A comprehensive guide to an anti-inflammatory diet
Eating an anti-inflammatory diet can help you to eat more fruits and vegetables in addition to transforming your lifestyle.
If you don’t know where to start or want to make incremental changes to eat a healthier diet, here’s a look at what an anti-inflammatory diet is, what foods you can eat, what foods to avoid, recipes you can try, a meal plan and simple food swaps you can make today to overhaul your diet.
Related
What is an anti-inflammatory diet?
An anti-inflammatory diet is one rich in vegetables, fruits, fatty fish, spices, herbs and whole grains, according to Harvard School of Public Health. The Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet both have a lot of anti-inflammatory foods.
This is not the sort of diet that’s restricted by certain meals or that cuts out entire food groups. Instead, it’s a diet that emphasizes anti-inflammatory foods — think of whole foods — and cutting back on ultraprocessed foods.
10 simple ways to eat an anti-inflammatory diet
Cut out refined grains. A lot of refined grains have an easy swap (think brown rice instead of white rice), so looking at what grains you are eating can be a good place to start. Think about eating oatmeal instead of cereal or cutting back refined grains by using half refined grains and half substitute (such as a mix of cauliflower rice and white rice).
Take a look at dessert. Dessert is often foods like cakes, cookies, brownies and more, which can be OK to consume in moderation, but often involve refined white flour. Either learn how to make healthier versions of your favorite desserts, like black bean brownies, or cut your dessert portion in half and add some berries on the side.
Eat a salad before dinner to add additional greens to your diet. If eating greens is difficult for you, designate a time of day when you eat greens with a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.
Change up your convenience foods. When eating an anti-inflammatory diet, you will still have days where you don’t feel like cooking all that much. You have a couple of options here: you can make and freeze anti-inflammatory meals or you can stock up on frozen vegetables, salads and no-salt-added beans to throw together a quick meal.
Add salmon to your meal rotation every week. Fatty fish like salmon are chock-full of benefits. By adding it to your diet and pairing it with foods like broccoli and sweet potatoes, you can ensure you eat a fatty fish once a week at least.
Meal prep the meals you are most likely to order out. If you’re good about making dinner every night, but stop to get a quick breakfast on the way to work or order out lunch with colleagues, consider making an effort to meal prep instead. This way, you’ll be prepared and can just grab a meal and go.
Aim for eating anti-inflammatory foods most of the time, not all the time. There are going to be moments where you’re out to dinner with friends and your friends want to split an appetizer or entree or dessert with you that isn’t anti-inflammatory. Or you might be at a cookout with hamburgers and hot dogs. Instead of aiming for perfection, plan for and make room for moments to eat food you enjoy.
Change the way you eat over time. If you eat a bagel with cream cheese every morning, consider eating half a bagel with cream cheese and adding something like scrambled eggs or fruit salad, and then gradually cut back on the amount of bagel you eat every day (you can even switch to mini bagels). Changing your diet all at once might make it more difficult to sustain the change.
Freeze fruit for dessert. Freezing bananas and blending them up with cocoa powder is not ice cream, but it is a sweet treat you can enjoy at the end of the day.
Change your snacks. If you’re the type of person who loves a good snack and reach for packaged snacks, changing your snacks to fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts may be a way to eat healthier and incorporate more anti-inflammatory foods.
Related
Anti-inflammatory foods
Here’s a list of 10 anti-inflammatory foods. See more here about anti-inflammatory foods.
Tomatoes.
Spinach.
Garlic.
Celery.
Broccoli.
Apples.
Potatoes.
Brown rice.
Salmon.
Walnuts.
Inflammatory foods
Here’s a list of 10 inflammatory foods.
Packaged sweets.
Candy.
Sodas.
Butter.
Palm oil.
White bread.
Cereal.
Processed meat.
Sports drinks.
Cookies.
Anti-inflammatory recipes
Here are 10 recipes to try that incorporate anti-inflammatory foods.
Smoky sheet pan salmon and potatoes from Real Simple.
Artichoke ricotta flatbread from Half Baked Harvest.
Ginger meatball ramen with greens and scallions from Real Simple.
Curry with cauliflower and butternut squash stir-fry from Eat This, Not That.
Whole30 chicken broccoli casserole from Downshiftology.
Walnut sage pesto pasta with roasted delicata squash from A Beautiful Plate.
Sheet pan shrimp fajitas from No. 2 Pencil.
Herb roast chicken with root vegetables from Eat This, Not That.
Garlic sautéed Swiss chard from Downshiftology.
Poached salmon from Downshiftology.
10 days of an anti-inflammatory meal plan
Here’s a look at anti-inflammatory breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas for 10 days. For snacks, consider eating fresh fruit and vegetables (with a dip like hummus).
Day 1:
Omelette with spinach and salsa.
Salmon spinach salad with strawberries.
Whole wheat pasta with pesto, tomatoes and white beans.
Day 2:
Scrambled eggs with peppers and onion on top of a slice of whole wheat bread.
Spinach salad with quinoa, nuts and berries.
Lentils with brown rice and roasted vegetables.
Day 3:
Avocado toast on wheat bread.
Cucumber sandwich on whole wheat bread (use Greek yogurt).
Sheet pan chicken with roasted vegetables.
Day 4:
Strawberry smoothie.
Chickpea salad in lettuce cups.
Vegetable quiche with green salad.
Day 5:
Oatmeal with chopped apples and walnuts.
Egg salad sandwich on whole wheat bread (use Greek yogurt).
Air-fried buffalo cauliflower.
Day 6:
Sweet potato hash with mixed vegetables.
Salmon with steamed broccoli.
Chicken chili.
Day 7:
Chia pudding.
Lentil soup.
Mediterranean-style baked sweet potato.
Day 8:
Breakfast tacos on whole wheat tortillas with eggs, black beans and salsa.
Vegetable stir-fry with brown rice.
Pea soup.
Day 9:
Overnight oats.
Tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread.
Chicken skewers with salad.
Day 10:
Shakshuka.
Black bean soup.
Salmon with roasted cauliflower.
Related
10 food swaps for an anti-inflammatory diet
Whole wheat bread instead of white bread.
Ground chicken instead of ground beef.
Almond milk instead of dairy milk.
Extra-virgin olive oil instead of butter.
Dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.
Salmon instead of steak.
Water with fresh fruit instead of soda.
Baked apple instead of packaged dessert.
Riced cauliflower or brown rice instead of white rice.
Avocado or Greek yogurt for mayo.
