Top 10 Blood Sugar Lowering Foods

Eat less sugar, and you’ll be healthier.

This fact has been demonstrated over and over again in studies that compare different whole-food-based diets (like the ketogenic diet, vegan diet, and low glycemic index diet) to the conventional American diet.

If you eat more whole foods, you will consume less sugar. Less sugar consumption leads to healthier blood sugar levels. And healthier blood sugar levels lead to less diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation. It’s that simple.

The Only Issue With Reversing Diseases Like Diabetes

Improving your blood sugar is not easy. It may take a couple months with a whole-food plant-based diet before blood sugar levels normalize. During those months, it will be difficult for you and your body to adjust.

This rapid shift from processed foods to whole plant foods can be a shock to the system. Your body adapts to a change in diet in dramatically different ways.

In response to processed foods, your cells become more resistant to insulin — the hormone that shuttles sugar into the cells to be used as energy. As you keep eating processed foods, you keep feeding a vicious cycle of insulin resistance that leads to higher blood sugar levels and more insulin resistance. This leads to chronic inflammation, fat accumulation, vision loss, kidney disease, and nerve damage.

Must Read: Optimize Your Candida Cleanse & Minimize the Symptoms of Die

But Isn’t Sugar Natural?

Chronic inflammation, fat gain, kidney issues, vision loss, and nerve damage? Sounds like a silly way for the body to handle something that is natural.

How natural something is doesn’t matter as much as what it does in the body. Sugar, for example, is toxic to the body.

When sugar is consumed regularly without the fibers, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants found in whole plant foods, it overwhelms the cells. Cellular toxins will then begin to accumulate until the cell dies. If your cells never became resistant to insulin then your cells would continue to be overwhelmed by sugar, and you would have a much shorter life. However, if you’re eating whole plant foods your cells won’t have to become insulin resistant to save your life.

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

For example, let’s compare an apple to apple juice. Eat a whole organic apple, and it will lead to a gentle increase in blood sugar levels that nourishes the cells. This is because the fiber slows sugar absorption, and the antioxidants, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals from the apple help the cells utilize the sugar effectively (before it can become toxic).

But what happens if you drink apple juice instead? Blood sugar will increase much more because most of the fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants were taken out during processing.

This means that the best strategy to improve health is to eat more whole plant foods rather than processed foods like fruit juice and cookies. However, if your goal is to improve blood sugar levels right away, it is best to consume these ten foods.

Related: Healthy Alternative Sugars and More

The Top Ten Foods That Lower Blood Sugar

Patience is a virtue, but sometimes it is better to be impatient when it comes to your health. Eat these ten foods if you don’t want to be a patient with diabetes.

1. Red Cabbage

Red Cabbage is packed with anthocyanins — the pigment that gives this vegetable its dark red color. Many studies have found that anthocyanins can prevent or reverse obesity and type 2 diabetes by reducing inflammation, lowering blood sugar, and improving insulin resistance (the driving factor that leads to type 2 diabetes).

If you are not a fan of red cabbage, you can still get the benefits of blood sugar lowering anthocyanins by eating other dark red, purple, or blue plant foods like blueberries.

2. Blueberries

Blueberries contain a type of anthocyanin that is an active blood sugar lowering agent. Studies have found that the flavonoids in blueberries (and other berries) may provide us with cardiovascular benefits, cancer prevention, and cognitive improvement.

3. Turmeric

Turmeric contains a bright yellow chemical called curcumin. Curcumin has been studied extensively as a potential treatment for diabetes — and the results are promising.

Not only does curcumin lower blood sugar like red cabbage and blueberries, it also promotes the function of the beta cells in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas (the cells that produce insulin). This means that curcumin can lower your blood sugar in the short-term and improve your ability to use carbohydrates in the long-term.

One concern about curcumin is that it is poorly absorbed. If you want to ensure that you will get the benefits of curcumin, it is best to have it in a supplement called Meriva or a supplement that combines Bioperine with curcumin. Both curcumin preparations increase the absorption of curcumin much more than just having curcumin alone.

Related: How to Optimize Curcumin Absorption – With Golden Milk Tea Recipe

4. Cinnamon

Whether it is Ceylon or Cassia cinnamon, it will reduce fasting blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity (the opposite of insulin resistance). But there is one caveat — Cassia cinnamon contains a toxic compound called coumarin that can cause kidney, liver, and lung damage. Just 1-2 teaspoons a day of Cassia cinnamon has enough coumarin to cause toxic effects, so it is best to stick with Ceylon cinnamon to lower blood sugar levels.

Related: Cinnamon – Ceylon Vs Cassia, Health Benefits, and Other Interesting Facts

5. Lemons

There are thousands of different flavonoids that can be found in plant foods, and lemons have two that can improve fat and glucose metabolism. These flavonoids are called hesperidin and naringin, and they help lower blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

Put lemon juice in your water or meals to provide you with health-boosting, blood-sugar-lowering flavonoids whenever you want. If you are looking to detox and lower your blood sugar levels at the same time, try our inexpensive, easy detox – The One Gallon Challenge.

6. Fenugreek Seeds

This flavorful seed provides us with a quick and easy way to improve blood sugar levels while fasting and after a meal. The effects of fenugreek seeds are so powerful that they can help lower blood sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes. This means that fenugreek seeds are effective with and without the help of insulin.

You can consume fenugreek seeds in the form of a tea or add fenugreek seed powder to dressings, sauces, or curries. It is commonly used in Indian foods to give them a slightly sweet, nutty flavor that is often described as a cross between celery and maple.

7. Dark Chocolate

This guilty pleasure may be as pleasureful for you as it is for your body. The cacao in dark chocolate contains many flavanols (a type of flavonoid) that decrease blood pressure and insulin resistance. This decrease in insulin resistance helps the cells use up excess blood sugar, which lowers blood sugar naturally.

However, make sure you are consuming dark chocolate that contains no refined sugar at all. You can avoid this by making your own dark chocolate at home.

Simply melt a half cup of coconut oil in a pan, add in a half cup of raw organic cacao powder (because it has the highest flavanol content) with a tablespoon of a healthy, alternative sweetener. Stir until it is completely mixed, transfer it to a container, and put it in the refrigerator. After a couple hours, you will have your own blood-sugar-lowering dark chocolate without any dubious ingredients.

8. Broccoli Sprouts

Dozens of studies on broccoli sprouts have surfaced over the past decade. They have been found to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, but do these sprouts also help lower blood sugar?

In one randomized double-blind clinical trial, researchers found that 10 grams of broccoli sprouts per day significantly decreased insulin levels. This suggests that broccoli sprouts may improve insulin sensitivity, leading to lower blood sugar levels.

These medicinal sprouts can easily be grown indoors in less than a week (for cheap). Once they are finished growing, you can have them as a snack or with meals.

Related: You Need Sulforaphane — How and Why to Grow Broccoli Sprouts

9. Onions

Onion bulb extract was found to strongly lower blood glucose in diabetic rats. Although onion’s effect on the blood sugar levels of humans is uncertain, this vegetable still has many potential health benefits.

These health benefits are partly caused by quercetin, a flavonoid antioxidant that is found in many vegetables including onions. Quercetin has been found to lower blood sugar before and after meals in many different animals with diabetes. This is a promising finding for those who want to lower their blood sugar.

However, onions aren’t the best vegetable if you want to maximize your quercetin consumption.

Related: Your Guide to Root Vegetables – Health Benefits, Recipes, and More

10. Capers

Capers have the highest quercetin content of all the foods that have been studied. These edible flower buds are picked just before they ripen and pickled before they hit your taste buds with their tangy, briny, and slightly lemony flavor.

Studies on capers have found that they have so much antioxidant activity that just a small amount prevents fat from oxidizing and causing cell damage. This makes capers the perfect addition to any meal that has meat and fat in it.

The Ultimate Blood-Sugar-Lowering Meal

Eating these ten foods on a daily basis will help you lower your blood sugar levels fast. But how do you fit these foods into your day?

By putting them all into one meal.

Imagine this — A bowl filled with salad greens of your choice and:

  • shredded red cabbage
  • capers
  • chopped onions
  • broccoli sprouts
  • a handful of blueberries

Toss all of that together with a homemade dressing made of lemon, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and fenugreek powder. Delicious!

And for dessert — homemade chocolate with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Finish it off with a curcumin supplement, and you’ve just combined all ten blood sugar lowering foods into one delicious meal.

However, you don’t have to rely on these foods to lower your blood sugar. In fact, check out the quickest and easiest way to improve your blood sugar levels.

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A Guide to Finding and Choosing The Healthiest Eggs

They are fooling you. The words on the egg cartons don’t mean what you think they do.

“Vegetarian-fed”, “cage-free”, “omega-3 enriched”, “free-range”, “organic”, “humanely-raised”, and “pasture-raised” all seem like healthy choices, but they don’t accurately reflect how healthy the eggs are.

The egg aisle of a grocery store is like a political primary debate. Every egg carton is saying what you what to hear to get your vote. But they are just words.

Words that are used with the intent to make you buy the eggs, but they don’t provide you with the answer to the question:

Which eggs are the healthiest?

To find the healthiest eggs, you must find the healthiest hens — hens that eat what they are biologically designed to eat.

Chickens are Not Vegetarians

Among the dozens of different egg cartons, you think you’ve found the holy grail. Eggs from 100% vegetarian-fed chickens. Vegetables are healthy, so these must be the healthiest, right?

The only problem is that the healthiest chickens eat omnivorous diets. Chickens love to munch on green plants, wild seeds, earthworms, and insects. In fact, many chickens prefer insects over plants.

Every time I see “vegetarian-fed” on a carton of eggs, I am reminded of the time I held a big juicy worm four feet above a group of chickens. They jumped with vigor — flapping their wings, doing anything to get the worm before their hen friends.

Surely, they’d do the same for any kind of food. They are probably just hungry. But when I tried the same with sunflower seeds and fresh organic vegetables, they turned away and continued scraping the ground with their claws to find bugs and worms.

Related: Animal vs. Plant Protein – What’s Better?

The Truth About Vegetarian-fed Chickens

“Vegetarian-fed”, however, does not mean the chickens are roaming around an organic vegetable garden oasis. In most cases, the egg companies didn’t change anything, but how they label their eggs.

For example, an egg carton that is labeled 100% vegetarian-fed and cage-free indicates that the chickens were raised indoors in a confined space with hundreds of other chickens.

To give you some perspective, imagine you are in a subway car during rush hour. Packed so many people that you almost kissed the guy next to you. Now imagine living your life in that subway car — no one gets out unless they die. (But at least you are not in cages, and you get free food!)

The chickens are, however, provided with food that is scientifically designed to cover their needs. Here’s an example of a typical “vegetarian” diet reported by Mother Earth News:

Here’s the ingredients list from “16 percent Layer Crumbles,” a feed designed for hens raised in confinement: “Grain Products, Plant Protein Products, Processed Grain Byproducts, Roughage Products, Forage Products, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Choline Chloride, Folic Acid, Manadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Methionine Supplement, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Chloride, Zinc Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Sodium Selenite.”

This feed may seem like it is covering all of the nutritional needs of the chicken, but studies show that vegetarian-fed chickens that live in confinement lay eggs that have:

  • 1/3 more cholesterol
  • 1/4 more saturated fat
  • 2/3 less vitamin A
  • 2 times less omega-3 fatty acids
  • 3 times less vitamin E
  • 7 times less beta carotene
  • 50 percent less folic acid
  • 70 percent less vitamin B12
  • 50-112% less Vitamin D

But what are they comparing these eggs too? Eggs from chickens that are free to roam the outdoors and eat all types of plants and insects — the healthiest eggs. Words like “pastured”, “pasture-raised”, and “free-range” on egg cartons seem to reflect this healthy lifestyle, but they do not guarantee that the chickens were raised in this way. In fact,  “pastured”, “pasture-raised”, and “free-range” eggs just mean that the chickens had some access to the outdoors — regardless if it is a lifeless mud pit or a luscious green pasture.

But does it really matter if the chickens are outdoors? If we feed them a wide variety of seeds, plants, and insects, then they’ll be healthy, right?

Not so fast. Like humans, chickens don’t solely rely on diet for health. Sun exposure matters as much to chickens as it does to us.

Chickens Sun Bathe Too

If we don’t get any sun, our vitamin D levels drop, followed by less energy and depression. When we are chronically vitamin D deficient, our bones can become brittle and break easily. The same happens to chickens who have little access to the outdoors. (That’s right, they synthesize vitamin D from the sun just like us.)

Vitamin D deficient chickens will also lay brittle eggs that provide us with less nutrition. But the vegeterian feed has vitamin D in it — shouldn’t that cover their vitamin D needs?

Two animal researchers, Heuser and Norris, showed that 11 to 45 minutes of sunshine daily were sufficient to prevent rickets in growing chickens, but no improvements were obtained with vitamin D supplementation. This suggests that chickens are much better at using sunlight to synthesize vitamin D than using supplemental vitamin D.

Related: Vitamin D – The #1 Vitamin You Need: From Treating Depression to Preventing Cancer

What About “Omega-3 Enriched” Eggs?

Don’t fall for the hype. Although they do have higher omega-3s, these eggs are just as bad as conventional eggs.

Omega-3 enriched eggs usually come from chickens that are fed omega-3 supplements like krill oil, flaxseed oil, and algae oil on top of their unhealthy vegetarian diet. These oils are most likely rancid and unhealthy for the chickens.

The healthiest way to enrich eggs with omega-3s is by letting the chickens eat what they are designed to eat. Chickens that naturally feed on pasture have significantly increased amounts of omega-3s in their eggs compared to conventional eggs.

Related: Everything You Should Know About Fat

The Healthiest Egg

Now, we are beginning to put it all together. Chickens are omnivores that need access to the outdoors whenever they choose. Eggs that come from chickens who live the way that they are supposed to live are the healthiest.

This contention is even backed up by research that Mother Earth News conducted. They tested the nutrient content of eggs from chickens who lived under natural conditions. The editor-in-chief of Mother Earth News, Cheryl Long, commented that:

“Our test results reveal that the unnatural and inhumane conditions of factory farms are giving us substandard food. Consumers will get more nutritious eggs if they pay a premium for true free-range eggs from birds raised on pasture.”

How to Know if You Have The Healthiest Eggs

It doesn’t matter how many catchy words an egg carton throws at you. It could say “pasture-raised”, “non-GMO”, “humanely raised”, “organic”, or “I swear to God these are healthy — please trust me,” but that doesn’t mean they are the best eggs you can get.

This is because claims like “pastured” “pasture-raise” “cage-free” and “free-range” don’t mean what you think they do. Labeling laws allow egg products to display these terms even if the egg-laying chickens spend little or no time outdoors in a pasture setting.

Non-GMO and organic eggs are also promising, but organic and non-GMO eggs may still be fed a vegetarian diet with little access to the outdoors. Bummer. So what can you do?

The only way to find the healthiest possible eggs is to connect with the farmer of the chickens that made them. Visit or reach out to the farm/company that produces the eggs that you normally buy and find out how they raise their hens. I’ve personally done this for Handsome Brook Farm’s pasture-raised eggs and found out that they were making false claims on their packaging. Their eggs are no better than cheaper “cage-free” eggs.

To find the healthiest eggs, it is best to stay local and get to know the farmer. Do a quick search on localharvest.org and eatwild.com to find a farmer that has quality eggs.

The Quickest Way to Know if You Have High-Quality Eggs

If you are not sure that you can trust the eggs you are having now, you can test them in two ways.

The Egg Shell Crack Test:

If the egg shell is very brittle and has little to no membrane on the inside, then it came from a chicken that is vitamin D deficient (and probably deficient in other vitamins and minerals as well). This indicates that the chickens didn’t have much access to the sun.

The Egg Yolk Color Test:

Egg yolks with a deep orange color are higher in vitamin A and beta-carotene. This deep color indicates that the chicken has access to a diverse array of different plants. A pale, yellow yolk tells you that the chicken ate a diet consisting of mostly white corn and other nutrient-depleted grains that aren’t as healthy for the chicken.

Does Your Egg Pass The Test?

If the egg shell is resilient, and the yolk is a dense orange color then you have some healthy eggs. Conversely, if the shell shatters easily and has a pale yolk then it most likely came from an unhealthy chicken.

The Best Way to Prepare Eggs

If you have high-quality eggs, it is best to eat the yolk raw and cook the egg whites.

Eggs yolks should be eaten raw because cooking them will oxidize their cholesterol (rendering it unhealthy), and denature many of the vitamins (rendering them useless). If you don’t like the taste of raw eggs, then put a couple yolks into your morning smoothies with some lemon juice. This way you won’t taste the raw egg, and the lemon juice will prevent some of the nutrients from denaturing.

But before you eat the yolk, make sure you separate it from the egg white. The egg white has proteins in it that bind to the b-vitamins, making them useless. If you want to get the extra protein that the whites provide, then you can cook them until they turn white (but not brown). Cooking the egg white will deactivate the proteins binding to the b-vitamins, so you can get all of the vitamins out of the raw yolk and all of the protein from the whites at the same time.

The Takeaway

The healthiest eggs come from the healthiest hens.

Don’t blindly trust the words on the egg carton. The only way to know if you have healthy eggs is by finding out how the chickens are raised. Do your research, and get to know your egg farmer.

If you are looking to get the most nutrition out of your high-quality eggs, it is best to have the egg yolks raw and the egg whites cooked.

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Make Chocolate Healthy Again: Fast and Easy DIY Homemade Chocolate

Few foods can induce a craving like chocolate. From its aroma to how it melts in your mouth to what it does for your body — the whole experience is heavenly. The effects of chocolate are experienced by everyone, not just chocolate lovers.

In fact, studies have found that the unique smell of chocolate changes our brain activity and makes us more alert. Once the chocolate is consumed, its flavonoids work as prebiotics and improve digestive health. The flavonoids that make it into the blood stream help improve your insulin sensitivity, lower blood pressure, and prevent plaque from building up in your arteries.

Chocolate contains a unique combination of caffeine and theobromine as well. These two work together to protect brain function and improve mood without causing the sleep disturbances or other side effects caused by caffeine consumption.

After reading about all of the good that chocolate can do for us, you may be tempted to head to your corner store and buy some right now. But before you do, it is important to know and understand that most chocolate bars are terrible for your health.

Most Chocolate Bars are Unhealthy

The most popular form of chocolate is milk chocolate. Most milk chocolate bars only contain about 11% cacao with the remaining ~90% of the bar consisting of milk, sugar, and other unhealthy ingredients. If these chocolate bars were named honestly, they’d be called “Chocolate Flavored Sugar-Milk Bars”.

Not so attractive now, huh?

On top of that, the milk binds to cacao antioxidants (including the flavonoids we talked about earlier) and renders them inactive. So when the sugar in the milk chocolate bar spikes your blood sugar and increases inflammation, the flavonoids can’t save you because the milk ingredients made them inactive.

Isn’t Dark Chocolate Healthy?

Most dark chocolate bars are only 60-70% dark chocolate, which means that that the rest of it is made up of processed sugar and other dubious ingredients like soy lecithin and milk solids. Even the 85% or higher dark chocolate bars shouldn’t be considered healthy. They are highly processed and still contain some milk products, sugar, and other additives in an effort to make the chocolate less bitter and more palatable.

If you come across a chocolate bar produced with minimal, unrefined sugar and simple ingredients like cacao and vanilla beans, then at least the chocolate likely has some health benefits — but it will cost you.

These bars are expensive! Plus the processing that they went through before becoming pretty little bars will render some of the antioxidants in the cacao inactive.

After learning all of this, we are left only one good option — to make our own chocolate.

How To Make Your Own Chocolate

That’s right, you can make your own chocolate!

The best part is you won’t need any fancy machinery, and it won’t take up to seven days to make it (like it does in most chocolate factories).

All you need is cacao powder and coconut oil. Look for raw, organic cacao powder for your health, and make sure it’s fair trade for the health of others.

Can’t Eat Chocolate? If you are sensitive to chocolate for any reason or just don’t want the caffeine it comes with, then replace cacao powder with carob powder. The carob-based chocolate will not taste too much like chocolate, but it will make a delicious and healthy snack.

Step 1 — Melt and Mix

Melt the coconut oil in a pan at the low heat. Once the coconut oil is completely liquefied, mix in the same amount of cacao powder until you have a homogeneous chocolate mixture. The lower the heat, the more you preserve the health benefits.

Use a 1:1 ratio of cacao powder to coconut oil.

I recommend starting with a smaller amount like a quarter cup of each. Once you develop a delicious recipe, however, all restrictions are off — make as much chocolate as you want.

Step 2 — Experiment and Solidify

Now that you have your chocolate liquid, turn off the heat source and add in whatever you want to be in your chocolate.

You can put in a sweetener, mix in some nuts and seeds for some crunch, or add in some cinnamon and vanilla powder to make it taste even better. Dried fruit— like dried blueberries, cherries, goji berries, and mulberries — is another ingredient option that will add more flavor and health benefits to your chocolate.

Once you finish mixing in your extra ingredients, pour the mixture into a plate, cookie sheet, or container, and put it in the fridge until it solidifies (2-4 hours).

Step 3 — Eat and Enjoy

Go to the refrigerator, break off a piece of your chocolate, and enjoy.

Why Homemade Chocolate is Much Better Than Store-Bought Chocolate

Although it is easy to make chocolate at home, you may still be tempted to buy the dark chocolate on the grocery store shelves. This homemade variety will not look as “perfect” in that commercial way as store bought chocolate bars. The differing tastes and textures may take some getting used to for some, but it will taste amazing once you get your recipe down, and it will be so much healthier. In fact, if you are a frequent cocoa consumer, you’ll grow to prefer the taste of your homemade chocolate very quickly, and then you will probably despise pretty much everything else out there.

Coconut Oil — One of the Healthiest Sources of Fat

Coconut oil is the perfect fat to use when making chocolate because it solidifies and melts in your mouth like a typical chocolate bar. But this isn’t the only reason why it is part of our chocolate recipe.

Coconut oil has the highest percentage of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) than any other fat source. But MCTs are technically saturated fat, so doesn’t this mean that they are “unhealthy”? This is where some knowledge of biochemistry comes in handy.

There are many different types of saturated fats, and they are processed by the body in different ways. MCTs (fats with 6-12 carbon atoms) are different from the long chain fatty acids (fats with more than 12 carbon atoms). This is because most of the MCTs are transported directly to the liver after digestion rather than flowing throw the lymph system of the body like long chain fatty acids.

Once the MCTs reach the liver they are converted into energy and other metabolites. These metabolites include ketone bodies, which can be used by the brain and heart as an immediate form of energy. The MCTs in coconut oil can also increase your feeling of fullness for a longer period of time.

Related: 35 Things You Could Do With Coconut Oil – From Body Care to Health to Household

Erythritol — The Safest Sugar Alternative?

Erythritol is considered by many to be the safest low-calorie sweetener. It is a sugar alcohol that is less sweet than sugar (70% as sweet as sugar), so it will not stimulate your appetite as much as sweeteners like sucralose (these artificial sweeteners do far more harm than good). There is debate amongst the natural health community, and within this magazine, as to whether or not stevia is a safer choice for most, or if erythritol is a better option. It likely depends on how you use them and your own gut health.

Studies have shown erythritol can cause nausea and stomach discomfort. These side effects were only found in people that consumed 50 grams of erythritol in one sitting.

To give you some context, 50 grams (about 4 tablespoons) of erythritol has the same sweetness as about 40 grams (3 and 1/3 tablespoons) of sugar. This is 16 more grams of sugar than you will find in a typical 1.55 ounce “Sugar Milk Bar with Chocolate Added”. One to two tablespoons of erythritol should be more than enough to make your homemade chocolate more palatable without getting any side effects.

But this doesn’t mean that you should buy any sugar alcohol or any form of erythritol and assume that it will be safe. Other sugar alcohols like xylitol tend to cause more side effects at lower doses than erythritol, and erythritol is commonly made from GMO cornstarch. If you don’t want a dose of negative side effects, GMOs, or pesticides with your sweetener than it is best to use non-GMO erythritol.

I like to use a small amount of erythritol, a tiny bit of stevia, and some raw honey for sweetening. I also like to mix the chocolate with the carob which has a natural sweetness to it. I don’t like it very sweet, and I like to throw in ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, and/or other herbs that can help keep the gut balanced. I like my chocolate to have quite a bit of kick to it, just like my smoothies. Be careful and patient with the honey. It’s even easier to cook the benefits out of honey than it is with chocolate. I don’t think erythritol is particularly good for you, and while raw honey has plenty of health benefits, for good health it should be eaten in very small quantities. I find the mix of the three works well for my tastebuds and my body.” – Michael Edwards

The Importance of Raw Organic Cacao Powder

Even if you don’t like the taste of chocolate, you may want to consume cacao powder as a way to reap all of the benefits that we talked about earlier in the article.

To ensure that you get all of the health benefits of cacao, it is best to buy raw organic cacao powder. Quality cacao powder is important because most cacao powders (and the cacao used to make chocolate) are processed with heat and alkali, which destroys cacao’s health-promoting antioxidants.

But what do you do if you want to keep caffeine and chocolate out of your diet?

The Many Benefits of Carob-based Chocolate

Although this article praises the medicinal properties of cacao, this doesn’t mean that you are missing out if you don’t eat it. In fact, carob powder may have even more health benefits than cacao powder. For example, carob powder is most well-known for its anti-diarrhea effects, but that is not all this delicious powder has to offer.

Like cacao powder, carob powder contains many flavonoids. One of the flavonoids it contains is quercetin, which is known to reduce allergy symptoms, prevent heart disease (like cacao’s flavonoids do), and protect against cancer. Carob powder also contains a compound called gallic acid which is known to scavenge free radicals and kill cancer cells.

If you compare these benefits with cacao powder, carob powder looks like it could be the winner here. After weeks of experimenting with using carob powder in smoothies and other recipes (that I usually put cacao powder in), I completely agree. Healthy dark chocolate tends to over-stimulate me, but when I use carob powder instead, I feel more satiated and energetically balanced.

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Microplastics in Sea Salt – A Growing Concern

When it comes to long-term thinking for the health of the planet, humans often fall short of common sense. Plastic, one of the most durable products in the world, is consistently used for products no one actually wants to last forever, like single-use grocery bags and cheap children’s toys. The ever-increasing amounts of plastics glutting the planet today are leading to dire consequences for many natural spaces, especially the ocean. Worst of all, the overabundance of plastic particles is starting to make it into our diet in the unlikeliest of ways- sea salt.

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

The Rise of Plastic in the Ocean

Every year, roughly 13 million metric tons of plastic finds its way into the ocean. A study from 2014 found that there are more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean, and over 90 percent of them are less than a quarter inch long. Called microplastics, these tiny pieces tend to pose the biggest threat because they are often eaten by plankton and other small creatures and quickly make their way through the food chain to larger fish, birds, and other species.

Previous research on the levels of microplastics in the ocean has revealed that the quantities are unexpectedly high in seafood like fish and clams. However, recent research has discovered that microplastics are also detectable in sea salt.

Contamination in Sea Salt

A survey of 16 brands of sea salt from eight countries revealed to researchers that microplastics were present in all but one brand. Published in Scientific Reports, this research team found trace amounts of the plastic polymers polypropylene and polyethylene. In all, the research revealed that the tested salt contained about 1,200 plastic particles per pound. Most of these particles were found to be fragments of old plastic products, fibers, and paints that were broken down to their small size in the ocean, which ruled out the possibility that the sea salt packaging itself was to blame.

The Impacts for Human Health

In general, sea salt is considered a healthier alternative to regular table salt. Found to strengthen the immune system, improve heart health, and decrease the symptoms of asthma, many people believe that using sea salt is better for their bodies than other, refined varieties of salt. However, the prevalence of plastic in many sea salt brands might be a reason to be concerned.

Microplastics are a threat to organisms because their small size makes it easy for them to absorb organic pollutants and store them in the bodies of those that eat them. Yet there’s little reason for you to worry about the negative health effects of plastic- tainted sea salt, as the amounts of microplastics found in salt are so low that they are not considered a health risk. Researchers estimate that most people swallow fewer than 40 particles of plastic in sea salt every year, compared to the estimated 11,000 particles that shellfish lovers likely consume each year. Somewhat reassuringly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies polypropylene and polyethylene- based plastic polymers as safe for human consumption at these levels.

The Overall Damage for the Environment

In many ways, the danger of microplastics in sea salt doesn’t come from the risk for your body, but from what they mean for the rest of the planet. Plastic has become so prevalent in the world today that it’s hard to find places without it. From the ocean floor to the ice in Antarctica, microplastics are increasingly polluting natural spaces, and their long-term impacts on the world are still far from understood. If plastic particles can wind up in your salt shaker, there’s no telling where else it will soon be found.

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Does Meat Cause Cancer? Yes and no…

We cannot truthfully say that meat causes cancer.

It’s not that simple.

Although many studies have linked meat consumption, particularly of red and processed meat, to cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and a shorter lifespan, this does not mean that meat consumption causes these issues.

It is important to consider the other factors that contribute to these findings, like the fact that meat-eaters tend to exercise less, eat fewer vegetables, and smoke more than vegetarians and vegans — who tend to be more health conscious.

In studies where the researchers accounted for these factors, there was a weak correlation between red meat and cancer and a stronger correlation between processed meat and cancer.  This appears to be the general consensus, though there are some studies that find no association between meat and cancer and others that suggest that meat promotes health.

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For example, one study conducted in Austria found people who did not eat meat to be less healthy (in terms of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders). Red meat was also found in another study to be essential for maintaining muscle mass and cognitive function in elderly women.

With all of this conflicting information, how can we possibly know if meat is good or bad for us?

The truth is we will never know unless we consider what could be behind the positive and negative findings of these studies. First, let’s start with what meat in its purest form does to the body.

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Meat Does Not Create Cancer

Hypothetically, if we ate raw meat from healthy animals that are completely free of all additives, chemicals, and infectious bacteria and parasites then there is no way that it can create cancer.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, meat is an effective way to combat malnutrition and under-nourishment. This is because meat promotes health by providing us with complete proteins, minerals, vitamins, co-enzymes, antioxidants, and fats that are essential for our health. In fact, organ meats from pastured animals like beef liver are filled with more minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and amino acids than many of the healthiest and most popular plant foods.

But organ meats are a rare commodity now. Instead, we tend to have the least healthy cuts of meat (muscle meat) from sick and diseased animals that are raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). This means that the steak that you love so much and the chicken breast that you thought was healthy is coming from the least nutritious part of an unhealthy animal that has trace amounts of antibiotics and pesticides in it from what it was fed.

These antibiotics and pesticides are toxic to the body, but we can most likely handle them in small quantities. What renders the meat cancerous is when we process it and cook it in ways that create highly carcinogenic compounds. These compounds are the main culprit for the association between red and processed meat consumption and cancer.

Related: How to Detoxify From Antibiotics and Other Chemical Antimicrobials

How We Prepare Our Meat Causes Cancer

Heterocyclic amines, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, methyl carbonium, advanced glycation end products, and acrolein are all carcinogenic compounds that are formed at some level when we process and cook our meat. Each compound creates chaos in its own way within the body that can either indirectly or directly mutate genes and cause cancer.

Related: Advanced Glycated End Products

Acrolein and Advanced Glycation End Products Don’t Discriminate

Acrolein, for example, has been found to directly mutate genes, which can lead to cancer formation. Smoking is known to cause lung cancer because acrolein is created when tobacco is burned. The acrolein is then inhaled into the lungs, causing genetic mutations in lung cells that lead to cancer.

Acrolein is also created when we expose carbohydrates, vegetable oils, animal fats, and amino acids to high heat. This partially explains why fried foods and overcooked or burned meat are toxic to the body. Advanced glycation end products are another cancerous compound that is formed when we cook our foods (not just meat) at high temperatures.

Why Smoked Meat, Deli Meat, and Grilled Meat is Bad For You

Heterocyclic amines, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and methyl carbonium are the carcinogenic compounds that are most often found in processed, smoked, and cooked meats. Heterocyclic amines and polyaromatic hydrocarbons are both formed when the meat is cooked at high temperatures, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons can also be formed during periods of low oxygen exposure. You will find polyaromatic hydrocarbons in high amounts in smoked meats and fish. This makes these popular foods highly carcinogenic.

You may not have heard of methyl carbonium before, but you are probably familiar with its distant relatives, nitrate and nitrite. Nitrates and nitrites are commonly added to processed pork products like bacon to maintain their color and prolong shelf-life, but when these compounds interact with amino acids they can form nitrosamines.

So why does it matter? It doesn’t, especially for the body, because nitrates, nitrites, and nitrosamines aren’t toxic at all. But if nitrosamines degrade any further they become methyl carbonium, which is highly toxic to the body.

Methyl carbonium, heterocyclic amines, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, advanced glycation end products, and acrolein are by no means the only carcinogenic compounds that are created through cooking and processing meat, and some of them can still be found in high quantities in vegetarian and vegan diets. For example, cooked vegetable oils and plant foods can be a potent source of acrolein and advanced glycation end products.

This means that even if you are eating a vegan diet you will not be able to escape from pro-inflammatory carcinogenic compounds that can cause cancer — so what can you do?

How To Make Meat Healthy

It is actually simple and easy to reduce the carcinogenic compounds in your food.

First, marinate your meats in lemon juice, vinegar, herbs, and spices. This acidic marinade helps to prevent advanced glycation end products from forming, while the herbs and spices have a high antioxidant content that will keep the other carcinogenic compounds from forming when the meat is exposed to heat.

When it comes to cooking your food, it is best to replace your frying pan and grill with a slow cooker, steamer pot, or sous vide. Boiling, poaching, stewing, and steaming is the healthiest way to cook your meat, while frying, broiling, grilling, roasting, and smoking renders the meat carcinogenic.

It is also better to cook your meat at low temperatures and consume with other herbs and vegetables to ensure that carcinogenic compounds that are in your food will meet the extra antioxidants from the plant foods.

But it is important to mention that even if your meat contains no cancer causing compounds, it can still lead to the growth of existing cancer cells due to something called IGF-1.

Meat Can Feed Cancer

IGF-1, also known as insulin-like growth factor,  is a protein that has growth promoting effects on every cell in the body. This makes it essential for the growth and development of muscle and brain cells, and the healing of damaged tissues.
When we consume a high amount of complete protein — which is found mainly in animal products — IGF-1 levels will rise accordingly to help our cells use the amino acids from the protein. This is exactly what we need our body to do to maintain the health and growth of our cells, but there is one problem.

IGF-1 does not know the difference between your cells and cancer cells, so it can aid the growth of cancer cells as well. This is why high protein diets are linked to a higher risk of all-cause and cancer mortality — and the high protein content of meat explains why it has been linked to an increased risk of cancer.

This also means that meat is not the primary culprit for the association between cancer and meat consumption. Meat is just pointing to the fact that the combination of high amounts of toxic compounds with high IGF-1 levels will create the perfect environment for cancer to form and grow. In other words, cancer can be created and grown with or without meat consumption. What really matters is how you prepare your food and how much protein you are consuming.
Fortunately, we have already learned how to lower our exposure to toxic compounds in food — and that is relatively easy — but is there a way to hack your IGF-1 levels?

Related: Foods, Vitamins, and Herbs That Kill Cancer

Hacking Your IGF-1 Levels to Starve Cancer

Although low levels of IGF-1 are correlated with lower rates of cancer, IGF-1 is still important to have at high levels at the right time. When we are adults, the right time for IGF-1 to be at high levels is when our cells need to heal from a workout or any other form of physical trauma is done to the body.

This means that if you time your protein consumption in response to when you need it most (before and after resistance training), you will increase IGF-1 at the right time so that you can build the cells that need it the most while preventing cancer cell growth. Although this is just a theory, it may be the best way to get the most health promoting effects from your meat.

On days that you don’t workout, it may be best to consume mostly plant foods and limit your protein consumption to below 20% of your daily caloric intake to keep your IGF-1 levels low and quality of health high. After the age of 65, however, protein seems to be more important for health and longevity — so people in this age group can benefit from consuming more than 20% of their calories from protein.

Increasing your activity levels is also another important tool you can use to maintain lower IGF-1 levels. To do this you can go for walks, take a hike, or do any other form of low-intensity aerobic activity everyday. Not only will this help reduce your cancer risk, it will improve your overall health and reduce your risk of other diseases — like diabetes — as well.

Putting it all Together

The meat we eat and what it does to our body is a complex issue that depends on the individual who is eating the meat, the quality of the meat, and how the meat is processed and cooked — so to say that meat causes cancer or does not cause cancer is an oversimplification. As we understand cancer more deeply and the effects that meat consumption has on our body though, we will soon be able to know who would benefit from eating more meat, who should limit their meat consumption, and if there is anyone that would be healthier by not eating meat at all.

One thing we do know for certain is that the way we cook and process meat can create carcinogenic compounds that directly and indirectly cause cancer. To prevent these cancerous compounds from forming — simply marinate your meat in lemon juice, vinegar, herbs, and spices, cook it at low temperatures, and eat your meat with a variety of vegetables, herbs, and/or fruit. This will allow you to get almost all of the health promoting benefits of eating meat while balancing deleterious effects.

We are also certain that high IGF-1 levels will lead to more cancer growth. Complete proteins — like those found in meat — cause an increase in IGF-1 levels. If we keep our IGF-1 levels low throughout the day, we can prevent cancer growth.  We can do this by limiting our meat consumption to when we need to recover from resistance training and by increasing our levels of low-intensity activity like walking.

We dug deep into the science in this article, but the science has little to say about the effects of 100% grass-fed red meat consumption vs. conventional, GMO grain-fed red meat consumption on human health. We can, however, make some sound assumptions based on the differences between each type of meat.

Does Quality Really Matter?

When researchers compared grass-fed beef to conventional, grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef had elevated precursors for Vitamins A and E, more of the health-promoting fatty acids CLA and Omega 3s, and more cancer-fighting antioxidants such as glutathione and superoxide dismutase. Conventional grain fed beef, on the other hand, has much lower levels of this health promoting compounds, while simultaneously providing us with more inflammatory fats like omega 6s, a small dose of antibiotics, and a higher risk of bacterial infection from salmonella.

This is part of the reason why many studies find meat to increase the risk of cancer because they use meat from sick, fat, and unhealthy animals.

When it comes to promoting health and preventing cancer, 100% grass-fed and grass finished pastured red meat is the best meat to have. Make sure you prepare it in the ways that we discussed earlier in this article to ensure that you don’t have any unhealthy compounds with your healthy meat.

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Homemade Two Ingredient Healthy Fruit and Nut Bars

You can improve your blood lipid level, lose fat, improve gut health, and increase your energy levels with one snack that you can easily make at home. All you need is two ingredients – nuts and dates.

But Aren’t Dates Full of Sugar?

Just one pitted Medjool date contains around 16 grams of sugar, which means that three dates have more sugar than a 12 ounce can of coca cola. Shouldn’t dates be vilified? Hide your kids, this vengeful plant will steal their health!

Let’s See What The Science Says

When healthy subjects consumed 100 grams a day of Hallawi dates or Medjool dates for four weeks, their cholesterol levels and BMI stayed the same, and their triglyceride levels decreased. This is a phenomenon that has never been found to be the case in studies done on the effects of sugar-sweetened beverages like soda on our health.

In fact, people who consume sugar-sweetened beverages regularly tend to have unhealthy cholesterol levels, higher triglyceride levels, more body fat, and high blood sugar. This is why people who are at a high risk for diseases like diabetes are strongly advised to stop consuming sugary beverages.  But what about dates?

A High Sugar Food That May be Good for Diabetics

Even in people with type 2 diabetes, a disease that is characterized by a lack of blood sugar control, the consumption of dates does not cause significant changes in blood glucose levels. This indicates that dates may be a good sugar replacement for diabetics as well as healthy individuals. This finding seems like an anomaly that goes against everything we know about nutrition, at least until we dig deeper into the other components of dates.

“The Best Food for the Future”

In an article published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, the researchers concluded that “dates may be considered as an almost ideal food.” This is because they contain a high percentage of fiber, fifteen minerals, at least six vitamins, 23 amino acids, and a high antioxidant content. Together, these components help your body use the sugar that is in the dates so efficiently and effectively that when we eat them in small amounts, it only leads to positive health effects.

That’s Nuts!

Yes, it is nuts, especially when you add nuts to the dates. In a study done on overweight adults, one group ate two dried fruit and nut bars that consisted of 340 extra calories, while the other group ate their normal diet. After 8 weeks their weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, and blood lipids were remeasured.

What we’d commonly expect after 8 weeks of eating 340 extra calories per day is a weight gain of at least 5 pounds (and that’s with some modest math). However, the actual results will surprise you. After eight weeks of consuming 340 extra calories from two fruit and nut bars, the study participants had no significant change in weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, or blood lipids.

Even nut consumption alone is associated with a lower waist circumference, lower rate of obesity, decreased blood pressure, and healthier blood sugar and blood lipid levels, which makes them a healthy snack as well. This is because they contain vitamins, minerals, health-promoting fats, and antioxidants that make them highly satiating and even more healthy.

Whatever They Can Do You Can Do Better

Before you run to the store to get some fruit and nut bars or trail mix, it is important to know that many of them have added sugars and oils that can leach positive health benefits from the food.

One of the best fruit and nut bars that I could find is made by a company called LÄRABAR. However, these date and nut bars are much more expensive than if you made your own snacks at home with organic, high-quality ingredients.

And yes, making your own date and nut snacks with organic, high-quality dates and nuts will still be cheaper than buying a box of LÄRABARs that are produced with lower quality and non-organic ingredients by General Mills.

How To Make Your Own 2-Ingredient Super Snack

Just by blending your favorite nuts together with pitted dates, you can create a snack that will indulge your sweet tooth like a dessert and satiate you like a fatty meal, while still being healthier than a store bought “healthy” snack. It will only take you less than a half hour, and after you take your first bite you will be wondering why you’ve never made these before.

Step 1

Start with the ratio of 1 and 1/2 cups of your favorite nuts to 1 packed cup of pitted dates to make whatever amount of date and nut snacks that you would like.

Soak the dates that you are going to use in hot water for 5 to 15 minutes or until they are soft. If the dates are already soft, they may not need to be soaked.

Tip: Save the water that you use to soak your dates and use it to sweeten up your tea or smoothie. It may also contain some vitamin c and b-vitamins as well.

Health Bonus: Use Halawi dates rather than Medjool. Studies have found Halawi dates to have even more health benefits than Medjool dates (and they still taste delicious).

Step 2

Drain and save the date water for later use. Put the dates and nuts in the blender and blend them until the nuts are to your desired particle size and consistency. The mixture should be sticky.

Health Bonus: Use raw organic nuts that are soaked for at least 7 hours. The soaking process will help increase nutrient bioavailability and enhance digestion. Just make sure you dehydrate your nuts (at temperatures lower than 150 degrees Fahrenheit) so that they last longer and don’t mess with the consistency of your date and nut mixture.

Step 3

Take the date and nut mixture and form it into whatever shape you’d like.

You can roll them into little energy balls like these:

Or flatten the mixture into a tray or pan and cut them into bars.

Tip: If you store them in the fridge they will be fresh for 6 months or longer. If you freeze them they will last for about a year.

Health and Flavor Bonus: Cover your date and nut snacks with dried shredded coconut and/or cinnamon. The shredded coconut will add so more healthy fat and fiber with a coconutty taste, and the cinnamon will add some health promoting antioxidants.

Take Them to The Next Level with This Chocolate Snack Hack

If you love chocolate, but just can’t find a healthy way to add it to your diet this snack hack is for you.

Step 1

Put half of a cup of coconut oil in a pan and melt it at low heat.

Step 2

Once the coconut oil is completely liquified stir a half cup of cacao powder into the melted oil until it is a homogenous chocolatey liquid.

Health and Flavor Bonus: Add a quarter of a teaspoon of organic ground vanilla powder to the mixture to enhance the flavor and experience the many health benefits of vanilla.

Step 3

Remove the mixture from heat and cover your date and nut snacks with the chocolate. Sprinkle cinnamon and/or dried shredded coconut on top for a health and flavor bonus.

Put them in the refrigerator to let them cool and harden. In about an hours you will have a delicious solid chocolate covering over your homemade date and nut snacks.

Before You Indulge

Moderation is and always will be a key principle in maintaining your health, and it applies just as much to healthy food as it does to unhealthy food. Just as you can overdo it on sugary beverages and refined foods and destroy your body, you can do the same with these delicious date and nut snacks.

However, dates and nuts are very satiating foods so you will feel much fuller than usual after eating them. Only two to four of these small snacks will do the trick. Enjoy!

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The Most Potent, Anti-Inflammatory Everyday Foods

According to Medical News Today, nearly 75% of all deaths in the United States are attributed to just ten causes. Eight of the ten, which include heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney disease, and even suicide, are directly linked to chronic inflammation.

In fact, by simply lowering the levels of inflammation in the body we can prevent, slow the progression of, and, in some cases, reverse each of those eight causes of death. This would leave us with influenza and accidents at the top of the list, but the severity and likelihood of influenza would be reduced with an anti-inflammatory diet.

This means that if we all adopt an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, the only thing that can get in our way of living a fulfilling and healthy life is an accident or the inevitable aging. But even the effects of aging are caused by low-grade inflammation. In many scientific papers, this process is called “inflammaging” and it is the reason why your brain and body just don’t function like they used to as you age. But this process too can be slowed down tremendously by adopting an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

What is an Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle?

Let’s keep it simple. To maintain lower levels of inflammation we need to move more, sleep better, and eat right by eating anti-inflammatory foods instead of inflammatory foods.

So let’s start with the food we should eat because just eating the right food will make it easier to eat less, move more, sleep better, and stress less.

   Related: What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

Anti-Inflammatory Foods

When you replace inflammatory foods with fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other anti-inflammatory foods you will decrease the levels of inflammation in your body, which will lead to a reduction in cravings and the amount of food you eat, an increase in your energy levels and sleep quality, and a decrease in stress and anxiety.

A food is anti-inflammatory when it contains vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other beneficial compounds that act together with our body to promote the health of our cells. Think whole foods. Although you are safe in assuming that any organic fruit, vegetable, herb, nut, or seed comes with their own anti-inflammatory effects (as long as you are not allergic and they aren’t fried, overcooked, or otherwise processed), there are some foods and beverages that, without a doubt, have potent anti-inflammatory effects that help boost cellular health, reduce aging, and reverse disease.

The 11 Most Effective Anti-Inflammatory Foods and Beverages

Sesame seeds, Flaxseeds, and Chia Seeds

Consuming seed oils on their own is strongly advised against, but when they are eaten freshly ground, seeds are filled with anti-inflammatory and health promoting compounds. For example, sesame seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds all have a high lignan content, which has protective effects against inflammation, carcinogens, and cancer.

Flaxseeds are the richest dietary source of lignan precursors, while sesame seeds offer the highest amount of phytosterols of all nuts and seeds. Phytosterols are important because they decrease blood cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer. They may also be what makes sesame seeds a potential treatment for the symptoms of osteoarthritis.

Related: Homemade, Vegan Nut Milk Recipes and More

Chia seeds contain more ALA, or Alpha-linoleic acid, than any other seed. ALA is most widely known as a plant source of EPA ad DHA for the body, but only a small percentage of it is actually converted to EPA and DHA. However, ALA still may help reduce inflammation in the colon making it a potential treatment for colitis.

It is best to consume sesame seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds ground or crushed right before consumption. Use them in dressings, dipping sauces, salads, or smoothies.

Soaked chia seeds can also be used as an egg replacement in baking recipes. However, it is important to avoid roasted seeds because they will contain rancid oils that make them pro-inflammatory.

Hibiscus Tea

Green tea is widely known as a healthy beverage, especially matcha green tea, which has more antioxidants than normal green tea. However, matcha green tea comes with around 70 mg of caffeine per cup. Although the caffeine content is lower than a cup of coffee, it is still high enough to affect the mind and body. Doses of caffeine as low as 12.5 mg can create a powerful response in the body, so if you would rather not expose yourself to the increased stress response and addictive qualities that caffeine provides, hibiscus is the best option.

Hibiscus tea is actually a better option for reducing inflammation than any other tea because it elicits much more antioxidant and anti-inflammation activity in the body, and it has no caffeine at all.

Hibiscus tea also tastes better than green tea (in my opinion). I prefer to cold brew it overnight with a little bit of lemon juice to make a refreshing drink I can sip throughout the day.

Berries

There are hundreds of types of berries in the world and all of them contain different anthocyanins, which are flavonoids responsible for their distinctive colors of red, blue, and purple. These flavonoids also have powerful anti-inflammatory effects.

Wild blueberries, for example, have been found to improve memory in older adults, which suggests that they protect the brain from inflammation. Other berries like cranberries, elderberries, currants, acai berry, goji berries, and amla fruit have different flavonoids that have potent anti-inflammatory effects on other parts of the body as well.

Amla fruit, in particular, may have the most potent anti-inflammatory benefits of all the berries, with more antioxidant activity than blueberries, 20 times more vitamin C than lemon juice, 30 times more polyphenols than red wine, and more gallic acid (a potent antioxidant) than any other fruit.

Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits, like lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruit, contain flavonoids that have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects on damaged cells. Studies have found that citrus fruits have little to no effect on healthy cells so, even in high doses, citrus flavonoids are non-toxic.

Virgin Olive Oil

Virgin olive oil contains numerous health promoting compounds. One of the most studied compounds found in virgin olive oil is a phenolic compound called oleocanthal.

Oleocanthal possesses similar anti-inflammatory properties to ibuprofen. This makes virgin olive oil a great addition to the diet to help reduce acute and chronic inflammation.

However, some of the fats in olive oil can become rancid at temperatures higher than 300 degrees Fahrenheit so it is important to consume it in its uncooked form. Put it on your salads and vegetables to add some healthy fats your meal and increase the absorption of vitamins A and K from the vegetables, while you reap the benefits of olive oil’s healing properties.

Turmeric

Most of us have probably heard about the healing properties of turmeric, and the rumors are true. Even Dr. Axe refers to it as the “most powerful herb on the planet at fighting and potentially reversing disease”.

This is because turmeric contains curcumin, a phenolic compound that is responsible for turmeric’s yellow color, and its ability to help heal cells throughout the body. So far we have found curcumin to be a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, and cancer.

Related: How to Optimize Curcumin Absorption – With Golden Milk Tea Recipe

Cloves

This spice is commonly used in pumpkin pie to give it that extra cinnamon-like kick, but you may not know that cloves have the highest antioxidant content of any spice or herb that scientists have measured.
Cloves protect the body by eradicating harmful bacteria, fungi, and yeast, including giardia and candida. Insulin resistance and obesity may be ameliorated by cloves as well.

I prefer to consume cloves in the form of tea to help relieve a sore throat and improve my energy levels. You can also add it to smoothies, hot beverages, sauces, and soups to give them some extra flavor.

Garlic (and other vegetables from the Allium family)

Garlic has been used for centuries as a prophylactic and a treatment for many diseases. It is rich in organosulfur compounds, which give it its potent flavor, taste, and healing abilities. In fact, garlic has been found to reduce the size of tumors and activate important anti-oxidant enzymes in the body that help protect our cells from cancer, infection, and disease.

Garlic, onions, leeks, and other vegetables from the Allium family all contain allicin. This is an active compound that activates anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative activities that protect us from disease, and it may even have neuroprotective effects against brain injury.

Related: Things You Should Know About Garlic – DIY, Recipes, Other Tips

Broccoli Sprouts (and other cruciferous vegetables)

Many cruciferous vegetables are filled with vitamins K and A, which are essential for our health, but have you heard of sulforaphane? This is a compound that is created when we crush or chew cruciferous vegetables, and broccoli sprouts add more of this compound to our diet than any other cruciferous vegetable.
Why does it matter? Because sulforaphane has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, which boost brain function and even protect us from the flu and environmental pollutants.

You can easily grow your own broccoli sprouts at home. If you start today, they will be ready to eat in less than a week. You can add your fresh sprouts to salads and smoothies or have them as a snack.

Coconut Oil

There is a lot of controversy surrounding saturated fats, but the truth is that they aren’t the problem that we once thought they were. The perfect example of how saturated fats can be good for you is found when we consume coconut oil.

Related: 35 Things You Could Do With Coconut Oil – From Body Care to Health to household

In a randomized, double-blind, clinical trial, coconut oil supplementation promoted a reduction in abdominal fat and kept blood lipids under control, while soybean oil caused an increase in total cholesterol and a decrease in HDL cholesterol. This is most likely due to a reduction in inflammation caused by consuming coconut oil and an increase in inflammation caused by consuming soybean oil.

Related: Powerfully Healing Raspberry Cream Smoothie Recipe

Avocado

Avocados are primarily made up of monounsaturated fatty acids – a type of fat that reverses inflammation. It may even reverse the inflammation caused by some types of saturated fats. This is because monounsaturated fatty acids activate anti-inflammatory processes in the body while being extremely stable. On the other hand, fats like omega 6s and omega 3s are highly unstable, which is why they can create harmful oxidants and increase inflammation in the body. Monounsaturated fats, however, are so stable that they only improve our health.

In fact, Monounsaturated fat is so stable that it can be heated to around 500 degrees Fahrenheit without becoming rancid, which makes it a great cooking oil.

But it’s not just all about the fat. Avocados also contain other compounds like mannoheptulose, which may help reverse obesity and diabetes.

Putting It All Together

You can literally combine each one of these anti-inflammatory foods into a delicious meal. Get your notepad ready.

Step 1

Get your cruciferous greens and put them in a bowl. They will be the base of your meal.

Step 2

Put some avocado slices, broccoli sprouts, and wild blueberries on top.

Step 3

In a small bowl, combine virgin olive oil with crushed garlic, lemon juice, chopped up turmeric slices, and apple cider vinegar.

Step 4

Grind some chia seeds, flaxseeds, or sesame seeds and put them on top of your salad. Finish it off with your olive oil based dressing.

Step 5

While you enjoy your anti-inflammatory meal, start brewing some ground clove and hibiscus tea. To give it a creamy and frothy feel, put about a tablespoon of coconut oil and blend it up when it’s finished brewing.

Related: Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included

But What about Omega 3s!?

After digging through the research, it’s hard to justify putting seafood on the list of anti-inflammatory foods. It is commonly believed that the omega 3s called DHA and EPA that are found in seafood help prevent heart disease and inflammation, but studies on omega 3 supplementation have not consistently shown this effect. The association between eating fish and a reduction in heart disease risk is better explained by the fact that people who eat more fish tend to have healthier lifestyles.

It is important to mention that even though they are not on this list, seafood and other animal products contain many different antioxidants, vitamins, and amino acids that are essential for maintaining health. But even high-quality meat and fish may still cause a small inflammatory response, which is why they didn’t make our list of anti-inflammatory foods.

Conclusion

This is by no means a comprehensive list of foods that fight inflammation. This article just contains the most well-researched anti-inflammatory foods that have been studied so far (that I could find).

The truth is that there are thousands upon thousands of different compounds in plants that influence our bodies, and we have only studied the effects of a small fraction of them.

The most important thing you can do after reading this article is to eat a wide variety of whole vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, and seeds to ensure that you are nourished. If you do this and ignore all the foods listed above you will still decrease your inflammation levels. This is because you are eating less inflammatory foods and eating more fiber, which feeds the probiotics in your gut that help protect your gut lining and produce anti-inflammatory by-products.

But if you continue eating inflammatory foods every day, they will undermine all the positive effects you can get from eating anti-inflammatory foods.

For more on what an inflammatory food is and how they cause inflammation, see Chronic Inflammation: How You Are Causing It and How You To Be Rid Of It and What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good.

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