Want better anti-inflammatory diet help to turn down the heat or to help prevent it from coming on too often or too strong?
Your better anti-inflammatory diet should be delicious and doable otherwise it causes stress, and that creates more inflammation! Grab the Better Anti-Inflammatory Menu for some delicious inspiration this week and use these better nutrition anti-inflammatory menu hacks to make it easier to make those choices more often.
Make Your Total Nutrition Anti-Inflammatory:
Foods like walnuts, hemp seeds, greens, green tea, wild fish, and herbs like turmeric and ginger help promote a healthy inflammatory response. But if hemp seeds, wild salmon and sardines don’t make it onto your daily menu, better supplements could be your way to give these anti-inflammatory superheroes to your body more often. Head over to the Better Nutrition Supplement Shop to see our recommendations.
Simplify your shopping list:
- Don’t feel as though you have to adhere to the weekly suggestions to a T, remember it’s better, not perfect! Pick One grain, nut, seed, green, orange, purple vegetable each week and use it for the recipes you choose. The following week, try different ones. For example, if one of the recipes calls for quinoa (like Friday’s Cruciferi in Lemon Sauce) make a big batch for the week ahead and sub quinoa in any time a recipe calls for any grain.
- Try walnuts as your salad crouton swop, also try them as a topping for your sweet potato, in your overnight oats or smoothie bowl and try making walnut milk or walnut butter to enjoy that week as well
Use the rule “Cook once, eat twice”:
- Using carrot and/or butternut squash puree for the Fall Spice Chia Pudding? Save the rest and make a delicious anti-inflammatory soup for dinner with some salt, pepper and turmeric!
- Using almond milk for your morning smoothies? Use this nut milk for any lattes or oatmeal recipes that week.
- Using berries for a breakfast recipe? Save them as a salad topper later in the week!
Chill out:
- Your freezer is your anti-inflammatory enabling friend. Stock it with plain frozen fruits and veggies – try for organic more often – as well as wild fish, nuts and seeds.
- Make many of the menu items and freeze some of them for later.
Choose spices versus sauces, more often: Most sauces contribute more sugar and sodium than your body wants at one time, and they often are just a cover for food that doesn’t taste good alone. When you cook with spices or add them after, you get loads of nutrients without added sugar and salt.
Invest in better pantry staples: Make it easier to upgrade any recipe or even something you pick up on your way home to with better anti-inflammatory ingredients in your pantry and freezer. Quality olive oil, hemp seeds, organic berries, mustard, cinnamon, turmeric and ground ginger are great items to stock regularly.
Order better: Make better anti-inflammatory choices when you eat out too. Here are some of our suggestions for eating out on an anti-inflammatory plan:
- Italian: Choose Cioppino, a delicious seafood dish, or get grilled fish with a tomato olive sauce or olive oil lemon and a side broccolini or spinach. If you want a taste of pasta, make it an appetizer portion and enjoy it will olive oil instead of butter. Pass on the bread and start with some olives instead.
- Sushi: Soy sauce packs on the sodium, whereas real ginger supports healthy digestion and is a better anti-inflammatory diet tool. Order one of your sushi rolls without the rice (naruto) and enjoy cucumber or just the nori wrap instead.
- Starbucks: Order oatmeal better by asking for extra nuts, skip the brown sugar and say no to the dried fruit. Choose a short for coffee and tea drinks, and skip the sugar-free sweeteners. Better yet, add your own sweet with just one pack of sugar.
Thanks Ellie Erlich, dietetic student, for this post!
