Since I was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease in January 2017, I’ve been on a journey to not only get my disease under control, but hopefully to get it in remission. There is no cure for Graves’ Disease, but fortunately my symptoms can be managed with medication. I continue to improve but the only way to get it in remission is to manage the underlying problem: chronic inflammation. Since remission is my goal, I’ve started following an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle.  Here’s what I’ve learned that is important to understand, whether you have a chronic inflammation or autoimmune condition problem or not. If you are over 50, following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can be like the “Fountain of Youth”. It’s the right choice for long term health.

Chronic Inflammation is Poison

Our bodies are constantly bombarded by toxins, poison and dangerous triggers in the environment. These include by bacteria, viruses, chemicals, toxins, and a variety of other harmful catalysts. The body protects itself from these harmful substances through our immune response. Our immune system acts like the security system and triggers a healthy inflammation. Anytime there is a potential threat, our inflammatory response is triggered which involves a variety of biochemical reactions that help fight off infections and remove toxins, and increase blood flow to wounds or tissues that need healing, and also generate pain to signal that something is wrong in the body.

Types of Inflammatory Responses

There are two types of inflammatory responses to protect the body:

Acute inflammation- is an immediate response to some type of physical trauma, be it an injury, infection or disease. Acute inflammation aids in the body’s healing and recovery.

Chronic inflammation- occurs when the body is continuously protecting itself by secreting pro-inflammatory chemicals. With too much of the pro-inflammatory chemicals circulating in the blood, chronic inflammation becomes a poison. Rather than protect the body, chronic inflammation can turn into a disease that attacks and destroys the healthy cells in arteries, joints, organs, or many other areas of the body.

Chronic Inflammation Symptoms

Chronic inflammation can generate a variety of symptoms that may not immediately be obvious but can worsen over time. Common symptoms of chronic inflammation include:

• Chronic stiffness
• Recurrent body aches and pains
• Persistent swelling
• Loss of joint function
• Recurrent diarrhea
• Persistent indigestion
• Persistent upper respiratory congestion
• Sporadic infections
• Major skin outbreaks

Chronic Inflammation Associated with Chronic Disease

Chronic inflammation can become a slow and potentially fatal toxin in the body if not properly managed. It has been studied extensively and is associated with a wide range of autoimmune diseases (including autoimmune diseases) such as:

•  Allergies
• Asthma
• Chronic obstructive lung diseases
• Congestive heart failure and other heart diseases
• Anemia
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cancer
• Obesity
• Diabetes mellitus
• Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic kidney disease and kidney failure
• Systemic Lupus Erythematosis
• Psoriasis
• Chronic pain syndromes
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s and Graves’).

Associated Risk Factors

Age, diet, lifestyle, and disturbed sleep are the primary drivers associated with the disorder. Age correlates directly with elevated levels of the inflammatory molecules. The older we get, the more pro-inflammatory substances increase in the body. Diets rich in fats and refined sugars increase the risk of inflammation. Similarly, those who are obese have a higher risk of chronic inflammation. Smoking and stress lower our anti-inflammatory molecule production, thus increasing the chances of chronic inflammation.

Traditional Treatments

There are several types of treatments available including:

• Prescription medication

For many years, physicians prescribed corticosteroids which suppress the immune response, thus suppressing inflammation. While this is still an effective option, these medications come with serious side effects. It is important to carefully consult with your doctor before using any prescription medication to treat inflammation.

• Non-Prescription medication

There are over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications that alleviate pain. These include Aspirin, Ibuprofen, and Naproxen. However, it is not advisable to take these medications long-term, and in high doses, due to the associated side-effects (particularly kidney damage and GI bleeding).

• Supplements

Turmeric and herbs found in the ginger family hold strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Lead an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle to Manage Chronic Inflammation

If you lead an anti-inflammatory lifestyle to manage chronic inflammation , it can help control autoimmune disease or promote its remission. However, it is essential to keep inflammatory triggers under control over the long term to ensure optimal health and chronic disease management.

Using the ancient Ayurvedic medicine approach, which focuses on a healthy mind, body, heart, and spirit, you can quickly and easily start leading an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. The following is a list of the most effective anti-inflammatory lifestyle choices I’ve started following:

Implement an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Start by increasing the intake of the following anti-inflammatory foods:

• Brightly colored and fibrous vegetables and fruits
• Dark green vegetables
• Fatty fish and foods high in omega-3 fatty acids
• Natural, non-processed foods
• Whole grains and fibrous vegetables

Start by decreasing the intake of the following pro-inflammatory foods and ingredients:

• Simple sugars
• Refined carbohydrates
• High glycemic foods
• Foods with transfers and hydrogenated oils
• Foods with artificial colors and flavors
• Artificial sweeteners

Exercise Regularly

In addition to the other benefits of regular exercise, it will help you maintain an optimal weight and reduce adipose tissue which in excess is a risk factor for inflammation in the body.

Decrease Stress

Although it is easier said than done, focus on lowering psychological and physiological stress to decrease inflammation. Stress is one of the primary triggers of inflammation in the body and is critical to manage.

Don’t Touch Cigarettes

Smoking cigarettes induces inflammation in the body and can cause so very many serious life-threatening health problems.

Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle Frees You from Debilitating Inflammation

Maintaining a normal level of inflammation response in your body comes down to common sense: eat healthily, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and try to keep your stress levels to a minimum. Always make anti-inflammatory lifestyle choices to prevent a small inflammation fire from getting out of control! An active lifestyle fueled by fresh, anti-inflammatory foods can set you up for freedom from debilitating inflammation. And what is most important is that you feel happy and empowered and motivated to keep it up so you can stay healthy and live well with zest!

Try some or many of these anti-inflammatory lifestyle tips and see what works best for you! You may feel like you’ve discovered “The Fountain of Youth”!

Cheers and Live Well with Zest!

Bev

xo

Written by Bev Hope

Reviewed by Board Certified MD

The post Why I Switched to an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle appeared first on Well with Zest.

Graves’ Disease is one of those hidden diseases. Which means that all the information found in scientific articles still doesn’t convey what is really going on inside the person who has it. In fact, Graves’ Disease is so hidden it’s hard for even the experts to diagnose it. Even worse is that empathy from friends and family is illusive because the disease is so invisible to everybody. Therefore, how do people with Graves’ Disease ever feel understood?  That’s the problem. Unfortunately, and sadly, it’s not so easy.

Walk Around in My Skin

I’ve been marketing healthcare products to patients and doctors for over 25 years. My holy grail has always been to understand my patients as if I were the patient myself. My mission has always started with this powerful quote: “The only way you ever understand a person is to climb in their skin and walk around in it” from Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”.

Power of Letters in Building Empathy

So, if you really want to understand someone, how do climb in their skin? One easy way is to start a simple technique like writing letters. Have you ever received a letter from your disease telling you what it’s doing to your body? Ironically, I received this letter after I was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease. The bugger knew that I knew and decided to announce itself. Graves’ disease jumped out of my computer as soon as I started searching around in Google. It was too creepy. It felt like it was in my mind and in my skin!

After over 25 years in marketing, I know the power of letters in building understanding and empathy. So, I’d like to share this letter I received from Graves’ Disease when I was first diagnosed.  Read on. Climb in my skin and walk around in it if you want to have an inkling about what Graves’ Disease is really like.

“A Letter to Me from Graves’ Disease”

• Hi. My name is Graves, and I’m an invisible autoimmune chronic disease that attacks your thyroid gland.
• I am now Velcro…ed to you for life.
• Others around you can’t see me or hear me, but YOUR body feels me.
• I can attack you anywhere and anyhow I please.
• I can cause severe pain or, if I’m in a good mood, I can just cause you to ache all over.
• Remember when you and energy ran around together and had fun?
• I took energy from you and gave you exhaustion. Try to have fun now!
• Love sleep? I can take good sleep from you and in its place, give you brain fog and lack of concentration.
• Want sleep? I can make you want to sleep 24/7, and I can also cause insomnia.
• I can make you tremble internally or make you feel cold or hot when everyone else feels normal.
• Feeling puffy? I can also give you swollen hands and feet, swollen face and eyelids, swollen everything!
• Oh, yeah, I can make you feel very anxious or very depressed, too. I can also cause other mental health problems.
• Those clumps of hair? That’s me! I can make your hair fall out, become dry and brittle, cause acne, cause dry skin, the sky is the limit with me!
• Frustrated with your scale? Me again. I can make you gain weight and no matter what you eat or how much you exercise. Trying to lose weight but scale won’t budge? That’s me again keeping that weight on you. But I can also make you lose weight. I don’t discriminate.
• Some of my other autoimmune disease friends often join me, giving you even more to deal with.
• If you have something planned, or are looking forward to a great day, I can take that away from you. You didn’t ask for me. I chose you for various reasons:
• That virus or viruses you had that you never really recovered from, or that car accident, or maybe it was the years of abuse and trauma (I thrive on stress.) Maybe you have a family history of me. Whatever the cause, I’m here to stay.
• I hear you’re going to see a doctor to try and get rid of me. That makes me laugh! Just try. You will have to go to many, many doctors until you find one who can help you effectively.
• You will be put on the wrong thyroid meds for you, pain pills, sleeping pills, energy pills, told you are suffering from anxiety or depression, given anti-anxiety pills and antidepressants.
• There are so many other ways I can make you sick and miserable, the list is endless – that high cholesterol, gall bladder issue, blood pressure issue, blood sugar issue, heart issue among others? That’s probably me.
• Can’t get pregnant, or have had a miscarriage?
• That’s probably me too.
• Teeth and gum problems? TMJ? I told you the list was endless.
• You may be given a TENs unit, get massaged, told if you just sleep and exercise properly, I will go away.
• You’ll be told to think positively, you’ll be poked, prodded, and MOST OF ALL, not taken seriously when you try to explain to the doctor how debilitating I am and how sick you really feel. In all probability you will get a referral from the ‘understanding’ (clueless) doctor, to see a psychiatrist.
• Your family, friends and co-workers will all listen to you until they just get tired of hearing about how I make you feel, and just how debilitating I can be.
• Some of them will say things like “Oh, you are just having a bad day” or “Well, remember, you can’t do the things you use to do 20 YEARS ago”, not hearing that you said 20 DAYS ago.
• Some will start talking behind your back, they’ll call you a hypochondriac, while you slowly feel that you are losing your dignity trying to make them understand, especially when you are in the middle of a conversation with a “normal” person and can’t remember what you were going to say next. You’ll be told things like, “Oh, my grandmother had that, and she’s fine on her thyroid pill” when you desperately want to explain that I don’t impose myself upon everyone in the exact same way, and just because that grandmother is fine on the medication SHE’S taking, doesn’t mean it will work for you.
• I’ve been trying to keep this next part quiet, but since you’re reading this you already know.
• The only place you will get the kind of support and understanding in dealing with me, is with other people that have me. They are really the only ones who can truly understand.

I Am Graves’ Disease.

(author unknown)

Try Writing a “Dear Graves’ Disease” Goodbye Letter

After reading this letter, I hope you’ll write your own letter to Graves’ Disease telling it to move out! Tell Graves’ Disease about all the help you are getting from other people with Graves’ Disease who truly understand you. Tell it you’ll use every proven Life Hack you’ve learned to put Graves’ Disease in its place: In Remission. Remember the power of letters. Keep writing. It will help.

Live Well with Zest,

Bev xo

Written by Bev Hope

The post My “Dear Graves’ Disease” Goodbye Letter appeared first on Well with Zest.

Our bones are our body’s framework and much more. Made of up calcium, they manufacture and store our blood cells and bone marrow.  Bone density is important because our systems and organs in our body rely on what they produce. But unfortunately, by the time we are about 30, we’ve reached our peak bone mass.  This means that building strong bones when you’re young is essential. And maintaining your bone strength as you get older is doubly important!

Bone Loss Impacts Over Half of Americans Older than 50

Keeping healthy bones may seem like a tall order when you look at the statistics. About 54 million Americans (about half of Americans older than 50) have osteopenia, and another 10 million Americans have osteoporosis. These are the two conditions related to a loss of bone mineral density (osteoporosis is more severe). Recently I joined the 50% of Americans over 50 who have osteopenia.  So now I am taking steps to keep my osteopenia from progressing to osteoporosis because I know how important bone density is to overall wellness.

To reduce risk of developing chronic health conditions and protecting against bone fractures, check out the following research-based bone health tips for building strong bones. Having hyperthyroidism, I am at greater risk of developing osteoporosis. But smart lifestyle choices can manage osteopenia, prevent osteoporosis and make bones stronger!

5 Ways to Make Bones Stronger

1. Fill your diet with bone health foods.

Bone health foods need to be a part of every person’s daily diet. These include dark green leafy vegetables, healthy protein from foods like chicken, fish, and eggs, and high quality fats from foods like nuts, seeds, and olive oil. Make sure you’re eating enough to support exercise and avoid pro-inflammatory food like processed foods and refined carbohydrates.

P.S. It’s not just the calcium you need! Other minerals, including magnesium and zinc, and also Vitamin D, are just as important, if not more so, for building strong bones. It’s important to get these nutrients in your food or in high-quality supplements.

2. Get moving.

Studies show that performing weight-bearing exercises like walking and lifting weights helps prevent bone loss when you’re older and may actually make bones stronger and larger during bone growth. So, get yourself moving and have fun doing it with friends, family, colleagues. The key is to stay active.

3. Maintain a healthy weight.

Being underweight or overweight can impair bone quality and increase your risk of fractures. And yo-yo dieting isn’t doing you any good, either—repeatedly losing and regaining weight, or losing a lot of weight too quickly (can we say crash diet?!) is not good for bone health (nor mental health).

4. Choose the right dairy.

The media has told us for years that milk “does a body good” and that dairy is one of the best foods to fight osteoporosis. But mixed research data reveals that dairy products actually do not increase bone calcium and bone density.

For example, countries with the lowest rates of dairy and calcium consumption also have the lowest rates of osteoporosis and hip fractures. Plus research published in the British Medical Journal  in 2014 revealed that high milk intake actually increased risk of bone fractures and mortality!

Possible explanations for this surprising conclusion are that dairy tends to be loaded with antibiotics and hormones, pro-inflammatory compounds. Plus, many people are lactose intolerant!

If you are going to consume dairy, opt for grass-fed and organic cow milk options or try dairy products from goat’s milk, almond milk, cashew milk, or oat milk for example. There are many good options to reduce consumption of cow milk.

5. Take a calcium supplement.

Getting adequate dietary calcium is necessary to prevent bones from weakening, plus adequate vitamin D is necessary to help our bodies absorb calcium. Women over 50 need 1,200 mg of calcium and 1000 IU of vitamin D a day, given the drop in estrogen that can cause a loss of 20% bone density within five to seven years after menopause. Talk to your doctor about taking a dietary supplement to help keep your bones strong.

6. Stop smoking—or never start.

If you smoke, it’s never too late to quit…and it’s never too late to find a reason why! Smoking increases your risk for osteoporosis and even delays bone healing after a fracture.

Build Strong Bones to Maintain Optimal Health

In summary, bone health tips don’t just help you build a healthier skeleton—they’ll help you build and maintain a healthy body overall! We need strong bones to live well and keep thriving.  I hope these tips help you take good care of your bones so you can stay strong and maintain optimal health.

Build strong bones and live Well with Zest!

Bev xo

Written by Bev Hope

Reviewed by Board Certified MD

The post 5 Proven Ways To Build Strong Bones appeared first on Well with Zest.