Playing with Fire: How Modern Lifestyle Fuels Inflammation

Chronic inflammation has emerged as one of the most significant drivers behind virtually all modern health challenges. In this thought-provoking exploration, Dr. Mark Pettus reveals why researchers now refer to inflammation as "the cause of everything" and introduces the concept of "inflammaging" – how chronic inflammation accelerates biological aging and compromises quality of life.

Dr. Pettus takes us beyond conventional medical thinking to understand that while inflammation is an essential protective mechanism, it becomes destructive when chronically activated. Our modern environment, filled with processed foods, chronic stress, environmental toxins, and disrupted sleep patterns, keeps this system perpetually triggered, setting the stage for everything from diabetes to autoimmune conditions.

The most eye-opening revelations come when Dr. Pettis challenges popular nutritional dogma. He explains why fat has been unfairly vilified while highlighting how the standard American diet—dominated by processed carbohydrates and industrial seed oils—creates the perfect inflammatory storm. You'll discover why quality animal proteins and fats may be critical anti-inflammatory allies while learning how to identify truly nutritious foods that align with your biology.

Beyond nutrition, you'll gain practical insights into creating a comprehensive anti-inflammatory lifestyle through improved sleep, stress management, movement, and perhaps most surprisingly, through cultivating self-love and meaningful connections. Dr. Pettus shares specific testing recommendations to objectively measure your inflammation levels and track your progress.

Whether you're dealing with chronic health challenges, carrying extra weight, struggling with energy levels, or simply want to optimize your health span, this presentation offers a refreshing perspective that empowers you to address root causes rather than merely managing symptoms. Take the first step toward creating an anti-inflammatory lifestyle by implementing these evidence-based strategies today.

For video recording and slide deck go to www.thehealthedgepodcast.com

For Essential Provisions Nutritional Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) go to www.essentialprovisions.com

Transcript

Introduction to Inflammation: The Secret Killer

Speaker 1 0:02

I'm Dr Mark Pettis, medical Director at Essential Provisions. This is a webinar on inflammation, and we're going to look at what is one of the most important drivers of all chronic, complex health issues. We'll look at why this is important, what some of the common causes of inflammation are and what you can do in your own life right away to begin to create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle and environment. And so let me just open up my slides here and off we go, and off we go. So are you playing with fire? Inflammation is, some would consider it, the cause of everything, and there's some truth to that for sure, and we'll look at why that in fact is the case. So the goal here, in the half hour or so that we have, is to look at the common causes of inflammation and how they link to lifespan, healthspan and quality of life. We'll look at, in particular, nutrition, which is an important area of focus, and what are some of the changes in our modern food supply that are fueling this epidemic of inflammation. And then we'll look at, as always, some actionable lifestyle considerations that one can employ, that can complement whatever other treatments you may be getting for blood pressure. Maybe you're on a GLP-1 for your weight, maybe you're on some medication because you have been told you have prediabetes or diabetes, everything that we're talking about here will regress, the root causes of all of those chronic, complex health conditions. So the secret killer, the cause of everything and many have adopted this sort of new term called inflammaging we know that this burgeoning science of longevity and aging is suggesting that inflammation may in fact be one of the greatest obstacles to a long and wonderful and vital life, the capacity to thrive. Inflammation will, in fact accelerate one's biologic age. How would we define inflammation? This is, I think, a very straightforward, accurate definition.

Speaker 1 2:47

Inflammation is a highly evolved response of our immune system that protects us after injury from maybe an infection like COVID-19 or strep strep, and it's essential for survival. A system well designed for acute threats can become maladaptive when chronically turned on, and this is such an important point. Every aspect of biology and companies software that we come into the world with, software that we come into the world with that helps protect us, and our immune system is a perfect example of that. Inflammation is essential to help us survive. It's a system designed to turn on in response to a threat and to turn off quickly when that threat has resolved, if, by the very nature of one's lifestyle and environment, that immune system is going on all of the time, or maybe it's on and it's in the on position that has become the default mode. Many people that I've treated through the years with kidney diseases and other metabolic diseases are chronically inflamed. So this is a well-adapted system, but in a modern environment it has lost its way.

Understanding Inflammation and Inflammaging

Speaker 1 4:16

Very similar when we look at the stress response in a separate webinar. The fight-flight stress response, like inflammation, is designed to turn on and turn off quickly. As soon as that threat is gone, we no longer need that response. But in modern life threats take many forms, like poverty or food insecurity or pain or trauma. So that stress, that fight-flight response response, is on most of the time. That's when human health, starting at very young ages, will begin to become compromised. Really important principles here. So a lifestyle medicine.

Speaker 1 5:01

I just want to share this with you briefly. It's a framework for everything that I think about in terms of my own health and how I serve others. You know we, if a human being were a plant and you go to your doctor because, well, you know, the leaves are wilting a little bit, maybe they're a little miscolored, wilting a little bit, maybe they're a little miscolored. You know something about. The plant is not what it should be and our doctors, like me, are really well-trained to say well, you know, you have diabetes, that's a stroke, you have depression. We call this fibromyalgia. Your physician, really well-trained in Western models of education generally, is pretty well-trained to diagnose, to attach a name to that which you present with. In truth, those names really say very little about what's actually going on and we tend to reduce the cause of the name to genetics. Oh, mark, your blood sugar is high, you have diabetes. Both your parents had diabetes. Therefore, this is genetic and the good news is you are alive at a time where we have lots of pharmaceuticals that we can prescribe to help you with that, and there's a place for that. There's a place for this model, but it is so woefully incomplete in my professional life as a specialist, as a Harvard-trained specialist in kidney diseases, to come to recognize that my understanding limited my ability to really help people address the root causes of what it is they were presenting with.

Speaker 1 6:58

What we know is that when we see changes in our leaves, those things that'll bring us to a provider, most can be traced to this inflammatory response, an immune system that is overprovoked, that has lost its way, that is no longer able to turn itself off. And this is highly associated with and these are other webinars that are available through Essential Provisions educational platform are associated usually with high insulin levels. We might call that prediabetes or diabetes. Most people that have high insulin levels have no idea that they have high insulin levels. This is a missed opportunity, because you might feel well or you may just have what every American struggles with, you know not as much energy, a little bit of brain fog, just not firing on all cylinders. You know, everyone I know struggles with that. It's just I'm getting older.

Speaker 1 8:00

Whatever perceptual belief system that has allowed you to accept what feels like an otherwise inevitable decline really I'm suggesting should be reconsidered. So high insulin levels and this modern life disruption of our day-night cycling, circadian rhythm also another webinar that I think will help enlighten some who are interested in how these pieces fit together these are the underpinnings of what ultimately leads to these things that we call disease. And then, when you look at the conditions of the soil, really, where the root causes are emerging, what you tend to see ultimately are issues of nutrition, lack of movement, an unabated chronic stress response, fight-flight response, more toxins in one's environment than they can possibly manage. An example of that, as it relates to inflammation, is mold. Mold in one's environment home or work is very pro-inflammatory and greatly under-recognized Sleep quality.

The Lifestyle Medicine Framework

Speaker 1 9:12

How connected you are to others connection in a loving, compassionate, supportive, non-judgmental, forgiving context, traumas that you may have dealt with. How you manage conflict in your life. Your ability to unplug even for a brief moment, to just be still and to connect with that inner wisdom that is alive and well in all of us. But that voice tends to be silenced because of the hubbub in our modern lives, and when it does speak to us, often we're just not in the right place to hear it and acknowledge it. Meaning we cultivate in our work, love and play, socioeconomics all of these things that are part of our lives are either aligned with what our biology needs or they're not. And that misalignment if there's a mismatch between what our biology needs and what we're providing it with continues, you'll begin to see an overreactive immune system.

Speaker 1 10:19

Insulin resistance, high insulin levels, disruptions of circadian rhythm, unabated stress those are the things that ultimately lead to chronic, complex disease. So a medication in response to a name or a diagnosis might be helpful, but unless you are addressing the conditions of the soil, your plant will never get better, and there isn't a landscape architect anywhere that wouldn't attempt to address why it is a plant or a tree is failing without looking at the conditions of the soil and our Western medical health system. We just are not well designed to do that. Sad but true. So what are the conditions of your soil?

Speaker 1 11:05

What are you getting too much of? That might be undermining your health and causing inflammation, and is there an opportunity to reduce it? An example of that would be sugar flour, processed foods. The corollary to this is what do you need to be getting more of that you're not getting enough of, and how can you introduce more of that? Examples of that might be vegetables, it might be sunlight, it might be more healthy fats, it might be more time around people who actually care about you and support you, and so these are common causes of inflammation. Each of these could be a separate webinar, but just the high-level overview which is the purpose of our time today. The standard American diet, which is 55 to 60% processed carbohydrates, sugar, flour, high glycemic, nutritionally depleted sources are a huge driver, and the same way. Processed vegetable oils are very much and I'll elaborate on these very briefly pro-inflammatory People who are just stressed all the time, and sometimes it requires making some really challenging decisions.

Speaker 1 12:32

Maybe I'm in a relationship that's just toxic and I need to get out of. Maybe I'm in a job that is no longer aligned with my values. A heartfelt, honest self-assessment can bring you to a place of having to confront very challenging decisions as it relates to your health. There is no challenge so great that you should avoid trying to meet it head on, and we all need help on this journey for sure, but that it's important. Self-care is a challenge. We know that a waistline of more than 36 inches in women, 40 inches in men that is a just a good example of a pro-inflammatory state. The more fat we have around the midsection, the more inflamed our system is.

Speaker 1 13:28

Again, these are big topics. Kathy Swift on our Essential Provision Board of Advisors is one of the nation's experts on gut health and nutrition and she'll be developing webinars as well. But we know that this is an ecosystem in our gut of trillions of microorganisms that ideally as true in any ecosystem would have a balanced distribution of species and the genus of the different types of organisms. You wouldn't see overgrowth of organisms in the small intestine, where ordinarily that wouldn't be, and you would see more balanced organisms in the colon, where they should be. And so this is a very active area of research. But the standard American diet, chronic stress, many medications, like chronic, regular use of these anti-inflammatories, can all disrupt gut health. We know that even being bottle-fed as opposed to breastfed at a young age, coming into the world's cesarean section as opposed to vaginally, these can all set the stage for a disrupted microbiome very early in life that will be associated with the development of health and quality of life issues at very young ages. We know that disrupted sleep, high insulin.

Speaker 1 14:59

We've talked about environmental toxins, particularly things like mold, glyphosate, which is in Roundup it's in so many genetically modified foods, but it's also very highly concentrated in grains, wheat in particular, oats, other grains that are sprayed with glyphosate to brown these crops so they can be harvested in a more efficient way. It serves the farmer really quite well to enhance efficiency, maybe to get out ahead of a rain system coming in that might affect the quality of their crop acquisition. And so you know these are. Glyphosate is a new to nature molecule and is problematic molecule and is problematic, perhaps more so for some than others.

Common Causes of Inflammation

Speaker 1 15:55

Low vitamin D levels are highly associated with inflammation and all chronic complex diseases. I believe vitamin D is a surrogate of the quality of light that we're getting in our environment and again I would refer you to my webinar on circadian rhythm, which is really, excuse me, a look at light and health and many chronic infections. Many people, for example, who've had Lyme in the past, their lives never quite returned to normal. You know they might have what we would call chronic Lyme or Epstein-Barr virus is another example, the mononucleosis virus. Some people are never quite right after that infection with mono. Their immune systems never quite come back to that balanced regulation. And then COVID and I retired recently from my medical practice and my professional role overseeing population health in Western Massachusetts and it was all hands on deck, of course, with COVID. I saw many, many people and many of my colleagues that had COVID and were never quite the same after that. We we call that long hauler. We don't really understand why it is some people acquire these more chronic states, but suffice it to say many infections can take on even after that infection has gone away. The effect on the immune system remains and that is a huge disruptor of quality of life and health.

Speaker 1 17:27

So let's look just briefly at food and again, in the spirit of time efficiency, I won't go into great depth but just touch this on a high level. I think everybody knows that our food supply has changed tremendously. I often think back. I lived with my grandparents in rural Alabama and they were both born in 1900. And virtually everything that they ate when I was with them was a whole food. They grew a lot of their vegetables, they had chickens and we had their eggs every day. And when they went to the store, you know they bought meats and eggs and and dairy, and you know butter and milk and it it was, and you know all kinds of produce. They were just, you know, loaded with vegetables and that's what we ate every day. That was just a few generations ago and we know that even foods that might otherwise be healthy are now cultivated in ways that completely disrupt the health of that organism and ultimately these become a part of our food supply.

Speaker 1 18:44

You know, if you're a chicken and you're not seeing the light of day and you're being fed grains and you're being given antibiotics, and you know you've got a minimal space to move. You're going to be in a stress. That chicken's going to be in a stress response in fine flight. It's going to be in an inflamed state. What does it mean when a human consumes that food? We call that xenohormesis, how the conditions within which the food is cultivated can be acquired by the person consuming that food Right. So that wasn't chicken.

Speaker 1 19:52

So these are some of the major changes in our food supply and again, I think many of you are aware of this. There's a lot out there in the blog world, but I would say these are some of the top changes. That poor quality breads that you know aren't whole grain or sprouted grain, they're bleached. You know these are fructose, you know, which is in many foods, and I would even add fructose, you know, in fruits. Our ancestors ate fruits that were seasonably available. Is there a potential challenge if you're living in Burlington, vermont, and you're eating a banana every day over the winter season when historically, bananas don't exist in that ecosystem during that time period? I, you know, I ask that rhetorically, but we're probably getting foods. Even foods that we would consider healthy may be problematic when we're eating them out of season, particularly in higher quantities.

Speaker 1 20:40

We know that fats and many of you have heard of the omega-6, omega-3,. This is widely contested and the jury may still be out to some extent on this, but the point is that most omega-6 in natural sources pasture-raised meats, nuts are very different than omega-6 fats in high quantities that people are now getting from processed seed oils safflower oil, soybean oil, you know, cotton oil, canola oil these are all processed seed oils very high in omega-6 fats and in high quantities, particularly relative to the omega-3 fats which are, you know, fatty fish. As an example, you know, pasture-raised meats, uh, will have a little more of an omega-6. Marine vegetables very high in omega-3, um, you know this is we. We consume very little of those foods and much more of these processed omega-6 fats.

Modern Food Supply and Inflammatory Diet

Speaker 1 21:42

I think it's problematic from a human health standpoint. We know that low-fat diets, which have been popular for the last few generations, are really problematic as it relates to the unintentional consequence of consuming more carbs. Low-fat foods, cholesterol-free foods, are very unhealthy, high in sugar, high in artificial ingredients. Fat has been unfairly condemned and I would make the case that fats coming from nature, from pasture-raised meats, eggs, poultry, fatty fish, nuts, whole fat dairy you know these are all superfoods. In my opinion, they are a great value economically. They're nutrient-dense foods and people tend to consume far less of them, things that our grandparents and great-grandparents would have said. Are you crazy? Can you imagine going to a farmer in 1900 and suggesting that eggs were bad for human health? You would have been laughed off the farm. You would have been kicked out of the community that you were in. We've sort of lost touch with those ancestral qualities of life, and many of them in modern context have been unfairly chastised, and I think this has really fueled the public health crisis that we confront today.

Speaker 1 23:15

We certainly get more sodium than we need in processed foods. Most people need to be getting between 3,000, 5,000 milligrams of sodium a day. That would be one to two teaspoons tops of table salt a day, or the equivalent. The real problem is we're not getting enough potassium, and that's where greens low glycemic, nutrient-dense plant-based vegetables are very, very high in potassium. More potassium, less sodium from processed foods. And then, lastly, fiber. We tend to be a fiber deficient culture because there's so little fiber in our modern diets, and we know that this seems to be a major driver of a disrupted microbiome. And so if one goes back to a whole foods, minimally processed, ancestral way of looking. I might call it paleo. Anything that really hasn't been seduced by modern processing for most, most of us, will be a huge upgrade from a standard American diet and will greatly lower inflammation and insulin resistance.

Speaker 1 24:37

Now, often, when one is really struggling and on a kind of a slippery slide, just an elimination diet, eliminating one aspect of the diet for 30 days, can reveal a lot. This is the N equals one. You are experiencing a change in your life by virtue of eliminating something that might be sugar, it might be wheat or, more broadly, you know, grains, it might be dairy, it might be vegetable oils. Many people who improve whether it's vegetarian, vegan, paleo, call it what you want the improvements often have less to do with what you're consuming in that change and more to do with what you've eliminated in that change. So an elimination diet can be very helpful, not long-term, but in identifying potential triggers.

Speaker 1 25:39

And when I did this I came to realize that wheat and flour in general was triggering migraines, was triggering for me irritable bowel. I was getting eczema and I had these diagnoses. Eczema recommended a steroid cream. Irritable bowel, you know, mark, try a probiotic, try this or that. You know prescription Migraine you can take this or take that. Good docs, good people, good diagnoses, but none of them address what ultimately, for me and for all of us, were root causes. So this is a really good tool worth considering.

Speaker 1 26:22

We know that when you look at whole foods in general the Mediterranean diet has been widely published it's really an array of plant-based foods, meats, whole foods and again, I'm a real proponent of animal fat and animal protein, of animal fat and animal protein. Sometimes you're a voice in the wilderness, but I believe the science is very compelling that when you look at these whole food ways of life, as you see in the blue zones, all markers of inflammation and metabolic health tend to improve. And again, I understand that there are people who, for whatever reason, don't want to be eating meat. But if anyone is not eating meat or an egg because of fear of the impact that will have on their health, then I would suggest think more about the source. Don't condemn that group of foods, understanding that there are some sources that are much more ethical in terms of how animals are raised, use much less in the way of toxins in the cultivation of those food sources and are cultivated by people with deep respect and love for the ecosystems that they are part of.

Speaker 1 27:58

So, in general, if you could do one thing more than any nutritionally to reduce your inflammatory response, it would be cutting down on carbs, focusing just on low glycemic. And again, these are the usual suspects, which are the predominant aspects of the standard American diet, and I won't read through each of these. What I will say is that if you have a diagnosis of prediabetes or diabetes, you should definitely have a continuous glucose monitor. Physicians can prescribe this Insurance with those diagnoses. Everyone should have one, in my view but most insurers won't pay for it unless you have a pre-diabetes or diabetes diagnosis. There is no substitute for being able to measure your blood glucose at any time, in response to what you're eating, the time of day that you're eating, the mixtures of foods, the combinations that you're eating, when you're balancing proteins and fats with carbohydrates, you'll blunt that glycemic effect. So having a continuous glucose monitor is, I think, one of the greatest tools in 2025 that anyone could have as a lever to nudge behaviors that could ultimately serve one better than they're being served.

Speaker 1 29:30

And again, we've talked about these processed vegetable oils. I would highly recommend the amazing investigative journalist work of Nina Teicholz. Nina has wrote a book called the Big Fat Surprise several years ago, has written many peer-reviewed articles challenging our dietary guidelines, much of which have recommended these fats. We've really gotten this completely backwards, in my opinion. I have a few white papers that I've written on our website at essentialprovisionscom, that are very well referenced. If you're interested in looking more deeply at fat, at salt and sodium, there are a lot of misperceptions out there that are quite prevalent still today.

Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle Changes

Speaker 1 30:35

And again we've talked about the importance. Do not fear fat from these sources. Do not fear meat from these sources. Do not fear meat from whole sources. This is what our biology has evolved over millennia. To be in relationship with would condemn ghee or butter and instead say you know, you should replace that with a highly processed seed oil that's completely new to nature as a consumable food. And again, plant-based foods, particularly the lower glycemic plant-based foods, completely rock. And again, I won't read this, but these are very anti-inflammatory, they're fiber rich and nutrient dense. The colors in vegetables, these phytonutrients, will change your epigenetics and I have a webinar on this that you can find on our website. When you look at these on and off switches in your DNA, these plant-based pigments quickly, within hours, will begin to. All ancestral indigenous cultures just understood the incredible medicinal value of of these anti-inflammatory spices, from black pepper to turmeric, uh, rosemary, ginger as, as examples.

Speaker 1 32:18

Um, mold is again. This alone is a huge topic, but just to make you aware that any water damage that you've ever had in your home or in the office that you work in uh greatly ups the ante of the presence of mold. Uh, about one out of four people will be susceptible to mold, and this can be a an under-recognized, chronic disruptor of health, and I've seen many, many people who have been to many many doctors have felt sick for years only to ultimately find out that they were dealing with a mold issue. And one of the nation's best experts in mold is Dr Richie Shoemaker. I highly recommend his website, survivingmoldcom.

Speaker 1 33:09

People who might have mold-related inflammation can do a test called the visual contrast sensitivity test, an online test that might cost like $10. Often, our ability to discriminate shades of gray or white off-white are the first signs of a neural inflammatory response to mold in our environment. This is, I think, a do-not-miss list of tests for inflammation and insulin resistance. C-reactive protein marker of inflammation ideally, lower is better, less than one is ideal. A fasting sugar less than 100, lower is better. Continuous glucose monitor definitely look into that, particularly if you have a prediabetes diabetes diagnosis. Hemoglobin A1c, which is a timed average of blood glucose, less than 5.7. Uric acid less than 6. A fasting insulin this may be one of the more important tests because insulin will go up before your sugar goes up, so you want to really catch that early.

Testing for Inflammation and Conclusion

Speaker 1 34:22

Lipids the lipid profile, total cholesterol LDL has really migrated toward better and more accurate predictive tests, and this is in 2025, the most predictive test would be what's called an APOB, which is a measure of the LDL, the small dense LDL, which are the most inflammatory and problematic. But this is a blood test, routine blood test. Insurance should cover this. You want your triglycerides low and your HDL to be high, greater than 50. This would be the royal flush of health and longevity, metabolic health, if you can accomplish this. Most of this can be accomplished with lifestyle and so, in conclusion and again I think a lot of this is common sense, an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, and for more detail on some of these, I would encourage you to check out other webinars on our educational platform at essential provisions, also on our youtube channel.

Speaker 1 35:35

Um, definitely getting away from from processed foods, particularly the carbs um, is a huge step in the right direction. Trying to get over your fear of fat and your fear of meats with a focus on the quality and the source of those foods will make it easier to cut back on these. Carbohydrates will lower your glycemic index and, no matter what your health goal is, you will quickly move in the direction of getting there with these steps. Obviously, more plant-based foods, considering an elimination trial for 30 days and keep a little diary seeing how you feel. Vitamin N, nature, more outdoor light. This is very anti-inflammatory, uh, circadian rhythms that are disrupted are pro-inflammatory. So more natural light in the morning. Later in the day, blocking blue light, uh. After sunset having better indoor light quality uh, warm LEDs instead of those compact fluorescent sort of blue light rich, having blue blocker glasses. You know these are all things that are powerfully anti-inflammatory. Saunas, be it a thermal sauna or an infrared sauna. If you have access to a sauna, very anti-inflammatory Emotion is the lotion, whatever form that might take.

Speaker 1 37:05

And again, a bit more on stress in a separate webinar. And the many tools. Connection to others, particularly loving, meaningful connections, considering bold. Maybe most importantly is this aspect of love, self-love, loving yourself, forgiving yourself, reserving judgment, you know, and just understanding that you are an amazing, perfect spirit, soul.

Speaker 1 37:37

Having this challenging human experience, as we all are, and a lot of the hubbub in our lives says little about who we really are. And so begin to recognize any self-talk I'm not good, I'm not worthy. This is in my genetics. There's nothing I can do about it. Those beliefs are more than just these ethereal things. They will drive your biology at the level of DNA and beyond. So I leave you with this, and it really goes along with this whole concept of self-love, and you know, it's all about that companionship and right, who came along and never left your side, and so I thank you for that. That was a whirlwind overview of inflammation. Again, I know there's a lot there. Don't hesitate to go back and listen to these as often as you would like. The handouts for these talks can also be downloaded and are available to you and, on behalf of our company, essential Provisions, I'm glad to have been able to share this with you. Be well, stay well and peace along the way.