What is inflammation?

It's our body's natural response to anything that the body perceives as being foreign. The immune system creates an inflammatory response and it sends extra blood to the area, which causes some heat, might cause a little redness and white blood cells release the particular chemicals that are required to heal the body.

Acute vs Chronic Inflammation

Let me be clear - when inflammation is acute inflammation it's a good thing, it comes in and fights the enemy and heals your body. When inflammation becomes chronic, it means your autoimmune system doesn't switch off afterwards and it almost starts to attack the body. This is whats called a chronic inflammation problem. To summarise, there are two types of inflammation - one good one bad - and they're both affected quite dramatically by your diet.

Chronic Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is the type of inflammation that doesn't turn off. Common examples are:

• Arthritic conditions and their associated symptoms.
• Auto-immune disorders where the body turns against itself.
• Asthma, where the air waves actually become so inflamed that breathing is impaired.
• Digestive issues such as IBS and Crohn’s disease.

What can you do?
Option 1 - The medical approach:

Of course, you have the option of going down the medical route and that's the pills and tablets, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids. These things can be really helpful in the short term but with long term use there tend to be associated side effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding and heart difficulties.

Option 2 - The Natural Approach:

There are a number of natural solutions that help.

1. Stress Relief

Most inflammation is effected by stress. Try find things that calm you down and implement them into your routine. I would definitely recommend yoga and meditation. I've been teaching yoga and meditation for 35 years and I can't imagine what I would be like without it. I might talk about this more a bit later.

2. Take an Ashwaganda Supplement

There's a herb from India called Ashwaganda. Ashwagandha is amazing as it gives you energy and it calms you down at the same time. One of the best times to use Ashwaganda is just before sleep. I anticipate that Ashwagandha is the first of many in a new class of drugs called Adaptogens - that help correct whatever is out of balance within the body.

3. Get Enough Good Quality Sleep

I think we'll discover as time goes by that sleep is the most important health platform we can use. I think it's so important that we get adequate and effective sleep.

4. Make Sure You Have Enough Magnesium

Magnesium brings everything down. It helps movement, it's an anti-inflammatory in itself, specifically when applied on the surface of the skin. I've talked a lot about magnesium and I probably will, so I'm not going to make a fuss about it here.

5. Turmeric/Curcumin with Piperine

I use Curcumin which is the active ingredient in Turmeric. Studies have found that Turmeric is more effective as an anti-inflammatory than most modern drugs. I just take it regularly as a preventative. Studies have also shown if you can find Turmeric with Piperine, it makes it a hundred times more effective. Sometimes I can't find those, so what I do is - if I just have a bland Turmeric, I put black pepper on it before I have it (Piperine is in the black pepper) and that really helps maintain that anti-inflammatory response in the body.

6. Limit Smoking and Alcohol

Cut down on these if possible.

7. Limit Sugar

I think one of the main culprits is refined sugar. It's in nearly everything these days so it's hard to get away from it. It's in all drinks and in a lot of food. Just be aware of what you're eating.

8. Try a Plant-Based Diet

If you can move to a plant-based diet, there's a lot of evidence that your health will improve dramatically, as long as you keep your protein levels up.

9. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)

MSM is a form of sulfur and sulfur bonds things together. MSM is amazing for pain and tension in the body and its helps loosen up the joints and muscles in the body.Our newest product is a Magnesium + MSM Gel Spray and Roll-On. We are SO excited about this product, as the combination does everything that the magnesium does but more (and better in my humble opinion).

What is inflammation?

It's our body's natural response to anything that the body perceives as being foreign. The immune system creates an inflammatory response and it sends extra blood to the area, which causes some heat, might cause a little redness and white blood cells release the particular chemicals that are required to heal the body.

Acute vs Chronic Inflammation

Let me be clear - when inflammation is acute inflammation it's a good thing, it comes in and fights the enemy and heals your body. When inflammation becomes chronic, it means your autoimmune system doesn't switch off afterwards and it almost starts to attack the body. This is whats called a chronic inflammation problem. To summarise, there are two types of inflammation - one good one bad - and they're both affected quite dramatically by your diet.

Chronic Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is the type of inflammation that doesn't turn off. Common examples are:

• Arthritic conditions and their associated symptoms.
• Auto-immune disorders where the body turns against itself.
• Asthma, where the air waves actually become so inflamed that breathing is impaired.
• Digestive issues such as IBS and Crohn’s disease.

What can you do?
Option 1 - The medical approach:

Of course, you have the option of going down the medical route and that's the pills and tablets, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids. These things can be really helpful in the short term but with long term use there tend to be associated side effects such as gastrointestinal bleeding and heart difficulties.

Option 2 - The Natural Approach:

There are a number of natural solutions that help.

1. Stress Relief

Most inflammation is effected by stress. Try find things that calm you down and implement them into your routine. I would definitely recommend yoga and meditation. I've been teaching yoga and meditation for 35 years and I can't imagine what I would be like without it. I might talk about this more a bit later.

2. Take an Ashwaganda Supplement

There's a herb from India called Ashwaganda. Ashwagandha is amazing as it gives you energy and it calms you down at the same time. One of the best times to use Ashwaganda is just before sleep. I anticipate that Ashwagandha is the first of many in a new class of drugs called Adaptogens - that help correct whatever is out of balance within the body.

3. Get Enough Good Quality Sleep

I think we'll discover as time goes by that sleep is the most important health platform we can use. I think it's so important that we get adequate and effective sleep.

4. Make Sure You Have Enough Magnesium

Magnesium brings everything down. It helps movement, it's an anti-inflammatory in itself, specifically when applied on the surface of the skin. I've talked a lot about magnesium and I probably will, so I'm not going to make a fuss about it here.

5. Turmeric/Curcumin with Piperine

I use Curcumin which is the active ingredient in Turmeric. Studies have found that Turmeric is more effective as an anti-inflammatory than most modern drugs. I just take it regularly as a preventative. Studies have also shown if you can find Turmeric with Piperine, it makes it a hundred times more effective. Sometimes I can't find those, so what I do is - if I just have a bland Turmeric, I put black pepper on it before I have it (Piperine is in the black pepper) and that really helps maintain that anti-inflammatory response in the body.

6. Limit Smoking and Alcohol

Cut down on these if possible.

7. Limit Sugar

I think one of the main culprits is refined sugar. It's in nearly everything these days so it's hard to get away from it. It's in all drinks and in a lot of food. Just be aware of what you're eating.

8. Try a Plant-Based Diet

If you can move to a plant-based diet, there's a lot of evidence that your health will improve dramatically, as long as you keep your protein levels up.

9. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)

MSM is a form of sulfur and sulfur bonds things together. MSM is amazing for pain and tension in the body and its helps loosen up the joints and muscles in the body.We're bringing out a new product which is a MSM + Magnesium spray. We are SO excited about this spray, as the combination does everything that the magnesium does but more (and better in my humble opinion). We'll be bringing that out in the next few weeks but we're giving you early access if you're interested in giving it a try. We don't have many, but we have a couple of hundred already built so we can get those out to those of you that are interested.