Well, really, the title should be: "Hidden Infection? Food Allergy? Chemical overload? You have inflammation and it's making you feel crappy."

Many practitioners recognize that our diet and lifestyle habits must be addressed to reverse the effects of the most common illnesses affecting us today: thyroid disorders, chronic fatigue, asthma, migraines, so on and so forth.

In my practice and community I have seen an increased sensitivity to our foods. I love it when I hear someone say, "Oh man! That burger made me sleepy".

Why you ask?

Well, because they are secretly saying: "something in my body didn't like that burger". They are acknowledging that their body is doing its job, and they are listening when their body is speaking!

Inflammation is both a normal response and a signal that your body is under attack. Okay, attack is a little dramatic, but it is playing defense. Inflammation is a way to bring blood, nutrients and healing to an area of your body that is running in overdrive.

BREAKING IT DOWN

When you get a cut on your leg, here's how your body reacts:

Brain: Directs the "team" to get to work and repair this setback. "Send in the white blood cells, call the coagulants, get a little more blood pumping everywhere else, so no one else falls down on their job!"

Team: Rushes in with lots of blood and cells and nutrients.

Tissues: Heal.

This response is what we call inflammation. It happens all throughout your body when anything out of the ordinary happens.

Sometimes, after years of having ordinary things enter our systems, like foods and pollen, our body suddenly overreacts. We eat a sandwich, the same sandwich we've eat for 20 years, and we break out in hives!

It's not completely the sandwich's fault. It's the buildup of years of tiny inflammations. Normally, our body heals that cut within a few days. The pain disappears and the team goes back to their normal jobs. However, this process gets distracted when other life stuff is going on…you know, things like your job, your new baby, your sick family member or any stressor.

Let’s revisit the example from above with stress in consideration:

Brain: "Send in the white blood cells, call the coagulants, get a little more blood pumping everywhere else so no one else falls down on their job!"

Team: Rushes in with lots of blood and cells and less nutrients (because you have an important deadline at work, and you haven’t eaten real food in the last 2 weeks).

Tissues: Start healing, but need more nutrients and less blood. Your cut stays red, swollen, and maybe gets infected because it keeps getting bumped open. There's still not enough nutrients to repair fully and fight the infection. So you apply antibiotics. The cut gets mostly better, but now that spot is still sore and prone to re-injury.

WHY INFLAMMATION?

As we live life, we accumulate joyful experiences and painful experiences. Usually by our early 30s, we have a noticeable symptom - like sinus infections, acid reflux, achy joints - that effects our day to day life. The medical model has dubbed these symptoms as "illnesses or disease". Labels often make us feel better, but can quickly make us feel like we aren't in control any more. Or that we have "fight" against this disease.

If the "disease" is just unresolved inflammation, the most logical thing to do is take away the triggers. What foods, sentimental substances and infections (viruses or bacteria) can we get rid of in our life? For example, many people feel better after removing grains or dairy from their diet, because it gives the body a chance to heal. A minute to catch its breath. Grains and dairy can take a lot of energy reserves to break down and eliminate from our body. When you run out of those reserves, your brain keeps sounding the alarm, but no one comes running, causing rashes, headaches, hormone disruption and much more. The inflammation stays, and so does the offender.

WHAT TO DO?

Pay attention for signals when you eat, drink or come into contact with chemicals. Are you bloated? Did you sneezing? Did you get a headache any time after eating? These are subtle ways your body will deal with an offender.

Once you take notice, simply avoid anything that causes you a problem for A couple days. After 3-4 days, test the food or substance again. Did you have the same reaction?

Like I said, it can happen with something you've had many times before. One day-- usually a stressful one - your body can overactive without warning. Your body has depleted its energy reserves.

Want to experiment on yourself? Download my food journal.

Track your diet for 5 days. And your after-meal-mojo (you know what that means right?). The journal has a handy place to jot down notes and a simple exercise to help you identify what is happening when you eat.