BEST Anti-Inflammatory Foods | What I Eat in a Week

hey guys so here for another sit down video we're going to be talking about inflammation and how to reduce inflammation with certain foods that are super easy to implement into your diet that taste delicious that of course are a hundred percent plant-based and vegan and hopefully eating this way can help you feel a lot better and reduce inflammation and especially chronic inflammation if that's something that you're suffering with in this video i'm going to share with you the five foods that i eat on a daily basis that help reduce inflammation there are other foods of course this is not an exhaustive list of everything that you need to eat and do to reduce inflammation we're just focusing on food and we're just focusing on the foods that i eat every day and i'd like to thank pompan for sponsoring this video if you'd like to learn more about their farmer crafted extra virgin olive oils and the role that they play in helping to reduce inflammation check out the link that i leave down below in the description box for more information i love using pompeii and olive oils because they are delicious they are high quality they are easy to find at your regular grocery store and pompeian's mission is to help you eat and live well every day and they have all sorts of different olive oils but in this video we're going to be using their bold extra virgin olive oil which is full of flavor which i really like in olive oil full of rich aroma and it's perfect for dipping and drizzling but we'll talk more about that in a moment so first off we should start with what in the world is inflammation and why does it matter why is an anti-inflammatory diet important so inflammation is part of a normal functioning healthy immune system response for example say you cut your finger your body produces inflammation to actually help to heal the wound some level of inflammation in the body is healthy and it helps to protect your health the health of your whole body however chronic inflammation so inflammation that builds up over time that doesn't cease that continues to attack your certain organs or systems in the body that is not healthy chronic inflammation actually is an underlying mechanism in the creation of quite a few diseases like cancer type 2 diabetes joint issues metabolic syndrome so eating to reduce inflammation is really helpful now eating a diet that is rich in nutrients has been shown to limit inflammation and even help to get rid of chronic inflammation in the body and what better diet to eat for nutrients than a vegan whole food diet meaning a plant-based diet that is rich in unprocessed foods fruits vegetables nuts seeds all that good stuff now we'll get into those anti-inflammatory foods that i eat on a daily basis and that i love so much of course i'm going to tell you how i eat them so it will be easier hopefully for you to incorporate these into your own diet as well okay so the first one is omega-3 fatty acids i'm sure you have heard about this especially when it comes to eating fish salmon taking fish oil supplements but guess what plant-based foods also have omega-3 fatty acids omega-3 is super important for helping to reduce inflammation in the body as well as it's good for the brain and it's good for the heart but we're talking about inflammation here the most popular plant-based omega-3 foods are definitely flaxseed that's probably the most famous walnut in second place chia seeds hemp seeds and get this this is something that you don't hear about as often but dark leafy greens are also very good source of omega-3 fatty acids so on the daily when i'm having my breakfast oatmeal usually i will do a tablespoon of ground flaxseed in the oatmeal or tef porridge or whatever other hot cereal i'm eating and that is a wonderful way to incorporate omega-3 fatty acids because you're stirring in the flax you don't really taste it much and it's like taking a vitamin but it's a whole food source so it's so much better i also love to make chia seed pudding i make one with spirulina which i have a video for here and i also make a really yummy one with pumpkin i like to eat that as a snack because it's super filling it's got plenty of fiber and protein but it's also a great source of omega-3 fatty acids can we talk about walnuts i especially love to eat walnuts and savory so i put them in a lentil meatloaf that i make i also make this oh i want to have this tonight but this lentil walnut taco meat that is wonderful for burrito bowls you can put it in tacos you can even change up the seasonings and make the most delicious lentil walnut bole naysay for pasta and it's just a great way to eat more walnuts which will give you the healthy fats omega-3 fatty acid protein fiber and all sorts of other wonderful properties that walnuts have so i mentioned the fact that leafy green vegetables cruciferous vegetables are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids so eat salads every day if you can and bulk them up with more omega-3s and more goodness by adding nuts and seed to the top of your salad bulk your plate up and you will have no problem getting enough omega-3 fatty acids to help you reduce inflammation my next favorite anti-inflammatory food is extra virgin olive oil so i cook with some types of extra virgin olive oil and i use it for my salad dressings i use it for dipping like bread in or drizzling over my soups in the winter time which i did today but it's wonderful and it's also a great anti-inflammatory food drizzling pompeians bold extra virgin olive oil over your meal is such an easy way to add more flavor but also add anti-inflammatory benefits to whatever you're eating now this is why i love eating plants extra virgin olive oil has more than 36 phenolic compounds that help reduce inflammation in the body in particular the phenolic compound oleocanthal has an anti-inflammatory response in the body that is similar to taking ibuprofen i would much rather eat my medicine than have to take something i use the pompeian bold extra virgin olive oil to make my favorite white bean butternut and kale soup which i call zuppa di fajoli in the italian way but it is so tasty and full of flavor and it contains the kale the olive oil and all these other wonderful wholesome plant-based foods in one soup to help you reduce inflammation and it is perfect for fall for lunch or for dinner and honestly i even like to eat it for breakfast because i'm that girl who likes a savory breakfast most of the time so just drizzle that bad boy onto the top of your soup and then eat it all right now we can talk about fresh fruit which i happen to love a lot fruit has so many antioxidants in it that are great for helping to reduce inflammation in the body it's easy to eat fruit for a snack add it to your breakfast porridge or cereal if reducing inflammation is top of your health priorities then you want to choose fruits that are super super high in antioxidants and lower in sugar would be helpful so choose berries cherries some stone fruits if you only have access to organic frozen fruit that is fine too even if it's not organic still eat your fruit it still has those antioxidants and the thing about frozen fruit is that it's frozen at its peak of freshness so all that good stuff is still in there of course cruciferous vegetables are also really great for helping to reduce inflammation kale broccoli cabbage cauliflower collard greens they're all in that family and i love that you can prepare them in so many different ways for example right now it's fall so i have been eating a lot more roasted vegetables but the way that i most often eat my cruciferous vegetables is in a salad i like to eat one salad a day one big salad not a side salad i don't really do side solids i want an entree salad that is full of nice fresh kale and romaine and any other leafy vegetables i can get my hands on that looks good at the grocery store or the farmer's market because i like to eat it raw it's good roughage also cruciferous vegetables and all leafy green vegetables are just a wonderful source of fiber and eating a lot of fiber helps you to maintain a healthy digestive system but it also helps to feed the healthy bacteria in your gut and just make for a healthy ecosystem for that bacteria to flourish and that bacteria when you have healthy gut bacteria it does help to reduce inflammation in your body too see everything is connected so eat your salads roast your vegetables steam them whatever you have to do to eat more cruciferous and green leafy vegetables is great and lastly i had to save my favorite for last sweet potatoes now you guys already know what i feel about sweet potatoes they are my favorite food and even if they weren't healthy i would still eat them all the time because they are the best but they also happen to be extremely good for you and they also happen to be a wonderful anti-inflammatory food who knew so sweet potatoes are full of antioxidants and they even have vitamin c which i don't think a lot of people know because they're not a fruit but the antioxidants and other phytonutrients in sweet potatoes can help to reduce your inflammation in your body specifically anthocyanin which is present in those sweet potatoes that have that more vibrant color the orange the purple sweet potatoes not gonna sleep on the white japanese ones though because they are the bomb but the ones that have a lot of color and pigmentation and i do eat the skin because even the skin has that pigment and it has those antioxidants and more fiber and all that goodness so eat the skin as well so there's a million ways to eat sweet potatoes if you're just getting started with a plant-based diet or eating to reduce inflammation start simple with just roasted and baked sweet potato just put one in the oven bake it it is so delicious it's perfect for your meal for a snack late night snack it's the bomb or you can get a little bit more creative and add sweet potato to your stews or whatever else you're cooking i like to add roasted sweet potatoes to my salad so i can just bulk that salad up with more anti-inflammatory fiber rich nutrient rich goodness just saying actually i think i have a whole playlist for sweet potatoes i will share it down below let me talk to you real quick about the foods that cause inflammation because it's important to know that you eventually also want to start to limit the foods that do cause inflammation so you can get more to like an 80 20 or 90 10 ratio of anti-inflammatory foods to maybe the ones that are causing the inflammation so foods that cause inflammation sugary foods sugary drinks processed and refined carbohydrates and other foods alcohol margin and shortening and red meat and especially processed meats so if you're eating a majority of that type of food you want to start to limit it and you will start to feel better and inflammation can start to come down and your body can start to heal and flourish and be healthy so see that is why i recommend a whole food vegan diet for everyone that is just really low in processed foods and very high in the vegetables the fruit olive oil nuts seeds beans you just want to eat foods that you recognize as coming out of the ground because those are the ones that are the most supportive of your health and the most nutrient dense [Music] i hope that was helpful to everyone watching especially anyone who's watching who is suffering from chronic inflammation so if you have any questions or if you just want to talk more about what you're going through or if you even have any tips and further advice and further resources for reducing inflammation in the body share it in the comments section down below and we can talk more about it and also thank you to pompeian for sponsoring this video i like i said love their olive oils because they are farmer crafted and they are delicious i'm sharing the recipe for that white bean butternut squash and kale soup down below so if you want to give it a try the recipe is down there and make sure you pick up a bottle of the pompeian bold extra virgin olive oil as soon as possible so you can top your soup with it and let me know what you think more information and resources about anti-inflammation and anti-inflammatory eating is down below so you can see where i got my sources from and i hope it's inspiring and helpful i'll see you guys next time thanks so much for watching [Music] bye [Music] you

Channel: SweetPotatoSoul

Views: 338,875

Rating: 4.9453273 out of 5

Keywords: Vegan recipes, Soup recipe, vegetarian soup, vegan soup, vegetarian recipes, healthy recipe, reduce inflammation, go vegan, veganuary, healthy vegan, anti-inflammatory diet, anti-inflammatory foods

Id: rS5HHGuUKdE

Length: 14min 4sec (844 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2020