Introduction

When you hear the word inflammation, what do you think of? For me, I think of things (typically cuts or cells) becoming red hot, swollen, visibly agitated and in discomfort. Travel with me for a second, what if inflammation was not only reserved to the concept of cuts and cells. What if, we could take the broadest sense of this term; hot, agitated in discomfort and we applied it to all dimensions of wellness. All the sudden, we can see that we can become inflamed in a multitude of ways. Inflammation is a term that’s throw around pretty widely these days, typically it pertains to the physical body. In this book I will be exploring the concept of inflammation as it relates to agitation, heat, discomfort within our mental, emotional, physical, nutritional, spiritual and social determinants of health.

The most common approach to inflammation is an understanding of what happens within the physical body. Inflammation in isolated events is essential to health and wellbeing. We fall down and we get a cut, then the body releases inflammatory markers to cue the bleeding to stop, a scab to protect the cut so that the cut can heal while the inflammation helps to protect against infection. In this case, inflammation is a good thing. However, when we have chronic exposure to inflammation, it stops being good for us and instead becomes dangerous. We will explore inflammatory markers that are related with disease processes and even prevention. The prevention of most diseases and illnesses often lies in reducing the amount of chronic exposure to inflammation. These inflammatory markers can be exasperated by lifestyle choices.

For our time together, let’s assume that inflammation is related to stress. Let’s consider that we experience stress mentally, emotionally, physically, nutritionally, socially and spiritually. Inflammation is stress bodies. During our time together we will gain an understanding of what the research is saying about inflammation in all of these realms. The reality is that when we talk about adapting resiliently what we are really discussing is how to decrease inflammation by better equipping ourselves to respond to mental, emotional, nutrition, physical and social stressors. When we are better able to respond and react then the inflammation does not get out of hand. We are then able to make lifestyle choices that are impactful to mind-body-spirit and aid in stepping into our sovereignty and optimal wellbeing.

This book seeks to understand what inflammation looks like in each arena of holistic wellbeing. We will explore what the research is showing about the characteristics of inflammation in each of these dimensions. Also, we will learn how to neutralize the inflammation and stress through tools that increase self-efficacy and actualization, allowing us to adapt to stressors with a greater sense of resiliency.

Towards the end of the book, we will look at resiliency practices. These practices can be used in solidarity or as a guide towards making holistic lifestyle changes. In the face of inflammation, it is important to consider which area is asking for your attention the most at this time. From there, it is important to grasp that all areas of holistic wellbeing are interrelated. You may be called to explore nutritional inflammation within the gut only to find that it helps ease stress and inflammation in your mind. What you do on one level you are doing on all.

I believe that we all deserve to live of life of vibrant health. In all of my years studying health, I have come to realize that inflammation in the broadest sense of the word is the determinant that keeps us from optimal functioning. Adapting Resiliently is my attempt to bridge the research and understanding of ways in which we can reduce stress and inflammation and in turn step into lives that have us feeling healthful, vibrant, connected and sovereign.

Physical Inflammation

For me the avenue towards my sacred self-began with a health crisis. Here we are discussing physical inflammation and you may be wondering how a health crisis could connect with the spiritual and sacred self. It is my hope throughout the next chapters of where and how inflammation manifests itself, you are able to see that one area of wellness impacts all. All are one and all are interconnected.

I was in not the best relationships; those where you completely discount yourself, where you turn off the inner knowing and somehow convince yourself that all you are aware of is not true. The result of this kind of relationship for me looked like eating acidic (processed + fast) foods, not sleeping, smoking cigarettes, quitting all of my creative endeavors, having reactive outbursts and frequently ignoring my thoughts and emotions. I was a mess to say the least. This went on for months if not years. I had many spiritual cues that I wasn’t in alignment with my soul’s journey. I had wandered off course to learn valuable lessons of being redirected back towards myself. It’s funny how spirit works like that, even when you make choices that deep down you know you should do differently, eventually you are course corrected no matter how you feel life should go.

The accumulation of stress got the best of me. My physical body is my barometer for when I have traveled off of my sacred course, I have symptoms that appear to get my attention about what kind of healing needs to take place. In this case it responded in grand magnitude, I had stopped paying attention to all the areas of inflammation in my life. The result was that I was in and out of hospitals, without a clear clue on what was going on, only to find out that my ovaries had veins around them that weren’t pumping blood to my heart and would instead rub on my ovary (painfully) to get my attention.

Let’s just take this moment to zoom out of what I just described into a more intuitive based perspective. The ovaries store life creation. Our veins carry nutrients and life force energy throughout our bodies. My body was telling me that my life force energy was getting stopped up on my lack of honoring what I was here to create (big surprise- I am not here to create a life where I discount my intuition and go against my highest knowing and worth). (Neither are you!) This marked the beginning of my life’s journey towards a life of vitality, healing and sacred living. My story began with my body demanding alkalinity and balance which just so happened to shift all the other areas (one by one) towards balance.

In this chapter we will explore how physical inflammation and stress showcases itself. We will look at symptoms of physical inflammation and then explore how nutrition can contribute to the inflammation felt in our body.

Symptoms

We all experience stress differently just like we all have various stressors. Physical symptoms of stress can include aches, pains, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, diarrhea, constipation, loss of sex drive, rapid heartbeat, and frequent colds (Bigham et.al., 2014). We may experience these symptoms of stress in isolated events or they may become continuous experiences. Stress showcases itself to us in the physical form so that we may be presented with an awareness of something that is happening which is causing distress. This distress can happen not only physically but also mentally, emotionally, spiritually and socially. We can equally experience these physical symptoms of stress because of any of those areas of wellbeing being unbalanced, especially when the presence of lived stressors is chronic. The physical symptoms and exposure to stress can trigger an inflammatory response in protection to the body. We respond to stress, no matter the type. Our body releases inflammatory markers to signal a physiological response.

Inflammatory Markers

When my body was in pain, or I chose nutrient depleted inflammatory foods, or I got into an argument; I felt that emotionally and mentally as well as physically. In response my body would releases a cascade of inflammatory markers to signal the need to respond to some kind of stressor.

When we experience stress or a traumatic event (no matter how ‘big’ or ‘small’) we release inflammatory markers. Remember, the true purpose of inflammatory markers is to help protect us against foreign invaders. We can release inflammatory markers that can be detected via cells, blood, organs, gastro-intestinally, neurologically as well as through our breath, saliva, and sweat.

Systematic and chronic inflammation is often measured by analyzing varying inflammatory markers. These markers can include acute-phase proteins, pro-inflammatory cytokines (Il-6), natural killer cells (NK cells), C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cells (WBC) (Speer et al., 2018, p 111). Inflammatory markers can also include erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and plasma viscosity (PV) (Watson, et. al., (2019). We are also able to express adrenaline through our sweat, cortisol through our saliva and exhale nitric oxide.

Individual and chronic responses to stressors can produce varying levels of detectable inflammatory markers. Chronic low-grade inflammation has also shown changes to the pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and IL-1 (Speer et al., 2018, p 112). Remember, cytokines are the substances released in the body which impact cellular function. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-Reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) are common inflammatory markers monitored for their relationship with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, and...