I can totally appreciate thinking about & classifying food based on whether it helps you achieve your physique goals or not. However, that’s a limited perspective that can come back to bite you.
When you only think of food through the filter of weight loss/weight gain or indulging/not indulging, you’re really missing some critically important considerations for your health, energy and vitality.
If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click here to listen on my anchor channel.
Food is so much more than fat loss (or fat gain). Food is the raw materials with which your body repairs and maintains itself. Food is one of the most influential factors driving how well, or poorly, your body operates. Food determines if you are creating health or creating illness.
The foods you choose can trigger inflammation or relieve inflammation. That might not sound like a really important thing but it is. If you are ignoring the inflammatory impact of your food, you’re in trouble.
In fact, if you think you don’t need to worry about inflammation, that’s a huge red flag that you need to stop & spend some time understanding what we’re talking about.
Inflammation increases appetite. It triggers cravings. It slows fat loss. It leads to brain fog & trouble focusing. It reduces energy. It causes headaches, joint pain, slow recovery, impaired immune response, cellular dysfunction, cholesterol problems, sexual dysfunction and much more.
You know how you feel bloated sometimes? There’s a good chance that’s not just water but also inflammation!
When people talk about inflammation, they almost naturally default to considering anti-inflammatories. They want to know which supplements and ingredients reduce inflammation.
I don’t want you to think about it that way.
Think about it this way: if you are continually stoking a fire with logs, sticks and kindling, what’s the best way to put out the fire? Stop fueling it, right?
You wouldn’t continue to load fuel into the fire while wondering about the impact of spritzing a water on it, would you?
That’s how we need to think about systemic inflammation that is leaving us hungry, tired, grumpy, achy and sick. We first need to think about how to stop stoking the inflammatory fires.
I went into a bit of detail about this on today’s podcast, episode 376, but I really wanted to write about it here in hopes that you’ll take it seriously, listen attentively and make some changes.
Here are some of the ways I manage inflammation in my own body:
- I minimize sugar
- I rarely consume gluten
- I watch my consumption of nuts – I don’t go overboard like I used to
- I limit dairy
- I try to get enough sleep
- I practice stress management
- I use a water filter
- I rarely eat processed foods
You don’t have to be a purist, but I want to strongly encourage you to think about the inflammatory effects of food, not just the fat loss effects of food. Please take 25 minutes to listen to today’s podcast! It really matters.
Another way I limit inflammation is by caring for my body after my workouts. Today’s workout was really rough on my forearms and grip!
“Under Water”
3 Rounds:
50/35 Calorie Row
100 Double Unders
200 Meter Farmers Carry
Instead of leaving the gym feeling achy & sore, I took the extra time to roll out my forearms and stretch. When I got home I iced my knee. I’ll make sure to foam roll again later. To me, this is about working with your body versus fighting against it.
On the food front:
First, I told you guys I’d update you on dinner last night – I had a lamb burger without the bun & some avocado. I drank water.
This morning I had two eggs after my workout. For lunch I made a large salad bowl with cabbage, avocado, bacon and Primal Kitchen Chipotle Mayo.
Dinner is super simple: a wild caught salmon filet and broccoli with clarified butter.
Make it a great day!