Stop the Damaging Effects!

Don’t cause a fire and you won’t need to call the fire department; don’t cause oxidative stress, and you won’t need to use an anti-inflammatory unless you may have had a slight accidental injury.

Contributed by Terry Lemerond

Inflammation is NOT the cause of all of our diseases as so many authors, writers, and articles try to convince us of. Inflammation is like the firemen at the fire.  They are there to put the fire out. But, they are at so many fires, you might wonder if they could be the cause of the fire.

Inflammation is really our friend and not the enemy. Inflammation tries to protect our bodies from further damage.

There are many anti-inflammatories, both natural and synthetic on the market. Why do we continue to inhibit inflammation with drugs, when truly it is not the cause of our diseases?

Got Pain?

When we injure any part of our body, like a burn, sprain, twisted knee, or swollen finger that was caught in the car door, we have every evidence of inflammation at work.  Thank God for nature to heal the hurt, trauma, or bodily damage. If we sprain our knee, we will experience swelling and redness of the knee, pain, and warmth to the touch.  These are signs of inflammation working to heal the damaged, traumatized area.

There is another step we often don’t mention which is really the cause of damage to the body, cells, tissue, and even our DNA, and that is oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress causes so much damage that in order to repair the damage, inflammation is sent to the gland, organ, tissue, traumatized area or whatever area is in need to be repaired. Oxidative stress comes in the form of

• toxins
• pollution
• radiation
• trauma
• over working
• over exercising
• lack of sleep
• drugs, both legally prescribed and street drugs
• diet (carbohydrates, sugar)
• solar radiation
• Omega 6 fatty acids (vegetable oil, soy oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil)
• and more.

Over time, any one of these can damage and cause severe injury to our bodies, and much more damage when we find we are under stress of a number of these damaging habits. Our cells age faster, DNA is damaged, we encourage more trauma to our glands, organs, and joints. The more oxidative stress, the more inflammation will be required to try and repair the injury or damage.

It doesn’t make any sense to inhibit inflammation if we don’t first prevent the inflammation from occurring. If you don’t stop slamming your finger in the car door, only so many anti-inflammatories will give you benefits. Stop the damage and you will drastically reduce the inflammation without taking any natural or synthetic anti-inflammatory, or at least reduce the need for pain killers.

We spend billions $$$$$ on cosmetics, pain killers, drugs, anti-inflammatories, and anti-aging supplements without a thought of avoiding those damaging oxidative stress factors. Don’t cause a fire and you won’t need to call the fire department; don’t cause oxidative stress, and you won’t need to use an anti-inflammatory unless you may have had a slight accidental injury.

When you need to inhibit the oxidative damage, choose a natural source like curcumin, Grape seed extract, COQ10, or Hydroxytyrosol.  These are very powerful antioxidants. We have more diseases due to consuming less anti-oxidants (fruits and vegetables) and antioxidant supplements, or we have an excess of those foods and those excess practices may damage the body.

For more tips on keeping daily inflammation in check, read our blog Balance Your Body's Inflammation Response