
07/14/2025
Fight Inflammation Naturally. Feel Better Daily.
What Is Inflammation?
Inflammation is your body’s natural defense mechanism against injury, infection, or harmful stimuli. It’s helpful when short-term (acute), but harmful when chronic.
Food Sensitivities and Inflammation
Food sensitivities differ from food allergies (which involve the immune system in an immediate and often severe way). Instead, food sensitivities can cause low-grade, chronic inflammation over time.
Common triggers:
Gluten
Dairy
Refined sugar and processed foods
Food additives
Mechanism:
Your gut lining becomes irritated or "leaky" (a condition called intestinal permeability).
Undigested food particles or toxins pass into the bloodstream.
The immune system detects them as foreign and triggers an inflammatory response.
Environmental Stressors and Inflammation
Environmental exposures can also drive inflammation through oxidative stress, immune activation, or hormonal disruption.
Common environmental stressors:
Air pollution (fine particulate matter, ozone)
Pesticides and heavy metals (like mercury, lead)
Household chemicals (cleaners, synthetic fragrances)
Mold and mycotoxins
Chronic psychological stress (which triggers cortisol and can dysregulate immune function)
Mechanism:
Many of these stressors cause oxidative stress, damaging cells and tissues.
This activates the immune system and keeps the body in a pro-inflammatory state.
The Gut-Immune-Environment Loop
A stressed or inflamed gut (from food or toxins) affects immune balance.
The immune system becomes more sensitive and reactive.
That reactivity leads to more inflammation — a vicious cycle.
What You Can Do
Identify and reduce food triggers.
Support gut health with prebiotics, probiotics, and anti-inflammatory foods.
Detox your environment: use natural cleaning products, reduce plastic use, avoid synthetic fragrances.
Manage stress with mindfulness, exercise, and sleep.
Schedule an initial evaluation for Nutrition Response Testing with us to help identify and address the root causes of your inflammation.
For more information call us at 425-771-4000, or email us at lynnwoodnaturalmedicine@gmail.com