A “pro-inflammatory” or “inflammatogenic” food overloads the pancreas and creates inflammation in the body.
We talk a lot about anti-inflammatory foods, less about those that promote inflammation in the body. However, it is just as important to ensure that you limit them on a daily basis. “Food causes a big digestion work for the pancreas, explains Dr Jean-Christophe Charrié. By a cascade phenomenon, when the pancreas is stressed, the vagus nerve which is connected to it (at the level of the brain, editor’s note) is also involved, which increases congestion of body tissues which produces inflammation and can promote inflammatory diseases in the long run.” So “if you are in a inflammatory flare-up phase, you have to be very very strict with this diet which will spare the pancreas.” What foods to avoid?
Acidic foods
“Acid foods likeonion and shallot stimulate the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. If we produce this acid, the pancreas will have to produce bicarbonate to digest it, which increases its work.” Other foods that provide acidity : THE vinegarTHE red meats (pork, beef, veal, lamb, horse, donkey, doe, deer, wild boar… all 4-legged animals).
Dairy products
“It’s necessary remove products that are naturally difficult to digest as the cow milknot because of its fats but its proteins which require a lot of enzymes to be digested” continues the doctor. We therefore eliminate dairy products (liquid, yogurt, cheese) including those made from sheep’s and goat’s milk. “In our modern diet, especially in France, we eat a dairy product in the morning, one at lunchtime and one in the evening, every day of the year. Through this, we worsens the inflammatory state, warns Dr. Charrié. However, we will not lack calcium if we eat less, or even more at all, because we have more than enough in the rest of the diet.” We also removes margarine.
“Remove the baguette you eat every day”
Industrial wheat flour
“Flour as it is made today creates additional inflammation in the intestine. This concerns all modern wheat flours ground very fine with mills. In the past it was made with a stone millstone, the grind was less fine but we were not in contact with the proteins present in the cell nucleus of the wheat which are difficult to digest. Eliminate the baguette that you eat every day, you will be much less bloated and you will have much fewer inflammatory problems.”
Sugar
THE sugar is at ban from an anti-inflammatory diet. “There is the problem of diabetes but beyond that, it is a metabolic work that we overload when we eat a lot of sugars. If you don’t have diabetes, you don’t see the repercussions because the pancreas works a lot but it feeds the inflammatory state.” warns the specialist. Concretely: it is necessary remove all sources of glucose (white, wholemeal, cane sugar, pastries, jam, sweeteners, royal jelly…). Without forgetting industrial products which all contain sugar. “When you read a label, foods are in order of concentration and when they are at the same concentration, they are in alphabetical order, you will see in many products that sugar is first or second” underlines Dr Charrié. “If one wants wean ourselves off sugar, you must first switch to fructose rather than eating glucose which causes an insulin boost, for example with agave syrup and dark (chestnut) honeys.”
Black tea, coffee and beer
Other Inflammatory Foods to Avoid : garlic (in excess), black tea, green, the coffeethere beerfarmed fish. “It is the repetition of a diet that promotes congestion which will aggravate the inflammation. You can take an “inflammatogenic” food just once, it will have no impact. If you start eating it three times a day, every day of the week continuously, then you enter into a problem that will nourish your body. warns Dr. Charrié.
“Bronchitis, colds, tonsillitis: for 4 days, put yourself on this diet”
This is even more important for sick people: “THE people who have spondyloarthritis, are in full flare-up of an autoimmune disease or make a cancer at an acute stage must completely eliminate glucose, dairy products, even those from goat’s and sheep’s milk, modern wheat flours, cooked fats and red meats. This is also true if you have acute bronchitis, a cold or sore throat. For 4 days, put yourself on this diet and you will be sick for less time. Once the cold has passed, either you eat again randomly and you will make recurring colds all winter, or you reduce inflammatory foods.” Last advice : “Whenever possible, eat organic, especially meats, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits.”
Thanks to Dr Jean-Christophe Charrié, author of the book “The keys to anti-cancer diet and inflammatory, infectious, autoimmune diseases…” with Maryse Souffland-Groussard and Sophie Bartczak, Editions Terre Vivante, 2017.