Most of us take our health for granted. We don’t hurt. Therefore nothing is wrong with us. Almost every disease begins with chronic low-level inflammation. This is at the cellular level. We can’t feel it. Most of the time we can’t even measure it. However, left alone for years, the inflammation grows and becomes a disease or health problem.
I’ve recommended for years for people to get a c-reactive protein test to determine the level of inflammation in the body. When the inflammatory level rises high enough, c-reactive protein is formed. The more inflammation you have, the higher the level of c-reactive protein in the body.
If nothing is hurting in your life right now, why not consider getting a baseline c-reactive protein test. If it is near zero, then you are doing things right in your lifestyle. If it is high (above 3.0 mg/L), then there are things you can do. I did a quick price check on this test. The lowest price for this test that I found with a Google test was $12.95.
Whether your test result is normal or high, there are lifestyle things you can do to keep your c-reactive protein low or non-existent. The first is to eat foods high in antioxidants (fruits and vegetables). Remove the carbohydrates and refined vegetable oils from your diet.
The common sense things also apply – losing weight (if overweight), quitting smoking (if you smoke), exercising daily, and relieving stress daily. A lot of people rely on multi-vitamins and multi-minerals to supplement their daily eating. If you are eating correctly, you should be able to obtain over 90% of the vitamins and minerals you need.
I find that I lack two required daily vitamins to supplement my daily needs fully. They are vitamin E (all eight tocopherols and tocotrienols) and vitamin K2 (including both the MK4 and MK7 menaquinones). Keep your intake of omega-6 fatty acids lower than your omega-3 fatty acids. Our American diet has excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. When your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio exceeds 4:1, the omega-6 fatty acid becomes inflammatory.
Another omega fatty acid to consider is omega-7 fatty acid. Natural sources include salmon, anchovy, olive oil, and macadamia oil. Two compounds can shut down low-level cellular inflammation without causing harm. One is gamma mangostin (from the mangosteen fruit). The other is curcumin. Curcumin is not bioavailable by itself. Add black pepper extract (piperine), and the bioavailability goes off the chart.
You may feel fine and think you are doing everything right in your lifestyle choices. What would it hurt you (other than your time and a few bucks) to know for sure that you are doing a great job of fighting disease from starting?