Inflammation

At Enhanced Wellness Living, we are extremely passionate about educating you on the root cause of your symptoms, which is often inflammation. It’s important to understand we all have inflammation in our bodies, and it’s not necessarily bad if it’s controlled!

Inflammation is at the root of 90% of diseased states. This means that 90% of the time you go to your physician you are experiencing an inflammatory dysfunction or an inflammatory diseased state. Inflammation is at the root of: chronic pain, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson’s Disease, cancer, the list goes on and on. We may not think about diseases in this way, but at the end of the day they are inflammatory conditions. If you want to have better health, it’s important to first understand what’s driving your inflammation. Let’s begin with what inflammation is.

What is inflammation? Inflammation is a common occurrence, it’s a natural response, it’s your body healing and recovering. Not all inflammation is bad. Think of cutting your finger, this is acute inflammation. As your red blood cells rush to the site, your finger gets red, swollen, hot, and painful. This is an example of how your body needs inflammation, and uses it to heal and repair itself. The problem occurs when acute inflammation becomes chronic inflammation, or a disease state. In Functional or Integrative Medicine, we look at WHAT is driving your inflammation and find the root of it. Let’s be honest, we’re all inflamed, but when you can understand what is causing the inflammation then you can be more aware of potential drivers or triggers, and live accordingly.

Hear more about inflammation from Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner Kelly Engelmann herself!

Intro to Inflammation Foods that Impact Inflammation Toxins as Drivers of Inflammation

Let’s talk about chronic inflammation which is when that acute inflammation turns into chronic and there is no control of it in the body. Chronic inflammation leads to a diseased state, and the food we are consuming is our primary driver of inflammation. You could be eating really, really healthy but may be still chronically inflamed. What’s healthy for one does not necessarily mean it is healthy for another due to bio individuality. There is not a one size fits all approach in Functional Medicine. In addition to food being the primary driver, we take a deeper dive into where the food is being sourced from, are there chemicals that you’re ingesting from your food, etc.

In Functional Medicine, we also look at other drivers of inflammation such as parasites, bacteria, dysbiosis (imbalanced gut microbiome), infection, blood sugar disturbances, stress, food sensitivities or intolerances.

Toxins may also be driving your inflammation. There are 3 categories of toxins: Environmental, Lifestyle, and Internal. Environmental toxins are the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Examples of environmental toxins are: Pesticides/Insecticides, Cleaning Products, and Heavy Metals. Lifestyle toxins are the choices we make and the things we do to ourselves knowingly or unknowingly. Examples of lifestyle toxins are: Nicotine, Alcohol, and Food Additives. The last category, Internal toxins, are the things our bodies produce because of bacteria, yeast, and/or parasites in the gut. Causes or examples of internal toxins are: Stress, Unresolved Trauma, and Unhappy Relationships.

The bottom line is there are multiple potential drivers of inflammation, it is not a one size fits all approach. At Enhanced Wellness Living we help you navigate a long-term plan to approach inflammation from a Functional Medicine perspective so you can Live Life Well!

“What I’m doing is figuring out, environmentally, nutritionally, hormonally, what’s driving inflammation and helping patients redirect their lifestyle.” –Kelly Engelmann, FNP-BC