Transcription:
Foods that Fight Inflammation

Intro: This is BayCare Health Chat, another podcast from BayCare Health System.

Amanda Wilde (Host): Welcome to BayCare HealthChat, I'm Amanda Wilde. Inflammation is linked to various diseases and disorders, and many of us have chronic inflammation from the foods we eat. So today we're discussing foods that fight inflammation with Angie Giuffrida, a registered dietitian nutritionist at BayCare. Anjie, welcome to the podcast.

Anjie Giuffrida: Hi, thank you so much. It's really great to be here. I'm really excited. I think this is a great topic. It's no surprise that the anti-inflammatory diet is really popular and a hot topic right now, especially with regard to so many people focusing on health and wellness and nutrition, of course.

Amanda Wilde (Host): And it seems like more and more, we hear about chronic inflammation. Now inflammation itself is a normal body response, but chronic inflammation is at the root of a lot of medical issues. Can you sort of talk about what is normal inflammation and what it is meant to do and what is chronic inflammation?

Anjie Giuffrida: Right. So when we talk about inflammation, it's the natural, physiological response to an injury that our body is using in order to heal. So for instance, you cut your finger, it becomes red and swollen. So at its basic form, this is acute inflammation. But what does this mean if we have chronic inflammation inside of our body? So sometimes the signs of inflammation may not be so obvious, right? So there's a strong association between chronic inflammation and things like insulin resistance, as well as increased risk for things like heart disease, arthritis, cancer, among others. So therefore, this is eliciting this concept of an anti-inflammatory diet to help ease these symptoms of the diseases or just disease prevention in general.

Amanda Wilde (Host): You said inflammation is a body healing response, but then chronic inflammation is linked to a lot of diseases. What diseases are linked to chronic inflammation?

Anjie Giuffrida: So it can play a role in the disease process of a lot of our GI disorders. So inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and even type 2 diabetes and obesity. So obviously it's touching a wide variety of conditions. So of course this is where I come in as the dietician and emphasizing those foods that we should be consuming and how they can play a role in, really decreasing the inflammation. And like I said, overall health in general.

Amanda Wilde (Host): So what types of foods cause inflammation, and then we'll talk about what are some anti-inflammatory foods as well?

Anjie Giuffrida: So we know that eating too much of certain types of foods may increase inflammation. So fried foods, cured meats, things like hot dogs, highly refined oils, things with trans-fat, a lot of our refined carbohydrates and processed sugar. All of this excess salt from precooked foods, sugary beverages. So all of these things that we already know are quote, unquote, unhealthy. Oftentimes these are found in processed foods, so things in a box or a bag, things that have really long list of ingredients.

Especially if those first few ingredients are sugar, salt, processed oil, or even that laundry list of ingredients that you don't recognize, you can't pronounce. And then on the other hand, we know that there are some general associations for most people. So things like refined starches, processed meats, oftentimes people are intolerant to glutens and dairy. They can affect those with bowel disorders. So once again, this can be individualized. it's really important to find your personal triggers or intolerances.

Amanda Wilde (Host): On the other side, are there any types of foods that bring down inflammation that are anti-inflammatory?

Anjie Giuffrida: So you'll notice as I list these foods off, they're shown to have some anti-inflammatory properties, So they're likely to be the foods that we should already be incorporating into our diets anyway, to ensure optimal health and wellness. This is a big focus on whole foods. Especially those that are plant based. So a big emphasis on fruits and veggies, of course, whole grains, things like brown rice, a lot of our ancient grains, quinoa, our lean and clean forms of protein, like chicken and turkey, eggs, especially our fish, our fatty fish for those omegas, beans, nuts, seeds.

And then plant-based oils. So a lot of these anti-inflammatory foods are also supporting our gut health, So we know this is important for overall health linked with our immune system. So optimizing these fiber rich foods is another positive, and this can also help with this chronic inflammation and disease risk.

Amanda Wilde (Host): And then is there an anti-inflammatory diet? I mean, we've already used that phrase earlier. And is there a diet that is considered the anti-inflammatory diet?

Anjie Giuffrida: I don't love to use the word diet, but I think that this is more of an approach. So it's better thought to be more of a lifestyle, because there's no well-defined anti-inflammatory diet, but we do know that there are certain foods that have these anti-inflammatory properties. So therefore we should be incorporating these foods more into our diet. And then a lot of foods that we know we should be limiting and consuming a lot less of. We know the saying you are what you eat. So this is certainly true with regard to inflammation and having an overall healthy eating plan, I think provides us with those adequate nutrients that keep our bodies and our immune system functioning.

Amanda Wilde (Host): Well, what about all the temptations, sugar, salt, the birthday party at work, the anniversary dinner, the traditional picnic, the ballgame, all this kind of food all around us all the time. How would you suggest we deal with that?

Anjie Giuffrida: So, we need to make sure that we are still enjoying the things that we are eating, It's meant to be a happy time, and experience. So as long as we're consuming these, so-called bad foods in moderation once in a while as a treat, I think that's okay. As long as the bulk of our diet is coming from these really important whole plant-based foods, that are just good for our overall health.

Amanda Wilde (Host): When you see your patients switch to whole plant-based foods. What do you see that lets you know, that's working for your patients?

Anjie Giuffrida: I mean, it can be a, a host of different things. In terms of just how their overall feeling energy levels, how well that they're sleeping, just a whole host of different attributes that come from kind of adopting this healthy lifestyle.

Amanda Wilde (Host): Has there been research about how these diets affect us in the long term?

Anjie Giuffrida: Good question. The research is still focused on figuring out how the food that we're consuming actually affects our body's inflammatory processes. But we do know a few certain little things, things that like processed sugars may help to release some of these inflammatory messengers, which can potentially raise the risk of inflammation. While on the other hand, plant-based foods like fruits and veggies, beans, whole grains, like I said, contain these antioxidant properties and they can help to fight off this oxidative stress that can trigger inflammation. So we've heard that things like dark chocolate, red wine, green tea, turmeric, ginger, that they’re thought to ease inflammation.

So we know they have these anti-inflammatory properties, but based on research, it's difficult to determine in what amounts, how often, et cetera, that these foods are required to actually produce these results regarding inflammation. So once again, they're still conflicting findings regarding these anti-inflammatory diets, but there's definitely some positive research with regard to the Mediterranean diet and the dash diet, as a form of an anti-inflammatory diet.

Amanda Wilde (Host): And I assume the basis of those diets is what we were just talking about fruits, veggies, whole foods, plant-based foods?

Anjie Giuffrida: Correct. So the Mediterranean diet is basically a healthy eating pattern and this is focused on cardiovascular disease risk factors. And once again, like you said, high in the whole grains, fruits, veggies, beans, olive oil with a low meat intake. And according to places like the academy of nutrition and dietetics, this type of eating pattern, actually compared to usual intake, can decrease blood pressure in the general population, reduce weight or LDL cholesterol. And there’s evidence to suggest that it may be more effective than other therapeutic diets.

So this is a recommendation from the dietary guidelines, to recommend the Mediterranean style dietary pattern as one of the patterns to promote health and reduce the risk of these, Chronic diseases. On the other hand, dash diet is very, very similar. Fruits, veggies, beans, fish, poultry, and then low fat or fat free dairy products. And it has an emphasis on decreasing foods and beverages with those added sugars, red meats, and then our sodium of course, so very, very similar, in terms of dietary recommendations.

Amanda Wilde (Host): Thank you for what is a very timely discussion. It's really empowering to take charge of our food and you have given some great ideas for anti-inflammatory choices, any final thoughts about what we've been discussing?

Anjie Giuffrida: Definitely. So of course our nutrition and what we're putting in our body is important, but overall, this is something that we should adopt in order just to live longer, healthier and happier lives in general. But remember, it's not just our diet. We have to focus on incorporating all of the different pillars of health. So in combination, they can promote these anti-inflammatory properties. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, daily exercise, limiting our alcohol intake, avoiding or quitting smoking, managing our stress easier said than done. But really putting this emphasis on a whole food plant based Mediterranean style of diet. And it's just important to focus on what we put into our bodies and, nourish our bodies to promote this optimal health and wellness.

Amanda Wilde (Host): It really is about patterns, isn't it?

Anjie Giuffrida: Absolutely.

Amanda Wilde (Host): Anjie, thank you so much.

Anjie Giuffrida: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Amanda Wilde (Host): And that wraps up this episode of BayCare HealthChat, head on over to our website at BayCare.org for more information, or to get connected with one of our providers. If you found this podcast informative, please share on your social media and be sure to check out all the other interesting podcasts in our library. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all other BayCare podcasts. For more health tips and updates, follow us on your social channels. Thanks for listening and stay well.