Wassup guys!
Do you get those big under-the-skin spots? Do your joints and muscles ache days after a gym workout? Chronic inflammation could possibly be a cause.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to harmful stimuli, and causes redness, swelling, pain, heat and loss of of function. Just like when you cut yourself and it swells and turns red! However, when this occurs constantly throughout the body it can have some pretty harmful effects.
How does this effect me?
Chronic inflammation can cause those big cysts that you get under the skin that never come to a surface, and fucking hurt! The scientific name is ‘cystic acne’ (pictures for those with strong stomachs. From my experience these are the ones i always get when inflammation gets too high, i used to get these all over my shoulders and they scar!
Chronic inflammation has huge health risks and actually hinders muscle gains by reducing the ability of the body to heal effectively. There is a more in depth video that goes into great detail explaining it if you have the time/give a fuck! Working out causes a spike in inflammation which helps in short term healing, but needs to be significantly reduced afterwards in order for growth and repair to occur.
This directly corresponds to building muscle in terms of the nutrition required to make them gainssss! Protein shakes, high GI carbs and Leucine all spike insulin levels in the blood which in turn increases inflammation.[3]
However, insulin drives nutrients in to cells, forces them to grow and increases protein synthesis also[1] which is awesome for recovery and growth!
So the idea is to consume enough anti-inflammatory foods to counter the inflammation that would be caused by the muscle-building foods and supplements.
Do you get those big under-the-skin spots? Do your joints and muscles ache days after a gym workout? Chronic inflammation could possibly be a cause.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to harmful stimuli, and causes redness, swelling, pain, heat and loss of of function. Just like when you cut yourself and it swells and turns red! However, when this occurs constantly throughout the body it can have some pretty harmful effects.
How does this effect me?
Chronic inflammation can cause those big cysts that you get under the skin that never come to a surface, and fucking hurt! The scientific name is ‘cystic acne’ (pictures for those with strong stomachs. From my experience these are the ones i always get when inflammation gets too high, i used to get these all over my shoulders and they scar!
Chronic inflammation has huge health risks and actually hinders muscle gains by reducing the ability of the body to heal effectively. There is a more in depth video that goes into great detail explaining it if you have the time/give a fuck! Working out causes a spike in inflammation which helps in short term healing, but needs to be significantly reduced afterwards in order for growth and repair to occur.
This directly corresponds to building muscle in terms of the nutrition required to make them gainssss! Protein shakes, high GI carbs and Leucine all spike insulin levels in the blood which in turn increases inflammation.[3]
However, insulin drives nutrients in to cells, forces them to grow and increases protein synthesis also[1] which is awesome for recovery and growth!
So the idea is to consume enough anti-inflammatory foods to counter the inflammation that would be caused by the muscle-building foods and supplements.
What anti-inflammatory foods do you recommend?
I use a lot of anti-inflammatory foods on a daily basis. The most effective i find are green tea, sweet potato, olive oil, coconut oil and turmeric. I tend to have 2 cups of green tea a day: In the morning and in the afternoon. Sweet potato i either steam, bake in the oven, or make sweet potato fries by cutting them into sticks, seasoning, and frying in coconut oil (so nice). Olive oil and coconut oil i drizzle on my chicken in the afternoon.
These are so nice and have a host of other health benefits as well as being anti-inflammatory!
Click on the images below and to the left to buy the products!
I use a lot of anti-inflammatory foods on a daily basis. The most effective i find are green tea, sweet potato, olive oil, coconut oil and turmeric. I tend to have 2 cups of green tea a day: In the morning and in the afternoon. Sweet potato i either steam, bake in the oven, or make sweet potato fries by cutting them into sticks, seasoning, and frying in coconut oil (so nice). Olive oil and coconut oil i drizzle on my chicken in the afternoon.
These are so nice and have a host of other health benefits as well as being anti-inflammatory!
Click on the images below and to the left to buy the products!
This is a good quality coconut oil, it is important that it is cold-pressed to avoid destabilizing the fats and producing toxins.
There are a huge amount of benefits to coconut oil that are great for the skin and health in general, and can be used for cooking as the molecules remain stable when heat is applied. The Medium Chain Fatty acids provide instant energy when eaten, increase utilization of fats (fat loss), they are anti-fungal and anti inflammatory.[4]
There are a huge amount of benefits to coconut oil that are great for the skin and health in general, and can be used for cooking as the molecules remain stable when heat is applied. The Medium Chain Fatty acids provide instant energy when eaten, increase utilization of fats (fat loss), they are anti-fungal and anti inflammatory.[4]
Most people know that green tea has a huge amount of benefits for health and the body in general. The tannins increase fat loss, it increases energy and has loads of anti-oxidants. I use Rooibos green tea as it naturally contains no caffeine and has even more benefits than normal green tea.
I also really like the taste with a couple of drops of stevia..
I also really like the taste with a couple of drops of stevia..
Other factors and what to avoid:
Things that increase unwanted chronic inflammation the most are:
-Sugar
-Dairy
-Bad fats and oils (heated unsaturated oils: cooking oil used for fries, KFC, battered foods etc.)
It is definitely a balancing act; the more anti-inflammatory foods you have the more inflammatory foods/supplements you can afford.
I also take ‘james bond’ showers which means turning the shower on cold as possible for 2 minutes at the end. This reduces inflammation and also makes all the blood run from your extremities, acting like a pump throughout the body. This definitely wakes you up and makes you feel fresh if you gather the balls to do it!
And thats what i do!
Much Love,
Charlie
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16545079
http://www.inflammationtheory.com/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050811105347.htm
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
Things that increase unwanted chronic inflammation the most are:
-Sugar
-Dairy
-Bad fats and oils (heated unsaturated oils: cooking oil used for fries, KFC, battered foods etc.)
It is definitely a balancing act; the more anti-inflammatory foods you have the more inflammatory foods/supplements you can afford.
I also take ‘james bond’ showers which means turning the shower on cold as possible for 2 minutes at the end. This reduces inflammation and also makes all the blood run from your extremities, acting like a pump throughout the body. This definitely wakes you up and makes you feel fresh if you gather the balls to do it!
And thats what i do!
Much Love,
Charlie
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16545079
http://www.inflammationtheory.com/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/08/050811105347.htm
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html