What’s the difference between Acute and Chronic Inflammation?

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury or stress. We’re all familiar with the swelling associated with inflammation like when we sprain an ankle, cut ourselves or get an infection. This acute inflammation is a normal immune system response, a natural and necessary part of the healing process. Normally these symptoms subside after a few days, once the immune system has done it’s job to heal the injured area.

On the other hand chronic inflammation occurs when this normal process goes wrong and starts to target even healthy tissue. Progressive doctors accept that chronic inflammation plays a key role in aging and in many ailments including arthritis, heart disease, bone health and allergies.

Chronic inflammation is generally the result of an immune system imbalance. What I’ve seen in my practice is that decreasing inflammation and restoring balance is absolutely essential for long-term health and will likely help ease many of the problems you may be experiencing.

What causes Chronic Inflammation?

Chronic inflammation is usually caused by a combination of factors. There are often underlying nutritional deficiencies or imbalances, which have taken years to develop. Then there’s a trigger, which precipitates an inflammation -some type of injury to the body, or an infection or stress to the body.

The following are the factors that predispose one to chronic inflammation

1. Poor diet (probably the most important)
2. Nutritional deficiencies or imbalances
3. Vitamin D deficiency
4. Gastro-intestinal imbalances
5. Toxicity
6. Hormonal imbalances
7. Excess fat (especially around midsection)
8. Aging
9. Lack of sleep
10. Stress
11. Chronic low-grade infections (e.g. yeast or parasites)

What diseases are associated with Chronic Inflammation?

1. Arthritis (Osteo and Rheumatoid)
2. Auto-immune diseases (e.g. Lupus)
3. Allergies
4. Asthma
5. Chronic soft tissue injuries (e.g.Tendonitis, Bursitis, etc.)
6. Heart disease, Hypertension, Stroke
7. Obesity
8. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Irritable Bowel Syndrome
9. Some cancers
10. Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s
11. Diabetes
12. Psoriasis, Eczema, Acne
13. Fibromyalgia
14. Aging skin, wrinkles
15. Osteoporosis
16. Gingivitis, Periodontitis
17. Multiple Sclerosis

Turmeric, that pungent, bitter spice usually incorporated in curry powders giving it that deep yellow color, offers many health benefits.

In the Ayurvedic medicine tradition, Turmeric is regarded as a “cleanser of the body”. The root and powder are used in drinks, ointments and poultices to treat sore throats, indigestion, sprains, inflammation and wounds. Traditional Ayurvedics believe that it’s a powerful antibiotic, strengthens digestion and helps improve intestinal flora.

Despite this long tradition in Asia, it was not until the early 1070’s that laboratory researchers discovered the inflammation-fighting compounds prevalent in curcumin (the active ingredient in Turmeric).

One of the easiest ways to incorporate this beneficial spice into your diet is to use to eat it, so cook yourself a batch of delicious vegetable curry, or alternatively take it in supplement form.

Vegetable Curry (serves 4)

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon salt
½ butternut squash, peeled and cut into small cubes
¾ cup water
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
½ head cauliflower, cut into small florets
¾ cup frozen organic peas
½ teaspoon garam masala
Cilantro (optional)

1. Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions are soft and opaque.

2. Add the spices and salt and sauté a few minutes, until you can smell the aroma of the spices.

3. Stir the spices from the bottom of the pot occasionally.

4. Add the butternut squash and sauté about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water to prevent sticking.

5. Add sweet potato and sauté about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Add the rest of the water and scrape all the spices up from the bottom of the pot.

7. Add cauliflower and peas on top of the butternut and sweet potato, do not stir.

8. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 – 15 minutes.

9. Just before serving, add garam masala and stir through.

10. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Here is Baaba Maal, one of my favorite artists, playing one of my favorite songs at the Goldman Environmental Awards ceremony. As I feel so often when I see him perform or just listening to his music, he has a way of transporting you.

“Shed the past, forget the future and fall into the moment feet first”

Why do we dance? We dance because it’s the fastest, most direct route to the truth — not some big truth that belongs to everybody, but the get down and personal kind, the what’s-happening-in-me- right-now kind of truth. This is not always easy for us to access — we have to navigate some very deep past, as well as the probable futures we drum up to feed the fear that drives us round the same circles, day in and day out. We dance to hook up to the true genius lurking behind all that bullshit — to seek refuge in our originality and our power to reinvent ourselves; to shed the past, forget the future and fall into the moment feet first. You remember being fifteen, possessed by the beat, by the thrill of music pumping loud enough to drown out everything you’d ever known. Of course you do.

We dance to reclaim our brilliant ability to disappear in something bigger, something safe, a space without a critic or a judge or an analyst. The beat is a lover that never disappoints and, like all lovers, it demands 100% surrender. It has the power to seduce moves we couldn’t dream. It grabs us by the belly, turns us inside out and leaves us abruptly begging for more. The beat is bad, wicked, sick –whatever the word is now.

“Dance to fall in love with the spirit in all things”

We dance to fall in love with the spirit in all things, to wipe out memory or transform it into moves that nobody else can make because they didn’t live it. It’s a sacred thing, the beat. We love beats that move faster than we can think, beats that drive us ever deeper inside, that rock our worlds, break down walls and make us sweat our prayers.

We dance to survive and the beat offers a yellow brick road to make it through the chaos that is the tempo of our times. Chaos is the way of the mind when it is free-styling , winging its way back to an instinctive, intuitive intelligence, the kind we need to survive — not only the real shit going down, but the massive amount of stuff we insist on making up to insure our suffering. God provides, and god don’t need no help. God is the dance and the dance is the way to freedom and freedom is our holy work.

So get down and find out what your hands, your shoulders, your elbows, knees and, most importantly, your hips and feet have to say about it. There is a dance only you can do, that exists only in you, here and now, always changing, always true. Are you willing to listen with fascination? If you are, it will deliver you unto the self you have always dreamed you could be. This is a promise.

Gabrielle Roth
Manhattan on a hot muggy day in July
www.gabrielleroth.com

A simple at home detoxifier

Being a typical busy New Yorker/single mom I was on a search to come up with easier and better ways to take care of myself. I was chatting about not having enough time to do this with Susan Shields, one of the massage therapists that work for me. She suggested I try dry skin brushing at home and I decided to give it a try and bought a brush that day.

It is quite simply just what it sounds like, before my shower each day I took a soft brush and brushed the dead skin off always using motions toward the heart. It only took 5 minutes and not only did my skin and even my cellulite looked better, I began to notice that I had much more energy. I got so excited about it as part of my daily ritual that I decided to add it to our massage menu and I wanted to share it. Dry skin brushing is an easy and effective way to help the natural detox process of the body and better yet it can be done at home with just the expense of a simple soft natural brush.

The skin is the body’s largest organ and is often called “the third kidney” because of its importance in the body’s process of detoxification and it is responsible for 10-15% of body elimination. Daily your body regenerates new skin cells leaving many of the dead ones still on the body. The brushing of the skin helps the skin regenerate more efficiently allowing the load on the kidney and liver to lessen. It also aids in blood circulation and has a profound cleansing effect on the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is an important filtration system for the body and helps to push toxins through and out of your body.

We all have the extra 5 minutes and here’s the simple how to:

1. Purchase a natural fiber body brush, long handled ones are even better for harder to reach areas.
2. Brush the skin from your hands up your arms several times, covering all areas.
3. Then stroke the brush from your feet to the top of your legs in the same way.
4. Use circular counter-clockwise strokes on the abdomen and your armpits. Then repeat these areas with counterclockwise motion.
5. Brush the chest/breasts and sensitive areas lightly.
6. Brush upwards on the back and down from the neck.
7. You can also brush in a circular motion on the palms of your hands and soles of your feet.

You can follow with a shower or bath and enjoy the benefits!