Beth: Hey guys, welcome back to another episode, I’m Beth and todays episode we are continuing on with inflammation and promoting pain awareness month and I’m sitting here today witih Nancy anti inflammation nutrition expert and fellow dietitian.

Nancy: today we want to dive deeper not only in nutrition and inflammation but lifestyle choices too that affects inflammation.

Beth : of course What we eat plays a large role in developing chronic inflammation. Our diet can also affect many other chronic conditions, prevent chronic disease, and provide us the nutrients we need to obtain optimal health.

Nancy: so not only what is on our plate matters what is all around our plates and in the kitchen and what we do around our house matter also. And that’s what we want to get to today for our listeners is that there are additional parts of our lifestyles that can affect inflammation.

Beth: ok, we know, Dietitians are notorious noted for our lists and we geti it but as we review today some possible triggers in our lifestyle that cause inflammation its important to focus on the components you have control over (smoking or activity) vs. things that may be out of your control (acute illness or auto-immune conditions).

Nancy: Funny that you mention it I do have a list haha but not in any particular order or anything. Smoking or 2nd Hand smoke can play a role in inflammation… First things first, if you don’t smoke don’t start! VA has resources to help with smoking cessation please find out at your local VA. We do want to lesson smoking and 2nd hand smoke maybe even today you could tart a rule of not allowing people to smoke inside your home or in your car . And the same guidelines apply to vaping as well.

Beth: oh that’s a great point Nancy so when talking about smoking we do want to make sure to include vaping in that category.

Nancy: absolutely it is important to look all around our whole house and environment…. For instance Environmental Pollutants -include a lot of chemicals and cleaners. If you can visit the us environmental protection agency website for more information. its important to be aware of chemicals inside your home and place of work. Being mindful of lotions and soaps that are applied to your body, looking at potentially changing out some chemical cleaners if you are able or being mindful of your area and environment such as being exposed to polluted air.

Beth : there are a a lot of great options out there to help keep us healthy and safe that help many people use vinegar for cleaning for example or maybing using coconut oil base for lotion everyone has different needs so its important to find what works best for you.

Nancy: all great points and another big one to add to the list that can lead to inflammation is Long-term high levels of stress, I mean seriously we’ve had some pretty crazy things happen in the last few years with all of our added things we have to do we need to learn how to manage stress! We have to take care of ourselves!! We should be adding in Tai chi, yoga, deep breathing exercises, meditation, and mindfulness practices can help with that stress management.

Beth: yes along with that maybe spending time outdoors and engaging in enjoyable activities on a regular basis. Not all stress is bad stress but we do want to be able to manage it.

Nancy: speaking of stress that can lead us to Excessive alcohol consumption…and this is another one to bring to our attention. Alcohol is inflammatory, and while the Anti-inflammatory nutrition guidelines limit drinking or completely exclude alcohol. At a minimum is recommended to Limit to 1 drink/day.

Beth: ok so Nancy for our listeners, What counts as a “drink”?

Nancy: a drink is 12 oz beer, 5 oz wine, and 1.5 oz liquor so maybe look at going from 2 drinks to 1 drink or reducing portion sizes can be a good start I like to remind people there is no roll over plan for alcohol so if you are being good and you skip Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday you shouldn’t have the whole bottle of wine on Friday night.

Beth: man that is a really good point. I’m glad you brought that up. Chronic disease can play a role in inflammation so we want to include dietary changes specific and that support management of that particular chronic disease and also look at anti inflammatory nutrition plan. You want to give our listeners some examples on how that could work?

Nancy: some examples would be like keeping sodium <2300mg/day for high blood pressure, kidney disease, liver disease, and <1500mg sodium/day for congestive heart failure, Count carbohydrates for diabetes management, Avoid gluten for Celiac disease all of these special considerations will fit in anti inflammatory nutrition plan these are dietary changes you can work on individually with a dietitian so make sure you reach out to your local VA to make sure those nutrition appointments.

Beth: Inactivity/Sedentary lifestyle another big one to add to our list of lifestyle factors that can increase inflammation. adequate exercise helps improve: Sleep quality, Stress management, Other chronic conditions, Body’s ability to heal, and Eliminate toxins.
Nancy: yes, Physical activity activates our “helper cells” to rebuild muscle tissues, strengthen our bones, and improve our daily function. Even minutes Makes a Difference! Add in more cardio, strength training, and stretching, engage in activities you enjoy!
Beth: right, I always say when talking about this earlier in my MOVE class when we were talking about exercise…. if I have a veteran who says I don’t like swimming I don’t have access to a pool I don’t even like being wet but then puts down a goal of swimming 3 days a week for their activity goal c’mon lets work on that we need to be able to maintain and sustain activity so pick something you like to do!
Nancy: that’s so funny because exactly we want to add in some fun in to it…. maybe adding some music to listen to while you are cleaning and doing chores its fun activity and getting more movement in throughout the day. Gardening can be great activity and fun and hey be sure to check out Fresh Focus summer eats series for more gardening tips too so we can help out for that too.
Beth: oh nice plug for our fresh focus podcast series it really is a great series I want all of you guys to check it out lots of great gardening tips listening for the whole family… it really is just awesome.

Nancy: yes definitely everyone should listen. So the last lifestyle factor on our list we want to review is Sleep! Our bodies need adequate rest and recovery time.

Beth: oooh actually I really love sleep maybe we should have listed this first or maybe we saved the best for last maybe? I know has a parent I love sleep and want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to get that said sleep

Nancy: yes sleep is so important and I love it too so we want to look at your sleep environment can include maybe using black out curtains or sleeping mask, or taking the tv out of the bedroom, avoiding blue led and fluorescent lighting in the bedroom if possible.

Beth: there is actual science to this but don’t sit on your bed and pay bills and then try to go to sleep doing activity in your bed like using your computer or watching tv makes your body associate your bed with awake time.. remember to keep the bedroom quiet calm and cool.

Nancy: yes and sleep schedule can be crucial, we really want to try to maintain a consistent schedule, start your pre sleep routine 1-2 hours before bed, stop working and doing stimulating activities, avoiding technology tv or using your phone shut the phone down folks its way better for our health and our nighttime.

Beth: and also listening to calming music and practicing some of those deep breathing and meditation techniques. Sometimes looking at your daytime/napping schedule can make a difference too any nap longer than 30minutes can negatively impact your sleep at night.

Nancy: its important to remember and those listening techniques like calming music and deep breathing can help with stress management too so you can hit 2 for 1 here…. please reach out to behavioral health providers for more techniques and resources on sleep health they can help and have a lot to offer for your plan for sleep! And of course a dietitian can assist too maybe limting caffeine or having a smaller snack maybe not guzzling water at 9pm before bed because that can make us have to get up more through the night there could be a few things to shift that way too.

Beth: absolutely we want veterans to know we are on their team, There are additional causes of chronic inflammation that need proper care and guidance from medical professionals such as autoimmune conditions, ongoing illnesses, injures, allergies, and more. Some health conditions also have food sensitivities connected to them so pairing your medical care with nutrition services and working with a registered dietitian can be really important for complex inflammatory conditions.

Nancy: Food sensitivities can also cause inflammation in some people. These are more common in autoimmune conditions, neurological conditions, and in people who have cancers. In general we don’t recommend following restrictive dieting practices, however if someone identifies a food that makes them feel worse – we can learn to listen to our bodies and choose foods that help us feel better.
Beth: and seeing a RDN is more than just talking about weight loss we are here to help veterans feel better with looking at ways nutrition and lifestyle that can promote overall health and well being. Thank you so much for being here Nancy and thanks to all you out there for listening to Fresh Focus, please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and check out all episodes and don’t forget to rate the series and leave a review!