Something that all humans do, every single day, is eat.
And what you eat matters, especially when it comes to snacks.
Many snack foods have the tendency to be highly-processed, high in fat, and packed with sugar – all which contribute to inflammation in the body.¹
Chronic inflammation is linked to many different health issues. But adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet is a powerful and natural way to help lower inflammation and overall health.
And it’s not complicated. Adding anti-inflammatory snacks into your diet is as easy as changing up your grocery list and making a few swaps in ingredients.
So whether you’re looking to tackle chronic inflammation or just improve your overall health, these nutrient-packed snack ideas will help you feel your best – without much effort.
What Causes Inflammation?
Before we dive into my favorite anti-inflammatory foods, we need to understand what causes inflammation in the body.
The driving force behind any kind of inflammation is our immune system.
When we’re sick with an illness like the flu, our immune system releases white blood cells to fight off the virus. A part of the way these cells fight off illness is by creating inflammation.
Similarly, if you sprain or even break your ankle, your immune system sends inflammation-producing cells to the injury site. This inflammation is needed to help repair the ankle.
So when inflammation happens for a short period of time, it’s beneficial and even protective for our body. But if this inflammation goes on and on, that’s when we start to run into trouble.
When inflammation is chronic, it’s mostly due to the body and immune system being under some kind of chronic stress. Essentially, the immune system keeps detecting a threat and releasing those fighter cells all over the body – causing inflammation in the body.
Specific Causes of Chronic Inflammation
Certain foods, especially if eaten regularly, trigger inflammatory responses in the body. These include:¹
- Refined sugar
- Processed foods
- Unhealthy fats like saturated fat and trans fat
Being overweight is linked to inflammation. Fat tissue produces different inflammatory cells. So the more fat you have, the more inflammation is in your body.
Hormone imbalances have also been shown to contribute to chronic inflammation. Testosterone and estrogen have been shown to decrease the production of inflammatory cells in the body. So if the body doesn’t have enough of these hormones, inflammation increases.
Additional lifestyle factors that are linked to inflammation include:
- Smoking
- Physical and emotional stress
- Sleep disorders
Other causes of chronic inflammation are out of our control with the main one being age. As we get older, levels of inflammatory substances increase. This is thought to be due to factors like increased fat around the belly (visceral fat) and a build up of toxins called free radicals in the body.
Diseases Linked to Chronic Inflammation
Many diseases are associated with chronic inflammation. Some of the most common chronic diseases that contribute to inflammation include:¹
- Type 2 diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease – including heart attack, stroke, and heart failure
- Arthritis
- Allergies
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
What Are the Symptoms of Chronic Inflammation?
The symptoms of chronic inflammation are often vague and can easily be missed by someone who’s not trained to look for them.
The most common signs and symptoms of chronic inflammation include:¹
- Body pain
- Achy joints and muscles
- Chronic fatigue
- Trouble sleeping (insomnia)
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Mood disorders
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Acid reflux
- Weight gain
- Weight loss
- Frequent infections
When patients come to me at Noble Functional Medicine with any of the above symptoms, they’re often receiving treatment for the symptom – not the underlying cause. Someone with insomnia may be on a sleeping pill, and another person with anxiety may be on an anxiety medication.
But the question I ask is – what’s causing these symptoms in the first place?
And in some cases, the cause is chronic inflammation.
How Do We Check for Chronic Inflammation?
If you and your provider are concerned you may have chronic inflammation, there are a few ways to check this. The main way is by checking the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood.
An inflammatory marker I check on all my patients is C-Reactive Protein (CRP). This is one of the most widely used markers for inflammation in the body. Elevated CRP levels are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and other inflammatory conditions.²
If you have symptoms of chronic inflammation and your CRP level is found to be high, I may order additional testing to confirm. I would also make sure to check your hormone levels, as this can affect inflammation in the body.
CRP and hormone levels are both part of the comprehensive blood work I get on all of my patients. If you’d like to learn more, check out the link below.
14 Easy Anti-Inflammatory Snacks To Improve Your Health
One of the best and healthiest ways to lower inflammation in your body is with nutritionally-packed, whole food. So if you’ve been found to have chronic inflammation or you’re just looking to improve your overall health, here are the top anti-inflammatory snacks I recommend you eat.
- Broccoli and cauliflower: – Contains sulforaphane, an antioxidant that fights inflammation by lowering levels of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines and NF-kB.¹
- Brussel sprouts: This vegetable is high in antioxidants, especially vitamin C. This makes brussel sprouts an excellent choice for lowering inflammation.¹
- Cabbage: Another vegetable that’s high in anti-inflammatory compounds like antioxidants.¹
- Sweet Potatoes: Contains different carbohydrates called pectins that have anti-inflammatory effects.³
- Mushrooms: Certain mushrooms like white button mushrooms contain ergothioneine, which has been shown in numerous studies to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.⁴
- Beets: Contain pigments called betalains, which have a number of anti-inflammatory properties.⁵
- Blueberries: This berry is packed with antioxidants, which help decrease inflammation.¹
- Apples: These wholesome fruits are easy to have as a snack and reduce inflammation because of the antioxidants they contain.¹
- Avocado: Rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, magnesium, fiber, and antioxidants that help reduce inflammation.⁶
- Dark Chocolate: This snack is rich in flavonoids, which help reduce inflammation. When picking out chocolate, look for at least 70% cocoa content.⁷
- Tomatoes: These red fruits are rich in a compound called lycopene, which has been shown to decrease inflammation. Tomatoes have also been shown to lower the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes.⁸
- Cherries: Especially tart cherries, which have been found to have high levels of anti-inflammatory compounds.¹
- Walnuts: Rich in alpha-linolenic acid, a type of plant-based omega-3 fat, which helps fight inflammation.⁹
- Almonds: Packed with nutrients like vitamin E, magnesium, and fiber, which help to manage inflammation. Eating almonds is also linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (like heart attack and stroke) and diabetes.¹
Other Anti-Inflammatory Foods
Some of my other favorite foods that have powerful anti-inflammatory properties but aren’t quite “snack material” include certain fish, seeds, spices, oils, drinks, and leafy greens.
- Salmon: This fatty fish is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to reduce inflammation.¹⁰
- Turmeric: Contains curcumin, a compound with strong anti-inflammatory properties.¹
- Spinach: This leafy green is antioxidant-rich, particularly with a nutrient called thykamine, which lowers inflammation.¹¹
- Flaxseeds: High in omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, both of which have anti-inflammatory properties. You can add flaxseeds to baked goods, salads, or smoothies. Flaxseed oil is another great option.¹²
- Ginger: Known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, ginger helps to reduce inflammation.¹
- Olive Oil: Particularly extra-virgin olive oil, which is full of polyphenols, protects the heart and blood vessels from inflammation. A greater reduction of inflammation has been found in people who consume both olive oil and flaxseed oil.¹²
- Garlic: This root vegetable has been shown to lower several inflammatory chemicals including CRP.¹³
- Green Tea: Packed with polyphenols and antioxidants, green tea reduces inflammation and may help protect against disease.¹
- Fiber: High intake of dietary soluble and insoluble fiber is associated with lower levels of different inflammatory chemicals.¹
- Chia Seeds: High in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and antioxidants, all of which help reduce inflammation.¹⁴
Want To Learn More About Anti-Inflammatory Diets?
Adding anti-inflammatory foods into your diet is a simple, yet effective, way to decrease inflammation and support your overall health. These small changes have big impacts on your health and can help lower your risk of many chronic diseases.
If you’re curious about how inflammation might be affecting your body or you’d like to learn how an anti-inflammatory diet can improve your health and prevent disease, we can help.
At Noble Functional Medicine, we specialize in personalized health plans that uncover the root cause of symptoms, prevent illness, and transform health. You can book your free discovery call today by clicking the link below.
References:
1. Chronic Inflammation – (nih.gov)
- C-Reactive Protein: The Quintessential Marker of Systemic Inflammation in Coronary Artery Disease—Advancing toward Precision Medicine – (nih.gov)
- Effects of different extraction solvents on the compositions, primary structures, and anti-inflammatory activity of pectin from sweet potato processing by-products – (sciencedirect.com)
- Mushroom-Derived Medicine? Preclinical Studies Suggest Potential Benefits of Ergothioneine for Cardiometabolic Health – (nih.gov)
- Betanin as a multipath oxidative stress and inflammation modulator: a beetroot pigment with protective effects on cardiovascular disease pathogenesis – (nih.gov)
- Effect of 8-Week Consumption of a Dietary Pattern Based on Fruit, Avocado, Whole Grains, and Trout on Postprandial Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Gene Expression in Obese People – (nih.gov)
- Effect of dark chocolate/ cocoa consumption on oxidative stress and inflammation in adults: A GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of controlled trials – (sciencedirect.com)
- Wide-range screening of anti-inflammatory compounds in tomato using LC-MS and elucidating the mechanism of their functions – (nih.gov)
- Recent Studies on Protective Effects of Walnuts against Neuroinflammation – (nih.gov)
- An Oily Fish Diet Improves Subclinical Inflammation in People at High Cardiovascular Risk: A Randomized Controlled Study – (nih.gov)
- Thykamine Extracts from Spinach Reduce Acute Inflammation In Vivo and Downregulate Phlogogenic Functions of Human Blood Neutrophils In Vitro – (nih.gov)
- A comprehensive review of the health benefits of flaxseed oil in relation to its chemical composition and comparison with other omega-3-rich oils – (nih.gov)
- Garlic Supplementation Reduces Circulating C-reactive Protein, Tumor Necrosis Factor, and Interleukin-6 in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials – (sciencedirect.com)
- Effects of chia seed (Salvia hispanica L.) supplementation on cardiometabolic health in overweight subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs – (nih.gov)
