Top 7 Strategies to Heal Chronic Inflammation

byDR. JOCKERS
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7 Strategies to Heal Chronic Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is insidious. You don’t feel it developing until it causes a full-blown
disease. In fact, underlying chronic inflammatory conditions are one of the number one
contributors to chronic disease and death alike. This is because inflammation damages the
body at the cellular level. In this article, you will discover the top 7 strategies to heal chronic
inflammatory conditions.

This means everything that relies on cellular health and normal cell function is suddenly
inhibited. As you can see, this process can impact the entire body and create disease in many
ways. Luckily, there are great strategies to heal chronic inflammation and the conditions
associated with it.
I deal with people all the time who have illnesses or health challenges that they’ve been
facing for a long time with no promise of getting better. Once we take a look at
their inflammatory markers, we see they are intensely inflamed. While there are typically
other factors to be addressed, addressing underlying inflammation is reliably the number one
strategy for helping someone begin to overcome a chronic health challenge.
Inflammation
Inflammation is a very generalized term. Inflammation is typically an immune response
mechanism. When the body notices that an area of the body needs some attention from
the immune system, inflammatory substances are released in the area that draw attention to
that area. This is what happens when you cut your skin for example.
Another primary cause of inflammation is oxidative stress. Oxidative stress emerges due to
several factors. Some of the main contributors are poor diet, emotional stress,
electromagnetic radiation (phones, Wi-Fi, etc.), as well as many others. Understanding how
these things influence your health is the first step to stacking them in favor of your health.
 Chronic Inflammation & Disease
Chronic inflammation, as mentioned above, can be brought on by a wide range of causes.
Chronic inflammatory conditions are extremely prominent in our society and they include
things like:

 Heart Disease
 Cancer
 Autoimmunity
 Arthritis
 Neurodegeneration (Alzheimer’s, MS, etc.)
 Metabolic Disorders (Obesity, Diabetes)
 … and many, many others

Too much inflammation lowers your body’s ability to function at a cellular level, which is
why it can contribute to so many conditions. Mitigating this inflammation is the first step to
overcoming any of these conditions. While there are other factors to consider, mitigating
inflammation powerfully supports the body to get into a healing state where many health
challenges can be overcome.

7 Strategies To Lower Inflammation

One of the best ways to measure and track your inflammation levels is our Complete
Thyroid Panel which actually looks at a variety of inflammatory markers. However, if you
are dealing with a chronic disease or health condition, underlying inflammation almost
certainly a factor in getting healthy.
These 7 strategies are absolutely critical to recovering from a chronic inflammatory condition.
They work to mitigate inflammation from many different angles. I have found that it is not
enough to simply take a turmeric supplement or use a fish oil as these only address one aspect
 of inflammation. These are helpful, however targeting the underlying causes of inflammation
while employing other advanced strategies get the best results.

Anti-Inflammatory, Healing Diet

The diet is a great place to start. In today’s society, we have quite an abundance of foods on
the market that are extremely questionable. You will want to revert back to consuming foods
that are as close to their natural forms as possible. As a few general guidelines, you will want
to:

 Cut sugars & grains from the diet

 Eliminate processed vegetable oils (Focus on healthy fats)
 Increase your intake of organic, low-glycemic vegetables
 Only consume grass-fed and pasture-raised meats
 Focus on supporting fat metabolism by following a ketogenic-style diet
Converting to a low-carb, high fat (or ketogenic) diet has consistently shown to improve
metabolism and lower inflammatory markers in the body. This is likely because of the
relationship between glucose metabolism and chronic inflammation pathways (1).

By converting the body into a fat-burning state via a ketogenic diet, there are additional anti-
inflammatory benefits to be gained. It turns out that by becoming fat-adapted and increasing
ketone levels in the body, there is a drastic decrease in inflammation, particularly in the brain
tissues (2). By creating an emphasis on nutrient-rich vegetables, herbs, spices, and healthy
fats, you take these benefits a step further.
Reduce Exposure to Toxins
Our food supply is high in toxins due to the widespread adoption of pesticides, genetically-
modified crops, and runoff from industrialization. While it is pretty difficult to eliminate
toxin exposure completely. There are ways of mitigating exposure so that the toxic load on
your body is much lower.

First of all, following an anti-inflammatory diet as mentioned above naturally cuts out many
of the toxin-filled foods in our society. Focusing on organic produce, pasture-raised meats,
and healthy fats is key.

The next important source to look is your water supply. In today’s day and age, tap water just
doesn’t cut it. Most municipal water supplies contain chlorine, fluoride, heavy metals, and
even residues from pharmaceutical drugs. For my tips on getting the cleanest water, read my
article here.

Finally, there are chemicals that we need to reduce our exposure to that come from everyday
household items like soaps, cosmetic products, cleaning agents. Etc. I address these topics
in Natural Homemade Cleaning Products and Choosing Safe Beauty and Hygiene
Products.
More on Toxins

Toxins that we ingest through our food and environment generally have 2 fates. Either our
bodies are equipped to effectively eliminate them or they become trapped inside our tissues.
As your exposure to toxins increases, the burden on your liver grows and more toxins tend to
become stored rather than eliminated.
Many of these toxins have a particularly high affinity for becoming stored in body fat. If you
have excessive body fat, burning that off via a ketogenic diet and adequate physical activity
can go a long way.

Additionally, there are a number of advanced strategies you can employ on a daily basis in
order to effectively eliminate any stored toxins in your body. These include things like using a
sauna, super hydration, and using detoxifying supplements. Click the image below to read
more about how to detoxify your body on a daily basis.

Super Hydration

It is so important to drink a lot of water in order to flush out toxins and help the body to
produce cellular energy. I tell my clients they need to “pee their way to good health!” This is
because urination is one of the major ways the body eliminates inflammatory waste and
environmental toxins.

Be sure to drink a minimum of half your body weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh
150 pounds than that means a minimum of 75 ounces of water should be consumed each day.
To heal faster, I recommend getting closer to a full ounce per pound of body weight…so that
would be 150 ounces for a 150 lb individual.

Be sure to drink this away from meals so you don’t compromise your stomach acid and
digestive processes. I typically stop drinking about 30 minutes before a meal and will pick
up my hydration about 60-90 minutes after my meal.

Eliminate Food Sensitivities, Heal the Gut

Growing up we all hear about food allergies. You may even have one. This is where eating a
certain food, such as wheat or peanuts, causes an outright and obvious negative reaction in
the body. These can be immediately life threatening.
You may go your entire life, however, having a food sensitivity and not know it. This is when
consuming a food creates a subtle inflammatory response in the body. Consuming these on a
regular basis contributes to a state of chronic inflammation in the gut and eventually the rest
of the body. Testing for your own, following an elimination diet, or using the strategies in this
article can help to reduce this inflammatory reaction in the body.

These food sensitivity reactions are extremely common in people with leaky gut, autoimmune
disorders, and most inflammatory conditions (3).
Address Micronutrient Deficiencies

Your body contains an unthinkable number of biochemical processes that are always
occurring whether you know it or not. These processes require certain nutrients in order to
complete properly. Everything from hormone balance to immune system function depends
on certain nutrients being present in the body.
Testing for your own deficiencies and addressing them can go a long way in mitigating
chronic inflammation. Some of the most common nutrient deficiencies I encounter
include, magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin D, Omega 3 Fats, B Vitamins, and anti-oxidants.

Following a healing diet is a powerful first step for improving your micronutrient intake.
Using targeted supplementation or a high-quality multivitamin should be considered as well.
Healthy Movement
Getting regular exercise and physical activity are important for lowering inflammation. If you
are physically stagnant, you become stagnant internally. You need to move in order to
circulate lymph fluid, boost cardiovascular circulation, increase respiration, and increase the
expulsion of toxins.

Having a healthy posture, proper breathing mechanics, and a balanced muscular structure will
reduce stress on the body and improve oxygenation of tissues. Take this into account when
deciding on a workout structure to incorporate.

Another great strategy is to see a chiropractor to address any spinal misalignments that may
be contributing to nervous system dysfunctions. In fact, chiropractic adjustments have been
shown to improve anti-oxidant production and lower inflammation in the body specifically
(4).

Reduce Emotional Stress

Emotional and mental stress is actually a massive contributor to oxidative stress and
inflammation. This inflammation largely manifests itself in the neurological tissues and has a
profound negative impact on mood and behavior, which could easily turn into a self-
perpetuating cycle (5). Resolving emotional stressors is absolutely vital to mitigating
inflammation as much as possible.

Additionally, you want to instill peace within yourself to prevent chronic inflammation from
recurring do to emotional stress. This can be done through daily practice of gratitude and by
becoming comfortable with making necessary changes in your life needed to reach optimal
health.

There is typically not a one-step solution to solving your health problems, as is the case with
many things in life. Accepting that achieving health is a process in, and that this process
requires a bit of temporary discomfort is what will allow you to make breakthroughs in your
life.

Anti-Inflammatory Supplements
The lifestyle strategies above are effective for mitigating chronic inflammation in the body
over time, and keeping it away. For tough cases, using specific supplements is super powerful
for quickly reducing inflammation in the body.
The following act on different mechanisms of inflammation to create a profound and systemic
downregulation of this harmful condition.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D has the ability to regulate over 1000 different genes in the body (6). This is one of
the most common deficiencies I see in inflammatory disorders, especially auto-immunity
and cancer.
Vitamin D is specifically an extremely powerful immune modulating nutrient that helps to
balance the immune system. Remember, an over or underactive immune response is
commonly found in inflammatory disorders so using immune modulating compounds like
Vitamin D is critical.

Many health experts agree that the ideal range of Vitamin D in the body is 60-100 ng/ml in
the blood, preferably closer to the 80-100 ng/ml range. To achieve this level, 1000-2000 IU of
supplemental Vitamin D per 50 lbs. of bodyweight is a good strategy. Additionally, it is
important to take Vitamin D along with Vitamin K as they act together in the body and not
doing so can lead to lessened benefit.
Glutathione

Glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant that regulates all other antioxidants. At this point,
you understand just how important controlling oxidative stress in the body is for mitigating
chronic inflammation and glutathione is one of the most powerful ways to do so.

Getting plenty of antioxidants from vegetables, herbs, spices, and even essential oils can be
extremely powerful. When it comes to tough cases, using oral glutathione can be an effective
way to quickly upregulate antioxidant systems in the body. Alternatively, there are great ways
to boost endogenous glutathione production by using natural compounds like curcumin, N-
acetyl cysteine, and alpha lipoic acid.

Curcumin

Curcumin is one of the most heavily studied compounds found in one of the most studied
herbs on the planet, turmeric. It is believed that curcumin is one of the primary constituents
responsible for turmeric’s anti-inflammatory effects.

The one I usually recommend is Meriva. I like this one so much because it is contained in a
liposomal form which is extremely easy for the body to absorb. Turmeric in its raw form is
somewhat difficult to absorb into the body, so using a liposomal extract allows for a much
greater therapeutic effect in the body.
Omega 3

Increasing your intake of omega 3 fatty acids it is absolutely critical for mitigating chronic
inflammation. Most people consume a diet that is high in omega 6 fats while being severely
deficient in omega 3. This puts fatty acids at an imbalance in the body that actually favors
inflammatory processes. This is because Omega 6 fats are part of the eicosanoid pathway that
is responsible for producing inflammatory markers in the body.

Following an anti-inflammatory diet full of healthy fats and wild-caught fish is a great way to
quickly lower inflammation. Additionally, you may find it helpful to supplement with a high-
quality fish oil in order to favor a healthy omega 3 to omega 6 ratio. In terms of down-
regulating inflammation quickly, I haven’t found anything as effective as Omega CRP.
Proteolytic Enzymes

Our bodies use over 3000 enzymes to carry out over 7000 enzymatic processes in the body.
Many people don’t realize this but enzymes can even help to break down inflammatory
molecules such as Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), C Reactive Protein (CRP), and Circulating
Immune Complex (CIC).

In many cases of chronic inflammation, these inflammatory molecules are circulating in

abundance throughout the body. Supplementing with proteolytic enzymes helps to clear these
molecules from the body and effectively lower inflammation and help you overcome chronic
inflammatory conditions.
Summary
Everyone endures some level of inflammation on a daily basis. As long as this inflammation
does not overcome our body’s’ ability to mitigate that inflammation, it is not an issue. Many
people today have lost this ability and are falling victim to chronic inflammatory conditions
such as auto-immunity, cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and many more
conditions.
Luckily, chronic inflammation can be overcome by following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle
including the principles mentioned above. Additionally, utilizing powerful advanced
supplementation it is possible to rapidly speed up the healing process for any chronic illness.
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Sources For This Article Include:

1. Shen, Y., Kapfhamer, D., Minnella, A. M., Kim, J.-E., Won, S. J., Chen, Y., … Swanson, R. A. (2017). Bioenergetic state regulates innate inflammatory responses through the transcriptional co-repressor
CtBP. Nature Communications, 8(1), 624. PMID: 28935892

2. Yamanashi, T., Iwata, M., Kamiya, N., Tsunetomi, K., Kajitani, N., Wada, N., … Kaneko, K. (2017). Beta-hydroxybutyrate, an endogenic NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, attenuates stress-induced behavioral and
inflammatory responses. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 7677. PMID: 28794421

3. Fasano, A. (2012). Leaky gut and autoimmune diseases. Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology, 42(1), 71–78. PMID: 22109896

4. Teodorczyk-Injeyan, J. A., Injeyan, H. S., & Ruegg, R. (2006). Spinal manipulative therapy reduces inflammatory cytokines but not substance P production in normal subjects. In Journal of Manipulative and
Physiological Therapeutics (Vol. 29, pp. 14–21). PMID: 16396725

5. Slavich, G. M., & Irwin, M. R. (2014). From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 140(3), 774–815. PMID: 24417575

6. Tulane University: Genetic & Epigenetic Studies on Vitamin D (Link)

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Dr. Jockers

Dr. David Jockers is a doctor of natural medicine, functional nutritionist and corrective care chiropractor. He currently owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Georgia. He has developed 6 revolutionary online
programs with thousands of participants.

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 Comments
3 comments

Comments

1. Lisa

November 14, 2017 at 2:52 pm

 Dr jockers does supplementing with glutathione increase body dependence on outside supply and inhibits the body from creating its own? Or will the body still make glutathione even if u r supplementing?
If supplementing should u go off it after awhile or cycle it.. so body doesn’t grow dependent and NOT make its own?

Reply

1. Dr. Jockers

November 18, 2017 at 8:10 pm

Hey Lisa, this is not an issue! However, if you are not consuming adequate amounts of glutathione precursors, then you will have a more difficult time creating your own. I have a great article on
glutathione here https://drjockers.com/boost-glutathione-levels-naturally/

Reply