Week 2
Extinguishing the Fire of Inflammation
This week we are furthering the "why" behind our food choices. We do this by maintaining a better understanding of inflammation, produce, & dietary fats. The Med Diet focuses on foods like healthy fats and well plants to help FIGHT inflammation.
Inflammation is when our body detects an intruder, and sets forth to remove it. Inflammation can be acute like an infection in a wound or chronic from that of conditions like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer to name a few. The Med Diet focuses on foods like healthy plants to help FIGHT inflammation.
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Eating fruits & vegetables enhances our intake of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber, water, & phytochemicals or phytonutrients which combat inflammation. This week we will also go into why not one vegetable or fruit is the "best" and why variety is key to reduce inflammation.
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Food Tip: Checking the food label is a great place to start. Note that 5% DV or less of saturated fat per serving is considered low. Also that 20% DV or more of saturated fat per serving is considered high.
Challenge yourself to eat the rainbow by utilizing our Eat the Rainbow Challenge Tracker below!
Fit Tip: Sitting is the new smoking as cumulative sitting is linked to increased risk of colon cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Take a moment to think about how much time you spend sitting. How can you stand more and sit less? Did you know that the USDA recommends at least 2 days per week of muscle-strengthening activity (resistance bands, weights, body weight movements, etc.) per week to prevent muscle atrophy as we age?
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