Abundant living with John Arts Abundant Health

Too much Omega 6 and too little Omega 3 push our bodies towards inflammation. There is however another group of food compounds that have a huge impact on inflammation.

One of the main reasons to target plant foods is that they are loaded with antioxidant compounds. These are called phytonutrients (phyto = plant) that promote healing and are very anti-inflammatory. They help protect plants against free radical damage and disease.

When we eat the plants, they help prevent disease and reduce inflammation.

Antioxidants are a vast range of compounds found in food, or made in our body that control free radicals and prevent cell damage. These include many vitamins, some minerals and but are mostly phytonutrients.

Great diet sources are dark berries, deep coloured fruits and vegetables, green tea, blackcurrant and pomegranate juice.

Make sure you add plenty of spices such as turmeric, ginger and chilli as these are anti-inflammatory.

In supplements, the great sources are extracts from grape seeds, blackcurrants, green tea, resveratrol and curcumin from turmeric. Well-formulated supplements can make a real difference in helping shift the body towards and anti-inflammatory position.

As part of a nutritional support programme I include maintenance supplements such as Omega 3, Vitamin D (in cooler months) and a good multi-mineral/vitamin/antioxidant complex.

Depending on the type of inflammation we could add joint specific compounds.

For general inflammation I like to add quality grape seed extract at about 200mg and curcumin at 1000mg.

When combined with a good diet supplements can help shift the body away from unwanted inflammation. Just doing these simple things can make our lives much more comfortable.

John Arts (B.Soc.Sci, Dip Tch, Adv.Dip.Nut.Med) is a nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health Ltd. For personalized advice, contact John on: 0800 423 559 or email: john@abundant.co.nz Join his full weekly newsletter at: www.abundant.co.nz