5 Foods That Can Trigger Inflammation

Intro

Hey what’s happening?!!…

This is Isai Rodriguez… host of the DadSplanation Podcast where I cater to the Professional Working Man, 40 and above, who’s looking to make positive changes to his health, lose weight, and become stronger overall through simple lifestyle changes.

I’m here to share inspiration, tips and proven lessons that I’ve personally learned and lived through in my 40+ years on this beautiful blue planet.

So today we’ll be talking about The Equipment-Free Move That’ll Stretch and Strengthen ‘Frozen Shoulder Syndrome’ In 30 Seconds Flat and then we’ll move on to our 2nd segment with 5 Foods That Can Trigger Inflammation….

And before we get into that, if you’d like to continue the conversation, then get on over to podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip to get on the VIP Insider’s community where I share more entertaining “behind-the-scenes” stories, tips, and hacks that’ll keep you feeling younger each and every day!

That’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip…

Again, that’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip… be in the know… starting right now

Also, don’t forget to rate me on iTunes by leaving me a nice FAT-JUICY-5-star-review and some absolutely beautiful words of why you love the show so much! It really helps me get the word out and it’s honestly the one place where your vote truly matters!

And now let’s move into our first segment… Healthy Conversations…

Healthy Conversations:  The Equipment-Free Move That’ll Stretch and Strengthen ‘Frozen Shoulder Syndrome’ In 30 Seconds Flat

So I was talking to a workout buddy at the gym about “working from home” and how it’s having a pretty negative impact on our mood and overall productivity… and in his case… his dating life… hahaha!!!

And the biggest place that I’ve personally felt it has been in my shoulders…

I mean… Working from a less-than-ideal setup has been horrible for my upper body… and apparently… I’m not the only one who’s been powering through the pain.

It actually seems to be a common thing during these COVID isolation days… looks like a lot of people are dealing with “frozen shoulders”… and I say that in quotes because that’s not a real diagnosis but certainly a REAL thing…

And it’s more or less because we’re slumped over our laptops all day long…

Now this is double for me because after my day job, I commute from the dinner table to my home office and then I work on my home business which includes more computer work, this podcast, and several other things I’m working on at the moment…

And but the best way I’ve found to deal with this is by breaking up your sitting hours with a simple shoulder mobility exercise that’ll stretch and strengthen the area in about 30 seconds or so.

So when you’re sitting with not-so-perfect posture (aka when you don’t hold your shoulders back and engage your spine all day long)

It causes your head, neck and shoulders to slump over into something called “upper cross syndrome”

And when this happens, it messes with your shoulder mobility and makes it pretty DANG difficult to move your shoulder blades…

Actually… this is where the term “frozen shoulders” comes from.

And wouldn’t you know… this all comes as a result of shoulder weakness and tightness…

This is why you’ll want to use a simple little exercise I found that basically targets both issues that cause the discomfort in your upper body… so it kinda stretches and strengthens certain muscles in your upper back…

Are you ready for it?…

It’s nothing more than a child’s pose arm lift…

And it gives you everything you need to get the best of both worlds at the same time.

A Child’s Pose in general is an awesome move because it stretches and opens up your upper spine and then the raising and lowering of your arms one at a time strengthens all of the muscles around it.

It’s really awesome and I highly recommend it if you’re suffering from the same sort of COVID-induced-Frozen-Sholders…

The move requires nothing more than your own body and a little bit of floor space AND it’s perfect for sinking into throughout the day whenever your shoulders start to scream for attention…

And it’s sooo simple…

Start in a traditional child’s pose with your knees out wide, your hips sunk back in between them, and your arms extended over your head on the floor.

Then simply turn your palms to face each other so that your thumbs are pointed up to the sky…

Then slowly raise and lower one arm at a time. Easy Peasy… continue on for 30 to 60 seconds and you’re good to go!!

If you’re like me and have major mobility issues in that area then you might not be able to lift your arms at all…

But this is just all the more reason to keep practicing the move until you can.

Treat your body to 30-second to one-minute cycles of the exercise, and over time you’ll start to see changes in the way your upper body is able to move. My Gym-Buddy’s dating life might not be fixable in 30 seconds, but thanks to this move his shoulder issues will be headed in the right direction.

I recorded a tutorial video that was well received by most everyone on my VIP list BUT if you’re not on the list yet…

You can always go to YouTube and search for “Child’s Pose” or “Yoga Child’s Pose” and you’ll find tons of videos that’ll show you how it’s done…

And then from there… you simply add in the arm raises!

Bada-Bing… Bada-Boom!!

Mighty Man:  5 Foods That Can Trigger Inflammation

For many people, the battle against inflammation starts with the very food you put into your mouth and through your body.

While there are many different tactics you can use to stop inflammation, one of the best tricks is limiting your intake of foods that basically trigger inflammation.

So question… what exactly IS INFLAMMATION?

In an episode of You Versus Food, Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, a registered dietitian in New York City, broke down the most common causes of inflammation AND the foods to avoid in order to keep it under control.

WELL… as per Tracy Beckerman…

Inflammation is your body’s process of fighting against things that harm it, such as infections, illnesses, injuries, and toxins.

It’s your body’s way of attempting to heal itself… so when your body is damaged (and I’m using air quotes around the word DAMAGED)… your body releases chemicals which triggers a response from the immune system. This response causes the fibers in your body… the tissues, to swell.

The swelling basically cuts off the injured or infected parts to prevent other body parts from being infected as well.

And while there are some foods that can help prevent inflammation—like berries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, turmeric, and all the greens—there are also foods that do the opposite when over eaten.

So without further ado… here are FIVE foods specifically that trigger inflammation.

Foods and Drinks with “Added Sugar”

You see… When it comes to inflammation, you should really do all you can to steer clear of added sugars… So avoiding foods where the processor of that food has added sugar either for preserving or flavoring can make a huge difference in controlling your inflammation.

“Table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup have been shown to increase biomarkers of inflammation in the body AND eating a lot of sugar has been linked to some nasty killers like obesity, insulin resistance, brain and heart disease, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and cancer… just to name a few!

Refined carbs

Just like with foods that have “Added Sugar”… refined carbs should also be limited within your diet in order to avoid inflammation.

The biggest thing with “Refined carbs” is that foods with them or foods that contain refined carbs have most of their fiber removed… A good portion of it is stripped out of it… this is what makes fresh greens good for inflammation is that they’re pretty much all fiber whereas the refined carbs are basically the opposite… they have very little to NO Fiber in them.

And now you have to remember that fiber helps clean out the toxins in your system that cause inflammation so if Refined Carbs have significantly less or practically nothing… then that’s a problem…

When you’re eating foods without fiber, your body produces insulin to move sugars (aka glucose) out of the blood. But over time, insulin starts to get tired so it produces more and more of its kind to get the job done which leads to other nasty stuff like… Yup! You got it!!! Diabetes…

And as a person of Hispanic descent, I can tell you that “Refined carbs” is REALLY REALLY hard to avoid…

I mean most of our diet is different types of bread and rice… so trust me when I tell you… It aint easy… I feel your pain…

Actually, I shared a similar story with my VIP insider’s list on how these carbs haunt so many of us in the population…

I mean think about it… almost every culture that I know of out there… all of their diets have some sort of “Refined Carbs” in them… the number one culprit being… White Rice…

But there are more things that are killer… like white breads, pastries, sodas, pasta, special sweets, and even breakfast cereals.

They’re all filled with these refined carbs and we should do our best to reduce the amount we take in… if not eliminate them all together.

Easier said than done… I know!

Processed meat

Man… where do I begin with this little item?… I mean… There are SO many reasons why doctors and nutritionists recommend avoiding processed meats and INFLAMMATION is just one of them.

Processed meat has long been associated with an increase in heart disease, diabetes, stomach cancer, colon cancer, and of course inflammation because they contain CRAP like advanced glycation end products or “AGE” for short… (And we’re not talking about how old you are when we say “AGE”…

So anyway… AGEs are toxins or harmful compounds that form in foods, such as meat, when they’re cooked at high temperatures.

Your body doesn’t necessarily get rid of these toxins so it kinda builds up in your body and when you have enough of them in your body, it’s been linked to the development of diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes… again… no good!

So it’s important to take note of this before going all in with hot dogs, beef jerky, pepperoni, ham, corned beef, pancetta, hamburgers (I love a good hamburger), bacon, sausage, chicken nuggets…

I can go on forever but I think I’ve made my point… Try and stay away from these bad boys and that’ll really help keep the inflammation in your body down to a minimum…

Feel me?…

Alcohol

So we’ve heard it before it’s always worth mentioning again because well… it’s just one of those socially acceptable things we do when having family and friends over for the holidays or other special get togethers…

UUH… welp… maybe not so much these days with current COVID restrictions and whatnot but I’m holding my faith that one day we’ll return to some sort of NORMALCY and when we do… we can celebrate holidays and special occasions the way they were meant to be celebrated… you know?…

So anyway… Red wine in moderation might actually benefit your heart… BUUUUT… it also has a lot of bad effects one your body when consumed in excess or TO MUCH…

We all know that frequent alcohol consumption has several bad effects on the body but one of the biggest (if not “THE BIGGEST) is an increase in inflammation…

You see… when alcohol is broken down it does so in a way that puts out or creates other toxic CRAP that can kill liver cells and weaken your immune system…

And again… these days, with COVID cases soaring and compromising so many immune systems out there… why would you further compromise your system with alcohol?… It’s like kicking someone when they’re already down… Not cool… you know…

So enjoy it if you must BUT just be aware of the possible outcomes and if you do have a drink or two with dinner… Keep it at that… a drink or two… moderation is the key here between enjoying life and living past 100 (like I’m trying to do)

Trans fats

So are you even surprised that trans fats made this list?… well you shouldn’t really…

You see… “Trans fats” or FATS created by adding hydrogen to unsaturated fats… they’ve been linked to heart disease and dementia over a long period of time.

In fact, that’s why the FDA banned them in the US so be sure to read the labels of your favorite foods to inspect for those sneaky inflammatory ingredients, like ‘hydrogenated’ or ‘partially hydrogenated’ oils.

These are the tell-tale signs of the USE of Trans Fats in your foods… and as with all the other nasty goodness on this list… They cause inflammation in your body which leads to other conditions and diseases that’ll keep you from living that outdoor life you enjoy so much… or again… in my case, it’ll keep me from living to see my great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids… and who knows… maybe even my great-great-great-grandkids…

Hey… why not?!!!

But listen… if you want to lower the inflammation in your body or just lower the swelling all together, then stay away from these 5 things in particular, and you’ll be well on your way to doing so…

Watch how great you’ll start to look and feel…!

You know?!! I get feedback all the time from people on my VIP list talking about how they’re finally making progress with their health… THAT’s what drives me right there!!

I just wish I had the time to respond to all of them!

BUT ANYWAYZZ….

Closing

That’s it you guys… That’s my show for today!

I hope you found some valuable information here and if nothing else, I hope I’ve entertained you for a few minutes and was able to bring a little man-ly sunshine to your day.

Thanks for taking some time out of your day to listen to me… it’s very much appreciated!

On next week’s episode, we’ll be going over Running in Place: Is It A Good Workout OR Not? You might be surprised with this one so you won’t want to miss out on that!

And if you’d like to continue the conversation with me, then get on over to podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip to get on the VIP Insider’s community where I share even more “raw-behind-the-scenes” stories, tips, and hacks that’ll keep you feeling younger and younger… each and every day!

That’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip…

Again, that’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip… be in the know… starting right now!

Also, don’t forget to rate me on iTunes by leaving me a nice FAT-JUICY-5-star-review and some absolutely beautiful words of why you love the show so much!

It really helps me get the word out and it’s honestly the one place where your vote truly matters!

Until our next chat… Take care!