Top 10 Foods You Thought Were Inflammatory But Aren t

Good news video, we're going to tell you a bunch of foods that you can eat and you haven't been eating because someone told you they were very inflammatory. I'm not the person that told you. We usually do not do good news videos. No, this is like a first almost. So we're going to go through the top 10 foods you thought were inflammatory that actually have no evidence that they actually are inflammatory. We're going to go descending order. Yeah, get your grocery list out. Okay. Start taking notes. You can now enjoy these foods. Yes, guilt-free. Let's start at the bottom. Okay, and then we'll go to the top. Okay. Didn't Drake say that? I'm not sure. I'm not a huge Drake fan, even though he's Canadian. You're a small Drake fan. Yeah. Okay, so white potatoes. Right. Then you got a bad rap. Can't eat white potatoes because they're inflammatory. Hang on a beat. The potato itself is not the inflammatory problem. It's basically how we've been eating these potatoes. Agreed. Most commonly in oil. Fried and super hot oil in the form of a french fry or a chip. Yeah, a french fry, right? Fast food. That potato is one of the most ubiquitous fast foods you can get, french fries. In that form, it's not great for you. But the actual potato itself, the white potato, is not an inflammatory food. It has potassium, has vitamin C. If you eat the skin, it has fiber. Everybody likes fiber. And all potatoes actually are not created equal, too. So if you go from a white potato to a yellow potato, you get the benefit of something called a carotenoid. If you go to a purple potato, the healthiest of all potatoes, you actually have anthocyanins that are present in blueberries and definitely have been shown to reduce inflammation. And then you even have your sweet potato, which is delicious. That's it. They're always trying to upsell you on the sweet potato fry upgrade. Yeah, yeah. And you get that sauce to dip. It's got beta carotene. This is the trouble. There you go. You literally just provided an example of why potatoes got vilified. So, yes. And commonly on this list, and for things that were included, it's the what they were associated with or how they were prepared that really is the problem. It's not actually the food itself. No. It's how they're prepared. So really, you can enjoy potatoes again. Enjoy potatoes. And just everyone's so down on carbohydrates in general. Whole food, complex carbohydrates are good for you. Do you remember that nursery on purple potatoes and purple tomatoes and me purple, too? I used to sing that in the daycare when I used to work at the playgrounds. Awesome. I've never heard that song before. Okay, number nine is coffee. So people are like, wait, what? Coffee is inflammatory? Or wait, it's not inflammatory? Most people think that because it's a stimulant, it must be inflammatory. Because it's a caffeine. Right, so coffee has caffeine. Coffee is actually one of the most studied compounds. And I honestly think we should do a whole video on coffee alone. Very, very deeply studied to show it either has neutral or potentially anti-inflammatory benefits. The benefits go up to about five cups a day. Beyond that, you might have some negative return. No doubt. Yeah, in a whole bunch of ways. But coffee itself, never been shown in any study to be inflammatory. So enjoy your coffee. But similar to the potato, when you're going to some of these franchise coffee stores where they actually sell milkshakes in the form of coffee. Yeah. It's the whipped cream. It's the syrups, all that ultra processed stuff that goes with it. Maybe it's contributing to its negative health effects. Closest thing I've come to drinking a cup of coffee is a coffee crisp chocolate bar. Oh, okay. Yeah, which I don't mind, the coffee crisp. I don't mind. I don't think it reaps the same benefits as a cup of coffee, though. No, agreed. Okay. Okay, so next one, number eight. Yep. Okay, eggs. Come on, people. This is a classic. You're judged by the friends you keep. Totally. The eggs are judged by the friends it keeps. Who eats eggs in a big breakfast? You're eating that big eggs, home fries, bacon with sausage and side bacon. White bread with some butter on it. That's it. Now we're talking, okay, maybe this isn't such a healthy breakfast, and so eggs is taking the fall for this. The carnivore people were happy at first, and then they got less happy when you brought in the association. But I'd agree with you. A lot of people think, well, it's got cholesterol. It must be bad. We've learned that, yes, if you're a very sensitive to dietary cholesterol, you probably should not eat any cholesterol. But the average person eating small amounts of cholesterol probably doesn't lose their cholesterol. And the egg itself actually is quite healthy, certainly neutral. A lot of protein, not inflammatory. Not inflammatory. And how do we know this, that these are inflammatory or not? Well, from studies. So mainly where they do controlled studies and measure, there's three big ones, I'd say. C-reactive protein, ESR, IL-6, and even tumor necrosis factor seems to be another one that a lot of studies involve. But they measure them, and if these levels don't go up in response to the food, they can be deemed not inflammatory. So these are objective measures of inflammation. We use these blood tests all the time when we're trying to see if a knee or a hip or a joint is inflamed. We'll often order an ESR and a CRP to help distinguish if it's inflamed, is it infected. So these are objective markers. They work clinically. They really work. We use them clinically and rely on them clinically to look for inflammation. So when we do a study and you look at these markers, it represents an objective measure of inflammation. And eggs are not on that objective, scientifically proven, inflammatory food list. All right, so you can decide if you want eggs or not. Just don't let inflammation be the reason that you eat them or don't eat them. So you have to eat eggs. We're just saying, yeah, inflammatory. There you go. Number seven, legumes. So beans, chickpeas, lentils. A lot of people think, well, these things all have something called lectins in them. Isn't this awful for us? So lectins have been shown to have negative health effects and can be inflammatory. But lectins actually mostly get cooked out when we cook them. So unless you're taking a handful of raw navy beans, which no one should ever do, and eating them without cooking them, this actually can be bad for you. Lectins are probably not an issue. And we know that legumes are very, very good for you, right? So a lot of fiber, dense source of protein, good for your gut microbiome, chock full of vitamins and minerals. So yeah, legumes, part of a healthy diet. Definitely not inflammatory. And my favorite legume fact is that the peanut is a legume. I know, yeah. So you think I have a nut allergy. Well, it's an allergic to peanuts. No, you have a certain legume allergy. Yes. Interesting. Because the peanut is a legume and not shown to be inflammatory. Right. Okay. Where do we go? Oh, yeah. Dairy. This is going to shock some people. Dairy. I mean, all over social media, dairy is inflammatory. You don't eat dairy, it's inflammatory. There's no objective scientific evidence that proves that dairy is inflammatory by means of those objective inflammatory markers that we talked about. Correct. If you have a dairy allergy, though, that actually your body literally is mounting like an immune or an inflammatory response to this substance. So then that's for sure inflammatory. That applies to eggs too. Absolutely. Legumes with the peanut allergy. What about lactose intolerance? Is that inflammatory? Okay, lactose intolerance is uncomfortable, but it's not an inflammatory process. It's a digestive process. Lack of an enzyme. You're missing an enzyme that helps break down. Lactase. Yeah, that helps break down lactase, so you end up with some bloating and some gas and stuff like that. So not an inflammatory pathway, but uncomfortable. We actually did a whole video about dairy, should you eat dairy or not. And so it has not been shown to be inflammatory. Actually, there's some low-grade evidence for things like fermented dairy like kefir or yogurt that may have some anti-inflammatory benefits. Interesting. Okay, number five, the nightshades. The nightshades like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, I think even potatoes fall under nightshades. I'm not exactly sure how this got propagated over time that these things are bad for you. So tomatoes have something called lycopene, which actually is shown to be anti-inflammatory. These are all full of vitamins, minerals. There's no evidence that any of these things eaten in isolation cause inflammation. I'm not entirely sure where they got their name, nightshades. Yeah, I tried to look. I couldn't find a very good answer. There's some historical references, but... It is pretty cool, though. If I had a jazz band, our first album would be called Nightshades. Nightshades. Yeah, wouldn't that be cool? Jazz band album name? Yeah. Okay, so the next one on the list... It's also going to surprise people. Gluten. Yeah, wait, what? Now hang on a sec. I'm celiac. Now you've got inflammation. Okay. Big time inflammation in your gut wall. Real, measurable, definitive inflammation. Causing damage to your intestine. Okay. So yes, if you have celiac, then no, gluten is not... And you should avoid it. Even small amounts can cause very significant problems. Did you know that soy sauce has gluten in it? I think I did. Did you? Maybe. I didn't know that until someone who was celiac came over and said, no, no, soy sauce has gluten in it. Yeah, because the soy is baked with the wheat to make the soy sauce. You can get gluten-free soy sauce. But in any case, so gluten, and if you're not celiac, or have a wheat allergy, in the absence of those two entities, gluten itself hasn't been shown to be... What if I'm gluten-sensitive? Gluten-sensitive, we're going to put that in the lactose intolerant category. Okay. You're going to get some discomfort, for sure, because you're having trouble digesting it. But you're not getting inflammation in terms of your inflammation markers. Okay, so gluten has never been shown in people who are not celiac or wheat-sensitive. And also what I would say is similar to the nightshades, if you eat one of the nightshades and you don't feel good, then just don't eat it. But don't believe that it's inflammatory. But aside from those situations, gluttony with gluten is okay. Okay. Number three, we're getting close to it. We're on the podium now. So fruit. So a lot of people are like, well, fruit's got fructose. Fructose is sugar. Sugar equals inflammation. That's not true. Yeah. It's not true. Careful. No. Careful with fructose. Yeah. Don't drop the R, no matter what you do. So whole-form fruit is very good for you. It is accompanied by fiber. I mean, it does not get digested very quickly. And plus it has vitamins, minerals, as well as other plant vital compounds that are good for you. And actually are anti-inflammatory often. So depending on the fruit. Yeah. So definitely fruit and fructose from a whole-form are not shown to be inflammatory. Fair enough. And they taste great. They do. And what else are you going to put in your smoothie? Yeah. Okay. Seed oils. Oh. That's the next one. We are going to do an entire video on seed oils. Yes. We're going to come to the rescue of seed oils at some point. But no evidence shows that seed oils are inflammatory. Okay. You heard that. That's what we're saying. All over social media. Yeah. What about all the Omega-6s? There's too many Omega-6s. Ratio Omega-6 to Omega-3 is no good. Blah, blah, blah. I think the reason is kind of like the potato. Yeah. Okay. Sure. You judge by the friends you keep because the seed oils do appear in a lot of fast food. Why? Because it's cheap. It's palatable. Increases shelf life. Yeah. So it's easy to throw in with fast food. And those calorie-rich, nutrition-poor meals that you can get for $3.99. As well as commonly used in deep fryers where they reheat the oil multiple times. And that actually has very negative consequences over time. It oxidates. The seed oil does. Okay. Oxidation occurs. So yeah. Those, sure, in those situations. Yes. But like the eggs surrounded by the bad stuff. Yeah. The seed oils itself. If you took like a shot of canola oil, you're not necessarily going to have measurable inflammation. No. But we don't suggest chugging seed oil. No. And we know actually that substituting saturated fat, typically animal fat. So butter, lard, and tallow. Do you know what lard and tallow are? Lard is just animal fat. So lard is pig fat that's been rendered down. So heated, melted. And they take all the solids and impurities out. Yeah. And then it reforms back into, that's what lard is. And then tallow is just the beef version. Yeah. And they render down the fat. Benjamin, is that your job? Render. I'm a fat melter. Speaking of jobs, when I was a teenager, I had a job as a snack bar attendant at the local ice rink. Oh. I didn't know that. Yes. And the fries we made was in a big vat of lard. Like you come in the morning, it was solid. Right. You turn it on, the fries are going to take a few hours. So we got to boil this. It's disturbing, right? It's solid. We got to turn the solid into a boiling liquid. And that's what we used to cook the fries in. Sorry, I got distracted. But when you swap out saturated fat for mono or polyunsaturated fats, good evidence to show this reduces your LDL, reduces your cardiovascular risk. Sorry if you don't believe the cholesterol is a problem, but this has actually been good for you and would reduce your global inflammation. And at the same job, with the lard vat, I had a manager who would always put his lunch down and ask me to microwave it for him. Well, he went off and he came back and did it. And he's a bigger man, right? Larger guy. He came, put his lunch in. So I stick in the microwave, pull it out. He's not back yet. I put it back in the microwave. Oh, reheat. Multiple reheats. Put it back. And he comes back, opens it up. He goes, what'd you do to my salad? I said, I didn't know you were on a diet now. I thought it was like every other day of the week. You microwaved a salad twice. Yeah. He opened the lid and then just as he opened it, one flap of lettuce just gave up a little burp and a puff of steam came out. And I didn't last long at that job. Good. Okay, that was number two. So number one is whole grains. So whole grains, just like all other carbohydrates, have been vilified. A lot of people think that the grains are just pure evil, and I'm not exactly sure. I think this is from the keto carnivore group, actually. I think that got kind of dragged along. But what I would tell you is the whole grains are an excellent source of fiber. Who's going to slam whole grains? It's good for your gut microbiome. It helps provide those fatty acids that get converted to stabilize your gut microbiome. They reduce your sugar spikes. They have vitamins, minerals, nutrients. Come on. There's no evidence to show that they're inflammatory. So if you like whole grains, continue to enjoy your whole grains. What happened, I think, is people think of whole grains and they equate this to white bread. Or white pasta or white rice that are not necessarily in and of themselves bad for you, but they have had more of the nutritious components stripped from them. Sure, they may not be as nutritious as other things, but they're not bad for you in terms of inflammation and objective measures of inflammation. What a good news video. Ten things you can put on your list that you took off, fill your cupboards, and you're not going to come back. Leave a comment. Which of the things on this list that you thought were inflammatory that you are going to enjoy today because you made this video? That you didn't enjoy yesterday. There you go. If you like this video, please like it, subscribe to our channel, share it with someone that inflames you a bit. Please subscribe. There you go. And remember, you are in charge of your own health. See you next time.