GETTING YOURSELF IN THE ZONE

Inflammation is one of those things the body needs – it signals to the immune system to heal and repair damaged tissue, for example – but it’s also a key factor in countless diseases. While a number of things can play a role in individual inflammatory responses, food researcher, biochemist and author Dr Barry Sears believes diet can be a powerful tool for helping manage inflammation. By eating the right mix of protein, fat, carbohydrates and vitamins, people can keep their body in a unique “resolution zone”, he says, where genes that cause inflammation can be “silenced” and genes that reduce it can be “switched on”, leading to better health.

Sears, who researches the hormonal effects of food at the Inflammation Research Foundation in the US, explores this further in his latest book, The Resolution Zone.

“We often think of inflammation as something to avoid. In reality, to maintain your health, you have to keep inflammation in a zone. You need to turn on inflammation to protect your body from infections and injuries, but also need to turn off inflammation, so it doesn’t continue to attack your body,” he explains.

“There is no drug to maintain this balancing act, but your diet can. Treating your diet as a ‘super-drug’ keeps inflammation in such a zone,” Sears claims. “There’s no magic bullet in nutrition, only the constant orchestration of the hormones and genes that reduce, resolve and finally repair the damage caused by inflammation.”

Inflammation is a topic that’s cropped up a lot lately, as it’s cited as being a key factor in Covid-19 and why some people may become far more unwell than others.

So how does Sears think people should be eating? Here are five dietary strategies for eating your way to the “resolution zone”.

FOLLOW AN ANTIINFLAMMATORY DIET

“Your diet can either cause inflammation or reduce it,” says Sears, who recommends the Zone Diet – an anti-inflammatory eating plan he developed more than 25 years ago. It’s highly personalised but the basic premise is to eat the right balance of low-fat protein and carbohydrate (such as non-starchy vegetables), plus a little fruit and mono-unsaturated fat, like olive oil or nuts, at every meal.

Most females, he says, will need about 90g of low-fat protein per meal, while males will need around 120g. Once you know how much protein you need, you can then determine the exact amount of carbohydrates and fat required.

A typical Zone meal might consist of about a 120g portion of chicken, fish or a plant-based meat substitute for vegans, three servings of non-starchy vegetables plus a small serving of berries for dessert, and 10ml of olive oil for fat.

EAT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF FERMENTABLE FIBRE

A primary source of diet-induced inflammation comes from a leaky gut, says Sears. “Your best defence is consuming adequate levels of fermentable fibre to produce metabolites in the gut that also reduce inflammation,” he explains. This means at least 30g of fibre per day from non-starchy veg (primarily the ABCs: artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach) and limited amounts of fruits (ideally berries) to maintain good gut health.

BE MINDFUL OF CALORIES

Calories are not all created equal – and counting them is not the be all and end all of maintaining a healthy weight. However, Sears says it’s important to be aware of them. “The most proven method to live longer with less chronic disease is to restrict calories without malnutrition,” he says. “Those calories have to be balanced in protein, carbohydrate and fat to generate the correct levels of hormones needed to reduce inflammation as well as to prevent hunger and fatigue.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean feeling deprived of food though – for example, Zone meals can typically contain 400 calories each, yet quite a lot of volume if you have the balance of veg right.

CONSUME MORE OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS

Omega-3 fatty acids are building blocks for the hormones that turn off inflammation, says Sears, who explains you’ll need to eat at least 3g of good omega-3 sources per day to make enough of these hormones. The average Brit only consumes about 150mg of omega-3 fatty acids per day, so many of us might not be getting quite enough. Oily fish, nuts and seeds are good sources.

CONSUME MORE POLYPHENOLS

Polyphenols are the chemicals that provide vegetables and fruits with their colouring, and Sears says they also activate the genes that repair tissue damage caused by inflammation. You’ll generally need to consume about 10 servings of non-starchy vegetables and fruits per day to get adequate levels of polyphenols, he says.

I SAY TOMATO: Fruit and veg form a key part of the diet for vegans – with three servings of nonstarchy vegetables and a small serving of berries for dessert

Oily fish, nuts and seeds are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids

Food researcher, biochemist and author Dr Barry Sears