The Tea with Tina
The Tea with Tina is going to be your new favorite weekly chit-chat that will feel like a good, juicy sit-down with your BFF. This podcast isn't your average (and boring) radio talk show-styled podcast. We dig deep, get personal, and have lots of fun along the way. Hear some relatable stories and a different perspective on various topics from health and fitness to pop culture. I am Tina Wieland, a certified fitness trainer and nutrition coach. Grab your caffeinated drink of choice, get comfortable, and be ready to hear the TEA.
The Tea with Tina
232 | Reducing Inflammation: Tips to Live Your Healthiest Life
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Ever wondered how to manage inflammation effectively and lead a healthier life? Join me, Tina, on Tea with Tina as I share my personal journey with Hashimoto's and the dual role of inflammation in our bodies. We explore how everyday elements like processed foods, stress, and lack of sleep can turn healing inflammation into a chronic issue, causing joint pain and fatigue. Discover the life-changing strategies that have helped me, such as the importance of quality rest for reducing inflammation, and how foundational lifestyle changes can make a big difference in maintaining overall health.
Uncover the powerful benefits of intermittent fasting, antioxidant-rich dark leafy greens, and the calming practices of yoga and meditation. I'll guide you through setting an eating window to combat excessive snacking and suggest ways to seamlessly integrate greens into your daily meals. We’ll also touch on the impact of alcohol consumption and promote the idea that personalized strategies are key, as everyone's journey to reducing inflammation is unique. This episode is filled with insights and tips designed to empower you to find what works best for you, aiming for a life with less inflammation and enhanced well-being. Don’t forget to support the show with a review and share this valuable information with those who might benefit!
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Welcome to the Tea with Tina, your favorite podcast, where we talk all things health, fitness, lifestyle and maybe a little bit of tea gets spilled.
Speaker 2:We chat all about this in a super casual environment, so grab your beverage of choice, sit back, relax and enjoy.
Speaker 1:relax and enjoy.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, popping in for another episode of the Tea with Tina podcast. Today we're going to talk about a topic that is near and dear to my heart and that is inflammation. I don't feel like it gets talked about a lot and people don't necessarily realize the role of inflammation in their lives and what it means. And as somebody who has an autoimmune disorder, hashimoto's inflammation plays a big role in my life and I've experienced the positives and the negatives of it. And I'm going to show you today some ways that you can reduce inflammation in your life. All right, so let's dive in. All right, so inflammation Some inflammation can be good.
Speaker 2:Let me say that Inflammation is required for healing, like when you get a cut, when it gets red and puffy, that is like inflammation, right. Or after we work out, when our muscles are sore, that is inflammation and it's required to heal in certain instances. So don't eliminate it completely because it is good. But where it becomes a problem is if you have too much inflammation, which it can come from so many sources, you know processed foods, especially if you have intolerances, high stress, too much working out with not enough recovery. There's a lot of different ways that this can be an issue. And when you have too much inflammation and your body basically can't keep up, that's when we feel the risk factors Things like arthritis, joint pain, risk factors. Things like arthritis, joint pain, puffiness, feeling run down, you're more likely to get injured. It kind of sets the baseline to be more prone to different ailments and diseases. And I believe too much inflammation is at the root of a lot of things. Right and again, like I told you in the intro, here was I have Hashimoto's and with any autoimmune disorder the source of it is usually inflammation Because, like, what happens is they still don't know why this happens, but they say, like people at least with Hashimoto's, because I've done some research we might have a certain protein in our body and our cells will look at it and they'll go, ooh, it'll attach to like things in our body and I'll go, ooh, that's an enemy, we got to attack it.
Speaker 2:So autoimmune is where your body attacks itself and it can attack different things like MS. It goes for your nervous system or different parts of your body. There's all kinds of different ones. There's ones that attack your joints, your vascular system. All that stuff. Mine attacks my thyroid and that creates a lot of inflammation Because just picture little cells in your body pretty much picking away at, like, my thyroid. That would create like a lot of inflammation. Because what's your body's natural reaction? Oh, I'm getting injured, I need to try to repair myself. So it's kind of like you're in this infinite loop of like oh my god, I'm my thyroid's getting eating away. Let me try to repair and regenerate myself, and it's just non-stop.
Speaker 2:And when that's not treated, what happens is we get that excess inflammation which causes flare-ups. You may have heard flare-ups people with arthritis that's a common thing, but a lot of people with autoimmune diseases. You get flare-ups. And I've noticed for me, if I have something that's particularly stressful whether I have mental stress, whether I worked out a little bit harder than I was used to, maybe I ate a little bit crappier and maybe it was a combination of all those things I will get what is called a flare-up, where I have a lot more inflammation in my body and my body's just not as efficient at cleaning that inflammation out. So I'll feel like crap, that inflammation out. So I'll feel like crap. And again, this can happen to everyday people as well. Sorry, I got distracted. My cat's staring at the floor and I'm trying to decide what he's staring at. If there's like a bug, I don't know, um man, he's really looking at like nothing. But this can happen to everyday people as well. Like I said, if we put our bodies under all this stress through doing a ton of crazy workouts, eating a ton of processed foods, drinking drinking is inflammatory drinking alcohol, all these things and then we're not recovering to allow our body to kind of clear out all that gunk, it can have some bad side effects. So again, we're going to dive into ways to reduce inflammation. These are really simple, easy ways, but it makes a world of a difference. All right, so one get enough sleep, okay.
Speaker 2:When you don't get the sleep you need, your body may kick inflammation up a notch. Right, because think about, think about sleep is literally your time for your body to rest. It goes into this low level mode, like low power mode, and since you're not doing anything, it's a time to organize all the thoughts in your brain. You know it's cleaning your brain off. It's washing your brain. It's repairing things, because during the day you're too busy trying to stay alive and do all these other functions, so it's energy is on other stuff. It can't do the repairing stuff unless you're sleeping. So people who only sleep and say I'll sleep when I'm dead and they get four hours of sleep and it's crappy. Sleep like your recovery is garbage. So you're waking up maybe at 50% efficiency, where if you got eight hours of well rested sleep throughout the night, you know you might wake up at 90% efficiency, right? So and you kind of keep in that cycle and you get worn down over time, which is why sleep is so important.
Speaker 2:Now, I understand some of you may listening, may have little ones at home or a dog or something that wakes you up in the middle of the night. Uh, maybe you have bladder issues, I recommend. Or maybe you have racing thoughts. I recommend getting to the root of the problem. Like babies, you can't always do much. Maybe you do shifts with a spouse or, um, you know, try to get help with family members or a sitter or something, and sometimes that's not possible either. I 100% understand that, um, and that might just be a season of your life where you are lacking some sleep, but I hope you get the help and support that you need through that time. Um, some people are shift workers. I get that. You guys are nurses, you guys work crazy hours and you know you try to get the best sleep that you can. Uh, or you catch up on your sleep on your off days. So I understand there's some of those outliers, but for the average person, who can get eight hours of sleep throughout the night, I encourage you to work on your sleep hygiene.
Speaker 2:Everybody's reason for lack of sleep is different. It could be the quality of your bed or your pillows. Maybe you need blackout curtains, maybe you need a mask or white noise or a fan in your room. Maybe you need to unwind at the end of the night to clear out your brain. There's so many resources, so I encourage you to kind of investigate if you aren't sleeping throughout the night. Throughout the night, um, why? What is my reason for not sleeping well throughout the night? And nip it in the butt and try to improve upon that, because when you get good sleep, I put sleep above everything else. Um, I'm a sloth. I've always slept like 9 to 11 hours a night, with the thyroid issue being better. I'm closer to 8 hours now, which is good, but I love my sleep and I will sleep in when I need to. Um, and I will go to bed early and put things off if it doesn't need to absolutely be done to get sleep, because I just love it so much and I cannot function when I have not a lot of sleep. It really ruins everything for me. So I'm like no, thank you. Okay.
Speaker 2:Another thing, number two go for a stroll. So go for a walk. I love this. It's the easiest thing. You get fresh air. They say 20 minutes of time outside, um mimics like the average depression medication. Uh, you know it's crazy. It's great for clearing your mind. I know, if I have a jumbled mind when I go for a walk, it's like my thoughts kind of naturally sort themselves out. When you're in nature, we have this caveman response that, like when birds are chirping and we smell like the leaves and everything, our immune system and our nervous system relaxes because it knows oh, we're safe. We hear birds chirping, there's not a predator around, we're in a relaxed state. So it's kind of cool that those things happen.
Speaker 2:And, of course, you're getting exercise, you're getting steps. You can bring your furry friend along cat or dog, so you can listen to a podcast, listen to some music, just listen to the sounds of nature. It's fantastic. Maybe bring a friend along, see what you can do. It doesn't have to be a super long walk. Start with five or ten minutes around your neighborhood. Maybe you'll build up to that. I know sometimes I only have 15, 20 minutes to get a walk in and sometimes I'm doing two hours as a treat to myself if I just really want to go for it. It just, you know, depends. There's no right or wrong. But you know, I've never seen a downside to walking. Okay, so sleep and walking.
Speaker 2:Number three Spice you may have heard of this studies on turmeric, rosemary, cinnamon, cumin and ginger. So they may slow down processes in your body that leads to inflammation, dial up the flavors in your dishes and give your health a boost by trying out some of these spices. So you know, big do have supplements and I don't think you really need that. Like you can try taking like a turmeric supplement if you want. Like I've seen that probably is the most common but the easiest ways to spice up your food.
Speaker 2:Y'all anybody who says cooking at home sucks y'all aren't using spices and spices are like zero calories and it adds a ton of flavor like load up. I know when my recipes are like half a teaspoon, excuse me, um, half a teaspoon, I'm like, screw you guys. I'm going to like triple that and add flavor, because if I always follow the recipe it's bland as hell. So I'm just going to put in my own flavors, spice it up. So play around with these things. I know they have tea like ginger tea, turmeric tea.
Speaker 2:Obviously, if you do like a lot of Asian food, ginger is at the source and that can be really good. But play around with it, you know, have some fun with it. And yes, spices are honestly really great and you can even have a little spice garden in your house, a little windowsill spice garden. Those are fun. I want to have one for um for the winter, because I had basil. My cilantro didn't do very well. Was it cilantro? I don't know it was, it was weird. But my basil did fantastic and let me tell you, putting fresh basil into my dishes was like game-changing um, I loved it. I highly recommend. Okay, and you can actually get little plants from the store too. Like the grocery store, they sell them like pre-ready to go, so you don't have to like start them from a seed and just like have your little garden right.
Speaker 2:Next we have fasting. So this one's a little interesting. Research shows that intermittent fasting may be more than just a fad. Eating only during a fixed window of time each day can have anti-inflammatory effects. Long-lasting inflammation can raise your risk for conditions including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. There are many ways to follow this eating plan. A common method involves eating between 10 am and 6 pm daily.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you that I probably indirectly fast depending on what time of day I eat. For a little bit there, I would eat dinner at like 3 pm because of my schedule and I've noticed for me personally, eating late at night doesn't really affect me. Like I don't think I have any adverse effects. But I will say that if I eat earlier and later I do tend to feel better than if I didn didn't. But I don't notice any negative effects from eating late, other than like you wake up and you're like I can feel my food sitting in my stomach. But that's really about it. But I do prefer the lighter dinners. It's more of like a mindset thing, because growing up I've always like dinner was my biggest meal. We would eat late because my dad would get home late and it's just ingrained in me. So I really have to like think about it late and it's just ingrained in me so I really have to like think about it to undo it. But so I kind of indirectly fast.
Speaker 2:I think they say like an 8 to 12 hour window, so think about when you start and stop eating. I think it's great to try to intermittent fast if you're like a snacker, because you have a set cutoff point so you can say no more food after this time. And I could see how that fasting would reduce inflammation. In the fact of if you are a snacker or you know what I mean you're eating inflammatory foods, it kind of revs up that process in your body multiple times throughout the day, whereas if you have a period where you're not eating anything, it gives your body a chance to kind of like chill for a little bit. So I think that's probably where that originates. It's fasting is not magical by any means, but I think that's like the science behind it, right. So we have that.
Speaker 2:Then we have eat your greens. Stock up on salad fixings. Greens such as collards, broccoli, kale and spinach have antioxidants and other compounds that can help reduce inflammation and keep day-to-day damage to your cells at a minimum. The US Department of Agriculture recommends that women eat at least a cup and a half of dark green vegetables every week. Men ought to eat too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, leafy greens, people who are prone to kidney stones and calcium buildup just be aware, the greens might have a little too much of that for you. But for everybody else who is normal sorry, I'm not saying you're not normal, but you know the average person with no issues yeah, leafy greens are great, so think about how you can add it. Are you having a sandwich or a wrap and you could throw some greens in there? Maybe you bake some down or fry some down for like an omelet or an egg bake. I know I throw like spinach and stuff often into like dishes where I can just throw it in because it doesn't alter the taste. Like spaghetti and stuff is a great way to just mix it in there. Mix it in if you're cooking up meat. You know you can make kale chips. You can throw it in a smoothie. You can make kale chips. You can throw it in a smoothie. You can do salads. There's so many great ways to incorporate greens in little ways throughout your day.
Speaker 2:Okay, then we have try yoga and meditation. This one has been game changing for me. The ancient Indian practice focuses on breathing. It also helps lower levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol. When yoga is a regular part of your routine, you may also feel less depressed, less anxious and have fewer symptoms of inflammation, such as high cholesterol and unstable blood sugar levels. Yes, and let me tell you this too, yoga and meditation is not magic either, but I believe it is a journey, mindset-wise.
Speaker 2:If you feel like you can't sit still during yoga, you need yoga. The whole point of yoga is which there's different types, but a lot of points of yoga and meditation is to force you to live in the present moment, experience the present moment and just sit with whatever you're experiencing. You know, if you're like, if you're uncomfortable, sit in it and experience it. If you're having a great time, sit in it, experience it. Don't worry about the future, don't think about the past, simply be in the present moment. And it's a great skill that teaches you to center yourself and bring things back, and eventually, when you get used to it, you learn how to kind of relax and focus on your breathing. It's great, like I said, to clear your mind. For those of you who can't sleep at night, this would be perfect. You can't shut your brain off. And then the moving elements of yoga are great. It helps with your flexibility, improves blood flow, it's gentle, low impact. So lots of great things for yoga and meditation. And again, it's a journey. You know it might be trial and error to figure out what you like. I know I've done yoga quite a few times and I never really liked it because it was more mainstream, like trendy yoga. But when I found a legitimate yoga studio that taught like the actual practices, I really enjoyed that space and I really fell in love with yoga that way.
Speaker 2:Next we have limit alcohol. That one's always on there. Right Limit alcohol. A glass of wine with dinner isn't going to do much harm. But too much alcohol can raise toxin levels in your body. Like alcohol is a toxin. Just want to let you know that it's a poison. Your body rejects alcohol. There are no nutritional benefits of alcohol itself. Now there might be some things like in addition to the alcohol. Now there might be some things like in addition to the alcohol, like how they say, oh wine, it's good for you, and all that stuff. Like it's not the alcohol itself, it's like other parts of the drink, but it's terrible for you. And I don't.
Speaker 2:I'm not like sober completely, I don't like abstain from alcohol, but I'm somebody who literally has it a handful of times. Like I will usually just have it with a nice dinner out if I want like a drink to pair with my stuff, or if it's maybe a social outing it's rare that or I'm at a winery, but it's rare that you'll see me drinking alcohol at home or regularly. But inflammation can damage tissues and organs. If you drink it all, do so in moderation. According to the CDC, it's no more than one drink a day for women and two for men. It still kind of baffles me that we're still allowed like one drink a day Because that seems like excessive. That'd be like them saying it's okay to have like one piece of cake a day, like I don't know, like it just if you want to lose weight. Like it just seems excessive to me. But if you want to lose weight, like it just seems excessive to me. But you know alcohol is still there. Just again, in moderation.
Speaker 2:Think about how you can make things better. Can you do a lower calorie, lower sugar option? If you normally have two or three drinks, can we cut down to one or two. Like you, limit the amount, the amount of times a week. You know, just try to focus on little steps to improve. I actually did a whole podcast episode on alcohol. It's towards the beginning. I did it in the beginning. I think it's in the double digits. On the new podcast website, though, you can search episodes, or wherever you're listening, you usually search. So just search alcohol and it should pop up for you. All right, if you want to learn more about that, I dive into the facts of alcohol and fitness.
Speaker 2:Next, we have upgrade your diet. Yes, refined carbohydrates, red meats and fried foods raise inflammation in your body. Swap out unhealthy foods for inflammation-fighting I hate to say unhealthy, I'm going to say less nutrient-dense For inflammation-fighting fruits, vegetables, fighting fruits vegetables, nuts, beans and fish. Plan your menu around foods such as tomatoes, blueberries, almonds, walnuts, lentils and salmon, so these tend to be more nutrient dense, while the processed foods are often stripped of their nutrients. They have, like, added junk in them, so you're not going to get as much bang for your buck. That's, that's the point of that. So if you have more of the good stuff and eat the other stuff in moderation like I still eat red meat, but I'll do like grass fed beef, I'll do ground bison, I use lamb. I'm still using chicken salmon, you know, lean meats when I can, but I don't deprive myself completely. And I do believe that if you have a solid base where you're eating very healthy foods, as long as you don't have any medical restrictions, when you do eat the quote-unquote bad foods, the less nutrient dense, I think your body can handle the inflammation better, because it's more efficient, it's not overloaded. You're just giving it in small doses. Right, we have a couple more here, guys.
Speaker 2:Next, we have lose weight. If you've got a few pounds to lose, getting rid of them could ease inflammation. Excess weight, on the other hand, can make it worse. That's a part of the reason. Obesity and overweight are risk factors for so many health conditions. Right, it's not that? Oh my god, if you're overweight, you're automatically going to get these things, but it just increases inflammation in your body and it hires your risk of getting other things.
Speaker 2:Talk to your doctor about how you can get into a weight range that's healthy for you. Yeah, because so many of us like to throw a number out there and be like, oh, I just need to do this. But you know, I would say, if you have at least that 5 to 10 pounds plus to lose. Making these changes that we're talking about today will put you on the right path. Going for walks, improving your diet, getting better sleep, these things are going to naturally help bring your body to a healthier weight. So you know, making those small changes and seeing what your body does, I think is beneficial. And then you can always go from there, because a lot of us, you know, we say we want to lose 20 pounds, but maybe when we lose 10, we've realized that's where we want to be right. So it's always a journey. And of course, you can always ask your doctor, because, although they might use the BMI chart, which isn't always 100% accurate.
Speaker 2:But then we have green tea. If a cup of joe is your morning habit, try green tea instead. It's packed with compounds known as polyphenols that fight off free radicals. These molecules can promote inflammation in your body. You don't have to kick your coffee habit all together. Consider swapping out one cup of wheat for the green stuff. Yeah, maybe on an off day or day you're trying to unwind or relax, you can treat yourself to some green tea. I've been trying to get into the tea realm. I was so anti-tea for a long time because I don't like the taste, but I'm getting better with it.
Speaker 2:And then the last one stop smoking. Okay, I hope a lot of you guys don't smoke. But smoking comes with a laundry list of harmful effects. Higher levels of inflammation is one of them. Decide to quit and pick a day to do it. You don't have to go at it alone. Your doctor can come up with a plan to help you kick the habit. They have so many methods, whether it's like patches, different therapies, hypnosis there's all kinds of stuff you can do to kind of get you through that to help kick the habit. I know some people go cold turkey and they're cool with it. Others need a little bit more help. But yes, just like it should be a given.
Speaker 2:Smoking is not good. I know it is. It can be very addicting, especially if you grew up in an era where it was trendy and cool. They didn't have the um. You know the stigma around it. I know my mom started smoking when she was 14 years old because everybody started with smoking and it was just what they did. Even me growing up, I grew up with their. When I was very little they had smoking sections in restaurants, which is crazy to think about now, and we're just like sitting there in the smoking section like getting blasted with a secondhand smoke, right. So it's pretty crazy, but we evolve as a society, we get better, we learn, research comes out, okay.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's going to wrap up the list of how to reduce inflammation, and it may surprise you of how simple these things are. Not saying that they're necessarily easy to do, but they're simple. The basics work. The basics work. Stick with the basics, start there, build a strong foundation and everybody's unique.
Speaker 2:You know, if you find that you need one particular thing to focus on more than do that, like I know me personally with my Hashimoto's, I would say managing my work output, my exercise output and making sure I'm not overdoing it is important for me and stress management. Those would probably be the two big ones. My cat's laying on my laptop dude, you're gonna break it but those are probably the two big ones for me. But for somebody else it might be food related or they need to stretch and move more. So you know, it all comes down to the individual, but I hope you found this helpful. I hope it helps you live a less inflammation filled life so you can feel your best. And if you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to share it with somebody you know, or you can just leave me a review show the support for the show. It means a lot to me and I'll chat with you guys next time. Bye.
