What is “inflammation” and how does it affect our metabolism?
Colored Transmission Electron Micrograph of a Macrophage, an important immune cell in maintaining balanced metabolism. (medimage/science source)
TL;DR: “Inflammation” refers to the whole phenomenon of: (1) signals that stressed-out body cells send to our immune system, (2) the activity of those immune cells themselves, and (3) the signals that these immune cells send back to our stressed-out body cells. Inflammation is the first response to any metabolic stress, including stress from excess cortisol and insulin both acting at the same time, too little nutrition, or some type of infection. (about 7 min read)
Metabolic tips to lower inflammation and promote balanced metabolism:
Check in with your Foundational Five habits: get 6.5-8 hrs sleep/night, stay hydrated, build a nutritional base with fiber and protein, add simple carbs in proportion to movement, and move your blood around.
Avoid eating 2-3 hrs before going to sleep to help your immune system clean up during sleep.
Reduce the amount of simple carbs in your diet that are not supporting movement - simple carbs cause insulin spikes that confuse your cells and make them metabolically stressed!
“Inflammation” is the crosstalk between your stressed-out cells and your immune system. Remember that stress = metabolic imbalance. At the whole body level, both physical or psychological stress both lead to too much cortisol and/or too little insulin sensitivity; this is one form of metabolic imbalance because cortisol and insulin influence what different organs do with glucose and fat. On the cellular level, stress to your cells is also a metabolic imbalance, and cells, internally, deal with glucose and fat in an inappropriate or confused way. (This has to do with how the mitochondria works, and we’ll get to that later).
Each of your organs has a specific job it needs to do. Here, we’re referring to all the cells in your body that are not part of your immune system as your “body cells”. These are the cells that make up all of your other organs and (except for your blood) these cells all stay in the same place. Your organs are like little workshops that have specific jobs - your brain thinks thoughts, your stomach oozes acid that breaks down food (similar to the way citrus or vinegar marinades tenderize meat), your liver makes sure that the rest of your organs have the energy supplies they need by modulating blood glucose and blood fat levels.
The job of your immune system is to help your other organs keep a “clean shop” without intruders breaking in. These little workshops are all necessary for the whole body to function. However, your organs are so focused on their job that they do not have time to (a) clean up or (b) provide security. Cleaning up and providing security are the jobs your immune system does. When you aren’t stressed out and don’t have any actively healing injuries or infections, your immune system plays a HUGE role in just helping keep everything orderly and taking out the trash.
Your immune system helps your other organs “take out the trash” so they can do their jobs properly. This is partly why sleep deprivation is associated with higher risk of metabolic diseases like Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease - your immune system cleans your brain when you sleep. When you don’t sleep, garbage builds up and neural cells get stressed out. These stressed-out cells call for backup and more immune cells come in to deal with the threat.
Immune cells provide “security” to your other cells. In addition to waste management, the immune system also provides security. Your immune cells are constantly on the lookout for things that should not be inside the body - this is why there are so many immune cells lining your gut. Your gut microbes should stay on one side of your gut and should not cross into your bloodstream. If the gut microbes start to cross over into the blood, you have a line of professional bouncers, your immune cells, there to stop the microbes from going any further.
When your body cells are metabolically stressed, they send signals to your immune cells to ask for help. Your body can be threatened by intruders like microbes or viruses, and it can also be threatened by traitors like cancer cells and infected cells that have been invaded by a virus or bacteria. Your immune system finds these traitors and takes them out. How does your immune system know which cells are about to commit mutiny?
Infected cells, cancer cells, and metabolically stressed cells send the same signals to your immune system. Unfortunately, the signals that tell your immune system that one of your body cells might become cancer or might be harboring a virus are some of the same signals that tell your immune system that your body is metabolically stressed. There is a lot of nuance here, and this explanation is very simplified, but the take-home message is that when your body cells are metabolically out-of-balance and stressed out, your immune system thinks those body cells are about to become traitors and takes them out. Your immune system’s response to metabolic stress is called “inflammation”.
During “inflammation”, your immune system sends signals back to your body cells and tells them to store fat. Your immune system is trying to help the rest of your body deal with what it thinks is an attack from invaders (infections) or traitors (cancer). Some of the signals that your immune cells send back to your body cells are to store fat and not break down too much energy supplies. This is like your immune system showing up on the block and telling all the “healthy” cells to shut their doors and keep all their supplies inside for a few days. The immune system doesn’t want the healthy cells to share with the unhealthy cells. It wants the healthy cells to have enough canned food on their shelves to get through this battle the immune system is about to wage on the unhealthy cells.
When we are metabolically stressed, the immune system acts less like a maintenance service and more like the mafia. It would be a shame is something happened to these confused cells that are getting too many signals from cortisol and insulin at the same time, wouldn’t it? Before we can make positive changes in our health, we first need to make sure that we aren’t accidentally encouraging low-grade inflammation in our bodies. And that’s why all successful diets reduce inflammation by developing sustainable habits.
Metabolic tips to lower inflammation and promote balanced metabolism:
Check in with your Foundational Five habits: get 6.5-8 hrs sleep/night, stay hydrated, build a nutritional base with fiber and protein, add simple carbs in proportion to movement, and move your blood around.
Avoid eating 2-3 hrs before going to sleep to help your immune system clean up during sleep.
Reduce the amount of simple carbs in your diet that are not supporting movement - simple carbs cause insulin spikes that confuse your cells and make them metabolically stressed!
(for the nerds: TNF-a is a growth factor.)
