Inflammation and Weight Gain: Stopping the Cycle
Learn why controlling inflammation may be the key to achieving your weight loss goals.
Weight gain is a common problem for aging men and women, since age-related hormone changes will affect metabolism. In many cases, inflammation can contribute to this problem, creating a vicious cycle in which the more weight you gain, the more inflammation attacks your body, causing even more weight gain. This makes it extremely important to include steps to control inflammation in any weight loss plan.
How Weight Gain Causes Inflammation
When you gain weight, this causes fat cells to expand. Eventually, they may expand to the point where they start to leak. This triggers an immune reaction, with immune cells called macrophages activated to clean up the leakage. As they do so, they will release inflammatory chemicals in the fat tissue. Over time, this can result in a condition called chronic inflammation or silent inflammation.
How Inflammation Causes Further Weight Gain
Your body will try to protect itself from chronic inflammation by releasing anti-inflammatory chemicals to counteract the byproducts being released by the macrophages. Some of these anti-inflammatory chemicals keep the hormone leptin from functioning properly. Leptin is very important for appetite control and for boosting metabolism. When leptin does not function properly, you feel more hunger and your body is less able to burn calories. This of course is a recipe for weight gain.
How to Stop the Cycle
In order to break the cycle of weight gain and inflammation, you need to change your diet. Specifically, you need to:
Improve insulin control: The fats we eat can be turned into either pro-inflammatory prostaglandins or anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. High insulin levels will cause the production of more pro-inflammatory prostaglandins, as well as wreak havoc with your metabolism and cause other health issues. It is important to keep your insulin levels steady. Avoiding high-carb processed foods and sugary foods and eating more fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats will help.
Supplement omega-3 fatty acids: Getting more of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA in your diet will help promote the production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. While it is possible to get your omega-3s from dietary sources like fatty fish, nuts, and seeds, most people need more omega-3s than they can get from their diet alone. Taking a supplement such as Renew Youth’s krill oil supplement is a simple and effective way to boost omega-3 intake. This supplement is easy for your body to absorb, has no fishy aftertaste, and also gives you a boost of a powerful antioxidant called astaxanthin.
Eat more anti-inflammatory foods: Anti-inflammatory compounds can be found in many common foods. For example, oranges and grapefruit contain citrus flavonoids; blueberries, cherries, and pomegranates contain anthocyanidins; red wine contains reservatrol; carrots, broccoli, and arugula contain beta-carotene; green tea contains catechin polymers; and green peppers contain luteolin. It’s best to eat a variety of different anti-inflammatory foods so that you receive the benefits of all these different compounds.
Call Now to Learn More
If you would like to learn more about the impact of inflammation on your weight, your hormones, and your health, please call us at 800-859-7511 now. We have options to help you achieve your goals.
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