Inflammation is the body’s natural way of dealing with injuries and illness. When the body is healthy, an injured part of the body will become inflamed as it’s healing – allowing the immune cells to get to the injured area and provide the healing powers that they have.
However, many older adults, especially those with chronic illnesses, have constant chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation hurts the body as those immune cells seem to somehow become confused and instead of fighting off foreign bacteria, they begin to fight against the entire body – healthy areas and all. This constant state of stress in the body increases the risk for diseases to develop and organs to have to work much harder than they should to function.
How a Home Care Assistance Team Helps Reduce Chronic Inflammation
Your loved one may need a diet overall to help her reduce her chronic inflammation. The good thing about changing the diet is that it’s a natural way to help the body regulate itself as well as a budget-friendly measure. A home care assistance team can help your loved one review her diet and then implement a plan to get more inflammation-fighting foods added to her regular diet. While it’s important to reduce foods that increase inflammation like fried foods, white flour, and sugar, your home care assistance team will also add superfoods that fight inflammation.
Five Foods that Fight Inflammation:
Fish high in Omega-3 Fats
Omega 3 fats not only prevent inflammation, but they also help destroy the compounds that cause it. By adding just two servings of fatty seafood fish to the diet, your loved one’s body will use it to help reduce the chronic inflammation she struggles with. Great options that are high in Omega 3s are sardines, salmon, rainbow trout, arctic char, and mackerel. If your loved one is not accustomed to preparing these fish, your home care assistance team can help.
Legumes
Legumes (or beans) have great anti-inflammatory qualities. They are packed full of Vitamin B, minerals, fiber, and have phytonutrients, which act as antioxidants in the body. There are a wide variety of legumes that your loved one can enjoy and all of them are nutritious. Look at adding black beans, lentils, and chickpeas to salads and soups to get their benefits.
Carrots and Tomatoes
Look for those red and orange vegetables to indicate which ones have carotenoids. Carotenoids act as antioxidants which keep destructive molecules like oxidants from developing and causing inflammation in the body. Oxidants destroy cells, causing not only inflammation but damage to organs like the heart. Vegetables such as carrots can be eaten raw or cooked but avoid the canned variations as they often have excessive salt added for preservation and flavoring.
Spices
Spice not only adds flavor to food, but it can also add anti-inflammatory minerals to your loved one’s food. Rosmarinic acid, found in herbs like rosemary and thyme packs a double punch as both an anti-inflammatory agent and antioxidant. Sprinkle them on meats, in soups, and on salads to boost taste and add some more arsenal to the anti-inflammatory battle.
Extra-virgin Olive Oil
Finally, try subbing out the vegetable oil in the pantry for extra-virgin olive oil. Its anti-inflammatory phenolic compounds provide great health benefits at only 1 ½ tablespoons a day.
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care assistance in Needham, MA, please contact the caring staff at PlatinumCare + today. Call (617) 237-0867.
PlatinumCare + was born out of the desire and passion to provide the very best home health care possible in Brookline, Dover, Newton, Needham, Watertown, Weston, Cambridge, Lincoln, Sudbury, Belmont, Boston MA, and surrounding areas.
All with decades of experience, Tim in IT Operations, Support, and Management, Brenda in Client Relations, Healthcare Services & Sales Management, and Anne in Healthcare as a Nurse Practitioner combined their skills to form what is now PlatinumCare +.
As immigrants to the US, all came from backgrounds where Healthcare for aging parents was a responsibility of the immediate family and the entire community. Aging, sick, or terminal community members were cared for physically, emotionally, and financially by family, friends, including strangers! This community approach, Healthcare with a difference, delivered with the utmost love, care, sacrifice, and passion, forms the basis of how PlatinumCare + grounds itself.
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