The Most Overlooked Cause of Weight Gain (And How To Stop It FAST)

Inflammation is the root of your weight gain. And most people don't realize that the best way to fight inflammation isn't in a pill. It's actually on your plate. You see, the foods that you eat every day either fuel chronic disease and inflammation or help you heal. I'm Dr. Ashley and today I'm going to reveal the top anti inflammatory foods that you want to load your plate up with and the inflammatory foods that you really want to avoid. Plus, I'll show you how to build a diet that protects your heart, your brain and your metabolism. Now, I am a PhD nutritionist, I'm a registered dietitian and the owner and founder of PhD Weight Loss, where we have helped over 11,600 people drop about 466,000 pounds nationwide. And my goal with this channel is to give you the information you need to create positive change in your own life, to drop that weight once and for all and to keep it off. So let's dive in into the important topic of inflammation.

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So we all know pretty much that inflammation is the root of all disease. So when we talk about inflammation, we think, oh my gosh, this is terrible. My body's just going rogue. What the heck's happening? But really, I am of the belief, and I've shared this with you all before, that the body never makes a mistake. And it doesn't make mistake when it causes inflammation to mount in the body either. You know, inflammation is our body's personal security system. Inflammation is the body's natural response to an injury or an infection. When we have an immune reaction, for example, to say, a wound, a scratch, there's going to be an increase in blood flow, an increase in immune activity to help facilitate the healing of that scratch. Whenever there is an invasion by germs or an injury or an exposure to toxins. This system kicks in as your first line of defense. It's going to send out immune cells, it's going to send out substances to the troubled spot to neutralize the danger and start the healing process like it really is. Your body's way of protecting and healing itself. If you think about when you have scratched yourself, maybe, I don't know, you're cooking and you cut yourself with a knife. All of a sudden you feel this heat, the wound gets red, it starts to swell, you feel pain. This is all of your body protecting itself from the wound and the germs getting in. It's sequestering the germs. It's holding them in this special place. It's going to send in some macrophages in there, and it's going to help to heal. And it's pretty amazing. The body's healing process is amazing. So when we see these signs of acute inflammation, the redness, the warmth, the swelling, the pain, it's really good news. It means that your body's doing exactly what it needs to do. And the response is essential for healing minor wounds. But the problem is when our inflammatory system and our immune response gets out of whack, it starts to go haywire. And this acute inflammation becomes chronic. And it's the type of chronic inflammation that we do not want. It does not serve us. And that's what causes type 2 diabetes and cancer and weight gain and heart disease and all of these diseases that are popping up. Where you think, where the heck did that come from? It was from this acute inflammatory response that became chronic and led to these kind of quote unquote, chronic progressive diseases, which, by the way, we can so often turn around and reverse and put into remission. Like type 2 diabetes. We call it in conventional medicine a chronic progressive disease. But you do not have to have diabetes, and very, very likely you can put it into remission. You can reverse type 2 diabetes. You can at least significantly improve it if you can't fully put it into remission. So if we wanted to summarize it, basically, acute inflammation is protective, but when it comes into and becomes chronic inflammation, chronic inflammation is the silent driver of disease. That's what's linked to all these health conditions. Now, if you want to do a deep dive in the topic of inflammation with me, I have got an episode where I talk about this more in depth. And I also talk about how to avoid inflammation and what to do if you think that you've got it. So if that interests you and you are watching this on YouTube, just go into the description and click on the link to that video. If you're listening to this on a podcast platform, just come on over, go into the description and check out that video. A lot of people have enjoyed that one and got a lot of great information from it. Now the good news is that food and how you eat and your lifestyle is the most powerful tool that 2. Calm inflammation if you feel like you have no idea where to start or you have started and it's not making a difference, then you likely need a customized plan to help guide you along your journey. If this is you, you should check out PhD weight loss because this is exactly what we do. We will tell you exactly what, when and how much to eat throughout the day to reduce inflammation. I look at the goal to reduce inflammation and increase energy, and weight loss is just a really fun byproduct of that. So again, if you're listening to this on a podcast platform, go to my PhD weight loss.com to learn more. If you're viewing this and watching this on YouTube, just go into the description and click the link for my PhD weight loss and we'll tell you more about what we do and how we can help. Now, let's dive into the foods that cause inflammation. These are refined carbohydrates like white bread and brown whole wheat bread. Same difference. Pastries, crackers, pastas, all the things that you get in your bags and boxes. French fries and fried foods cause inflammation. The oils that they're fried in are oxidized, they're rancid, they get into the body and the body doesn't know what to do with it. It's just basically taking in inflammatory content and having to neutralize it somehow. And it doesn't do a great job doing that. Soda, sugary drinks, fruit juice, energy drinks. Even if they sound healthy, if they've got a lot of sugar in that, they're going to cause inflammation. Alcohol, unfortunately, causes a lot of inflammation. Now, I have done a deep dive on the important topic of alcohol. How it works in the body. If you really want to drink it, what types are best. So check out that video. I'll link it here in the description of the YouTube video. If you're listening to this on podcast, come on over. If you want to dive into the topic of alcohol, you want to avoid the seed oils. These bad fats like canola oil, safflower, sunflower, vegetable seed oil, margarine, shortening, trans fats, hydrogenated oils. Again, the body doesn't Quite know what to do with these and they can cause inflammation, not can they do cause inflammation. And then avoiding, if you can, chemicals and microplastics. So microplastics come in all varied forms, but primarily from drinking water in plastic bott. If we can avoid that, avoid cooking and heating things up in plastic, then you'll make huge changes inside the body. And then if you can focus on reducing the amount of chemicals, say in your household items, your dish detergent, your laundry detergent, the sprays that you use on your counters, your self care products like hairspray or shampoo or deodorant, these are all really important. And you can go to a website called oog.com, etc WG Environmental Working Group is what that stands for and put your product into the database and it will tell you, you know, how many chemicals are in that product and if it's a good product to utilize. There's also lifestyle factors that contribute to inflammation like chronic high stress without any kind of stress management techniques, poor sleep, obesity, specifically your visceral fat causes inflammation, the belly fat. The belly fat causes so much inflammation in the body that no anti anti inflammatories are going to touch it. And then lack of exercise or too much exercise is a big one for me. I have had inflammation in the body and I found that a big culprit was actually some root canals that were infected. So oral health is surprisingly so important when it comes to lowering and chronic inflammation. So if you've got root canals, even if they're not causing you issues, they can be inflamed in there and the body's chronically mounting a response to combat that. So if you think you've got root canals and that could be a culprit, go to your dentist and ask for a cone beam scan and it will look at your jawline and be able to determine if those root canals are causing you any issue. Okay, so then what foods are anti inflammatory foods that we want to eat every day? These would be high quality animal proteins coming from beef, chicken, fish, seafood, pork, turkey, all of these things are great for the body. We talked about healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil to use for cold use or really low temperature cooking, high heat cooking. Best fats to use would be avocado oil and tallow. And then I really like butter, but I usually use that just to make things taste good after I'm done cooking with it. If you tolerate greens and veggies, leafy greens like spinach, spinach and kale and collards can be good, but just because they're, you know, called a healthy food, they might not work for your body. So I just encourage you to really listen to how you feel after you eat these specific foods. Nuts like almonds and walnuts can be a good source of anti inflammatory foods. Fatty fish, I mentioned them already, but again, salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines are really good and rich in omega 3s fruits, but specifically berries, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, even some oranges are great for antioxidants. For beverages, coffee or tea, they've got good polyphenols, good antioxidants. Herbs and spices can be really helpful like turmeric or ginger, garlic, rosemary, oregano, cinnamon, and then focusing on the gut. Prebiotics like onion and leeks, garlic, raw beets and raw carrots are good prebiotics, meaning that these are the foods that the probiotic, the actual bacteria is going to feed off of. Now, if you can take a raw beet or raw carrot and shred it and put it on your salad, that can be a good source to get those in a good way to get those in. And then the probiotics, getting that from plain, full fat Greek yogurt, from kefir, sauerkraut, from fermented foods. Again, if your body tolerates those. All of these foods are high in antioxidants. They help to reduce inflammatory markers, they reduce heart disease and diabetes. We like fiber rich foods for most of us because it helps to stabilize blood sugar and hormones and helps to give the probiotics, those good bacteria, something to feed off of. So all important things to consider. In general, the best way to eat is more of a diet that is high quality protein, kind of like a paleo diet. And focusing on reducing inflammatory foods. Another inflammatory food I failed to mention earlier in the list is grains. For a lot of people, even if it's whole grains, it can cause some inflammation. So really focusing on your animal proteins, your healthy fats, your berries, if you like carbs and need carbs, I get them from sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash. So in summary, you guys, reducing inflammation is the key to achieving optimal health. Because the root of all disease comes from having this chronic inflammatory response happening in the body. And sometimes I get it personally, I've been there. It can be so tricky to figure it out. So if you have any questions or you feel stuck, please drop them in the comments here. If you're on YouTube, if you're on a podcast platform and you've got questions or you need help come on over and put it in the comments so that we can help you. All right, you guys, thank you so much for tuning in. If you're watching this on YouTube, please subscribe so you don't miss another video video. And if you're on a podcast platform, please leave a review. It really makes a difference. Remember, you have to step up to make the change. Lead with your heart, train your mind, and do not negotiate with your body. I'll see you next time.