Today I worship & adore every breath, every pulse, every heartbeat, and every sigh of relief, as I navigate through still waters, deep harbors, and oceans of joy, contentment, fulfillment, insight, understanding, and love.

Inflammation is the body's natural response to protect itself against harm. There are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic.

Acute inflammation is the type that deals with such problems as infections, bruises, sore joints, and helps to release protection to your body for the short term. Short term Inflammation is a good thing that helps your immune system. If it weren't for inflammation, these minor problems could turn deadly.

Chronic inflammation happens when you don't resolve the problems that cause inflammation. The inflammation is allowed to linger long term which causes serious problems.

You don't wish yourself to get inflammation, but if you have an injury or disruption inside the body, you need it to shield from further problems. Once it has done its job, you want to eliminate the source that caused the inflammation, which will cause it to go away.

Inflammation is one of the causes of a wide variety of illnesses, including cancer, gout, arthritis, heart disease, asthma, dementia and diabetes.

When you eat unhealthy foods, inflammation lingers and causes fatty, cholesterol-rich plaque that can build up in your arteries. Your body perceives this plaque as abnormal and foreign, so it attempts to wall off the plaque from the flowing blood. But if that wall breaks down, the plaque may rupture. The contents then mingle with blood, forming a clot that blocks blood flow. These clots are responsible for the majority of heart attacks and most strokes. Reducing the things that cause these conditions will improve your inflammation levels, which will improve your health, help you think clearer, and increase your energy level.

Inflammation is normal when you exercise. Just like other inflammation, you want to relieve it with rest, hydration, healthy foods, supplements, and ice externally to prevent it from lingering. Exercise causes acute inflammation as you work out, but in the long term, it prevents chronic inflammation.

If you are overweight, sleeping poorly, and eating badly, you have created a situation where your immune system is constantly on high alert and continually inflamed. This makes you even more vulnerable to developing additional illnesses.

One way you can reduce the inflammatory reaction in your body is to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. Just carrying a little excess weight, especially belly fat, means you are carrying around "highly inflammatory tissue." When you add in the fact that you may be eating too much sugar and/or unhealthy, fatty meats, you already have several factors causing inflammation in your body.

Getting older causes inflammation markers to rise. The older you are, the more opportunity you have had to be exposed over the years to chronic diseases, bad food choices, alcohol, and environmental toxins. To make matters worse, aging makes it harder for our bodies to manage our immune system, shed weight and extract nutrients from food. This means we need to work even harder to reduce our chronic inflammation.

The threat of chronic inflammation problems is reduced by a healthy diet & supplements.

Foods you should start to eliminate from your diet

1. White bread

2. Processed foods and desserts

3. Foods that are low in fiber and high in sugar

4. Fried foods

5. Saturated fats

6. Alcohol & smoking

Conditions to eliminate

1. Get rid of BELLY FAT!

2. Get rid of STRESS!

3. Get rid of BAD ATTITUDE!

Conditions to Improve

1. Start positive activities

2. Surround yourself with positive successful people

3. Start/improve a healthy diet

· Eat whole grains, including whole-grain bread

· Eat fruits, including grapes, apples, and berries

· Eat beans

· Drink tea

· Eat salads with a lot of colors

· Eat healthy fats such as avocados, nuts, fish and flax

4. Exercise

5. Start/maintain visits to the dentist and periodontist

· Gum inflammation can lead to other diseases. I see a dentist for a cleaning and alternate with a periodontist every three months to keep my gums healthy. This is a preventive measure that will pay huge dividends to your future health and avoid painful scaling and other dental procedures in the future.

6. Turmeric & zinc supplements

· I take turmeric & zinc supplements in the morning, after pickleball, and before I go to bed. This is something I just started this year. I resisted supplements for many years even though people around me insisted that it would benefit me. Now that I take the supplements, I believe they were right, and I have seen an improvement. I have always tried to avoid taking any kind of processed foods and pills, but I have made an exception with a few supplements. If you are thinking of adding supplements to your diet, remember, it is meant to complement your normal diet, not a replacement.

7. Get a good night of sleep every night

8. Intermittent fasting helps reduce inflammation

• I eat dinner between 3 & 4 and don't eat again until 6am the next morning. I have found that this method of fasting works best for me and allows plenty of time to digest my food.

9. Do not eat food within 3 hours of going to bed

I know it's easier said than done but you can ease the pain of change by achieving your improvement in small steps. Hopefully my posts can help you!

It's never too late to start a better life!

I Feel GREAT and So Should You!