In the end, I was right to keep investigating. I eventually found out that even though I was exercising every day and eating a “healthy” diet, I was chronically inflamed. Here are 4 things that really helped me heal and feel like myself again: When I was tackling my stress, I looked for adaptogenic herbs such as rhodiola, ashwaganda, ginseng, phosphytidly serine, and maca to help me strengthen and stabilize my body and feel more at ease. For my ongoing, chronic stress mindbodygreen’s hemp multi+ eases anxiousness and love the inclusion of super-herbs like cumin seed, rosemary, and hops.*" Turns out that a diet of sugar, carbs, processed foods, and caffeine produces a factory for chronic, or “silent,” inflammation in the gut. Increases in blood sugar from processed carbohydrates or sugar itself contributes to an increase in free radicals and pro-inflammatory cytokines. These are chemicals that kick off chronic inflammation in the body. I knew I had to really increase the amount of anti-inflammatory foods in my diet and kick out the main inflammatory ones, so I did the following: Of course, exercise is good for our bodies and muscles overall. But when you exercise too much and too hard, you start stealing from your hormones. I backed off of doing long cardio sessions five to six days in a row. Instead, I started doing yoga and shorter burst trainings to prevent that chronic cortisol elevation. I still like to go for runs from time to time, but I don’t go as hard or as often as I did before. Until I started to finally feel better, I didn’t even realize how inflamed I really was. Overall, I found that focusing on anti-inflammatory herbs and foods really helped me de-stress to heal from chronic inflammation. I hope my story helps you in your own wellness journey, too.
