October 6, 2025 • 16 mins
Inflammation isn’t always the enemy, it’s your body’s defense system. But when it gets out of control, it can silently drive arthritis, heart disease, gut issues, and even mental health struggles. In this episode, we break down what the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) actually shows, why plant protein and fiber lower inflammation, and how animal protein may raise it.
Discover the foods with the strongest anti-inflammatory effects from herbs and spices like turmeric and oregano, to olive oil, nuts, seeds, oily fish, berries, and polyphenol-rich vegetables. Learn why balance is key, and how simple daily habits (movement, stress management, sleep) impact your inflammation levels just as much as diet.We also unpack why the Mediterranean diet remains one of the best-studied anti-inflammatory eating patterns worldwide.
Rupy Aujla
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If you enjoyed this episode you might also like:
How to Increase Protein in Your Diet and Why It Matters for Longevity & Hormone Health | Dr Rupy
https://youtu.be/AySFUeR1pw8
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Live Well Be Well, a show to help high performers
improve their health and well-being.
So let's go to anti-inflammatoryfoods.
OK? Yeah, because I think this is,
let's take it up a level if we can anti-inflammatory foods.
So it's interesting. I actually got a text yesterday
(00:22):
from a really good friend sayinghi babe how are you My my
husband's mother-in-law has justbeen also.
I don't want this to also all feel like this is the people
that are. 60 plus. This is why I want me to think
about it now. My mother in law's just been
diagnosed with arthritis and she's got it in her hands what
anti-inflammatory and foods are good.
(00:43):
And I was literally had your book on the anti-inflammatory
index and I was like, like, well, this is obviously
something that people want to know about.
I'm sure you are that person on speed of many of your friends
when something happens in in thefamily and your people are going
well, can I ask your advice? So you know, inflammation, it's
(01:03):
the you know, it's, it's such a big topic that's spoken about is
like it's the lead of any chronic disease.
And there's so many factors thatcan influence our inflammation
from stress. Exercise also influences our
inflammation, but also food and also environment and you know,
products that we're using thingsaround the home.
But people might not have heard of the anti-inflammatory kind of
(01:26):
index. So I want to talk about
anti-inflammatory foods and the dietary inflammatory index.
And so there's a really interesting study where I just
want to touch upon before we getinto what that is, which was an
analysis of 128,612 people from the UK Biobank participants aged
60 plus. Now it basically showed
(01:48):
something very interesting whichlooked at higher plant protein
and fibre intakes which were associated with significantly
lower CRP levels, which are yourinflammatory markers.
Whereas higher animal protein was linked to higher CPR levels,
which is very interesting because I always find that a
really interesting marker for people.
And obviously people with inflammatory bowel disease can
(02:08):
have very high levels of of thiswhen they're going into attacks.
So can you start first of all explaining what this is and why
it's important and what foods are contained in it?
Because from that it's more plant based foods.
Yeah, Yeah. And you'd, you'd imagine that,
wouldn't you? Like the results of that to me,
and you are probably not that surprising, increasing plant
protein, increasing fibre all over the whole reduces
(02:31):
inflammation across the the majority of people.
But I think this whole idea of inflammation is, I want to
reframe it slightly for folks because I think people think of
inflammation as universally a bad thing.
And actually inflammation is so,so important for our body.
It's the reason why me and you can have this conversation in
(02:54):
the middle of London surrounded by environmental pollutants,
from the exhaust fumes, surrounded by viruses,
surrounded by all these different unfortunate pathogens
and still thrive and not not come down to fluoride, sepsis or
like a generalized infection. So the way I like to get people
(03:17):
to conceptualize inflammation isit's kind of like your internal
campfire and your internal campfire.
If you imagine like we, we go away to the British countryside
or something and we set up camp and we do what every good sort
of like camping holiday does. Get it get out sticks and you
know, put campfire on, get some marshmallows going.
(03:38):
A campfire is a wonderful thing.It provides beautiful light, it
provides warmth. It could keep predators out.
We can cook our food on it. It's it's great.
But if our campfire was to go unwieldy, it was to get out of
control. We might overcook our pasta.
If we're eating pasta, we'd be Italians.
(04:00):
To be so. Upset we might like, we might
burn ourselves. It could become so unruly that
it burns the entire campsite down.
This is sort of like the language of your immune system.
It's getting this balance correctly.
On the one side we need inflammation.
On the other side, too much inflammation can be a bad thing.
(04:21):
And so whilst it has a role in fighting pathogens and
signalling as part of your immune system, when that becomes
completely out of whack, this iswhere issues arise.
And we know that people with excess inflammation and there
are multiple ways in which we can measure inflammation in the
body, although I think the way we measure it currently today,
it's quite crude. So we use things like CRP or
(04:44):
high sensitivity CRP in research.
We use things like interleukins like IO6.
You might see there's some papers if you if you read them
online. We know that people with raised
inflammation have higher risks of metabolic disease.
We know it's associated with obesity, we know that it's even
associated with mental health issues as well, high
inflammation that can come from diet or sedentary behaviour,
(05:07):
autoimmune conditions as well, all these different things.
So, so we know that as a foundation we want to be
bringing our inflammation levelsin balance.
And the reason why our inflammation levels high is a
because of diet. So lack of fibre feeding our gut
microbes ensuring that or not having enough of the polyphenols
in our diet. Can you explain what they are
(05:28):
very. Quickly, So polyphenols are
colourful pigments that you findin different fruits and
vegetables, but also beige ones as well.
I think we forget about mushrooms and onions, you know,
those have like novel plant chemicals that are great.
There are literally something around 7 or 8000 phytochemicals
(05:48):
that have been identified, many of which are not studied.
Some of which you might have come across like resveratrol
because everyone loves to talk about resveratrol because it's
in red wine. But it's also been like dry
grapes and peanuts and, and all that kind of stuff or quercetin
that you find in alien vegetables, onions.
But there were literally thousands and we, we haven't
actually like fully crossed how important all of them, they are.
(06:11):
They are together. My perspective is you want to
hedge bets and just try and get as many different polyphenols in
your diet as possible. The other things that can raise
inflammation, apart from the absence of some of those
elements in the diet, are thingsthat sedentary behaviour, like
what we're doing right now, so do.
We have to like do star dumps inbetween.
I know. Like I feel like, yeah, I mean,
I'm very twitchy. So I, I do like shift around.
(06:33):
But yeah, like I, the way I likepeople to think of sensory
behaviour, particularly if you work in an obvious space
environment, it's like your inflammation level creeps up the
longer you are like in this position.
So it just like goes up every hour, just like, and what you
want to do is is discharged. I know it's very uncertific, but
you want to discharge some of this inflammation by getting up,
(06:56):
going outside, maybe doing some lunges, star jumps, if you like.
This sort of like brings it backdown into level because exercise
as a net effect is actually anti-inflammatory.
In the short term it's pro, but in the long term it's it's
anti-inflammatory. The other things that probably
doesn't get enough airtime, stress, poor sleep, loneliness,
(07:16):
these are all things. They're all massive factors.
Yeah, big, big factors. 1 billion people worldwide are
deficient in this nutrient that so many of you guys might not be
aware of. And women, if you're listening,
you are more at risk of being deficient in this nutrient.
So I'm going to first of all explain what the physical
symptoms are. If you have cold hands and feet,
(07:37):
pale skin, extreme lack of energy or fatigue then you might
be suffering with iron deficiency or anemia.
Now First off, please go to yourGP to get your iron levels
checked. Secondly, please explore a good
iron supplement. Many people that come to me are
worried about taking iron supplementation because it can
(07:58):
cause Constipation or GI distress.
That's why I'm so incredibly proud to be partnering for this
episode with Spartan, the numberone iron rich water supplement.
Now, I've personally been using these for years.
The reason why is because they are naturally sourced, highly
absorbable iron. That means it's much more gentle
(08:19):
on your stomach. There's no harsh tablets, it's
just one naturally sourced ingredient that works very well.
You can pick it up in Boots or buy online at Amazon, but please
do not ignore this. It is really critical to make
sure your iron levels are in check.
So going back to the index of the anti-inflammatory foods, So
(08:40):
and you mentioned some polyphenols.
So basically most plant based foods, right?
That would be like some of the highest because I bet people
listen to this going, oh, what about turmeric?
Turmeric. I thought that was an
anti-inflammatory food. And so there's been a few
buzzwords on what anti-inflammatory foods is.
But for anyone maybe struggling with high amounts of
inflammation, maybe that's an autoimmune condition, maybe that
(09:01):
is it could be a mixture of things.
And as you said, it's also very linked to mental health.
What should they be looking in this index of foods that's going
to lower the inflammation or support it?
So aside from like, you know, trying to address the pro
inflammatory factors, diet is one of those big levers, I would
say probably secondary to exercise again, but diet is a
really, really. Big legal.
(09:21):
Exercise. I know, I know I just I'd have
to do a lot more research. So the way to think about
anti-inflammatory foods is groupthem into categories.
And this is largely based on theDII.
So the dietary inflammation index, something that we
actually used when we created our anti-inflammatory category
on the doctor's kitchen app as well.
So every recipe broadly is anti-inflammatory And we, we did
(09:43):
the math on that as well, which is a lot of math.
So herbs and spices, really easyways to get strong
anti-inflammatory foods into your diet.
So if you look at the ORX scoresand the antioxidant scores and
the DII scores, these all score the highest, IE they, they are
the most anti-inflammatory. So things like turmeric, clove,
cinnamon, kitchen counter herbs,oregano, basil, margarine, these
(10:08):
are just as impressive. In terms of the
anti-inflammatory effects, a lotof them are down to their unique
polyphenols. But because we don't consume
them in significant quantities, whilst they are the most
powerful, they overall will contribute some, but not the
majority. I would say of the
anti-inflammatory benefit of your entire diet, fats really,
really important. So extra virgin olive oil as an
(10:31):
example, is again, very anti-inflammatory.
You also have things like nuts and seeds.
That's why I like a handful of nuts.
Seeds I think is great for everyone every single day.
It's been shown in the predimed study.
It's been shown in a lot multiple different studies to be
net beneficial for your heart aswell and.
It's polyunsaturated fats, just mention that rather than like
trans fats. Yeah, yeah.
(10:51):
I mean trans fats generally we luckily we don't have too much
of that in our diet if any at all.
But yeah, merely Poly and monounsaturated fatty acids
also, they contain things like vitamin E, which we know can
contribute to healthy heart, healthy brain, anti-inflammatory
again. And then also the the types of
(11:14):
nuts all have their different sort of varying ratios of fats
as well. So again, like I just take a, a
spread breaking approach. I don't just focus on one nut
like pistachios, I focus on sunflower seeds and hemp seeds
and tahini nut butters, all thatkind of stuff.
So you want to try and get a good healthy collection of fats
also from things like fatty fish, so salmon, sardines,
(11:36):
herring, the smaller the better.Anchovies I absolutely love.
I know that's a bit. I put them on my omelette.
Oh. I put them everywhere, yeah, put
them into like curries and. Stews I don't.
Know my bath sometimes I eat thestraight from the can to be
honest, but or the OR the glass jar.
But yeah. So the these are really, really
good quality fats, these fatty acids that contribute to
(11:57):
dissolvings and anti-inflammatory action.
So you want to be getting like oily fish and then berries.
So the colourful fruits I have apunch on for berries because
they tend to be higher in some of these powerful
anti-inflammatory chemicals and the cyanines and and the like.
I get them fresh where I can, but also frozen is also a good
(12:19):
strategy, particularly for things like blackcurrants,
bilberries. These are all like really high
in in fact black currents I believe the heist and
anthocyanins maybe secondary. To have sciences.
So they're yeah. So they're a type of
phytochemical or or plant chemical that responsible for
(12:40):
the the deep purple blue colour that you get in in berries.
So blueberries and black currants and the Have you heard
of something called the husk Burberry?
Yeah, I have. Yeah, many years ago.
Yeah, the company that started. In yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So they they have a product, I don't know the company
personally, but like they have aproduct where they've they're
(13:00):
freeze dried and powdered these berries that are hard to get in
the UKI think they're grown in Canada.
Yeah. But those I think are the
highest in anthesigning. So I mean, it's not like a top
Trump's game here. Like you're not just trying to
always go for the top ones. Again, it's about diversity.
Seeing things like aubergines, Yeah, exactly.
They're high in it as well. Exactly.
Yeah. So you know, you want to try and
get it for as many different sources as possible because what
(13:23):
one like an onion might be lacking in terms of
anthesignings or other pigments,a white onion will certainly
make it up in other ways. Maybe that's quercetin or
Alison, whatever it might be. So the best approach is just
trying to get from multiple different sources.
And the other thing is fibre. And the reason why fibre is
anti-inflammatory is because youare supporting these microbes,
(13:45):
many of whom are are working to reduce inflammation in your body
as well nourishing the gut cellswith their metabolites.
So they work away, they digest the food, they create these
fatty acids and there's norisolonocytes the, the, the
lining of your cells. They reduce the permeability of
your guts that ends in, in in turn reduces the over activation
(14:10):
of your immune system that reduces inflammation as a net
effect. So if you're doing these things
across the board, you're gettingherbs and spices, you're getting
oil, fish, you're getting extra virgin olive oil, you're getting
berries, you're getting good quality fats, you're getting
enough fibre, like getting a really good dose of this
anti-inflammatory medicine. And I have this thing called BB
(14:32):
GS, I don't know if you've come across it before, but beans,
berries, greens, seeds and nuts every single day.
You want to try and get one of each of these every single day.
Doesn't need to be all the same meal, but like half of the
berries, handful of beans or legumes, lentils, whatever you
like greens. I try and get greens every meal,
even breakfast, but you know, a couple of portions cooked and
(14:53):
seeds and nuts a handful every day.
If you hit your BB GS every single day, it's one of the most
potent anti-inflammatory medicines I think you can you
can take. I'm going to put this in a
context and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like I'm
not. It sounds like the Mediterranean
diet. I'm just trying to keep it as
simplified as possible for people right where, you know,
(15:15):
the Mediterranean diet is probably one of the the worst
well studied diet out there, right when it comes to nutrition
and health and whether that evenbe for things like mental
health. When we look at the Spiles trial
by Philly Stracker all the way kind of across the board,
Mediterranean diet seems to be kind of one of the most
supported and studied areas for your health overall.
(15:35):
And So what I'm hearing is a lotof the Mediterranean diet foods
are in this anti-inflammatory index totally.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you look at the Mediterranean
diet as a whole through the lensof the DII, it is
anti-inflammatory. If you look at like even the
most I know food pyramids and and plates are like out of
fashion at the moment. If you remove some of the
(15:58):
refined products that they have on the plate, I would say that's
net anti-inflammatory, you know,the modified Mediterranean diet,
like the mind diet for dementia and, and, and brain health,
again, anti-inflammatory. So there there are common themes
throughout different diets that have been studied that are like,
(16:19):
you know, generally healthy plant focused whole removing on
refined products and using good quality fats.
Thanks so much for listening to hear the full episode.
There's a link in the description.
Welcome to Live Well Be Well, a show to help high performers
improve their health and well-being.
So let's go to anti-inflammatoryfoods.
OK? Yeah, because I think this is,
let's take it up a level if we can anti-inflammatory foods.
So it's interesting. I actually got a text yesterday
(00:22):
from a really good friend sayinghi babe how are you My my
husband's mother-in-law has justbeen also.
I don't want this to also all feel like this is the people
that are. 60 plus. This is why I want me to think
about it now. My mother in law's just been
diagnosed with arthritis and she's got it in her hands what
anti-inflammatory and foods are good.
(00:43):
And I was literally had your book on the anti-inflammatory
index and I was like, like, well, this is obviously
something that people want to know about.
I'm sure you are that person on speed of many of your friends
when something happens in in thefamily and your people are going
well, can I ask your advice? So you know, inflammation, it's
(01:03):
the you know, it's, it's such a big topic that's spoken about is
like it's the lead of any chronic disease.
And there's so many factors thatcan influence our inflammation
from stress. Exercise also influences our
inflammation, but also food and also environment and you know,
products that we're using thingsaround the home.
But people might not have heard of the anti-inflammatory kind of
(01:26):
index. So I want to talk about
anti-inflammatory foods and the dietary inflammatory index.
And so there's a really interesting study where I just
want to touch upon before we getinto what that is, which was an
analysis of 128,612 people from the UK Biobank participants aged
60 plus. Now it basically showed
(01:48):
something very interesting whichlooked at higher plant protein
and fibre intakes which were associated with significantly
lower CRP levels, which are yourinflammatory markers.
Whereas higher animal protein was linked to higher CPR levels,
which is very interesting because I always find that a
really interesting marker for people.
And obviously people with inflammatory bowel disease can
(02:08):
have very high levels of of thiswhen they're going into attacks.
So can you start first of all explaining what this is and why
it's important and what foods are contained in it?
Because from that it's more plant based foods.
Yeah, Yeah. And you'd, you'd imagine that,
wouldn't you? Like the results of that to me,
and you are probably not that surprising, increasing plant
protein, increasing fibre all over the whole reduces
(02:31):
inflammation across the the majority of people.
But I think this whole idea of inflammation is, I want to
reframe it slightly for folks because I think people think of
inflammation as universally a bad thing.
And actually inflammation is so,so important for our body.
It's the reason why me and you can have this conversation in
(02:54):
the middle of London surrounded by environmental pollutants,
from the exhaust fumes, surrounded by viruses,
surrounded by all these different unfortunate pathogens
and still thrive and not not come down to fluoride, sepsis or
like a generalized infection. So the way I like to get people
(03:17):
to conceptualize inflammation isit's kind of like your internal
campfire and your internal campfire.
If you imagine like we, we go away to the British countryside
or something and we set up camp and we do what every good sort
of like camping holiday does. Get it get out sticks and you
know, put campfire on, get some marshmallows going.
(03:38):
A campfire is a wonderful thing.It provides beautiful light, it
provides warmth. It could keep predators out.
We can cook our food on it. It's it's great.
But if our campfire was to go unwieldy, it was to get out of
control. We might overcook our pasta.
If we're eating pasta, we'd be Italians.
(04:00):
To be so. Upset we might like, we might
burn ourselves. It could become so unruly that
it burns the entire campsite down.
This is sort of like the language of your immune system.
It's getting this balance correctly.
On the one side we need inflammation.
On the other side, too much inflammation can be a bad thing.
(04:21):
And so whilst it has a role in fighting pathogens and
signalling as part of your immune system, when that becomes
completely out of whack, this iswhere issues arise.
And we know that people with excess inflammation and there
are multiple ways in which we can measure inflammation in the
body, although I think the way we measure it currently today,
it's quite crude. So we use things like CRP or
(04:44):
high sensitivity CRP in research.
We use things like interleukins like IO6.
You might see there's some papers if you if you read them
online. We know that people with raised
inflammation have higher risks of metabolic disease.
We know it's associated with obesity, we know that it's even
associated with mental health issues as well, high
inflammation that can come from diet or sedentary behaviour,
(05:07):
autoimmune conditions as well, all these different things.
So, so we know that as a foundation we want to be
bringing our inflammation levelsin balance.
And the reason why our inflammation levels high is a
because of diet. So lack of fibre feeding our gut
microbes ensuring that or not having enough of the polyphenols
in our diet. Can you explain what they are
(05:28):
very. Quickly, So polyphenols are
colourful pigments that you findin different fruits and
vegetables, but also beige ones as well.
I think we forget about mushrooms and onions, you know,
those have like novel plant chemicals that are great.
There are literally something around 7 or 8000 phytochemicals
(05:48):
that have been identified, many of which are not studied.
Some of which you might have come across like resveratrol
because everyone loves to talk about resveratrol because it's
in red wine. But it's also been like dry
grapes and peanuts and, and all that kind of stuff or quercetin
that you find in alien vegetables, onions.
But there were literally thousands and we, we haven't
actually like fully crossed how important all of them, they are.
(06:11):
They are together. My perspective is you want to
hedge bets and just try and get as many different polyphenols in
your diet as possible. The other things that can raise
inflammation, apart from the absence of some of those
elements in the diet, are thingsthat sedentary behaviour, like
what we're doing right now, so do.
We have to like do star dumps inbetween.
I know. Like I feel like, yeah, I mean,
I'm very twitchy. So I, I do like shift around.
(06:33):
But yeah, like I, the way I likepeople to think of sensory
behaviour, particularly if you work in an obvious space
environment, it's like your inflammation level creeps up the
longer you are like in this position.
So it just like goes up every hour, just like, and what you
want to do is is discharged. I know it's very uncertific, but
you want to discharge some of this inflammation by getting up,
(06:56):
going outside, maybe doing some lunges, star jumps, if you like.
This sort of like brings it backdown into level because exercise
as a net effect is actually anti-inflammatory.
In the short term it's pro, but in the long term it's it's
anti-inflammatory. The other things that probably
doesn't get enough airtime, stress, poor sleep, loneliness,
(07:16):
these are all things. They're all massive factors.
Yeah, big, big factors. 1 billion people worldwide are
deficient in this nutrient that so many of you guys might not be
aware of. And women, if you're listening,
you are more at risk of being deficient in this nutrient.
So I'm going to first of all explain what the physical
symptoms are. If you have cold hands and feet,
(07:37):
pale skin, extreme lack of energy or fatigue then you might
be suffering with iron deficiency or anemia.
Now First off, please go to yourGP to get your iron levels
checked. Secondly, please explore a good
iron supplement. Many people that come to me are
worried about taking iron supplementation because it can
(07:58):
cause Constipation or GI distress.
That's why I'm so incredibly proud to be partnering for this
episode with Spartan, the numberone iron rich water supplement.
Now, I've personally been using these for years.
The reason why is because they are naturally sourced, highly
absorbable iron. That means it's much more gentle
(08:19):
on your stomach. There's no harsh tablets, it's
just one naturally sourced ingredient that works very well.
You can pick it up in Boots or buy online at Amazon, but please
do not ignore this. It is really critical to make
sure your iron levels are in check.
So going back to the index of the anti-inflammatory foods, So
(08:40):
and you mentioned some polyphenols.
So basically most plant based foods, right?
That would be like some of the highest because I bet people
listen to this going, oh, what about turmeric?
Turmeric. I thought that was an
anti-inflammatory food. And so there's been a few
buzzwords on what anti-inflammatory foods is.
But for anyone maybe struggling with high amounts of
inflammation, maybe that's an autoimmune condition, maybe that
(09:01):
is it could be a mixture of things.
And as you said, it's also very linked to mental health.
What should they be looking in this index of foods that's going
to lower the inflammation or support it?
So aside from like, you know, trying to address the pro
inflammatory factors, diet is one of those big levers, I would
say probably secondary to exercise again, but diet is a
really, really. Big legal.
(09:21):
Exercise. I know, I know I just I'd have
to do a lot more research. So the way to think about
anti-inflammatory foods is groupthem into categories.
And this is largely based on theDII.
So the dietary inflammation index, something that we
actually used when we created our anti-inflammatory category
on the doctor's kitchen app as well.
So every recipe broadly is anti-inflammatory And we, we did
(09:43):
the math on that as well, which is a lot of math.
So herbs and spices, really easyways to get strong
anti-inflammatory foods into your diet.
So if you look at the ORX scoresand the antioxidant scores and
the DII scores, these all score the highest, IE they, they are
the most anti-inflammatory. So things like turmeric, clove,
cinnamon, kitchen counter herbs,oregano, basil, margarine, these
(10:08):
are just as impressive. In terms of the
anti-inflammatory effects, a lotof them are down to their unique
polyphenols. But because we don't consume
them in significant quantities, whilst they are the most
powerful, they overall will contribute some, but not the
majority. I would say of the
anti-inflammatory benefit of your entire diet, fats really,
really important. So extra virgin olive oil as an
(10:31):
example, is again, very anti-inflammatory.
You also have things like nuts and seeds.
That's why I like a handful of nuts.
Seeds I think is great for everyone every single day.
It's been shown in the predimed study.
It's been shown in a lot multiple different studies to be
net beneficial for your heart aswell and.
It's polyunsaturated fats, just mention that rather than like
trans fats. Yeah, yeah.
(10:51):
I mean trans fats generally we luckily we don't have too much
of that in our diet if any at all.
But yeah, merely Poly and monounsaturated fatty acids
also, they contain things like vitamin E, which we know can
contribute to healthy heart, healthy brain, anti-inflammatory
again. And then also the the types of
(11:14):
nuts all have their different sort of varying ratios of fats
as well. So again, like I just take a, a
spread breaking approach. I don't just focus on one nut
like pistachios, I focus on sunflower seeds and hemp seeds
and tahini nut butters, all thatkind of stuff.
So you want to try and get a good healthy collection of fats
also from things like fatty fish, so salmon, sardines,
(11:36):
herring, the smaller the better.Anchovies I absolutely love.
I know that's a bit. I put them on my omelette.
Oh. I put them everywhere, yeah, put
them into like curries and. Stews I don't.
Know my bath sometimes I eat thestraight from the can to be
honest, but or the OR the glass jar.
But yeah. So the these are really, really
good quality fats, these fatty acids that contribute to
(11:57):
dissolvings and anti-inflammatory action.
So you want to be getting like oily fish and then berries.
So the colourful fruits I have apunch on for berries because
they tend to be higher in some of these powerful
anti-inflammatory chemicals and the cyanines and and the like.
I get them fresh where I can, but also frozen is also a good
(12:19):
strategy, particularly for things like blackcurrants,
bilberries. These are all like really high
in in fact black currents I believe the heist and
anthocyanins maybe secondary. To have sciences.
So they're yeah. So they're a type of
phytochemical or or plant chemical that responsible for
(12:40):
the the deep purple blue colour that you get in in berries.
So blueberries and black currants and the Have you heard
of something called the husk Burberry?
Yeah, I have. Yeah, many years ago.
Yeah, the company that started. In yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So they they have a product, I don't know the company
personally, but like they have aproduct where they've they're
(13:00):
freeze dried and powdered these berries that are hard to get in
the UKI think they're grown in Canada.
Yeah. But those I think are the
highest in anthesigning. So I mean, it's not like a top
Trump's game here. Like you're not just trying to
always go for the top ones. Again, it's about diversity.
Seeing things like aubergines, Yeah, exactly.
They're high in it as well. Exactly.
Yeah. So you know, you want to try and
get it for as many different sources as possible because what
(13:23):
one like an onion might be lacking in terms of
anthesignings or other pigments,a white onion will certainly
make it up in other ways. Maybe that's quercetin or
Alison, whatever it might be. So the best approach is just
trying to get from multiple different sources.
And the other thing is fibre. And the reason why fibre is
anti-inflammatory is because youare supporting these microbes,
(13:45):
many of whom are are working to reduce inflammation in your body
as well nourishing the gut cellswith their metabolites.
So they work away, they digest the food, they create these
fatty acids and there's norisolonocytes the, the, the
lining of your cells. They reduce the permeability of
your guts that ends in, in in turn reduces the over activation
(14:10):
of your immune system that reduces inflammation as a net
effect. So if you're doing these things
across the board, you're gettingherbs and spices, you're getting
oil, fish, you're getting extra virgin olive oil, you're getting
berries, you're getting good quality fats, you're getting
enough fibre, like getting a really good dose of this
anti-inflammatory medicine. And I have this thing called BB
(14:32):
GS, I don't know if you've come across it before, but beans,
berries, greens, seeds and nuts every single day.
You want to try and get one of each of these every single day.
Doesn't need to be all the same meal, but like half of the
berries, handful of beans or legumes, lentils, whatever you
like greens. I try and get greens every meal,
even breakfast, but you know, a couple of portions cooked and
(14:53):
seeds and nuts a handful every day.
If you hit your BB GS every single day, it's one of the most
potent anti-inflammatory medicines I think you can you
can take. I'm going to put this in a
context and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I feel like I'm
not. It sounds like the Mediterranean
diet. I'm just trying to keep it as
simplified as possible for people right where, you know,
(15:15):
the Mediterranean diet is probably one of the the worst
well studied diet out there, right when it comes to nutrition
and health and whether that evenbe for things like mental
health. When we look at the Spiles trial
by Philly Stracker all the way kind of across the board,
Mediterranean diet seems to be kind of one of the most
supported and studied areas for your health overall.
(15:35):
And So what I'm hearing is a lotof the Mediterranean diet foods
are in this anti-inflammatory index totally.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you look at the Mediterranean
diet as a whole through the lensof the DII, it is
anti-inflammatory. If you look at like even the
most I know food pyramids and and plates are like out of
fashion at the moment. If you remove some of the
(15:58):
refined products that they have on the plate, I would say that's
net anti-inflammatory, you know,the modified Mediterranean diet,
like the mind diet for dementia and, and, and brain health,
again, anti-inflammatory. So there there are common themes
throughout different diets that have been studied that are like,
(16:19):
you know, generally healthy plant focused whole removing on
refined products and using good quality fats.
Thanks so much for listening to hear the full episode.
There's a link in the description.
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