18 Oct How Inflammation Is Causing Weight Gain
Wondering how inflammation is causing weight gain? Is that possible? But, inflammation is a word that’s thrown around a lot and you might be asking, “what does that MEAN?!”
Inflammation Causing Weight Gain
Inflammation is our body’s immune system reacting to what is going on in the body and it leads your white blood cells to where the inflammation is occurring to start the process of repairing and healing. Your white blood cells are producing different mediators that have different jobs. You might know some of these: histamine, cytokines, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, etc. An example is histamine, which causes your blood vessels to become larger in order for more blood to reach where it needs to in the tissues, hence redness with inflammation. They can also increase the fluid around the tissues, hence swelling in inflammation.
The big picture is that this process between the immune system + the injured body is to be short-lived and healing. We NEED this process 100%. But, what happens when our lifestyle promotes inflammation leading to low-grade chronic inflammation?
Lifestyle Factors Promoting Inflammation
- Diet {Processed Foods, Sugars, Food Sensitivities/Allergies} – Obviously, processed foods and sugars cause inflammation due to the high omega-6 oils {leading our omega 6 to omega 3 ratio to be imbalanced} and the extra sugars, which throw our blood sugar regulation out of wack leading to MORE weight gain and increased inflammation. Eating foods that your body is sensitive to can also lead to inflammation because it triggers an immune response and produce these inflammatory mediators.
- Stress – When you’re stressed out, cortisol triggers a release of sugar into the blood. (I mean, your body thinks you might be running from a tiger. It’s trying to give you that energy to run away, but most of the time, there is no tiger ya’ll!) That triggers insulin to be pushed out to take the sugar into the cells and store it into fat cells too!
- Environmental Toxins – From pesticides to hormones in our foods to BPA in our Tupperware, our environment is loaded with toxins that negatively affect our health. These are foreign to our body, so it can trigger those inflammatory mediators. These toxins not only trigger inflammation, but can also influence our natural hormone production through a couple of ways: 1. Mimicking our hormones 2. Binding to our hormone receptors.
All of these lifestyle factors inhibit our immune system from turning “off” and leave our immune system running rampant causing chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation leaves our hormones to be thrown off balance {everything from sex hormones, insulin sensitivity, thyroid, etc.}, which all drives our metabolism and how we lose weight.
Plus, that excess fluid that I mentioned earlier – which is where some of that “water weight” will come in. Inflammation will not only trigger insulin resistance (which leads to weight gain), but also leptin resistance. Leptin is our satiety hormone that is actually made in our fat cells- this hormone tells us when we’re full and we’ll stop eating. If you become resistant to leptin, you’ll continue to eat and never get that satiety warning.
As you can see, inflammation can easily become chronic if you are not focusing on your lifestyle foundations. Diet, sleep, stress, environment, exercise, etc. Inflammation is the root to many many chronic diseases, not just weight and metabolism.
If you’re ready to start an anti-inflammatory lifestyle and stop inflammation causing weight gain, book your free 15 minute phone call with me to see where I can help you start living your best life.
Until then, try this anti-inflammatory recipe – pecan crusted cajun salmon!
