The foods you eat can cause or reduce inflammation. At the TMJ & Sleep Therapy Centre of Northern Indiana, we care about your overall health and well-being. We want to educate you about reducing inflammation with nutrition. The Deflame Diet was developed by Dr. David Seaman in response to his recognition that certain foods support inflammation while others support a reduction in inflammation. Its purpose was to use that information to devise an organic treatment for inflammation.

The Deflame Diet replaces dietary substances containing pro-inflammatory calories (such as sugar, flour, and oils containing omega-6) with anti-inflammatory substances. These come in the form of green vegetables, like kale and spinach, or fruits with low sugar levels, such as tomatoes.

To understand the usefulness of anti-inflammatory dietary substances, it is important to note the difference between acute and chronic (low-grade) inflammatory events. Acute inflammation is the body’s rapid response to harmful substances and is achieved by the increased movement of plasma and leukocytes from the blood into the injured tissue. This process causes the swelling, redness, and pain associated with acute inflammation.

Chronic inflammation happens when the body’s normal response to inflammation lingers leaving you body in a constant state of alert. This type of inflammation can lead to more serious illnesses, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, even Alzheimer’s, but it relatively goes unnoticed.

If hyperglycemic (high blood sugar) events occur over a prolonged period, the body triggers a response by the immune system. When this occurs in the pancreas, it results in type 2 diabetes. Similar processes involving other systems/organs of the body lead to other serious illnesses such as atherosclerosis.

The Deflame Diet helps to reduce the foods that can cause hyperglycemic events, as these are responsible for a wide variety of chronic and serious illnesses. The difficulty people have with this diet comes from being able to eat enough vegetables to make up for the loss of calories induced by the reduction of pro-inflammatory foods. The diet itself is actually quite simple: Avoid sugars, starches, and oils and increase your intake of vegetables.

Dr. Klauer treats patients with craniofacial pain, TMD, and sleep disorders. If you need more information, call our office. We’re here to help you. Come visit us if you live in Granger, Indiana, or the surrounding areas.