How to include anti-inflammatory foods in your diet – and reap the benefits

If you follow any wellness media (or simply open Instagram, for that matter) chances are you’ll have noticed that the anti-inflammatory diet is currently a massive part of the conversation.

Martinette Basson, a registered dietician in Stellenbosch, is seeing a definite uptick in clients asking about anti-inflammatory foods. “It makes sense if you think about it,” she says. “The modern diet consists of more and more processed foods and less ‘real’ food – something was bound to go wrong.”

Paige Moolman, a registered dietician in Durban, says she is definitely seeing an increase in people being diagnosed with auto-immune diseases, such as Hashimoto’s disease, for instance, where the immune system creates antibodies that attack the thyroid. “More people with auto-immune diseases are seeking dietary advice on how to manage or improve their conditions, which often include taking an anti-inflammatory approach.” This means that the focus would fall on adding more anti-inflammatory foods to your diet and limiting the consumption of inflammatory foods.

Shaved cauliflower salad recipe

Paige says that while there is not really a specific definition of what an anti-inflammatory diet entails, there are certain defining characteristics of this approach. They overlap significantly with the Mediterranean diet, as well as the gut-healthy focus of getting 30 plants into your diet per week.

But before we get to the guardrails of this approach, let’s cover the basics.

What is chronic inflammation (and why should you care?)

As opposed to acute inflammation (where the body responds immediately to an infection or injury), chronic low-grade inflammation occurs where the inflammation lingers – “where your body is constantly responding to perceived stressors”, explains Paige. Why is this a problem? Chronic inflammation is increasingly being linked to a host of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, type-2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, allergies and asthma, arthritis, anxiety and depression, and some skin conditions, according the experts at Harvard Medical School.

The good news is that the same studies are showing that following an anti-inflammatory diet can fight the effects of inflammation on the body.

So, what should you be eating (or not?)

The short answer is to limit these foods:

• Highly processed and packaged foods
• Takeaways such as fries and doughnuts (often deep-fried in so-called ‘bad oils’)
• Trans fats like those found in margarine
• Foods with added sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages
• White flour and refined grains/carbs (which are heavily processed)

Salsa verde

The long answer is slightly more complex. Paige says that she always starts by looking at what her clients can include in their diet, rather than focusing on what they need to exclude. “This is useful especially if someone is already on a limited diet – it becomes difficult to exclude even more things.” She also says that in modern society, it’s very difficult to completely cut out processed foods. She prefers to share some general guidelines on how to go about including more anti-inflammatory foods.

Her first port of call is to suggest that people focus on variety. “When you look at people’s diets, you sometimes see that they’re eating bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This means they’re missing out on a host of other nutrients. There are many other grains out there that provide good nutrition.”

Her next piece of advice is to “shop in the fresh section”. “This helps to cut out processed foods. Processed foods have fewer nutrients, and other things are added that aren’t beneficial for your health. I’m thinking in particular of processed meat.” The latter is a massive focus for dieticians. “They are high in saturated fats, high in sodium and nitrates are added as preservatives – all of these are negative for your health. And the amount of protein you get out of it is just not worth it,” exclaims Paige. Her general guideline is to avoid any type of meat or seafood that does not look like it came from an animal. “Nuggets are processed. And fish don’t come out of the sea in the form of fish fingers,” she teases.

Martinette agrees: “Processed food and processed meat really is the big one to focus on when it comes to inflammatory foods. This includes takeaways and any packaged foods.”

Finally, Paige tells her clients to “go for colour” when shopping for fruit and veg. “All that different coloured fruit and veg have different phytonutrients that are beneficial for the body. People often ask me, what’s the best fruit or veg to include and I simply say: ‘All of them’.”

Kombucha-beetroot and strawberry salad recipe

The anti-inflammatory workhorses

While variety is key, it’s true that some foods are real powerhouses in the anti-inflammatory area.

• In the veggie category, the superstars are the cruciferous veg (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) and “all those dark, leafy greens like kale”, says Martinette.
• In the fruit category, eating more berries is a great idea. “I know they’re expensive,” qualifies Paige. “But you could also use frozen berries.”
• In the protein category, Martinette says your best bet is oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines – “the ones with the good fats”. Another protein-rich food is the humble egg. “Eggs contain lots of vitamin D,” explains Martinette. And vitamin D has been proven to be have strong anti-inflammatory properties. “I would say almost every second client I see has a vitamin D deficiency,” she exclaims.
• In the oil category, your best bet is always going to be olive oil (a core part of the Mediterranean diet) because it’s loaded with antioxidants.

It should be noted that inflammation is also triggered by other factors such as stress and exposure to toxins like air pollution. This is why your diet plays such an important role, says Paige. “You can’t always control your external environment and what you’re exposed to – all those free radicals produced by the environment. But if you follow an anti-inflammatory diet, these foods can play an important role in blunting the body’s response to those factors.”

Martinette Basson is a clinical dietician from Stellenbosch, find her at dietitianstellenbosch.co.za
Paige Moolman is a registered dietician based in Durban, find her at paigemoolman.co.za