By Rustina
Inflammation is a common denominator in all leading death diseases (1).
Inflammation is often at the root cause of conditions (although usually not alone). It dives in to protect us when it senses a toxin or virus nearby, surrounding it to protect the rest of the cells. Unfortunately, sometimes, it can drown out the toxin or it doesn’t get the message that the job is done. This is when inflammation becomes a problem.
What Is Inflammation?
The scientific definition: “Inflammation is the body’s attempt at self-protection; the aim being to remove harmful stimuli, including damaged cells, irritants, or pathogens – and begin the healing process.”
That sounds like a good thing! Well, in the short term it is a good thing. It is proof that your body is trying to heal itself and that your immune system is working.
What Could Be Causing Inflammation?
Short-term or acute inflammation examples are bronchitis, sore throat, appendicitis, a scratch or cut on the skin. But, when inflammation becomes chronic, or long-term, it can eventually cause diseases including some cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, heart disease, periodontitis, and more.
Inflammation can become long-term or chronic when we don’t eliminate the cause of acute inflammation or when we have a persistent irritant that causes an inflammatory response in our body. Some causes of acute inflammation could be allergies to things that we eat or drink, or they could be things that happen frequently such as exposure to a toxin.
If you are having pain in your joints, redness, swelling, or stiffness that occurs daily or often, you could be dealing with chronic inflammation.
Anti-Inflammatory herbs are great for supporting your body when inflammation that can flare up from low immunity or an illness as well as to help calm the body, reduce inflammation, and provide immune support.
Anti-Inflammatory Herbs and Food
Cinnamon is a natural anti-inflammatory as well as blood pressure regulator – it also helps support healthy blood sugar levels.
Ginger is anti-inflammatory and can protect your gut health and fortify your gastrointestinal system.
Here is a link to Ginger capsules if interested, but teas and consuming in other ways are helpful also! https://earthley.com/product/ginger-root-capsules/ref/Lilies2Love
Citruses are often anti-inflammatory with their potent antioxidant properties
Motherwort helps modulate inflammation and can help in pain relief.
Echinacea helps with pain relief, while also boosting the immune system.
Turmeric and Black Pepper reduce inflammation, helps reduce pain (if bleeding is an issue, then it may be good to hold off on this herb until it is healed). Turmeric is the powerhouse of this duo, but a sprinkle of Black Pepper with it helps to make the turmeric more effective (consuming with foods that have fat helps them be absorbed even better too) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5003001/
Here is a link to Turmeric and Black Pepper Capsules (currently out of stock, but if you are local to southwest WI, I have a bottle on hand) if interested, but teas and consuming in other ways are helpful also! https://earthley.com/product/turmeric-and-black-pepper-capsules/ref/Lilies2Love
Link to an Anti-Inflammatory Herbal Extract that has many of the above mentioned herbs:
Calendula is great both internally and externally. Externally it is often used to remedy skin conditions and wounds. Internally it has impressive anti-inflammatory effects as well as digestive supporting properties.
CI3D (it is B not I3 but that gets suppressed by fb) also helps with inflammation (it binds to the receptors to drop the message for more inflammation and also the pain receptors to both alleviate and block pain. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35999581/
Cayenne Peppers are also anti-Inflammatory
Garlic is also an anti-inflammatory
Try making this Garlic Oil Ointment Treatment (GOOT) (you can rub it right onto wherever your inflammation is): https://modernalternativemama.com/2016/04/25/goot-make-6-uses/
Bonus: Supporting the Lymphatic System to keep inflammation draining
To help inflammation (anywhere in the body), here is a self massage that helps drain the lymphatic fluid. Lymphatic fluid is how the inflammation moves around in our body. When there is inflammation building up, sometimes that can cause congestion in the fluid on its own. If the inflammation is the chest, that can sometimes result in us breathing less deeply – which further stresses the lymphatic congestion. The lymph system does not have its own pump – it depends on our diaphragm during breathing and our muscle movement to keep it flowing well. The upper half of our body drains into the veins just above our chests (in the area where it is just a little squishy below your collarbone.
You can read more about our awesome lymphatic system in my post on MAM here: https://modernalternativemama.com/2022/11/30/helping-your-lymphatic-system-flow-and-why-it-matters/
This link is for the self massage to help keep drainage moving: https://modernalternativemama.com/2022/11/30/diy-lymphatic-massage/
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