"The Inflammation-Free Diet Plan" by Monica Reinagel

The scientific way to lose weight, banish pain, prevent disease, and slow aging.

Inflammation causes pain, cardiovascular disease risk and is responsible for speeding up the aging process. Monica Reinagel's book "The Inflammation-Free Diet Plan" explains how the foods you eat can make make inflammation worse or reduce inflammation to improve your health risks and help you to feel better and lose weight.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The worksheets and tables are easy to use and her recipes and meal ideas are excellent.

The first section of the book easily explains how inflammation increases our risk for chronic diseases. Ms. Reinagel's writing is easy to understand and fun to read. She clearly tells us how inflammation makes us sick. The problem is that it is hard to know which foods trigger inflammation and which foods reduce inflammation.

From her book:
If you want to know how many calories are in a given food, or how much saturated fat or how many grams of carbohydrates it contains, you can find these basic nutritional statistics on the nutrition facts label or look them up in any of the calorie, fat, and carbohydrate counters that are sold in the checkout aisle of your local grocery store. But if you want to know whether a particular food has inflammatory or anti-inflammatory effects in the body, you won't find this information on the label or in a standard nutrition counter.

Although many people already knew that foods affect inflammation, there was no really effective way to help people know how foods affect inflammation. Ms. Reinagel has researched how foods affect inflammation in our bodies. She devised a ration system that tells us exactly how much of an effect different foods have on inflammation.

From her book:
Now, for the first time, there is simple way to determine whether the foods you eat are contributing to chronic inflammation. The IF Rating is a single number that represents the total inflammatory or anti-inflammatory potential of a food. A positive number indicates anti-inflammatory tendencies, while a negative number signifies that the food has an inflammatory effect. The higher the number, the more significant the effect.

A large part of the book is dedicated to tables expressing the IF factor for the different foods we eat. In order to reduce inflammation, all the reader has to do is keep a healthy balance of high IF to negative IF numbers. Ms. Reinegal also gives you a worksheet to help you decide what your total IF number for the day should be.

From her book:
The IF Rating integrates more than 20 different pro- and anti-inflammatory factors. The amounts of individual nutrients are considered, as well as the ratios between various nutrients. The formula also incorporates the glycemic index, which describes the impact a food has on blood sugar--whether it causes blood sugar to rise sharply or slowly. Different foods affect blood sugar very differently, even when they contain the same amount of sugar or starch.

The effect that each nutrient or factor has on a food's IF Rating depends on three things: 1) how much of that factor is present in the food, 2) the amount of that factor that has been shown to have a positive or negative impact on inflammation, and 3) how strong that effect was found to be.

Printable Pocket Guide to IF Ratings

Ms. Reinagel's training as a chef really comes through as she offers recipes and meals that are delicious.

From her book:
Asian Broccoli and Ginger Salad

• Twelve almonds, coarsely chopped
• One tablespoon canola oil
• One tablespoon soy sauce
• Two tablespoons lemon juice
• Two tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
• Two teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
• One teaspoon grated lemon zest
• One teaspoon ground pepper
• One-half clove garlic, minced
• Four cups broccoli florets
• Three scallions, thinly sliced

1. Using steamer basket, steam broccoli over boiling water until just tender, five to seven minutes. Run broccoli under cool water to stop cooking and drain.
2. Heat medium skillet over medium heat. Add almonds and one-half teaspoon of oil to hot pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until nuts are just toasted, three to four minutes. Add two teaspoons of soy sauce and stir until coated. Remove from heat and cool.
3. Whisk together juice, vinegar, ginger, zest, pepper, remaining soy sauce, and garlic in medium bowl. Add remaining oil to liquid in a thin stream, whisking briskly.
4. Add broccoli and scallions to dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with toasted nuts.

Nutritional information per serving
IF Rating: 266
Fat(g):7
Carbohydrate(g):14

This is a delicious recipe. The Inflammation-Free Diet Plan is a great book and I recommend it highly.