The Best Foods to fight inflammation

by Minx life

Whether it's aches and pains, stiffness, headaches, indigestion, stomachaches, yeast imbalances, low energy, weight gain, or free radical damage, it often goes back to two things, acidity and inflammation.

To understand how acidity plays a role in producing bodily inflammation, you first have to understand pH, or the measure of a solution's acidity or alkalinity from 0 to 14, 0 being the most acidic, and 14 being the most alkaline. Our bodies need a very specific pH balance to function and maintain homeostasis. Even slight changes to the pH balance of our blood, for instance, can be extremely problematic.

Our grocery stores and diets are overrun with highly acidic foods, Caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, sugars, refined flours, pasteurized dairy, animal protein are all highly acidic forming in the body, and if you are eating those on a regular basis, chances are you may experience at least some sort of chronic symptom of inflammation. Even natural processes of the body produce acidic byproducts. Stress also contributes greatly to an acidic environment.

So what can we do? How do we reverse the effects of these highly acidic foods and actions? Just as food plays a role in producing an acidic environment, it can be transformative and healing to the body, reducing inflammation and creating an environment that supports health.

The goal should be to consume 80 percent alkaline foods and 20 percent acidic foods. Not all acidic foods are unhealthy necessarily; however, extremely acidic foods like those stated above should be greatly minimized. Fresh fruits and vegetables that have been seasoned and cooked should be the focus of your diet.

Below is a list of some of the most anti-inflammatory foods you should be adding to your diet daily to restore alkalinity and relieve inflammation. Fight inflammation in the kitchen, not the Pharmacy, with:

• Green leafy vegetables

• Turmeric

• Fish Oils(Salmon and Sardines)

• Berries

• Walnuts

• Bone broth

• Coconut oil

• Avocados

• Olive Oil

• Ginger

• Dark Chocolate 70 percent and higher

• Beets

• Broccoli

Remember 80/20... That is the rule to being healthy but you can still enjoy a couple of Margaritas with chips and Guacamole every now and then:-)

PAPAYA FOR GOOD DIGESTION

by minx life

While eating fruit with a meal is never recommended as it can have a negative effect on your digestion, papaya is one of the few exceptions.

Papaya fruit is a rich source of valuable proteolytic enzymes, such as papain, chymopapain, caricain and glycl endopeptidase, that can greatly aid in the digestive process. This is especially true of of meals that contain meat or other concentrated forms of protein.

But, as this page will show, papaya enzyme can have many other health benefits and may have an even more important role to play when taken on an empty stomach.

Many of us eat large amounts of low quality meat each week that can put great strain on our digestive system and enzyme producing pancreas. Processed meats, with additives such as the potentially carcinogenic sodium nitrite, are particularly worrying from a health perspective.

To make matters worse, rushed meals, extra large serving sizes, low digestive enzymes and stomach acid production, and poorly functioning digestive systems in general all contribute to this meat often ending up only partially digested by the time it reaches the lower intestines.

Here it can putrefy as it is acted upon by masses of flatulence causing bacteria. But smelly gas is the least of the potential health problems caused by undigested protein in the colon.

The place to fix flatulence and other more serious health issues associated with poor digestion, such as constipation, leaky gut syndrome and IBS, is not at the end of the process,  but at the beginning.

Proper chewing is important to break up food and can significantly assist carbohydrate digestion, but to get a head start on protein, proteolytic enzymes like the papain enzyme in papaya can really help. It's also a good idea to avoid certain foods for awhile, such as, meat, fried and fatty foods, eggs, refined sugars, dairy, caffeine, alcohol and processed foods. 

Papaya Enzyme on an Empty Stomach

While papaya enzymes are most often taken with food, another strategy that is gaining popularity is to take green papaya enzyme powder blended up in a smoothie or with water on an empty stomach.

Under these circumstances little hydrochloric acid would be produced and the papain and other enzymes could pass into the small intestines in larger amounts. From here they can be absorbed into your bloodstream where they exert an anti-inflammatory effect throughout the body .

Proteolytic enyzmes circulating in the blood are known to reduce inflammation in your body, most likely by scavenging damaged and oxidized proteins and breaking them down.

These damaged proteins are implicated in a variety of debilitating autoimmune disorders such as severe allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome and a weakened immune system that is much more vulnerable to infections and disease. 

If you are looking for better digestion and an improved immune system give papaya a try!