First of all, there is such a thing called anti-inflammatory diet. While it is not yet too familiar in mainstream diet techniques, this kind of diet is winding up in the health and wellness context. An anti-inflammatory diet is a practical eating guide that aims to reduce the root of chronic diseases such as heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and autoimmune diseases such as lupus and arthritis.

Moreover, anti-inflammatory diet also includes shopping guides to prevent families, especially parents, from buying foods with artificial flavors. To make anti-inflammatory diet more easy-to-understand, here are some food rules that you could use as guides in adapting the said diet scheme.

5 Food Rules for the Ultimate Anti-Inflammatory Diet

1. Monitor a 25-gram fiber consumption a day

To fill your everyday fiber consumption, shelf-in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. To give you a starter, you may doze in bananas and blueberries which constitute to 3 and 3.5 grams respectively. For veggies, you may take in onions, eggplants and okra while for whole grains, make oatmeal the first choice. The best suggestion though is to eat at least nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. A fiber-rich diet produces phytonutrients that prevent auto-immune diseases.

2. Eat four servings of alliums and crucifers each day

Alliums and crucifers refer to vegetables that are rich in anti-oxidants. Eating veggies with high anti-oxidant content diminishes the possibility of developing cancer. Examples of alliums are garlic, onions and leeks while crucifers would be broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

3. Decrease saturated fat intake by eating foods rich in Omega 3

Reducing your intake of saturated fat starts with decreasing your fondness of red meat. It is suggested that red meat must only be consumed once or twice a week and if you do so, it has to be marinated with herbs to reduce toxic compounds formed when having it cooked. A better alternative would be eating omega 3 rich foods found in walnuts, beans and marine products like salmon, oysters, tuna, mackerel and anchovies.

4. Avoid grabbing snacks with refined sugars and highly processed

If you are a snack person, make sure that you grab fibrous fruits or an unsweetened yogurt. You can also munch on celeries, carrots and nuts like pistachios, walnuts and almonds. Just don’t rely on processed foods with high fructose syrups which are high in sodium causing inflammation in the body.

5. Cut out trans-fat by going back to organic seasonings

According to researches, eating foods with high trans-fat cause inflammation because of their C-reactive protein content. This means that you have to stay away from foods with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated labels. But to completely get away from this, it may be best for you to go back to organic seasonings like cinnamon, turmeric, sage, ginger, rosemary and thyme. You can even refresh your dishes by adding apples, apricots and blueberries in your salads. These mentioned natural products are high in phytonutrients that defend the body from auto-immune diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s among others.

The anti-inflammatory diet is not hard to follow right? As a matter of fact, these are things that we have known all along. The difference however, is that the anti-inflammatory targets to deliver a specific benefit which is to fight chronic and auto-immune diseases. The best thing about this diet scheme though is that, in the long run, it will benefit you with a healthier and fitter body.

You can save the infographic below to act as a reference guide when you’re on an anti-inflammatory diet.