February 2018 www.womanthismonth.com LIFESTYLE | wellbeing 42 What happens when you stub you toe against the wall or jam your finger in the door? Blood immediately rushes to the damaged spot for immune cells, hormones and available nutrients to start healing the injured area. This results in it becoming red, swollen, warm to touch and painful – what we term as ‘inflamed’. Inflammation is the body's way of healing itself after an injury and protecting itself from infection. The body behaves in a similar way when bacteria and viruses get the better of us. Pain and fever are part of the healing process of damaged or infected tissue. This type of acute inflammation is short term and is considered to be good, as it helps the body get back to its healthy state. Its effects wear off in a few days. But, sometimes, the body is riddled with ‘bad’, or chronic inflammation. “Inflammation is the body’s natural response to defend itself from harmful substances, injuries and to renew damaged cells. However, it is not always beneficial when it becomes chronic, leading to an ongoing destructive process where the immune system attacks the body’s healthy cells. This can cause many chronic diseases,” says Diana Nakhle, senior dietitian at Carlton Nutrition Center, Bahrain. Goodness! Do I have it? If you’re wondering how to spot this condition, there are signs and symptoms to watch out for. Diana says: “Depending on the disease type, the symptoms might be generalised pain in the muscles and joints, along with fatigue, fever, loss of appetite and gastrointestinal problems like diarrhoea, abdominal pain and constipation.” But there are other telltale signs that point to inflammation of the bad kind: excessive belly fat, consistently high blood sugar levels, feeling exhausted all the time, allergies and a puffy look. Depression, skin outbreaks, anxiety or perpetual ‘brain fog’ are other fallouts of chronic inflammation. Why does it happen? According to Diana, chronic inflammation Testing your C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation, can help determine whether your body is wracked by inflammation or not. can be caused by an innate body condition or autoimmune response to a viral or bacterial infection or toxin, or other environmental toxins. “But following an unhealthy lifestyle triggers inflammation, whether it is poor nutrition, perpetual stress or smoking. Obesity, especially abdominal obesity and visceral fat, are prime factors too, as fat cells generate substances that produce inflammatory molecules sufficient to cause an inflammatory response in the body. Also, a diet high in saturated fat and trans fats, stress, sleeping disorders or excessive alcohol consumption are all risk factors that increase the likelihood of an inflammatory response,” she warns. By what we eat and how we live, we may unwittingly be fanning the fires of inflammation in the body. Behnaz Sanjana looks at this threatening condition and how to tackle it. Quell the Flame
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