Anti-Inflammatory Diet

When I see a title like that, I'm thinking BRAT (bread rice applesauce toast) diet or something similar that you eat when you are sick. When I read the article, though, I realized that it's the same common sense food plan promoted for people to lose weight and stay healthy. I'm not sure why it would be called an anti-inflammatory diet unless the alternative (what most Americans eat) is an inflammatory diet.

This is what Dr. Weil suggests:

Step One: Look at your carbs. The majority of carbohydrates in your diet should be in the form of less-refined, less-processed foods with a low glycemic load. You can do this by replacing your snack foods made with wheat flour and sugar with whole grains, beans, winter squashes, and sweet potatoes.

Step Two: Replace your cooking oil. Instead of safflower and sunflower oils, corn oil, cottonseed oil, mixed vegetable oils, butter and margarine, use extra-virgin olive oil as your main cooking oil (for a neutral tasting oil, use expeller-pressed, organic canola oil).

Step Three: Decrease your consumption of animal protein. Except for fish (such as omega-3 rich salmon) and reduced-fat dairy products, animal derived protein should be limited. You can easily replace meat with vegetable protein such as beans, legumes and whole soy foods.

Step Four: Eat more fiber. Try to eat 40 grams of fiber a day, simple to do if you increase your consumption of fruit, especially berries, vegetables and whole grains.

I really like Dr. Weil's website. I've learned so much from it. He offers so much useful information and tips. Want to learn more? Click here.