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Introduction

There seems to be a diet for everything these days: one for improving heart health, one for detoxifying the body, one for bulking up, and hundreds for slimming down. What if a diet was designed to just make you feel better, relieve painful chronic illnesses, and even prevent the onset of future disease? The anti-inflammatory diet is designed to do just that.

For years researchers have studied the impact certain foods have on people’s digestive systems, but did you know they’ve also been watching the impact foods have on the muscles, bones, liver, kidneys, and other organs? What’s more, physicians and researchers have discovered links between certain foods and chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disease, depression, and more — links that may be broken with an anti-inflammatory diet. Certain foods and food groups help promote inflammation in your body, just as others — such as fish, nuts, seeds, and organic fruits and vegetables — can help you avoid such diseases.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet For Dummies, 2nd Edition, serves as an introduction to the foods you should avoid and those that you should pile up, explains how you can change your lifestyle into one that’s inflammation-free, and provides approximately 110 recipes you can incorporate into your new anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

About This Book

This book is for anyone who is suffering from one of a multitude of chronic illnesses, for those who know someone who is suffering, and for people who simply want to avoid pain and discomfort in the future.

Diet plays a key role in how you feel, well beyond the fullness you feel after a big meal. Certain foods — refined sugars, foods high in saturated fats, and some meats — can actually work against your body and contribute to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and all other chronic illnesses.

This book also is a starter guide, an introduction to signs and symptoms of a variety of chronic illnesses and conditions related to inflammation. We introduce you to the healthiest foods, herbs, and supplements, and we steer you away from foods that can — and do — cause problems. We don’t simply say, “This is bad;” we tell you why something is bad, why it’s good, how it can help, or how it can further damage your tissues and cells.

We also help you put the anti-inflammatory diet into practice. Not only does this book give you a list of the foods that are good, but it also features approximately 110 easy-to-moderate recipes for almost any occasion, all geared toward stopping inflammation in its tracks. In addition, this book offers simple exercises and yoga positions to help you further move inflammation out of your life.

This book is a reference book, so you don’t have to read everything or read everything in order. We designed it so you can jump in and read about whichever topics most interest you — or the ones that can offer you the most relief.

Most of the recipes in Part 3 aren’t only anti-inflammatory but also designed for people suffering from lactose intolerance or gluten sensitivity. In recipes not designed for those people, we suggest substitutions you can make.

Furthermore, here are a few other guidelines to keep in mind about the recipes in this book (unless otherwise stated in the recipe):

 All butter is unsalted unless otherwise stated. Margarine isn’t a suitable substitute for butter.

 All eggs are large.

 All salt is kosher.

 All dry ingredient measurements are level.

 All temperatures are Fahrenheit (see the appendix to convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius).

 All lemon and lime juice is freshly squeezed.

 All Greek yogurt is full-fat yogurt.

The exercises and yoga positions in Part 4 are good starter exercises for people who are just getting started. If you already subscribe to a workout regimen, step up the moves or push yourself just a little harder by taking a class, trying a tougher workout, or simply extending the time of your own workout.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, we made some assumptions about you, the reader:

 You aren’t a medical doctor, so you don’t need highly technical information. You’re using this book as a guide to better, healthier living.

 You or someone close to you suffers from inflammation and you’re interested in knowing ways to curb the pain and discomfort without the need for an arsenal of medication. Or you don’t want to suffer from arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, or cancer later on in life and are looking for something to keep chronic disease at bay.

 You’re interested in changing your diet, whether it’s a complete overhaul or just substituting some healthier options for some of the not-so-healthy foods in your diet now.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons are the little signposts in the margins of this book. Here’s a guide to what they signify:

This icon gives you hints and suggestions, usually to make a good thing even better.

Here we draw your attention to key ideas you should remember even after you close the book.

Whenever you change your diet or start looking at medications and supplements, you should consult your doctor for precautions. This icon serves as a reminder in cases where you should exercise extra caution and/or get a medical opinion.

You see this icon attached to information that, although interesting, isn’t vital to your understanding of the topic.

Where to Go from Here

You don’t have to read this book from cover to cover. Flip through the Table of Contents or Index to find a topic that interests you and start reading. Or, if you want, you can skip right to the recipes and find out later why they’re good for you. Want to see how your dietary supplement compares to others? Skip straight to Chapter 19. Need some good exercises to go along with your healthy habits? See Chapter 20. Trying to figure out how many servings of something you should eat on a daily or weekly basis? Check out Chapter 4.

The great thing about this book is that order doesn’t matter. If you need information in one chapter to better understand another, you can jump back and forth, and we include cross-references where appropriate to help you get the whole picture, no matter where you start.

For a quick reference point, check out the Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com. Just search for “Anti-Inflammatory Diet For Dummies Cheat Sheet” for helpful information you can refer to again and again.