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Anti-inflammatory vs Low carb diets

Cocosilk

Well-Known Member
Messages
818
Location
Australia
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
Just wondering if anyone follows the anti-inflammatory diet and has success in controlling their blood sugar as well as reducing inflammation (c-reactive protein tests show that I think).
I've been eating low carb for year or more now but can't tame this dermatitis on my hands without steroid creams. I'm curious about the anti-inflammatory diet after a friend has been on it a few months for arthritis in her back due to an old injury for which she has had a couple of operations. She has lost weight and says her back pain has almost resolved. She has never had diabetes though so not sure how the diet suits those with blood sugar issues but I've read it can help. Just wondering if skipping red meat is really necessary. Are grain-fed animals the problem or is it red meat in general. If so, why is it inflammatory?

Has anyone tried both low carb and anti-inflammatory diets?
 
A quick google seems to show a lot of foods T2s should avoid.

Quite often, weight loss improves joint pains.
 
For me low carb is anti-flammatory
Cutting out all grains, most fruit and all seed oils, my joints feel like I’m in my 20s again. Also I don’t have migraines anymore
I did lose some weight but still considered over weight so it not just that.
 
Low carb and gluten free is anti inflammatory for me.
When I went carnivore, and later tried reintroducing veg occasionally it was a fascinating learning curve to discover which particular veg trigger joint flare ups.

I believe I went into this in detail on one of your other anti-inflammation threads, so I won’t repeat myself here.
 
I would have thought that a low carb diet based on 'real' food i.e. food should reduce crp. All the foods listed here to be avoided on an anti inflammatory diet, would not feature in such a diet:
  • processed meats.
  • sugary drinks.
  • trans fats, found in fried foods.
  • white bread.
  • white pasta.
  • gluten.
  • soybean oil and vegetable oil.
  • processed snack foods, such as chips and crackers.
Conversely on an anti inflammatory diet you'd focus on omega 3s and foods hgh in vit c and other anti oxidants and healthy fats e.g. the mediterranean diet but could easily focus on veg rather than fruit to get these vitamins plus the odd glass of red wine and dark chocolate. YOu are not missing out any anti inflammatory nutrients by avoiding bread, rice or pasta!
Other factors could also play in to your high levels of crp e.g. chronic sleep deprivation and stress to living in a polluted environment to having a leaky gut that at some point triggered the inflammation in the first place. And also if you have any other inflammatory condition e.g. lupus, ra then the Crp will be a marker of that.
 
One of the markers for inflammation is c reactive protein. The standard test is CRP and the more sensitive is HS-CRP.

I believe a well formulated mainly whole food low carb ketogenic or if required carnivore diet can induce low inflammation. I know on this site @Jim Lahey has a measure under 1 and that mine is 0.3, there are other anecdotes on here but I can't recall. Jim is mostly carnivorous and I am heavy meat Keto'ish (some days full carnivore). Kelly Hogan a full carnivore also is at 0.5 for HS-CRP.

Basically I would suggest that if inflammation is not improving on low carb, it might be prudent to do some elimination, one item area at a time, perhaps starting with dairy if you consume that (dairy works for me, but some have issues with cow dairy (can try goat as an alternative)).
 
@Mbaker yes indeed my hs-CRP was 0.97. Well remembered! Mind you, that was pre-carnivore and also quite some time ago. Since then I’ve become increasingly fastidious and dedicated to deep nutrition, so I would imagine the measurement would now be lower. Of course you can never tell without testing, so it remains to be seen. Along with a HOMA-IR of 0.3, I was definitely happy at the time. This year I’m sure I’ll do a repeat test.
 
What is deep nutrition? My husband has arthritis and would benefit from help with inflammation. He already low carbs.
 
My last HS-CRP was 0.28.

I'm low carb (not striving for keto, although may be sometimes), and strictly gluten-free.
 
lucylocket61 said:
What is deep nutrition?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it has any real meaning beyond the individual. To me it means focussing on absolute nutrition. Avoiding literally everything that I believe to be suboptimal. No treats or cheat days. Ever. I won't rattle off a list of examples of foods I seek or avoid, because it's subjective and would doubtless draw at least some disagreement.

Suffice to say - I now take a daily D3 supplement capsule during the winter months, but I took the time to source capsules that use olive oil as the carrier instead of nasty sunflower oil. I fully expect that to seem like overkill to most, but it's just how I roll
 
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Deep-N...30DFT1BkSH11221601A7&&ipRedirectOverride=true

This is the lady who nutritionally coached a big sports team in the US and coined the phrase for her cookbook but from memlory your definition seems fair! I think it refers to a time in our past when foods had a denser nutritional value because they were organic and not grown in depleted soil. She suggests we are all a bit shorter and have bad jaws etc. due to eating sub optimally from the dawn of agriculture.
 

Thanks Nicole. Yes I am already aware of that book but haven't yet read it. I guess subconsciously the title sounds good to me so I latched onto it. I will read/listen to it eventually but it's bloomin' expensive as books go.
 
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Were nightshades an issue for you?

One thing I remember you saying is that it can take 3 days for a reaction to happen. And I also didn't know the itching ear canals was an allergy thing too.
 

I think sleep deprivation is one of my issue this past 5 years since I had kids, but I've had dermatitis for over 20 years and even though I've been off the grains, it still flares up every few days. Could be dairy as well though. I still drink a bit of goat's milk, in cups of tea, and have cow's cream. Also cheese and yoghurt. I'd probably find it harder to give up dairy than meat in a way. I tried replacing milk with coconut milk. I managed for a week. Probably not long enough to make a difference. I just feel sad if I can't have a sip of goat's milk when I feel like it, or have it in a cup of tea. Other "milks" just don't cut it.

But I was wondering why red meat is on the 'to avoid' list on the anti-inflammatory diet if so many people here eat a lot of meat and find low carb is anti-inflammatory.
 
Cocosilk said:
But I was wondering why red meat is on the 'to avoid' list on the anti-inflammatory diet if so many people here eat a lot of meat and find low carb is anti-inflammatory.
Click to expand...
Do you have a link to this "anti inflammatory diet".. I've never heard of it..
Edit to add it would be quite useful to know exactly what we are discussing.
 

I tried avoiding milk for a week (I'd been drinking mostly goat's milk). I only lasted a week and then I cracked.. It was hard enough giving up my sweet-tooth habits. I think I'd have to find some hard evidence that it's specifically the dairy that is causing me trouble. But I guess I'll have to be motivated enough to avoid it for a longer period first to find out.. (Do I have the strength??) It's easier with the sugar thing and seeing your blood sugar numbers if you slip up. I don't have a way to see how dairy products effect me on a meal to meal basis so it's easy to stay in denial that it might be the problem... I just love my goat's milk... So many food relationships are destroyed by ill health, aren't they? I wish we didn't live in such a world that tempts us to eat them in the first place.
 
bulkbiker said:
Do you have a link to this "anti inflammatory diet".. I've never heard of it..
Edit to add it would be quite useful to know exactly what we are discussing.
Click to expand...

There are a number of links but here's one https://www.arthritis.org/health-we...tion/anti-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory-diet

and another https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320233.php#what-is-an-anti-inflammatory-diet

They promote legumes and I've just been listening to Paul Mason talk about lectins. Not sure how meat can be worse for you than legumes, vegetables and grains that contain lectins and/or gluten.

I'll let you read the links. I think there is potential for too many carbs on the Mediterranean diet, but I guess you could do a version that is based around fish and low carb vegetables. I kind of feel hungry thinking about it though...
 

I wondered if it would be all the usual suspects.. the non existent "med" diet etc and yes it was.

The health wash that fruit especially has been given based on very little actual evidence is just parroted out as per usual.. (watch this from Gary Fettke
)

Its all pretty much standard "Eatwell Guide" stuff that every single charity or do-gooder site seems wedded to and probably has little if any real worth.

Anyone who switched from overly processed pap to "real" food ( by which I mean single ingredient freshly prepped foodstuffs will see a benefit). If you then look at what man is designed to eat - meat, fish, eggs, green veg then it leads automatically to a ketogenic way of eating. I really can't see why this is so hard for anyone to grasp. The benefits to health should by now be apparent to all.
 
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