Dial Down Inflammation with These Easy Tips with JJ Virgin

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It's not about eating no sugar. It's about knowing which to choose and which to lose. Because after all, all carbohydrates except for fiber turn into sugar in the body. We know when we raise blood sugar, we're raising insulin, and insulin, when it's chronically staying up here creates inflamma.

Here's jj, virgin triple board certified nutrition and fitness expert and four time New York Times bestselling author. It's time to reignite wellness.

Hey, it's JJ and it's all me. Today we are going to be talking inflammation and how to dial it on down. This was a really popular blog post so I figured I'd riff on it as podcast. So before we dive into that, this is where I typically do a shout out to someone who's left a review over on itunes. But I've been doing so many podcasts lately that I've run through all of them. So that means I have a big ask if you would be so kind to rate and review the show. Leave that review while you're there. Of course subscribe and I would love to shout you out. Oh and make sure you leave your name. Write your name on in there. I'll shout you out. And thank you for leaving a review. It means a bunch to all of us on Team jj because it literally takes a village, of course, to produce this show. I'm sitting here lonely old me in my little podcast studio in my house and I now have a travel podcast studio because wow, three podcasts a week is not for the faint of heart. Not since I travel all the time. I was like, I've got to do something so I don't spend my entire at home when I am home podcasting. So I'm going to be doing it from the road too. And as you know, I often do it a lot on Instagram and Facebook depending on what's going on and what my background looks like. So it would be super helpful. Leave a review. The whole team gets to see it. It's like, we all got applause and I really appreciate it. Alrighty. Before we dive into inflammation and 10 ways you can dial it down, I want to share this with you. I'll be right back.

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Alrighty. Welcome back. Okay, so we're going to be talking about 10 ways that you can dial down inflammation. As usual, we'll be throwing in a bunch of cool stuff into the show Notes. I'll put that@jjvirgin.com dial, dial. And before we get into what you can do to reduce inflammation, first, I would love to talk about what exactly it is, because not all inflammation is bad inflammation. It's an important part of your immune system. But too much of it, right? You need to have some because that's. That's how your body seals off a wound as fast as possible and helps promote healing and prevent inflammation. Right? So you need some, you want your body to be able to launch that inflammatory response, launch that great immune response, but not overdo it. So in fact inflammation can get in the way of losing weight. Yikes. And cause weight loss resistance as long in addition to that, a lot of other stuff. So again, we want to be able to, to launch an immune response through inflammation, but we don't want that to hang out longer than it should. And, and if you've been around my community for a while, you know I talk a lot about food intolerance, those foods that can trigger an immune response and then create inflammation. Specific foods that I talk about my top seven in the virgin diet and quite often that's gluten and dairy and high sugar impact foods. That's why I wrote literally the book redefining the way we look at sugar so we know what to choose and which to lose. That's the high sugar impact diet. So what's the deal with inflammation? What's the issue with it? So it can cause, exacerbate, play a role in a whole host of stuff. Fibromyalgia, acne, insulin resistance, weight loss resistance, diabetes, arthritis, gas and bloating, type 2 diabetes and a whole bunch more. And a lot of it, a lot of it, which this is super cool because it's going to be easy to fix, right. A lot of it is coming from your diet. So let's fix that, shall we? So I'm going to dive in, we're going to talk about 10 tips to reduce inflammation. And yes, they're not all going to be diet though like spoiler alert. Most of them are with the very first one is making an oil change. Make an oil change. Now another one is eating more fat. So we're going to put these two together right now. So these are going to be one and two. So first thing I'm going to say is eat more fat. And second thing I'm going to say is make an oil change. So one of the most amazing things that you can do to start to lower inflammation is to eat more anti inflammatory fats. You probably heard that the standard American diets very high in pro inflammatory fats. Very different than our ancestors who used to eat a lot more omega threes and a lot less omega sixes. And obviously they didn't eat any processed fats. They wouldn't have gotten, you know, damaged and oxidized size fats because they wouldn't have had the big manufacturing plants doing those things to our fats. So what we want to do, plus They a lot, they ate a higher fat, higher clean fat diet. So we want to look at first of all eating good, high quality fat, right? And depending on your genetic makeup, that's probably going to be somewhere 30 plus percent of calories, 40 plus percent of calories per day, depending on what's going on with you, it might be 40% all the way up to 70% or 80%. But for the average person it's probably more around 40%, 50% calories from fat. So where they come from obviously matters a heck of a lot. First of all, you're going to get fat in the animal protein you eat, if you eat animal protein and you are what you eat ate, right? So it's super important to make sure that you're eating animal protein and fish protein that's clean. And so for fish that means wild fish, wild cold fish because it's going to be fatty. And then one cool thing about wild cold fish, I'll bring up salmon and it's pretty pink color. And you know, if you've seen that farmed salmon, it's gray. Ew, weird. When you look at wild salmon, it's that beautiful pink and that beautiful pink is astaxanthin. And that is a fantastic antioxidant that also not only protects those omega threes in the fish, but also helps lower inflammation as well. Double whammy. And then beyond that, we also want to look at game and you know, wild meats, grass fed and grass finished pastured animals that are eating their indigenous food. Because if you're eating factory farmed animals that are being fed GMO corn and soy that's got more pro inflammatory fats, guess what you're getting? You guessed it. But when you're eating these wild pastured fish and meats, you're getting way more Omega 3s. And that's what we want to see more of here. We want to tip the scales back to where they used to be, which is a more omega 3s here. So generally our diet nowadays is 16 to one pro inflammatory to, to anti inflammatory. We want it to be about more like four to one. That's what we used to do. All right, so then we're going to look at making that oil change. So one of the things is these processed oils, these vegetable oils can be super inflammatory. And also a lot of them sitting on the shelves in those plastic bottles that are leaching the crap from the plastic into the oil because oil absorbs stuff and it's exposed to light so it's oxidizing. Is just a problem. So we want to really look at getting high quality oils that are cold pressed and as clean as possible. So I'm going to look at things like avocad oil, extra virgin olive oil, walnut oil, sesame oil, coconut oil and ghee as some of my favorite oils out there. Now, depending on what you're using it for, some of these things are better for cooking, some of them are better for sauteing, some of them are better not to heat. So we'll put a chart of what you should use, where and when in the show notes. And again, the show notes will be at jjvirgin.com/forward/diald I A L for dial down your inflammation.

There you go.

Okay, so we covered 1 and 2. Make an oil change and eat more of the right types of fat. Number three, you probably knew I was going to say this one. Make a breakfast protein shake. So I love to start the day with the smoothie because it's a great way to load up on some super clean anti inflammatory foods. So things like unsweetened coconut milk, freshly ground flaxseeds or chia seeds which are rich in omega 3s, as you know, avocado, which not only has some monounsaturated fats, it also is rich in fiber. And then frozen berries which give you a load, load, load of fiber and deep green leafies, which have great antioxidants that can help lower inflammation as well. So super important to really look at how you have the trifecta there as well. So we've got some fiber, some healthy fats, some antioxidants, but, but basically we've got healthy fats, protein and fiber that keep blood sugar control going. You'll see why this is important in a moment. But also I've loaded that with antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and healthy fats that help reduce inflammation. Alrighty, next one, Go low sugar impact. Now, of course, this all comes from my book, JJ Virgin's Sugar Impact Diet where I really talk about a different way to look at sugar. And it's not about eating no sugar, it's about knowing which to choose and which to lose. Because after all, all carbohydrates except for fiber turn into sugar in the body. We really want to make sure, though slowly from the foods we eat, not mainline it. So some of these super starchy foods and sweet foods can raise blood sugar. And we know when we raise blood sugar, we're raising insulin. And insulin, when it's chronically staying up here creates inflammat so that's one of the big key reasons you do not want to be doing this. But the other part of this is you don't want to go, okay, I'm just going to quit it all right now, because that just sets you up for failure and I want to set you up for success. So one of the things that we do in the sugar impact diet and on the breakthrough carbon tolerance program online is we first have you identify where the sugar is sneaking in to your diet through the Sneaky Sugar inventory, and then also the impact it's having on your body through a sugar impact quiz. Then you taper, you trade high sugar impact foods for medium sugar impact foods, and you do that for a week or two while you're eating by the trifecta of protein, fat and fiber to balance your blood sugar. Then when you've got that dialed, then you go down to low sugar impact. Then at the end of doing that for two weeks, you go through a discovery process to really identify how you feel in different types of eating, different types of sugar impact, like a low sugar impact diet versus a medium sugar impact diet, which works best for you. And that's really important. I'm very keen on us all being our own personal health detectives. Right. And, and going through different diets to figure out to discover what works for you and what doesn't. So you can pull this into your regular eating plan. All right, let's talk genetically modified organisms. Say no to GMOs. How do you like that? Say no to GMO'. Why? Well, because genetically modified organisms disrupt the natural gut flora and can then be a source of inflammation. So we're going to go organic and more importantly, look for that non GMO label. So our friends over there at Whole Foods have made a commitment to not have GMOs. Other cool thing that you can do is to support your local farmers. We should be eating seasonal, local and organic, right? That then gets us into natural food rotation and we're going to get more nutrients free foods that haven't traveled long distances to be near to be over to us. So make friends with those local farmers and support them and see if you can become part of a collective where you all share the wealth of the diverse crops in your area. All right, next one. And this relates to the Virgin diet, and this is that you want to address your hidden food intolerances. And what I discovered and why I wrote the Virgin Diet is I was working in doctor's offices helping them administer food sensitivity testing, and people would walk in complaining about joint pain and headaches and fatigue and brain fog and gas and bloating and inability to lose weight, cravings and all these things, none of them positive. We would do food sensitivity testing, and lo and behold, I started to notice that was the same foods showing up over and over and over. Now, gluten was a different type of test, and I found that showed up about 40% of the time. But the reason gluten was an issue is gluten can create food intolerances because it can create gut permeability or leaky gut. So what I did was, after testing and looking at lots of tests over a year plus, I started just pulling out the most common culprits, which are dairy and eggs, soy, corn and peanuts, gluten, and then, of course, sugar and artificial sweeteners, because they really mess up your gut microbiome, and they can also make your small intestine more permeable. So this is a quickie way. We found that the average person was losing up to seven pounds in the first week. And a lot of that is because they're. They're losing the inflammation. And not only are they losing that weight quickly, the better thing is they're losing a lot of those symptoms. In fact, I had one person I'm thinking about now who had chronic tendinitis, had been going to a PT physical therapist for a year. No real relief. One week off gluten, no more ankle tendonitis. I mean, that is just crazy. I was shocked by that one. And again, I must say here, all right, the attorneys will be happy results. Not typical, but these are the types of things that we do here in the community. All sorts of different stories like this, of people reducing pain and inflammation by figuring out their hidden food intolerances. And you may or may not be reacting to all those foods, but I'm willing to bet that you're probably reacting to a couple of them. And you go through, again, that discovery process to figure out which foods work for you and which foods don't, so you can personalize your eating plan to work for you for the long haul. Okay. Of course, I have to say sleep. Of course. Of course, of course. In fact, if I had to pick just one thing overall for your health, you know, it's sleep. And, you know, you hear the recommendations of getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, but really, you want to get the right amount of sleep for you. And it's not just quantity. It's really important to track quality. This is where the sleep trackers, what you measure, of course you can improve are really important because they can help you not just see how many hours of sleep, but also the quality of that sleep. And then you can look at ways you can improve it. One of the ways is my product Sleep Candy. I take that every night. CBD is another one and we'll link to how to get CBD as well. So those are two of the things that of course can improve it. I've done will link to my sleep podcast sleep blogs in the show notes@jjvirgin.com forward/dial because I have done loads and loads and loads on sleep because it is to me one of the single most important things. Now why how does sleep what's sleep got to do with inflammation? I am so glad you asked because poor sleep raises stress hormones. When you raise stress hormones, it fuels inflammation. And speaking about stress, number nine, you really want to figure out what you need to do to manage your stress. And here's the thing, like one person's stress management is another person's nightmare. Like you might say, okay, I've heard yoga is great for stress management, but I don't like yoga. Well, that would not be good for you. So what you want to find is first of all, look at how you can reduce sources of stress in your life. There might be some you can just get rid of, but quite often you can't get rid of them. It might be, say, your mother in law. Now you might be able to minimize exposure, but you're still not, you're still going to have a mother in law. So whatever it is, a boss, a mother in law, you know, a financial situation, a lot of this is really how you respond to it. Of course, it's your perception. So a lot of things that you can do to reduce stress will link to you to meditation with my girlfriend Emily Fletcher, and tapping with my buddy Nick Ortner. And then of course we'll list in the blog, our blog with stress techniques. In it. I find hot bath, Epsom salts bath and time with my, my little dog Daisy. Like just works like a charm. Works every single time. It's kind of hard to be stressed out when you've got this like ridiculously cute little dog. And I know my dog is kind of the cutest dog, yours is probably second cutest. But it really is hard to be stressed when you got a dog like wanting to get its belly rubbed. Pretty darn cute. All right. And finally, number 10, take some anti inflammatory supplements. I'm going to list out two of my super favorites to Me, these are like nature anti inflammatory is nature's advil. And the first one of course is omega threes and specifically fish oil because you really want the EPN DHA that you will not get from flax and chia because it just takes too much to elongate from ALA all the way to EPN dha. So I am a big proponent of fish oil. Now if you were eating clean, wild fatty fish four to five times a week, hey, cool. Fantastic. A plus you may not need to take fish oil, especially if you've got a super clean diet. You're not eating a lot of pro inflammatory fats but I'm going to assume that's not the case. And so omega threes are really important thing to add to your diet. I have one. I have made myself omega ultra which has lipase in it, a fat digestive enzyme to help you digest the absorb it better, as well as some antioxidants to protect it from from getting oxidized. So that's one thing to look at. And I would look at taking 2 grams of fish oil a day as a starting dose. All right, so that's one and then the second one is curcumin. Now curcuminoids are the active ingredients in turmeric that make it look orange. In fact, like I did a bunch of stuff with curcumin yesterday, turmeric yesterday. And now I've got pink or yellow fingernails, which was a little irritating. However, it reminds you of the power of this nutri and it's been used for thousands of years to help reduce inflammation. I take a product called curcumin chews that we make because they taste like candy and they don't have any sugar. Yum. And it's like a delicious way I get my hundred milligrams a day. And curcumin, you're going to want to take about 100 to 300 milligrams a day. But those are two amazing things that you can do. Fish oil and curcumin to help lower your inflammation. All right, time for a short break and then I will be back to wrap this up and put a bow on it. So stay with me.

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You to suspicious texts, emails, and deep fake videos. Learn more@mcafee.com online protection. All right, so welcome back. Just a little reminder. Dialing down your inflammation is super important when it comes to not only, like, feeling better, but losing weight and just being healthy in general. And when you lower inflammation, you can really impact a lot of different health concerns in just one, you know, one hit. So super cool. I gave you a lot of tips to reduce inflammation and most of them dietary. Here's my big, big recommendation. Please do not get overwhelmed. Because when we get overwhelmed, we don't do anything, right? So what I want you to do instead with this information is go. Okay, okay. Just heard these 10 things. I'm getting my show notes@jjvirgin.com dial D I a L and I'm going to find the one that, that I'm not doing right now and I'm going to do that one and check them off. Because I'm betting you of those 10, you're probably doing five or six of them. So let's look at the other ones and just start with one of those. Pick one. Get out your diet journal, because every day you should be journaling and just start there. Once that thing becomes a hat habit, then you can add the next one in. And really, when you think about it, these little hinges are what swing the big doors. You can make a massive shift in your health by just making those little 1% shifts over time. Because we change over time, not overnight. Okie dokie. I will see you next time. Hey, I want to be able to shout you out at the beginning of the podcast. So pretty please go on over to itunes, rate and review the show. Be sure to put your name on in there and I look forward to shouting you out on the next one. Bye.

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