Chronic inflammation is the precursor to most of our modern diseases, causing degeneration of body tissues over time. But, what are causes of inflammation in the body and what are some ways that you can reverse chronic inflammation naturally? Read on to find out!
The Two Sides of Chemistry – Alkaline and Acidic
Everything alive is governed by the laws of the cosmos (which are reflected in the laws of nature), which not only dictates the laws of cause and effect but also that of chemistry and energy.
In nature, two opposite sides of chemistry predominate – the alkaline, hydrating chemistry and the acidic corrosive chemistry – and everything alive is on a spectrum closer or further from both extremes depending on its state of livelihood.
In esoteric teachings, alkaline chemistry is governed by the divine feminine, a Venusian archetype, and can heal, nourish, and promote vital growth. Acidic chemistry, on the other hand, is governed by the male principle, or the Martian archetype, which is characterized by its hot, aggressive nature, as well as its ability to break down and decay elements.
These principles work together to create the cyclical world of physical creation, where they balance one another in a constant state of an 80 alkaline/ 20 acidic ratio harmony.
If you’ve heard of the 80/20 golden rule, you probably understand that it is used in many fields to describe the patterns of outcomes in many of our human affairs. The Pareto Principle, in particular, is derived from this natural balance found in nature and is predicated on the fact that 80% of consequences come from 20% of actions.
This makes sense in the natural scheme of things, since action is correlated with the male principle, while reaction is with the feminine. Culture, for example, symbolizes the male energy, while nature, perpetually in the state of reaction and evolution, is reflected by the feminine principle.
When we think of life along the lines of activity and reactivity, we can understand that the best approach to life and health is 20% activity, and 80% rest, or 20% consumption of acidic foods (hot and inflammatory, which keeps our metabolism and digestive system running) and 80% of alkaline foods (healing and regenerative to our tissues) – you get the gist!
However, in our modern world, this balance has been turned upside down – betraying nature in its tracks, but not without steep consequences. These days, we mostly consume 80% acidic foods, stimulants, stress, and other corrosive emotions and thoughts without properly alkalizing our bodies to give them time to heal, recover, and regenerate from this influx of inflammatory chemistry.
As a consequence, most of us are running on empty. And when this happens, nature starts to compensate. It leaches alkalinity (electrolytes and minerals) from tissues and bones, making them weaker and less resilient over time. This inflammatory state of the body’s terrain and its cellular degeneration is the foundation for the most prevalent chronic diseases we experience.
Essentially, the cause is the same for all diseases – chronic inflammation. The only difference is how a particular disease expression is localized and where. Most likely, the location occurs in the body’s genetically weakest area, which continues to weaken over a lifetime. And as the area degenerates, the symptoms of what we call disease affect the body’s holistic function in a myriad of ways from one individual to the next.
This is precisely why staying away from chemistry (food), thoughts, and lifestyle that is acidic (inflammatory) and making an effort to stay on the alkaline side of chemistry is essential for health, vitality, and longevity!
Why Does Inflammation Develop?
Inflammation occurs because the body doesn’t have enough hydration and alkaline chemistry to balance out its acidic state (or acidosis). If you find your diet to be conventional and processed, and you consume few fruits and vegetables, chances are the body isn’t receiving the chemistry (its essential fuel) it needs to thrive.
Over time, it will acidify further without means to rebalance and hydrate, and its acidic terrain will prove to be the perfect environment for opportunistic agents that want to proliferate and take over – such as bad bacteria, fungus, parasites, toxins, and more.
These opportunistic agents thrive in acidic environments and gain strength to take over the body’s vitality and even function. Their metabolism further creates more acidic activity, which leads the body to be in an even more vulnerable state with a lack of immunity and the ability to restore its vital functions.
As this acidification process continues, if the diet is not improved and alkaline chemistry is not brought into the body through high-frequency foods, lifestyle, thoughts, and emotions, the body will continue to compensate and do what it can to survive.
It will first ensure that healthy tissues are protected from acidic chemistry by creating a barrier around acidic pockets that are rapidly spreading (this is what we call tumors); it will also utilize the “least important” (non-survival) tissues and bones for its electrolyte needs and continue extracting them from various parts of the body to survive.
Remember, the body is highly intelligent, and its primary function is to keep itself alive. It will do what it can through acts of compensation, protection, and disease to stabilize itself without the least damage done to all its parts. Mostly, symptoms and disease are the wake-up call we need that the body is struggling and needs our help!
Therefore, if you don’t feel optimal in your body, know that it simply needs more alkaline chemistry found in raw and organic fruits and vegetables. Once you correct major imbalances by strengthening the body’s core functions, your disease symptoms will disappear. The more advanced the disease, the greater the effort, patience, and commitment to a fully alkaline diet are needed.
Genetic Propensity and Inflammation
Each one of us is given a unique start in life that is the sum of the genetic information from our ancestors – their pain, tragedies, emotional traumas, and physical sufferings. But, not all of our ancestral gifts are curses! We are also given positive, advantageous traits that probably help us navigate life daily.
In fact, the science of epigenetics shows us exactly how life experiences have a direct impact on changing our genetics. A study published a few years back on the descendants of Holocaust survivors showcases how the trauma of the Holocaust was visibly present in the high-stress levels of the survivors’ children, whose lives were comfortable and free from any exposure to trauma.
This groundbreaking study shows that we store our experiences – especially those that are highly charged – in our bodies and pass them on to our descendants.
Therefore, by being healthy on all levels, we truly pay it forward if we decide to have children – ensuring the foundation for their life experiences is healthy and better adjusted.
And although genetics predispose us to certain bodily weaknesses, as well as certain emotional and familial behaviors, the good news is that we are in the driver’s seat of our lives most of the time. Essentially, how we navigate our propensities matters the most, since the environment holds great potential for change and metamorphosis when it comes to the nature vs nurture debate.
This means that even though we do have a higher potential for certain experiences, it doesn’t mean they will occur. We can change our genetics through our food choices, thoughts, emotions, actions, and lifestyle!
What Are Causes of Inflammation in the Body?
#1 Diet and Lifestyle
Although we tend to glamorize food as part of cultural escapism and pleasures of daily life, in its essence, food is meant to be consumed to provide all our cells with essential fuel to thrive.
We can further determine food quality by the energy output it has upon digestion and assimilation. Explained in simpler terms, the food that your body needs the most should provide you with more energy than it consumes from the digestion and metabolism of the food.
But unfortunately, most food we eat robs us of precious energy not only through the process of digestion but likewise through the purgation of its acidic byproducts. That means that most of us eat incorrectly to satisfy our taste buds and not to nourish and heal our bodies. Each meal should replenish energy in the system and not cause a net system loss of precious energy.
However, since we all seem to live to eat, we have replaced the sanctity of body nourishment with that of constant and rapid acidification of the body with foods that are chemically incompatible with our nutritional needs and which silently harm us over time.
Like toxin accumulation, acidification of the body is a slow process without a “tangible culprit.” We simply can’t point to that one burger cookout or a bad chemical perm we had years ago as the reason behind our disease. Instead, disease is a cumulative result of many lifestyle choices whose effects accumulate with frequency and time.
This means that you have more control over your health than you think, and enjoying an occasional favorite food once in a while will not be detrimental to your health whatsoever!
By changing your diet from mostly acidic to alkaline, you can reverse inflammation in your body fully. Imagine then what a lifestyle change to a positive, Zen, and more joyful approach to life would do additionally!
#2 Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Drugs
Chemicals could be lurking in every corner of our modern world, but our contact with them may not be so clear-cut. Since many chemicals can be odorless, we can be inadvertently exposed to a number of them over time.
Other daily sources of chemicals are closer than we think – they reside in our daily beauty and hygiene products, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, and laundry detergent.
Although our regulatory agencies tell us that the amount of toxic chemicals in our daily products and food is minuscule enough to be able to cause any long-lasting health problems, they really don’t understand the body very well!
Chemicals that are internalized stay in the body until the body has enough energy to purge them through the elimination organs like the kidneys, the colon, the skin, and the lungs.
Usually, if the body is saturated with constant acidic chemistry, it begins to store it in the liver and fat tissues until it is not overburdened with constant efforts to keep itself alive by fixing wears and tears and can adequately eliminate it.
However, given our modern diets and lifestyles, most of us have weakened our innate detoxification systems which are not very efficient in purging out and eliminating acids, toxins, and metabolic sewage.
To strengthen them, we would have to prioritize having a deep cleansing and a rebuilding protocol! And when the systems back up, the accumulation of acidic chemistry in the body inevitably leads to chronic inflammation and tissue degeneration.
Pharma drugs may seem like the ideal antidote when we are looking for fast symptom relief, but they are created for that reason only and don’t heal any part of the body or work on the main root cause of an illness. While they may provide temporary relief from feeling your body’s emergency call that all is not well (physical symptoms), they only camouflage what must be addressed and not suppressed.
Further, they are highly toxic in themselves. You don’t have to hear the myriad possible symptoms of taking them that run at the end of every commercial to know that the “antidote” presented is really a poison in disguise.
Over time, the frequent usage of pharma drugs will acidify the body and weaken/destroy its function and immunity, which will cause new symptoms of chronic inflammation to appear – such as pain, degeneration, brain fog/weakness/digestive issues, worsening of generic weaknesses, and disease.
#3 Stress
Stress is a biological response to perceived or real threats, and therefore, our body senses that every time we are under stress, it is not safe.
Depending on the severity of its perceived threat, the body creates its own response mechanisms to ensure its survival, including stopping digestion, bringing more blood to the muscles for the possibility of a successful escape, releasing the bowels, releasing hormones, and more.
Stress is highly acidifying to the body, as it depletes cortisol meant to stabilize the inflammatory response. If on top of stress, our lifestyle and diets are suboptimal, the body will not have the opportunity to properly deal with all the imbalances and reverse inflammation – it will be busy regulating the direst issues to its survival.
That is exactly why changing even one aspect of one’s lifestyle to be more alkaline, nurturing, or healthy can help lower the overall inflammatory impact on the body. Even when having a stressful day, for example, simply taking a nap and choosing to do something self-nurturing can offset a lot of the psycho-physical effects of stress.
Knowing how to regulate inflammation is key to keeping it at bay! Since balance is key, even if we choose to partake in imbalance, having the right tools and knowing how to bring ourselves back to balance is essential.
This can look like sipping lemon water throughout the day and eating a salad for dinner after a heavy lunch. Or, deciding to go to bed extra early after not sleeping very well for a few days in a row.
And, when it comes to stress, learning coping tools like deep breathing, meditation, and relaxation will go a long way to bring much-needed relief to the body.
Using regulatory tools and knowledge to help the body lower its levels of inflammation is a lifetime practice – one of self-awareness, discernment, and commitment.
And the first step is all about recognizing imbalance before it turns into a problem, and reversing its effects by quickly taking the opposite approach – the antidote – that is healing, relaxing, and revitalizing.
How Inflammatory Diseases Develop
You can think of diseases as an accumulation of inflammation that localizes and that, without further intervention, continues to degenerate cells to the point where the body cannot intervene due to its lack of alkaline and energetic resources. It is the breakdown point where the body is alerting us that if we don’t do something soon, our disease may truly take over the body and the damage will be more difficult to fix.
The wisdom of the body is such that it will do whatever it can to keep us alike, since there is an ecosystem of billions of cells, bacteria, and other pathogens that are all interested in self-survival.
Disease is a blessing in many ways, since if we didn’t “feel” something was wrong, we wouldn’t have a chance to correct it. It not only tells us which area of the body could be impacted, but it also alerts us to our weakest areas and signals what we can do to strengthen those areas. It is a detective that gives us answers – if only we would listen.
Natural law is predicated on cause and effect. Our health is simply the side-effect of the cumulative causes that we had entertained in our lives. If you simply investigate your habits, you can have profound “aha” moments around why your health is less than ideal.
What happened months before your symptoms started to appear? Although disease takes time to form, a stressful event or a period in one’s life is usually the likely catalyst to speed up the process.
If you simply reflect and write down what you intuitively believe contributed to your illness, you will see natural law in action. You’ll understand cause and effect and will see how acidification had a very prevalent role in the process.
But the best part is that your body wants you to get better so that it can thrive; therefore, it will support all of your efforts toward greater alkalization and regeneration. All you need to do is provide it with the fuel it needs to heal, and with its self-healing mechanisms in place, it will do all it can to do so!
How To Reverse Chronic Inflammation Naturally
The body will do all it can to keep us alive as long as possible with the ingredients it has at its disposal. These ingredients are both genetic and environmental, so no two bodies will ever be alike or require the same healing protocol.
Some individuals are sensitive to inflammation and may be more inclined to run on mostly alkaline chemistry to feel good, while others can take quite a beating and can even run on empty before they show signs of wear and tear.
No matter how we experience the symptoms of disease, the most important thing to know is that we are in the control seat – that if you are open and willing to learn about your body, natural law, and health, you always have the right tools to heal yourself properly.
Inevitably, it is our fear, inability to correct harmful habits, and lack of strong commitment to well-being that are the biggest obstacles to healing.
The Best Body Detox Protocol
The best body detox protocol is one that cools and hydrates the body and strengthens the elimination organs that help us naturally detoxify. A predominantly alkaline diet along with self-nurturing habits, plenty of rest, and gentle stretching and yoga can help bring in the correct chemistry to help the body rebalance and heal.
Yoga and light movement are very gentle, so they won’t create additional lactic acid produced by the cells when they expire their energy during heavier workouts.
Instead, movement helps circulate the lymphatic system – the body’s sewage system – throughout the body and back to the kidneys where it is eliminated through urine.
This is why proper kidney filtration is essential to health and inflammation reversal! If the kidneys aren’t working properly and the lymphatic system is sluggish, the skin will usually take over detoxification efforts through sweat (hence, the onset of skin problems).
Here is my recipe for a healthy life free from chronic inflammation. If you follow this protocol as frequently as possible (preferably daily), you will be able to reverse any chronic inflammatory condition that has been plaguing you.
You can write this protocol down and place it in front of your refrigerator to remind yourself of your commitment to your health daily:
- Eat what humans are meant to eat – natural, raw, and organic
- Rest, get plenty of sunshine, and spend plenty of time in nature
- Move your body lightly and adopt Yoga and Qi Gong to oxygenate, energize, and promote movement of the lymphatic system
- Clean your body out of all toxins, including chemicals, heavy metals, antibiotics, excessive hormones, excessive proteins, unnecessary mucus, destructive parasites, pesticides, and more through raw fruit and veggie diet
- Fast to free the body of energetic depletion through digestion and use the energy towards healing and regeneration
- Minimize stress through movement, relaxation, breath, and meditation
- For skin and muscle health and improved lymphatic movement, take on dry skin brushing once a day
- To improve lymph flow and blood circulation, massage your body lightly by dragging your fingertips over the lymphatic nodes and major points of stagnation
- Practice forgiveness and practice gratitude
Here are just a few more helpful resources from my writings to help you put this information into the context of related knowledge about food and herbs that can help you heal your body from chronic inflammation naturally:
Healing With Herbs: Herbs as Medicine and How To Use Them for Body Detox
The Essential Alkaline Food List to Help You Regenerate Your Body
The Incredible Benefits of a Fruit Diet
Final Thoughts
I hope that my bioenergetics perspective about what are causes of inflammation in the body helped to elucidate a bit more about what it takes to stay healthy!
Overall, the main causes of inflammation in the body can be traced to an acidic diet, chemical exposure, lifestyle, and stress. Health is predicated on maintaining the homeostasis of life – the perfect balance of nature’s elements – in the 80 alkaline/ 20 acidic ratio.
When we deviate from natural law and find ourselves on the acidic side of chemistry, our bodies find themselves in pain, deterioration, and disease. The antidote is to always bring in more alkaline chemistry, oxygen, and nature’s goodness to offset chronic inflammation.
Our modern world operates on artificial laws that are vastly incongruent with our natural connection to the cycles, laws, and chemical/energetic frequencies of nature and the cosmos. We are the products of the earth and the stars, so deviating from our true nature will always come with a price.
Overall, whenever in doubt about what you can do for your health, simply think of how you can get closer to nature in every way – that is the antidote to all illnesses.
And if you’d like to learn more about proper and safe body detoxification methods, do read my article How to Prepare Your Body for Detox to learn how detox works and how you can use it to heal naturally!