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"I feel heavy, like swollen."

"My body looks pregnant."

"How inflamed I am!"

Expressions like these are common in our day to day.

According to

Gabriela Pocoví Gerardino

(Venezuela, March 9, 1988), who has also felt them, we have normalized having

heavy digestions

, when it should not be like that.

This Doctor of Medicine and Public Health from the University of Granada and Dietitian-Nutritionist graduated from the Central University of Venezuela, as well as a specialist in immunonutrition for a decade, she is the author of

Attention with inflammation.

Guide to combat chronic inflammation and improve your immune system

(Ed. Zenith).

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Like stress,

inflammation

is a necessary defense mechanism that exerts a response through the immune system.

The problem is when our lifestyle makes inflammation a constant and numerous agents stress our body, causing the development of many diseases.

"Chronic inflammation is a modern disease," defends Dr. Pocoví.

That is why it encourages us to understand how the body and mind work, take key measures based on

food

and thus improve our quality of life.

Why does our gut swell every time we eat? It is very common and should not be normal.

If in each digestion process we feel abdominal swelling, this reveals that there is a persistent inflammatory process in our digestive tracts.

But it's not always where you sit.

Inflammation is a process that occurs in our cells, what happens is that in the digestive system we have the microbiota, the bacteria, so the symptoms of inflammation with gas, squeezing, constipation or bowel profile are usually reflected there irritable. Do emotions generate inflammation?

Do they feel in the stomach, like when we say that our nerves are seized? Anger, sadness, anxiety, fear... They generate inflammation in us because we also have neurons in the digestive system.

There we quickly feel everything that happens to us,

although there are other people who do not somatize or do not perceive the symptoms of inflammation so much in the digestive system, but in other areas of the body, and it manifests itself in allergies, pain in other joints..."If you behave well, I'll give you a chocolate bar," we tell the children.

Before a breakup, we eat a bucket of ice cream.

If we feel anxiety about an exam, we raid the fridge.

If we get promoted, we call a meal to celebrate.

Why is food so linked to emotions? Food has always had a social and cultural connotation, as well as a component of pleasure.

It brings us comfort.

In a duel, we lack pleasures.

If in our life we ​​are constantly putting out fires, food can be a refuge.

Since we were little, we associate it with a reward and that language stays in our body.

You have to be aware of when we eat out of hunger, necessity, and when we do it out of pure stress.

Is there any advice for not robbing the fridge in bad times? I can tell you that if you feel that urge, you better take an infusion.

But the reality is that it is not a remedy that can last over time.

It doesn't go to the root of the problem.

Today I take it and it's great, but tomorrow I may feel just as bad.

The ideal is to use other emotional management resources, such as sports or meditation.

The binge takes us to a wheel, because later we can feel guilty, without changing the behavior.

It is important that bad relationships with food lead to multidisciplinary work with other health professionals.

Are more intolerances being detected today due to advances in modern medicine, or is it that our processed diet leads us to develop intolerances? Before, we didn't hear that about intolerance.

What's going on?

First of all, there is a lot of confusion.

There are differences between allergy, sensitivity and intolerance.

Just as our immune system can react against pollen, it can also do so against a specific food: shellfish, peanuts... But recently sensitivity has also emerged, whose symptoms are later, and usually occur about eight hours after ingestion .

It tends to manifest itself through the skin, in the form of dermatitis, for example, which is why it is more difficult to detect it.

And finally, there are intolerances, when we lack an enzyme that makes it impossible for us to digest that food.

In intolerances, the immune system does not participate, but the digestive system.

If I always have an inflamed intestine and some sensitivity to a food, it is very likely that I will develop an intolerance.

These increasingly imbalanced microbiotas develop intolerances.

In addition, they are transferred from mother to child, so that children who are being born are increasingly at risk of intolerance.

Children are already born with a high sensitivity to lactose.

That precipitates the issue being heard more. In his book he establishes a correlation between inflammation and stress.

We cannot pretend to live without either of them.

They are necessary for life.

But chronically they are fatal.

To what extent is the modern world a time bomb for our well-being? We are hooked into a maelstrom of stress that leads us to live inflamed.

Modern stress, fast food and a fast-paced life is what most alters our microbiota.

The key is to see what factors you can modify.

If you can't change it after review, find out.

I cannot prescribe that you leave your toxic relationship, but the little you do is valid.

Even if it's sleeping better.

I'll give you an easy example: the seasons are great stressors.

Our body cannot escape this moment of adaptation to the new temperatures, but it is something specific at a certain moment.

If your body is fine, it adapts without major problems.

The problem is that we remain in that state of inflammation perpetually over time and that our immune system does not have the capacity to turn off that inflammation. He says that physical exercise is a

The key is to see what factors you can modify.

If you can't change it after review, find out.

I cannot prescribe that you leave your toxic relationship, but the little you do is valid.

Even if it's sleeping better.

I'll give you an easy example: the seasons are great stressors.

Our body cannot escape this moment of adaptation to the new temperatures, but it is something specific at a certain moment.

If your body is fine, it adapts without major problems.

The problem is that we remain in that state of inflammation perpetually over time and that our immune system does not have the capacity to turn off that inflammation. He says that physical exercise is a

The key is to see what factors you can modify.

If you can't change it after review, find out.

I cannot prescribe that you leave your toxic relationship, but the little you do is valid.

Even if it's sleeping better.

I'll give you an easy example: the seasons are great stressors.

Our body cannot escape this moment of adaptation to the new temperatures, but it is something specific at a certain moment.

If your body is fine, it adapts without major problems.

The problem is that we remain in that state of inflammation perpetually over time and that our immune system does not have the capacity to turn off that inflammation. He says that physical exercise is a

Even if it's sleeping better.

I'll give you an easy example: the seasons are great stressors.

Our body cannot escape this moment of adaptation to the new temperatures, but it is something specific at a certain moment.

If your body is fine, it adapts without major problems.

The problem is that we remain in that state of inflammation perpetually over time and that our immune system does not have the capacity to turn off that inflammation. He says that physical exercise is a

Even if it's sleeping better.

I'll give you an easy example: the seasons are great stressors.

Our body cannot escape this moment of adaptation to the new temperatures, but it is something specific at a certain moment.

If your body is fine, it adapts without major problems.

The problem is that we remain in that state of inflammation perpetually over time and that our immune system does not have the capacity to turn off that inflammation. He says that physical exercise is a

win-win

in every sense.

What do you mean? It is the best anti-inflammatory because it will help us release cortisol, the chronic stress hormone.

Above all, the physical exercise of strength, which we have done since the time of the caves lifting loads.

However, now we spend our lives sitting down.

It is essential to stimulate the vagus nerve, which regulates our microbiota because it goes directly to our intestines, and has a role in preserving muscle mass and improving insulin, a hormone that allows us to metabolize carbohydrates and also inflammatory.

If we have it high, we will have more risk of diabetes.

Every time we do sports it is a stressor, so excessive stress is not good either.

You have to find the balance. It's January again and we return to a pattern of chronic diets.

Why do we insist on looking for miracles if we already know they don't work instead of eating better? The most frequent question in my practice is: "How long will it take me to take this off?".

And it doesn't work like that.

Quick fixes lead us to frustration because they don't change habits.

We are bombarded by the food industry, which offers us highly palatable products.

It is true that the information boom is leading us to have a greater awareness.

The problem is when control over food becomes an obsession, where we think all day about the portions [rations], the amount, what we take... It's very toxic.

What really adds to you is not what you do for a while, but on a day-to-day basis.

To his anti-inflammatory plate, full of vegetables and vegetables, to which is added protein,

starches such as cereals and healthy fats, you can put a downside: inflation.

How does it affect health? A kilo of macaroni is cheaper than a kilo of quality fish, this is a reality.

It is also true that, if you look at the shopping basket of people without resources, they are full of processed products.

In the end, if you start adding all that up, money goes away and we are not nourishing ourselves.

I recommend prioritizing quality over being organic if there are economic problems.

At least, that food is nutrients.

If you go to a supermarket, it is very likely that you crave food that you do not need or help you at all.

In a market where there is only raw material, it is easier to avoid buns and juices that add to our budget. Do we have to eat five times a day? Every time we eat we activate our metabolism,

so numerous studies from years ago said that if we eat five times a day, our metabolism lives faster.

Science is changing and no truth is absolute.

And before we didn't have food 24/7, either because of wars or famines, people couldn't afford it.

In turn, every time we eat we are also generating an inflammatory process.

We cannot expect our cells to regenerate if we do not give them rest.

There are many people pending green juices [juices].

the best therapy

every time we eat we are also generating an inflammatory process.

We cannot expect our cells to regenerate if we do not give them rest.

There are many people pending green juices [juices].

the best therapy

every time we eat we are also generating an inflammatory process.

We cannot expect our cells to regenerate if we do not give them rest.

There are many people pending green juices [juices].

the best therapy

detox

is to let your body rest.

When you hear it, you will realize that you ate without hunger, without the physical need, and you will start to feel it.

Intermittent fasting had a very bad press at first.

Is it very educational, like eating sugar? When you're fasting, your blood sugar drops.

When your blood runs out of glucose stores, it turns to glycogen stores in our muscles and liver.

Some people who never go hungry stop activating this mechanism and get a headache or dizziness.

It is a process that costs but then they adapt.

You can start in 12 hours, then at 14... We can all exercise on an empty stomach but you have to practice it little by little.

Get used to it. Those who have extra pounds want to be thin.

The skinny guy can't increase his muscle mass even though he's eating like a beast.

Is changing our body the eternal struggle?

I always say that being thin does not mean being healthy.

You can increase your muscle mass with more protein and strength work, but the problem is forcing it by exceeding your limits with huge loads and high protein diets that are not going to have such a positive impact on your body.

Both downward and upward, we must take into account our morphology and not want to "copy" the body of another person.

What do you think of the

we must take into account our morphology and not want to "copy" the body of another person.

What do you think of the

we must take into account our morphology and not want to "copy" the body of another person.

What do you think of the

cheat meal

?

Is it healthy because it allows some flexibility? Having days where you eat very healthy and binge on Sunday doesn't seem too healthy.

Whoever eats fruit and vegetables during the week and anxiously awaits their hamburger already has a kind of control that damages their relationship with food.

There are those who do well, but flexibility is being comfortable on a day-to-day basis and when you feel like it, because it arises, you do it to enjoy, not because it is the day that I have the

cheat meal

.

So I'm not very much in favor nor do I prescribe it. Food being a determining factor in how we feel in our lives, why doesn't anyone teach us to eat well? I advocate that there be a specific subject and even emotional education.

It may not have as much economic benefit but it does have personal benefits and perhaps that is why it is not included in educational programs.

In my opinion, the system prefers us competitive than in good mental health.

But many intestinal problems are solved with good psychology tools.

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