Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Beginners Guide

An anti-inflammatory diet is not only wonderful for managing autoimmune conditions but it is a proactive way to support your overall health and well-being even if you are not currently faced with autoimmune illness. There is no one-size-fits-all anti-inflammatory diet, you will see throughout this guide how you can tailor it to best support your body.

Chronic Inflammation and an Anti-Inflammatory Diet:

Chronic inflammation is a growing problem around the world due to poor nutrition, environmental toxins, stress, disrupted sleep rhythms, low physical activity, and so much more. It is not always obvious that inflammation is happening in the body until it’s gotten out of control. Many people may not even recognize that their symptoms or subpar feelings are linked to inflammation.

A common factor among autoimmune diseases is chronic inflammation. I know first hand that living with autoimmune illness is a challenging journey, full of ups and downs. One powerful tool that has helped me in managing my Ankylosing Spondylitis has been an anti-inflammatory diet.

While there are many different causes of chronic inflammation, what you eat can either calm inflammation or increase inflammation. This can feel overwhelming when considering how to make changes to your diet but trust me, it is worth it. I am here to break it down and share the steps I took to change my diet and improve my health.

My experience transitioning to an anti-inflammatory diet:

When I decided to dive into this type of diet many years ago, I struggled to find a lot of information on it. Most the research out at the time, recommended a ‘Mediterranean diet’. I ended up going through a lot of trial and error as I learned what worked for my body. There is a lot more research out there now about inflammatory foods.

I began by eliminating processed foods, gluten, dairy, refined sugars, starchy vegetables, seed oils, red meats, and alcohol. As time went on I also eliminated other foods that I suspected could be causing inflammation in my body.

After allowing my body at least 30 days to detox, I began reintroducing certain healthy foods one at a time to see how my body reacted. I think beef was the first food I tried to reintroduce. I quickly learned that that was a huge mistake. Within an hour of eating a steak my joints were so inflamed that I could barely walk.

Eventually, a few years into my diet, I started working with a functional medicine doctor. She was able to run tests to identify certain foods that were still causing an inflammatory antibody response in my body. This allowed me to refine my diet even more to better support my healing.

Disclaimer: I am sharing all of this from my own personal experience and how I went about beginning my anti-inflammatory diet many years ago. This guide is to hopefully educate and serve as a starting point for you. Ultimately I do believe it would be best to work with a nutritionist or natural medicine doctor that can run tests and help you tailor your diet to reduce your inflammation while still meeting all your unique nutritional needs.

Key Principles of an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Prioritize Whole Foods:

A diet rich in unprocessed whole foods will help reduce inflammation. Fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats will provide essential nutrients and antioxidants to decrease inflammation.

Avoid Highly Processed Foods:

These foods contain many additives, sugars, and ingredients that exacerbate inflammation.

Avoid Refined Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners:

These sugars heavily contribute to inflammation and poor metabolic health. Cancers feed on them and they destroy our gut health by feeding and fueling the bad bacterias and contributing to a leaky gut.

Use Anti-inflammatory Oils for cooking:

Most common cooking oils are highly processed and very inflammatory. It is important to choose high quality anti-inflammatory oils like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, and Avocado Oil. Read this helpful guide for how to choose high quality anti-inflammatory oils.

Opt for Organic and Non-GMO Foods:

So many of our foods today are heavily saturated with pesticides and other chemicals. These toxins are a large contributor of inflammation in the body. It is best to go for organic and non-GMO foods whenever they’re available and within your budget. Read more about why organic foods are an important part of an anti-inflammatory diet.

Identify and Eliminate Your Trigger Foods:

You will want to identify which foods cause you inflammation and then keep them out of your diet. I will expand on how to go about this in the two phases of this diet transition later in this guide. Here are a few examples of common food triggers:

• Gluten and Grains: I recommend going grain free when starting this diet. Eventually you can try introducing certain grains one at a time and see if they cause you any symptoms. I am now able to eat some grains like quinoa, buckwheat, corn, and fermented whole grain einkorn. I was also surprised to learn that I cannot tolerate rice and oats. Here is a great resource on grains and other common foods they are usually found in.

• Dairy: Dairy products are another one that I recommend eliminating at the beginning of this diet transition as they can be inflammatory for many people with autoimmune conditions or gut-health issues. The hope is that later you will be able to reintroduce dairy products one at a time to see if you can tolerate them.

• Red Meat: There is a lot of conflicting information around red meat. Some people have found it to invoke a strong inflammatory response in their body, like me. While others have found it to actually decrease and heal their inflammation. Due to these very opposite reactions I recommend eliminating it during ‘phase one’ of this diet and then reintroducing it later to see how your body tolerates it. If you can tolerate it, red meat has so many nutritional benefits!

• Starches: Refined starches and processed carbohydrates can contribute to inflammation. However, some resistant starches can actually help to combat inflammation. I recommend eliminating starches during phase one of this diet, which I explain later in this guide. Then you can try introducing various starches during phase two and see how your body reacts.

Focus on healing and supporting your gut:

Gut health is so important for decreasing inflammation and managing autoimmune illnesses. It can be very beneficial to work with a naturopath or functional medicine doctor that can test for leaky gut, parasites, and other gut health issues. They can support you with a specific plan to keep your gut healthy. Also make sure to get a good amount of fiber, fermented foods, and probiotics in your daily diet.

Drink plenty of water:

Staying hydrated is a very important component of reducing inflammation, flushing out toxins, lubricating our joints, and increasing cellular health.

Top Anti-Inflammatory Diet Foods:

These are JUST A FEW of the top foods I eat in my anti-inflammatory diet. I have found these foods to be the most beneficial. Many of them have nutrients and antioxidants that help to combat inflammation!

• Fruits and Berries: Apple, Mango, Pineapple, Cucumbers, Coconut, Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries

• Leafy Greens: Kale, Spinach, Arugula, Swiss Chard

• Fatty Fish: Salmon, Halibut, Cod

• Lean Meats: Turkey, Chicken

• Nuts and Seeds: Almonds, Hazelnuts, Macadamia, Cashew, Pistachio, Pumpkin Seeds, Flaxseeds, Chia Seeds

• Allium Vegetables: Garlic, Onion, Shallot

• Vegetables: Zucchini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Spaghetti Squash, Green Beans, Sweet Peppers, Celery, Cabbage, Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin

• Bone Broth: Chicken or Turkey Bone Broth

• Herbs: Cilantro, Basil, Parsley, Mint, Dill, Thyme

• Spices: Ginger, Turmeric, Ceylon Cinnamon

• Healthy Fats: Avocado, Olives, Nuts

• Other: Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut Aminos, Maple, Honey, Blue Spirulina, Eggs, Mushrooms, Dark Chocolate

Phase 1 Detox and Elimination:

An anti-inflammatory diet needs to begin with an elimination period so that you can detox and then later pinpoint exactly which foods cause inflammation in your body. While there are common foods that should be avoided on an anti-inflammatory diet, there will also be foods specific to your body’s unique reactions.

This period usually lasts at least 30 days but could take a little longer depending on your body. Typically you want to wait until your symptoms begin to subside before moving onto the reintroduction phase.

During this phase you will want to eliminate any foods that are likely to be inflammatory. This can include but is not limited to: Processed foods, gluten & grains, refined sugars, starches, seed & refined oils, dairy, alcohol, legumes, eggs, nightshade vegetables, red meat, high omega 6’s and anything else you suspect could be inflammatory in your own body.

During this time you will be eating a lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats (fish, chicken, turkey), bone broth, herbs, and spices.

If your symptoms aren’t subsiding after 30-60 days you may need to ask yourself if something you are still eating could be contributing to inflammation. You will likely begin to notice patterns and connections of how you feel after eating certain foods. Keeping a food journal can help with this.

The idea here is that you will eventually reintroduce many of the foods you eliminated and if they don’t cause an inflammatory response you will be able to keep them in your diet.

Coping through the Detox and Elimination Phase:

For anyone used to eating a diet high in refined sugars and processed foods, this period of time may feel challenging!

As your body detoxifies, it can release toxins that may make you feel some symptoms like fatigue, headaches, skin irritations, and moodiness. You will also likely experience cravings from the food additives that are meant to addict us to processed foods. This will all pass after your body detoxes, so hang in there, you can do this!

One way to help with some of the cravings is by balancing your blood sugar through eating more healthy fats (think avocados, nuts, olives, etc..).

Phase 2 Reintroduce and Identify Trigger Foods:

Everybody is different and may respond differently to certain foods. The goal of this phase is to find what your inflammatory trigger foods are and to keep them out of your diet. The foods that are reintroduced and don’t cause any symptoms will stay in your diet.

It is important to only reintroduce one food at a time so that you can identify which foods cause a reaction of symptoms. You will want to allow around 5-7 days between reintroducing foods so that you can pinpoint any symptoms back to a specific food.

As you introduce foods back into your diet, I recommend starting with small portions and if there is no reaction slowly increase the portion. Some foods you may be able to eat in moderation without a reaction but if you consume too much it will cause an inflammatory response. For me this has been things like pork, elk, sesame, and carrots of all things. I can only consume those in very small portions and not too frequently or my body reacts.

If a food that you reintroduce begins to cause symptoms you will want to stop that food immediately and wait until you feel better before reintroducing the next food. It can be helpful to keep a food journal or list during this time to track these foods and the quantities that cause inflammation.

Another thing to note is that you may want to avoid reintroducing foods during a time when your body is under any stress (poor sleep, injury, sickness, etc..). Those other factors could cause inflammatory symptoms and give you a false response attributed to the food you introduced.

Some of My Favorite Substitutions for an Anti-Inflammatory Diet:

Final Thoughts:

I really hope this guide will serve as a useful resource of information for anyone trying to improve their health and considering or beginning an anti-inflammatory diet. Over the years, I have modified so many of my favorite recipes to fit my anti-inflammatory diet. I will continue to share recipes that align with this diet. Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you can stay updated as I share recipes and more!

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite recipes that I already have up on this website:

• Pineapple Ginger Chicken Sauté
• Thai Chicken with Almond Butter Sauce
• Immune-Boosting Blue Spirulina Juice
• Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free)
• Dairy-free Chia Pudding
• Ginger Turkey Noodle Soup
• Gremolata Salmon Salad

Be Sure to Save this as a Reference: