Got Inflammation?

If you are like most Americans chances are you have inflammation in your body.  Two main causes of inflammation are stress and the food you eat.  Stress can be either emotional or physical.  You may not think it but emotional stress is actually more harmful on your body than physical stress.  Stress inflames your body weakening your immune system causing you to get sick, tired, and fat.  This is why daily mediation and getting outside into nature on a daily basis are good things to do to help reduce the amount of stress on your body. 

A lot of people may not think it, but most of their health issues come from what they eat.  When you eat food that that irritates your body and causes inflammation it will lead to other problems such as leaky gut, arthritis, insomnia, weight gain, depression, fatigue, and the list goes on.  This is why it is important to always make your gut health a number one priority.  If you are not healthy on inside then it does not matter what you do on the outside because it will have no effect until your inside is healthy first.  Now here is another problem and that is most people have no clue what foods are bad for them personally other than junk food and processed junk.  The main foods that cause inflammation in your body are sugar, corn, eggs, gluten, and alcohol.  This is not the same for everyone though as different people react different to the food they eat.  

So how does one go about finding out which foods are bad for them?  Well there are few things you can do.  One is an elimination diet where you completely remove a certain food from your diet for a length of time at least 7 days or more.  If you notice changes in your body and start to feel better and have more energy, then chances are your body cannot tolerate the food you eliminated.  You will know for sure if that food you eliminated is bad for you by slowing reintroducing it back into your body.   If you start to feel bad again then you know for sure that it is a food you want to avoid.  Another option is to do a poop test (that’s right a poop test) and what this will do is tell you which nutrients you are deficient in and also what kind of bacteria you have in your body.  From the results one can make recommendations on what to eat and which supplements to take to get your body back into working order.

Why is any of this stuff important?  After all stress and eating what you want is all a part of life right?  Your body has the ability to heal it’s self from just about anything if it is in proper working order. Imagine getting more sleep at night without going to the bathroom in the middle night.  Imagine having more energy throughout the entire day.  Imagine having full range of motion in your joints with no aches or pain.  Imagine never getting sick because your gut health is superior and have an impenetrable immune system.  Imagine getting stronger in all your lifts and reducing your body fat to cover page material.  This is what life will be like if you remove the inflammation from your body!

Here are two books to read about with more information about inflammation on how to heal your body with what you eat.

“The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal your Body”                                                            by: Sarah Ballantyne

“The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook: An Allergen-Free Approach to Managing Chronic Illiness”                   by: Mickey Trescott

Below is a chart that can help you pick foods to an inflammation free body.

A Simple Effective Workout for Fat Loss

 There is a lot of information on the internet and in magazines that can make your head spin on what is the right way or wrong way to lose that unwanted fat around your midsection.  First off when it comes to fat loss nutrition is key.  Here is a simple rule I follow and that is “if I can’t kill it or grow it I don’t eat it”.  Make sure every meal you eat has protein, fat, vegetables, and sometimes carbs in it.  Look into a hiring a nutritional expert if you need more help or experiment on your own by simply eliminating certain foods from your diet.  If you feel better after eliminating a certain food chances are that food you eliminated was causing inflammation in your body.  So this would be a food you would highly want to avoid. 

Now when it comes to training and fat loss you must first look at the way you train now or lack of training for some people.  If you constantly do long slow cardio and lift light weights like most people then the only way you are going to experience any changes in your appearance is by implementing some anaerobic training and strength training into your workout.  So things like sprints, weightlifting, and intervals.  Vice versa if you are a crossfit athlete always doing high intensity workouts then you need to implement some long slow cardio in your routine.  You see once your body adapts to a certain training stimulus your fat loss results will diminish.  The only way to keep getting results is to add more volume and then set yourself up for a potential injury, and major crash and burn.  Or you can take the intelligent approach and do something on the other end of the spectrum to give your training a balanced approached and which also will be better on your heart and help you live longer as well. 

Most people are cardio junkies so they will benefit more by incorporating some high intensity interval training into their routine.  Dan John has created a simple yet very effective workout he calls the “Humane Burpee” and you only need just one kettlebell.  It involves just three exercises which are the Swing, Goblet Squat, and Push Up.  I have come up with my own version of this and added rows into the equation so that all the basic movements are covered.  I have created two different versions for you to try one is based on reps and the other time.

Fat Loss Workout Version 1: 

Round 1                                                                        Round 2
Swings 20 reps                                                             Swings 20 reps

Goblet Squats 5 reps                                                    Goblet Squats 10 reps                   

Push Ups 5 reps                                                            Push Ups 10 reps
Rows 5 reps each side                                                  Rows 10 reps each side                                                

After round 1 go right into round 2 and then back to round 1 and so on.  Keep repeating this pattern for a total of 15 minutes.  Try and see how many rounds you can get in 15 minutes using good form, no failing around bad reps here.  Rest as needed but keep it short as possible as your goal is to be constantly moving as fast and efficient as you can.  You only have 15 minutes so put the work in and go hard for that time.  Then be on your way to take on the rest of your of day.

Fat Loss Workout Version 2:

Round 1                                                                             Round 2

Swings 15 sec                                                                    Swings 30 sec

Rest 15 sec                                                                         Rest 30 sec

Goblet Squats 15 sec                                                         Goblet squats 30 sec

Rest 15 sec                                                                         Rest 30 sec

Push Ups 15 sec                                                                 Push Ups 30 sec

Rest 15 sec                                                                         Rest 30 sec

Rows 15 sec each side                                                       Rows 30 sec each side

Rest 15 sec                                                                         Rest 30 sec

Follow the sequence as prescribed perform an exercise for 15 seconds and then resting for 15 seconds.  At the end of round 1 go immediately into round 2 and then once you are done with round 2 go right back to round 1 and continue going back and forth between rounds 1 and 2.  Round 1 and 2 together equals 1 set.  To start off perform 3 sets in a row and work your way up to completing 6 sets.  For the rows do one side first then the other with no rest in between.  Count your reps on the first set and try to keep hitting that number of reps throughout the entire workout.  Whether your reps go above or below is fine just try and stay within a rep or two of the first set.  On your last set try to beat your starting rep number. 

So there you have it two simple yet very effective workouts for strength, fat loss, and conditioning in minimal time.  Go ahead give them a try and you will be feeling great afterwards.  I would at least try to do this once or two times a week and in no time you should start to notice some changes in your body.  For an advanced version use you could use two kettlebells instead of one.