 3. Unless you’re eating a steady supply of fatty sea fish, you’re probably in need of the best Omega 3 supplements that you can get your hands on. They contribute to proper brain functioning in a way no other nutrient does. Omega 3 supplements are essential for biological functions that happen in the nervous system. So, now that you know what it is and why it’s needed, revise your diet and get yourself checked. In case if you have an omega 3 deficiency you need to know how to pick the right and best supplement.