well beyond the fullness you feel after a big meal. Certain foods — refined sugars, foods high in saturated fats, and some meats — can actually work against your body and contribute to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and all other chronic illnesses.
This book also is a starter guide, an introduction to signs and symptoms of a variety of chronic illnesses and conditions related to inflammation. We introduce you to the healthiest foods, herbs, and supplements, and we steer you away from foods that can — and do — cause problems. We don’t simply say, “This is bad;” we tell you why something is bad, why it’s good, how it can help, or how it can further damage your tissues and cells.
We also help you put the anti-inflammatory diet into practice. Not only does this book give you a list of the foods that are good, but it also features approximately 110 easy-to-moderate recipes for almost any occasion, all geared toward stopping inflammation in its tracks. In addition, this book offers simple exercises and yoga positions to help you further move inflammation out of your life.
This book is a reference book, so you don’t have to read everything or read everything in order. We designed it so you can jump in and read about whichever topics most interest you — or the ones that can offer you the most relief.
Most of the recipes in Part 3 aren’t only anti-inflammatory but also designed for people suffering from lactose intolerance or gluten sensitivity. In recipes not designed for those people, we suggest substitutions you can make.
Furthermore, here are a few other guidelines to keep in mind about the recipes in this book (unless otherwise stated in the recipe):
All butter is unsalted unless otherwise stated. Margarine isn’t a suitable substitute for butter.
All eggs are large.
All salt is kosher.
All dry ingredient measurements are level.
All temperatures are Fahrenheit (see the appendix to convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius).
All lemon and lime juice is freshly squeezed.
All Greek yogurt is full-fat yogurt.
The exercises and yoga positions in Part 4 are good starter exercises for people who are just getting started. If you already subscribe to a workout regimen, step up the moves or push yourself just a little harder by taking a class, trying a tougher workout, or simply extending the time of your own workout.
Foolish Assumptions
In writing this book, we made some assumptions about you, the reader:
You aren’t a medical doctor, so you don’t need highly technical information. You’re using this book as a guide to better, healthier living.
You or someone close to you suffers from inflammation and you’re interested in knowing ways to curb the pain and discomfort without the need for an arsenal of medication. Or you don’t want to suffer from arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or cancer later on in life and are looking for something to keep chronic disease at bay.
You’re interested in changing your diet, whether it’s a complete overhaul or just substituting some healthier options for some of the not-so-healthy foods in your diet now.
Icons Used in This Book
Icons are the little signposts in the margins of this book. Here’s a guide to what they signify:
Where to Go from Here
You don’t have to read this book from cover to cover. Flip through the Table of Contents or Index to find a topic that interests you and start reading. Or, if you want, you can skip right to the recipes and find out later why they’re good for you. Want to see how your dietary supplement compares to others? Skip straight to Chapter 19. Need some good exercises to go along with your healthy habits? See Chapter 20. Trying to figure out how many servings of something you should eat on a daily or weekly basis? Check out Chapter 4.
The great thing about this book is that order doesn’t matter. If you need information in one chapter to better understand another, you can jump back and forth, and we include cross-references where appropriate to help you get the whole picture, no matter where you start.
For a quick reference point, check out the Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com. Just search for “Anti-Inflammatory Diet For Dummies Cheat Sheet” for helpful information you can refer to again and again.
Part 1
Taking the Mystery Out of Inflammation
IN THIS PART …
Understand the difference between acute and chronic inflammation and how what you eat can affect how you feel.
Identify where toxic foods come from and how food toxicity can affect your health.
Dig in to different food allergies and sensitivities and how your body may be affected without knowing it.
Examine the health benefits of different foods to create a diet that suits your needs.
Make sense of the connection between food and chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and neurodegenerative disease.
Chapter 1
Inflammation, Food, and You
IN THIS CHAPTER
If you ever fell off your bike or out of a tree, you’re familiar with