20 Ways to Reduce Inflammation and Water Weight
Inflammation is what happens in your body when it’s fighting something harmful, such as infections, injuries, and toxins. When something is damaging your cells, your body releases chemicals that trigger a response from your immune system. However, it can be damaging and cause increased water weight.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to reduce inflammation and water weight. Here are twenty simple things to try:
Drink More Water:
Drinking more water to reduce excess water weight (edema) may sound contradictory, but it’s actually not. Water retention is often caused by an excess of salt (sodium) in the system that hasn’t been balanced out with adequate hydration. Properly hydrating your cells by drinking enough pure water and eating a healthy diet will create needed balance in all body systems; this includes reducing inflammation and flushing out of excess water from the tissues.
Eat Clean:
Clean Eating is a way of life – it’s all about enjoying your food while nourishing yourself with the best nutrition you can. Enjoying whole, fresh, and healthy foods minimizes your exposure to inflammation caused by processed oils, sugar, and fried foods. The is one of the most powerful ways to get your eating habits on track and shed weight consistently for long-term success.
Sweat:
Whether you do it from working out or hopping in the sauna, a good sweat is a fantastic way to detox and heal the body. When it comes to working out, the more consistent you are, the more you will get the benefits, including less inflammation and water retention. Regular exercise will help you oxygenate, flush your lymph system out, reduce inflammation, improve your and energy and immunity, etc.
Cut Out Sugar:
Processed sugar in the diet is one of the biggest inflammation causes. When you eat it, the quick rise and fall of your blood sugar (glucose) levels are brutal on the pancreas and your whole body. This strain leads to insulin production problems and inflammation throughout the brain and body. Sugar is also dehydrating. So if you want a healthy body, stable moods, and pretty skin that isn’t dry and puffy, avoid sugar.
Walk 30 Minutes A Day:
Exercise was already mentioned, but remember that even going for a short walk gets your blood flowing and raises oxygen levels, and oxygen reduces inflammation. Research shows that a daily, moderately-paced 30-minute walk outside strengthens immunity, reduces excess weight, and minimizes depression and anxiety.
Avoid Preservatives:
If you pay close attention, there are often some unnatural and concerning ingredients added to food in artificial coloring, flavoring, or preservatives. Many of these things are simply chemicals and not meant for human consumption. They can have adverse effects on your health and are better left out of your diet entirely.
Reduce Your Salt Intake:
As mentioned earlier, salt can contribute to excess water weight/retention. While certain kinds of salt, such as pink Himalayan salt, can benefit your health, they should still be used in moderation.
Eat Healthy Carbs (and less of them):
With all the talk lately about ketogenic diets and eliminating carbs, it’s important to remember that not all carbs are unhealthy, and not all have to be eliminated. Here are 7 Clean Sources of Carbs you can enjoy and still lose weight. Healthy carbs are things like fruits and grains, and a certain amount of them in their whole form is excellent! But definitely in moderation. Not-so-healthy carbs to be avoided are the more processed ones, like bread, pasta, chips, crackers, and so on.
Try these Yummy Oatmeal Protein Pancakes for some good, clean carbs!
Get Good Sleep:
I cannot overemphasize the importance of getting regular, regenerating sleep. When you’re sleeping, your body can de-stress, detox, balance hormones, and heal itself. There’s a reason for the term “beauty sleep.” The hours before midnight are some of the most healing, so aim for bed around 10 pm. And for the sake of your body’s rhythms, avoid looking at phones or computer screens for at least an hour before sleeping.
Lower Your Stress Levels:
Inflammation is an automatic stress reaction, so stress is one of the biggest causes of both physical and mental illness. Obviously, not all stress can be avoided, and some is only natural, but it’s critical to learn how to manage it gracefully. Taking time for things like meditation, yoga, journaling, exercising, visiting with a friend, laughing, or doing fun and creative activities can all help. Find what works best for you.
Yoga / Stretching:
Don’t underestimate the power that slower, gentler exercises like yoga and stretching can have on the body. It oxygenates and has anti-inflammatory effects and helps to soothe the nervous system, adrenals, and balance hormones. Some people with sleep problems find that doing yin yoga (or other gentle yoga routines) in the evening helps them sleep much better.
Make This Soup:
This Detox Soup to Lower Inflammation and Shed Water Weight!
Take Electrolytes (magnesium & potassium):
As explained initially, an imbalance of electrolytes (such as too much sodium and not enough water) in the body can lead to inflammation and water retention. One way to prevent this situation is to ensure a cellular balance by taking magnesium and potassium. These are also essential for the proper functioning of the heart, the nervous system, and so much more.
Drink Dandelion Tea:
Dandelion tea is a natural diuretic, which helps flush excess water out of the tissues. It also cleanses and detoxifies the liver and gall bladder and is a great tea to drink for overall weight loss since it normalizes blood sugar and is an appetite suppressant.
Drink Organic Coffee:
Coffee is also a natural diuretic that flushes out water weight, but be sure you’re choosing organic coffees and finding natural sweeteners or creamers instead of dairy or sugar.
Take Movement Breaks During Your Workday:
You may have had the experience of sitting for a long time, such as when driving, and then noticed that your ankles and/or feet had become swollen. When you are sedentary for too long, your fluids settle and become retained in the body from lack of being cycled or flushed out. Again, movement is essential to flushing the lymph glands, which is a big part of the body’s waste-removal system.
Spend Time in Nature:
Have you heard? The traditional Japanese practice of “forest bathing” is now scientifically proven to significantly improve health. This practice entails regularly spending at least 30 minutes out in nature, specifically around trees. “Forest environments promote lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity than do city environments,” the study concluded.
Eat at Home More Than You Eat Out:
By cooking your meals at home more than you go out to eat, you are in much greater control of what goes into your food and the nutritional quality of it. And it also tends to save money. But there is another principle of connecting in a deeper way to the food you eat that is important, too; it creates greater awareness and mindfulness around what it is you are taking into your being, leading to healthier choices. Need step-by-step meal plans and meal prep support? Try taking the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge!
Take a Hot Epsom Salt Bath:
An Epsom salt bath is fast to reduce water weight because the salt pulls the water from your body. Break a sweat before you soak if you want it to beeven more effective. For best results: Mix ½ cup of salt in 1 cup of vinegar, and add to a hot bath. Soak in it for at least 20 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.
Eat More Fiber:
Since fiber helps to move things through and flush them out of your body, eating a diet high in fiber will help prevent water retention and bloating. It also guards against inflammation as it assists in flushing out waste, regulates blood pressure, and lowers cholesterol. Try this Broccoli Apple Crisp Salad out!
Inflammation can be good, aiding in your body’s battle against foreign invaders and injuries, but not always. When it’s bad, inflammation ignites a long list of disorders: arthritis, asthma, atherosclerosis, blindness, cancer, diabetes, and mental illness. Also, people with long-term inflammation may experience water retention.
I hope these tips aid you in reducing inflammation and water weight! Have a great day, CRUSHers!
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