Do you ever have those days when you just feel crappy? Slow, sore, tired, foggy, swollen, headache-y or puffy?
When you have allergies, food intolerances or an autoimmune diseases like celiac, you will likely have inflammation in the body. And if your anything like me you can actually feel this happening inside your body. I get sore/swollen feeling feet, a swollen-type headache, tiredness, fogginess and just a general ‘puffy’ feeling.
This happens to me the days following an accidental gluten or dairy reaction, or after I take a strong detoxifying supplement like chlorella (it feels like I’ve stirred it all up inside), or even if I just stay out late.
It’s an inflammatory response in the body to whatever your sensitive to, which for me is the gluten, dairy, toxic smells and apparently staying out past bedtime.
Over the last few years I’ve had these days much more often that I would like, and I’m feeling all of this today. So while I’m in the thick of it I wanted to share with you what I call my recovery plan, and also some anti inflammatory foods to heavily include in your diet if you are prone to inflammation.
Here is what I do when I’m feeling inflamed:
1. Sleep in
For as long as I want. Usually this isn’t necessarily by choice, but my head is so heavy and I’m in such a fog that I can’t even lift my head. Obviously my body needs that extra sleepy time to recover, and there’s no point forcing myself out of bed when I feel like ass anyway and nothings going to get done. I am fortunate enough to work from home, so sleep in!
2. Oil Pulling
Once I can drag myself out of bed I head to the kitchen to grab my coconut oil. Take a tablespoon of liquid coconut oil and pop it in your mouth. Give it a good swish around at first, then just settle into swishing at the front of the teeth area. Do this for 20 minute – you might not be able to do it for this long at first, but thats okay you can work up to it. After 20 minutes, go outside and spit it out – you don’t want this stuff clogging your drains. Rinse your mouth out with hot water and give your teeth a quick brush over.
I find this reduces some of the fog & headache.
3. Lemon Water
Next up is my morning lemon water – I do this most mornings inflammation or not. To make: juice 1 lemon, and add to 1 litre (4 cups) of warm water, plus 1/2 tsp turmeric powder if your game. Turmeric is a star at helping reduce inflammation. I also add 1 Tbsp of chia seeds and leave them for about 10 minutes to gel up. Chia seeds are great at helping bind to toxins and take them out of your body, plus the fats in chia seeds will help bring down the inflammation as well.
4. Foot Bath
This one feels really good as well. I do this one two times during the day, morning and night, as I find a lot of the soreness is in my feet. In a little plastic tub, mix 1 Tbsp of epsom salts, 1 Tbsp sea salt + 2 Tbsp baking soda and fill with the hottest water you can stand. You can also add some citrus peels or essential oils. Pop your feet in there for about 20 minutes, and then rinse off and dry your feet.
5. Green Smoothie or Green Juice
Get some nutrients into you! Make sure you add 1-2 tsp of spirulina + 1-2 Tbsp of flaxseed oil and include some of the anti-inflammatory foods below. Flaxseed is full of omega 3 which helps reduce inflammation.
6. Eat Whatever Foods You Are Craving
Choose the healthiest option available to satisfy that craving. It will help cheer you up, and if your body is craving something I would listen to it. The other day it was mushrooms and coconut ice cream for me (not mixed together!).
7. Rest
Your body needs a second to heel and recover, so give it that. Read a book if your not in brain-fog-land or watch some movies, or catch up on (or re-watch for the millionth time) Breaking Bad or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods – Eat These!
If your are prone to inflammation eat these foods often. If you are feeling inflamed, you will likely find yourself craving these foods anyway – our bodies are amazing like that!
- Turmeric – add fresh turmeric chunks to smoothies or juices, and add turmeric powder to anything and everything
- Ginger
- Omega-3 Containing Foods: flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, walnuts, olive oil, hemp seeds, chia seeds
- Kiwi
- Pineapple
- Berries
- Cherries
- Onions and garlic
- Spinach
- Fermented foods like sauerkraut and coconut yogurt
- Probiotics
And Some Inflammatory Foods to Avoid
- Sugar
- Saturated & trans fats
- Dairy
- Refined grains like white bread & gluten
- Alcohol
Tips from readers:
Jennifer: I like to stick my face over a bowl of boiling water with a towel over my head for 10 minutes, then have an icy shower to get the blood flowing. Then do a dry body brush and place some seeped green teabags over my eyes for 10 mins. I then drop and do 20 pushups, drink a bottle of icy water and a few stretches and twists. I love a good Epsom salt bath to. And a glass of room temp water with some apple cider vinegar also helps me. They sound a bit weird but these things really seem to fix my feeling of ‘puffiness’.
Janet: I would possibly add warm water or cinnamon tea to help flush out the toxins.
