TEN rules to halt the hidden health enemy
THESE simple rules will help you navigate past the foods that can ramp up inflammation in your body — and make it easier to make the right food choices.
1 Ditch ‘ ultra-processed’ foods. these are made with ingredients (and additives) you wouldn’t use if you were cooking at home. here in the UK the most commonly eaten ultra- processed foods are industrially made bread, ready meals, breakfast cereals, sausages and reconstituted meat products.
Biscuits, pastries, cakes, soft drinks and crisps are also ultra-processed.
2 Drastically reduce the amount of processed foods you eat, too — this is food that’s been smoked, or canned, or undergone some other change before you buy it.
these include products such as bacon, smoked meat, salted and sugared nuts, and tinned fruit in syrup — they should be a rare addition to a meal, rather than a staple food or snack. the advice often now given is to eat the foods older generations ate — wherever they were in the world.
3 Eat a rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables every day and swap to wholegrains. Fresh produce is packed with antioxidants and phytochemicals — compounds that help to repair damaged cells — but different fruits and veg contain different ones and they give foods various colours. the wider range of colourful fresh food you eat, the more of these you’ll absorb — i’ll explain this in more detail in Wednesday’s pullout.
in addition, swap white pasta, bread, biscuits and cakes for wholegrains, which have anti-inflammatory benefits.
4 limit your red meat intake to no more than 500g a week — that’s around three portions. choose unprocessed cuts and mince, rather than sausages and bacon, as these will cause less inflammation.
and cut back on saturated and animal fats. these are linked to a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, as well as dementia.
5 THINK of meat as the side dish or even the seasoning that adds extra flavour to a dish — the veg should be the star of your plate, so you benefit from their anti-inflammatory nutrients and fibre.
6 SWAP a few of your usual daily brews with a cup of green or white tea (from health food shops) — these teas contain EGCG, a type of powerful antioxidant that studies show can reduce inflammation.
7 Eat one to two portions of oily fish a week and snack on unsalted nuts and seeds. this will boost your levels of omega 3 essential fatty acids, which reduce inflammation, protect the heart and also improve your mental health.
8 SHY away from sugar — and if you must have a sugary treat, combine it with protein or enjoy a delicious dessert after a main meal. too much of the sweet stuff is associated with inflammation and risk of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Eating sugar along with protein or after a main meal will slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream and will dampen the inflammatory response in the body.
9 CHOOSE red wine over white — red contains polyphenols, compounds that reduce inflammatory activity in cells. But don’t have more than 14 units a week.
10 ADD prebiotics and probiotics to your daily diet. these boost the number of healthy bacteria in the gut, improving symptoms of inflammatory bowel conditions.
they can also improve the symptoms of conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
i’ll explain in more detail later this week, but good sources of prebiotics include onions, asparagus, chickpeas and oats — and probiotics are found in fermented food such as sauerkraut, pickles and live yoghurt, as well as cheeses.