Chronic inflammation is a dangerous condition that can lead to a variety of serious effects and can even damage your body over the long term. Inflammation can lead to memory loss and cognitive decline, higher risk of heart problems, abnormal growth of healthy cells, compromised digestion, loss of muscle tone, weight gain, accelerated skin aging, and joint pain leading to loss of mobility. Now that's a scary list! It's obvious why doctors work to limit and reverse chronic inflammation in their patients, but for many in the health-care profession, the go-to solution is medication.

Sometimes that's necessary, of course, because the damage caused by inflammation and the underlying causes of that inflammation vary widely. But science shows us that something as simple as a diet change can deal a massive blow to chronic inflammation, effectively reversing the condition and reducing or eliminating those side effects listed above.

Dr. Jockers lists reduced inflammation as one of the many reasons to start and stick with a keto diet:

One of the most basic and most profound benefits of a ketogenic diet is that it drastically lowers inflammation. This is mainly due to the reduced amount of free radical production that occurs when burning ketones for energy instead of glucose. Less inflammation allows for more energy production and an overall more efficiently functioning body. This allows for a heightened ability of the body to heal in many different aspects.

Another reason that a ketogenic diet is so anti-inflammatory is that it allows blood sugar and insulin to stabilize. Blood sugar imbalance is one of the most pervasive inflammatory activities that goes on in the bodies of people who are heavily relying on sugar for energy.

Because of this anti-inflammatory benefit, a ketogenic diet may be well suited for improving cancer outcomes, autoimmunity, neurological disorders, and metabolic disorders alike.

Dr. Jockers