Are You Inflamed?

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

The question posed by the title of this particular article is somewhat inconclusive. Inflamed? What does that mean? Does it mean angry at the state of things in America and throughout the world? Does it mean impassioned about all the things that are wrong in society that you would like to change?

In this instance, I’m using the word “inflamed” to pose a question about your health. Not that long ago, I ran a 9-part series called “GABA, GABA, Doo” and in it, I addressed some of the health issues related to not having enough glutamate and GABA for our systems to use. Health is extremely important and without it, we have a difficult time maintaining a healthy outlook in life. We also talked about the fact that our body’s health all starts in our guts. That’s the truth of it. If we have healthy guts, then the necessary neurotransmitters are created and effectively used by our brains as needed.

Consequently, if we are not careful or concerned with what we eat, then we will likely have unhealthy guts, which will create all sorts of problems, maladies, and illnesses that keep us running to the doctors. Doctors will – unfortunately – often make things worse by prescribing medications that simply relieve symptoms and while that’s happening, they further erode our gut health. Drugs like antibiotics and prednisone (steroid) are very problematic where this is concerned.

So when I talk about “inflammation” that occurs within our bodies, what am I talking about? Inflammation can occur when “the body’s defense system — the immune system — triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign invaders to fight off. In these diseases, called autoimmune diseases, the body’s normally protective immune system causes damage to its own tissues. The body responds as if normal tissues are infected or somehow abnormal.”

When your body is inflamed, it feels sore all over, or at least at various points in the soft tissue (mainly). You could go in for x-rays and MRIs and nothing would necessarily show up. The reason it won’t show up is because soft tissue itself doesn’t necessarily show up via these venues.

As a for instance, years ago, I had to have rotator cuff surgery. My doctor went through all the prescribed venues to determine how bad it was and felt that the surgery would take no more than two hours to repair. Once he got in there though, it actually took him four hours. Why? Because there were things that did not show up in the x-rays or MRIs like the fact that my ligaments were so attenuated (paper-thin) that he had to gather than all up, group them together, and then begin the repair. That takes time using arthroscopic surgery. Beyond this, there were other repairs he had to make that also were invisible until he opened up my shoulder and saw what he faced.

Arthritis is like this. There are ways to determine whether or not a person has arthritis, but some of it simply does not show up.

Some, but not all, types of arthritis are the result of misdirected inflammation. Arthritis is a general term that describes inflammation in the joints.

While the joints are affected, often it is the soft tissue surrounding the joints that creates issues because of the inflammation of the body. It is important then to understand what makes your body inflamed.

I keep a close watch on my blood pressure. The reason for that is because it has been high for so long in the past. It took my doctor quite some time to get a handle on things, but he finally was able to bring it down using medications and at one time I was taking five different medicines all at low doses to try to avoid the more annoying side effects.

At the high point, my blood pressure had gotten to 170/110. That’s absolutely not good. It places a great deal of strain on the heart and can actually enlarge the heart. Without treatment, I was a candidate for stroke and congestive heart failure.

Once my doctor did what he was able to do and got my blood pressure to a manageable 130 (or so) over 80, I was in a much better position. However, I didn’t necessarily feel better. The side effects of the medications were annoying and I was tired all the time. Because of this, I began to seek out alternative health practitioners because I simply wanted to eat healthy and hopefully, become healthier.

It was through contact with naturopaths that I began to realize that what I ate had a direct connection on how I felt. I started avoiding gluten and wheat. I went to an allergist and determined what if any foods I should avoid. For me, dairy is a big problem, so I now avoid cow’s milk and stick with goat’s milk. Sounds weird I’m sure, but goat’s milk does not have the same enzymes that cow’s milk does. I also learned I was allergic to corn so I avoid it. You might consider the fact that corn or some derivative of it is in hundreds if not thousands of food products on the stores shelves. Whether it’s corn meal, maltodextrin, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, or something else, I must avoid it all.

This started about two and a half years ago and since then, I have lost over 60 pounds without even trying that hard and I’m feeling better all the way around. My overall bodily inflammation has also decreased. In fact, I now see just exactly how the two connect, between what I eat and the increase of inflammation.

My body tells me when I’m ingesting things that I should not be ingesting. For instance, I mix a drink of psyllium (fiber), with small amounts of L-Carintine, Ribose powder, and L-Glutamine daily. The psyllium – as a fiber – helps rid my system of toxins and keeps things moving. The other ingredients are there because of my specific genetic make-up and the need for those things in that form. 23 and Me is a great way to learn about yourself and they don’t simply provide information about your ethnicity. They provide a great deal of genetic information that your health practitioner can wade through if they know how to read it. In my case, I learned that I’m MTHFR so I don’t metabolize folic acid at all. I have to take folate, a methylated form of it.

At any rate, I started adding “gelatin” to my morning drink mix because purified gelatin aids in a healthy gut. I also started taking tumeric supplements because it is supposed to help reduce bodily inflammation. After about a week, my normally low blood pressure (I still take two medications, but only two, down from five), started going higher, up to 140 for the top number. Not good.

I stopped taking the tumeric supplement and it went down slightly. Then I realized that the gelatin powder might be creating a problem for me. It wasn’t just that my BP was higher. My body overall was starting to feel “inflamed.” There is a definite correlation between inflammation and increased blood pressure. I’ve also noticed that my tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is worse when I’m inflamed.

Two days ago, I stopped putting gelatin into my drink mix and went back to the original mixture which had not given me any problems at all. Yesterday, there was a noticeable improvement in my BP readings. The top number was 133. Today, the top number was 130. I expect that tomorrow and following, it will continue to decrease once both the tumeric and the gelatin have gotten out of my system completely.

My point is this: when your body is feeling sore or inflamed, you feel “stiff” and you find it difficult to walk for long periods of time, or to lift things that you lifted easily before, the inflammation may be due to your gut health and what you’re eating or ingesting.

If I have butter (a dairy product), I start experiencing inflammation. My doctor told me to try Ghee, which is clarified butter, the kind that you dip lobster meat in. I use it and I don’t have problems.

When we were in Europe, there were things I could eat there that I cannot eat here. That is due to the way our food is produced here in America. There are GMOs, fillers, preservatives, and chemicals added to our foods. Beyond this, food companies here in America tend to put additional garbage in our food (for instance, chemicals that simply make things look whiter), and even though alleged studies have been done, me being the jaded person I am, I have a difficult time accepting those studies. There are a lot of studies that are not done because someone has to pay for them. If no one puts up the money, the studies don’t get done.

The people who own the food production companies are primarily interested in making a great deal of money. It makes them happy and their shareholders. If they put garbage into our food, cover the taste with chemicals, they don’t care. If that good ruins the health of our guts, they lose no sleep over it because Big Pharma is right there ready to give us all the medicines we need to deal with the symptoms that ail us. They’re not interested in curing us. They know that unless people change their eating habits, after an illness, they will simply continue eating the low-quality foods that gave them the illnesses in the first place. They become repeat “customers” to the world of medicine.

You actually are what you eat. Understand that. Do not forget that. I’m not saying that every form of inflammation you might experience is due to food. I am saying that there are ways for you to test the theory on yourself. Try reducing the amount of junk food and garbage you eat. Stop putting the cheapest food in your grocery basket. If you can, spend a bit more on your food because it’s all about your health. You’ll actually eat less so you may find that you save money or it’s a wash.

Ultimately, there is a lot you can do to reduce your inflammation instead of running to the doctor and having her/him prescribe a medication that will further wear out your system and create more problems for you.

In this day and age of toxins in just about everything we eat, the air we breathe, and sometimes even in the water we drink, it’s important to be as healthy as we can and I believe it all starts with what we put into our guts.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective