Looking for calorie-dense anti-inflammatory foods
Q. Recently I've become very interested in consuming more foods that have an anti inflammatory effect. This website is a great place to find such information. However, I'm having a hard time. My current caloric need is between 4000 and 4500 calories per day and in order to achieve this, I eat a lot of oatmeal and pastas. I also include a lot of fruit and vegetables. However, it seems like the large amount of fruits and grains I consume make it nearly impossible to achieve an anti-inflammatory diet. Do you have any advice for any anti-inflammatory, calorically-dense foods I could substitute? Thanks.
A. You're right: Grains and fruits are two groups of foods that, although wholesome, are counted as inflammatory, mostly because of the high carbohydrate content. That doesn't mean that you should eliminate these foods from your diet. Just take care to balance their effects by consuming plenty of anti-inflammatory foods.
Olive oil and olives, salmon and other oily fish, flax seeds, avocadoes, almonds and brazil nuts are all calorie-dense foods that are also anti-inflammatory. Including foods like spinach, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, berries, garlic, onions, chili peppers, ginger, and turmeric (e.g., curry powder) will also help. Although these foods are low in calories, they are all highly anti-inflammatory.
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Posted by: Jay | Dec 5, 2008 5:14:50 AM
I think Monica gave some good advice.
It depends on the reason you're looking to get anti-inflammatory foods. If it's for something like IBD, then eating grains and fruit would be a nasty combo. Bacteria will ferment the grains, feeding on the fructose in the fruit, and will produce byproducts such as acetic acid, lactic acid, and CO2, which will cause gas and a more acidic state in your digestive system. When I needed anti-inflammatory effect when I was sick, I used to go for aloe(potent anti-inflammatory), ginger(stimulating), and fennel seed(soothing). The best advice I can give you is to address the cause of you're problems instead of the symptoms. Eliminating all grains, dairy, and meat would most likely heal up any degenerative disorder you may currently be suffering from.
Posted by: Sarah | Nov 23, 2008 6:28:47 PM
Thank you so much for the clarification re: which is most up-to-date.
Posted by: Sarah M | Nov 21, 2008 12:19:46 PM
Correction! My previous post should have read "NutritionData lists Barley as moderately to strongly INFLAMMATORY."
Thanks! --Sarah
Posted by: Sarah M | Nov 21, 2008 12:18:05 PM
Dear Monica,
I'm enjoying learning about anti-inflammatory foods - the diet sounds very promising for my particular concerns. I'm a bit confused, though--I downloaded a pocket guide to IF ratings from About.com, and it appears to be based on your book. But the IF data doesn't correspond with what's on NutritionData.com. For example, NutritionData lists Barley as moderately to strongly anti-inflammatory (depending on whether it's hulled or pearled) and the pocket guide lists Barley as one of the best anti-inflammatory grains. Which guide should I trust most? Thanks for your guidance.
Dear Sarah,
The pocket guide on About.com is based on my book The Inflammation Free Diet Plan. Since these were published, some modifications have been made to the formula--specifically in the way that the effect of carbohydrates is weighted. The new formula does produce minor changes in some IF Ratings...and the ratings on NutritionData.com represent the most up-to-date listing.
Nonetheless, barley is still a good choice. Keep in mind that virtually all grains are considered inflammatory because they are high in carbohydrates and relatively low in antioxidants and other anti-inflammatory nutrients. So you're not going to find any grains with positive IF ratings. But compare the IF Rating of barley with the IF rating of rice and you'll see that barley is much LESS inflammatory than rice.
Keep in mind as well that the IF Rating depends on serving size. While 1 cup of cooked, pearled barley has an IF rating of -127 (moderately inflammatory), a half cup has an IF Rating of -64 (mildly inflammatory).
Finally, when comparing IF Ratings for grains, be sure that you're comparing cooked to cooked (or raw to raw). For example, the listing for hulled barley is for uncooked grains.
You might also like to check this post: http://blog.nutritiondata.com/ndblog/2008/05/lots-of-questio.html
Posted by: Monica Reinagel | Nov 21, 2008 11:00:35 AM
Beverly,
Cilantro is the green herb that grows from coriander seeds. It looks like parsley but has a very characteristic flavor. (I've heard it described as "soapy"). It's commonly used in Asian food. Ring a bell?
Posted by: Beverley Anderson | Nov 20, 2008 8:57:23 PM
I have recently purchased The Inflamation Free Diet and living in Australia, I cannot find some of the foods mentioned also I would not have a clue what Cilantro is, maybe it has another name in Australia. I have an inflammatory problem and thought I would give your book a go I like the idea of it because it gives you an insight into what is infl. and what is not. I'm starting to understand the book but have not yet mastered making up a day's meal.
Posted by: Family Nutritionist | Nov 20, 2008 4:31:57 PM
I did manage to push through, and found out that Day 1 of Neal Barnard's meal plan is mildly anti-inflammatory. http://familynutritionist.blogspot.com/2008/11/neal-barnards-meal-plan-anti.html
Posted by: Family Nutritionist | Nov 20, 2008 3:07:30 PM
Monica, I think your point about grains is an interesting one. I thought I'd have a look at the menu plans in Neal Barnard's book, since he stresses a lot of low-GI grains and legumes. But I'm having a problem analyzing the ingredients in a recipe (http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/recipe/763886/2?quantity=6.0&nc=1&autosave=form.info.autosave) Even though the ND database gives an inflammation factor for each food in the recipe, it won't give one for the recipe. What gives?
I see that, if I add a serving of the recipe to my "tracking", the anaylsis handles the inflammation factor without any complaints.
If there is some reason why ND recipe analyzer ought to declare the IF unavailable, can it give me a heads-up on what ingredient or combination of ingredients is causing the problem and why?
Thanks
Posted by: David Moss | Nov 20, 2008 2:27:54 PM
I alluded to the above with 'orange juice etc will appear somewhat inflammatory (still contains sugar after all).' Unjuiced fruit/veg certainly is superior to juiced fruit/veg, but the person already eats a "large amount" of fruit and veg and presumably can't eat a large amount more (hence the post). Of the carbs they are going to eat, juice is clearly the better: compare 'strongly inflammatory' oats to 'strongly inflammatory' carrot juice. Such a change in diet would be an undeniable improvement, without having to switch to a (potentially debatable) high fat diet.
Posted by: O | Nov 20, 2008 2:34:34 AM
David: fruit juice has significantly higher glycemic load than the fruit it came from. So fruit juice is always a bad bad choice - eat the fruit.
Once your body gets adapted to a low carb high fat diet - i.e. burning fat for fuel, you will have even energy levels all day long and for any grueling workout you do. I eat 120g of carbs each day, almost all coming from fruits and veggies. I also eat 160g of fat each day and I am both muscular and lean (6 pack abs). I have plenty of energy to complete 1hr of intense weight lifting + 1/2 hr of cardio.
Posted by: David Moss | Nov 19, 2008 3:48:41 PM
Ok, I'm no juice freak (most people it's far better to have the actual fruit/veg), but in the case of a person with 4000+calories to fill, it seems an obvious solution. Consuming tonnes of anti-inflammatory fruit/veg will be far, far easier in juice form. Orange juice etc will appear somewhat inflammatory (still contains sugar after all), but juicing lots of carrots etc will be an easy way to get tonnes of nutrition.
NB I'm assuming that the huge amount of daily calories is due to some athletic activity, not merely being a giant. In which case don't be tempted to fill too many of your calories with easily consumed fats; anti-inflammatory though they may be they'll be less apt for refuelling your muscles after exertion than carbohydrate+protein.
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