Anti-inflammatory diet Patient Views

I’m seeing a significant of impact from an anti-inflammatory diet and added things like fish oil, vitamin C, D3, and other supplements. (I have other health conditions that have improved because of this as well.)

Anti-inflammatory diet. Took a while but it’s really working for me.

I recently reduced gluten significantly and was astonished to see a difference in my gut health. I am trying to do high protein + anti-inflammatory and if it’s not helping, it’s at least not making things worse.

This is a good guideline I used to get started: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/anti-inflammatory-diet (I also have a histamine intolerance (MCAS) so many of these items are also avoided in a low-histamine diet which I do in tandem.) I take a bunch of supplements with the guidance of a nutritional holistic healthcare practitioner as well, and changed a lot of my cooking methods. I added a TON more fresh vegetables and low-sugar fruit, probiotics, fish oil, Vitamin C, and more.)

I avoid all of these:

• Red meat (I limit red meat to 1x week and eat fish 3-4 times a week) • Processed meat (I completely avoid these, also high in histamines) • Commercial baked goods (I completely avoid these) • Bread and pasta made with white flour (I use gluten free pasta and make my own gluten free breads) • Deep fried foods (I completely avoid fried foods with the exception of fries about once a month bc hey, I'm American) • Foods high in added sugar (Totally avoid! Sugar is the WORST for inflammation) • Sugar-sweetened beverages (I completely avoid these but I will have a coke maybe once a month) • Trans fats (I completely avoid these.)

To add to my comment--the anti inflammatory aspect is astounding. I have arthritis in most joints, but I had little use of my hands it was so bad. Several fingers were locked out stiff. I had to modify my keys to be able to turn them in a lock. I wore braces on my thumbs to be able to stand the pain. Now all my fingers wil bend, if not all the way. My thumbs are fine except they have very little strength and are collapsed from lack of cartiledge. I was looking forward to hip and knee replacement. Now I only have an occasional twinge. Not everyone has this much success, but it is possible. My theory is that if it is that strong of an anti inflammatory, it is probably relieving stress on other parts of the system too. But I was hoping for energy, and that didn't change. But the better sleep is leading to overall improvement. I am much better than I was two years ago.

I concur. Diet is the most important. A very rigorous anti-inflammatory diet like carnivore or keto will do wonders. I’ve been on keto for over a year and only recently got off it bc I now consume carbs post workout doing Beachbody Insaity, a workout I thought a couple years ago, I’d never be able to do again.

The diet doesn’t “kick in” and effect dramatic change in 1 week or 1 month. It takes months for the reduced bodily inflammation to be perceived. It wasn’t until I finally did a 80 hour fast, that things got dramatically better.

Anecdotally something I noticed about Long Covid, is I believe these anti-inflammatory protocols “gut out” the virus from wherever it hides in the body and causes short term bursts of your nasty symptoms. When I ran the fast, near the final 24 hours, I started getting heart palpitations, slight shortness of breathing, and brain fog. Every time I titrated exercise to a new intensity or volume level, I’d get a short burst of symptoms again as well.

Even though I feel amazing these days, as you pointed out, everything will take a turn for the worst if I go eat chipotle or pizza or anything refined carbs.

I had good success with this and doing paleo or eating an anti inflammatory diet. Not I whole lot that I eat now other than white meats, berries, eggs and avocados.

When I decided to focus on my gut health, I worked with a holistic nutritionist informed by the Medical Medium approach. I removed all the foods listed as problematic for chronic illness at once and started incorporating morning celery juice, fruit or fruit smoothies, salads for lunch, and plant-based meals for dinner. However, I crashed hard and felt awful. I worried that my diet was too restrictive, so I consulted a dietitian who advised me to include 30 grams of protein in each meal. Once I made that adjustment, everything clicked. After a few weeks, I had more energy, my mood was more balanced, and my bloating and migraines improved. No cures here, but we are learning more and more that the root of most illness is inflammation so sticking to this anti-inflammatory regimen helps me maintain my baseline. Even a single slice of pizza makes me bloat like the Michelin man and I can crash for days after.

I've been taking mounjaro in the lower doses weekly since February. I started it because of the food noise and food addiction plus obesity issues etc. My health issues are complicated (chronic fatigue for last 20 years, slow thyroid and insulin resistance hindering weightloss etc, allergies, menopause, osteoarthritis,and an undiagnosed connective tissue disorder, Also potentially ADHD, brain fog etc).

Covid came along and afterwards everything got a little bit worse - more fatigue, brain fog, histamine reactions, and possibly pots (when I went from sitting to standing my pulse would shoot up etc). I feel like my symptoms weren't extreme in terms of how much they affected me (especially when compared to others I know who have long Covid) but that might be because I was feeling pretty bad already.

It's been like this for years mostly with some okayish days on and off.

Within a few weeks after taking mounjaro, I gradually started feeling better overall, less overall pain, less brain fog, less fatigue and this was with minimal weightloss. It lowered my levels of inflammation. Not dramatically but enough for me to not be in as much pain as before and improved my mobility. *The lack of food noise also freed up so much space in my brain.

I also started hrt a few months later and this also helped with fatigue and brain fog.

I've cleaned up my diet to cut out inflammatory foods as much as possible and am now well enough to be able to use an exercise bike (starting slowly to avoid a relapse).

I'm in a much better place than before and mounjaro kick started it off for me and I believe it's working like an anti-inflammatory med.

Game changer. Highly recommend. Better diet reduces inflammation which reduces the strain on the over active immune responses. Would almost go as far as to say diet more important than medication. I have tried anti histamine diet which is quite similar. If you commit you definitely won’t regret it - good luck xxx