Inflammation: When the System Swings Too Far

Michelle Donath
May 19
5 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

What your body is trying to say when everything feels a little louder.

Inflammation isn’t the villain. It’s a responder.

The red, hot, swelling, aching you feel when something’s been cut, hit, broken, bruised, that’s inflammation doing its job.

It clears the area. Sends immune cells to repair damage. Removes what doesn’t belong .It’s not there to harm. It’s there to heal.

But healing has a rhythm. And when that rhythm gets interrupted, inflammation loses its off switch.

It keeps going. And what was once a clean-up crew turns into constant background noise.

This is when you start to feel… off

Not sick. Not broken. Just… inflamed.

You wake up puffy, even after sleep.
Your joints feel older than you are.
Your cycle hits harder.
Your digestion shifts, bloating, sensitivity, urgency.
Your mood gets sharp.
You feel reactive, to food, to sound, to life.
You’re exhausted, but wired.
You don’t bounce back like you used to.

And if someone asks what’s wrong, you don’t quite know what to say.

Because inflammation doesn’t feel like one thing. It feels like everything got louder.

What is inflammation really responding to?

Originally? Injury. Infection. Irritation.

Now? Stress. Poor sleep. Blood sugar swings. Environmental toxins. Ultra-processed foods. Gut dysbiosis. Hormone shifts. Unresolved immune triggers. And likely a nervous system that’s been in survival mode for too long.

Inflammation was meant to be short-term. But we live in a world full of long-term inputs.

So your body keeps responding. Even when the original threat is gone.

What’s Driving the Fire?

Inflammation doesn’t start in isolation. It’s usually part of a bigger conversation, where your body is trying to keep up, clean up, or correct something that’s gone just a little too far for a little too long.

And while the immune system gets most of the attention, it’s not the only one involved. There are three major pathways that often play key roles behind the scenes:

Oxidative Stress: The Spark That Won’t Quit

This one’s big. Your body makes energy by combining oxygen with nutrients. That reaction creates reactive oxygen species (ROS), tiny sparks that are normal, even helpful.

But when there are too many sparks and not enough cleanup? The smoke builds. The system gets overwhelmed. And those ROS start damaging cells, tissues, mitochondria, triggering inflammation as the body tries to respond.

This is how fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, or flare-ups can begin… quietly.

Methylation: The Switch That Needs to Flip

Methylation is your body’s system for processing information.

It helps turn genes on and off. Clear out excess histamine. Regulate immune responses. And when it’s sluggish? The whole system feels cluttered.

Poor methylation can lead to more inflammatory cytokines, poor detox, mood instability, and hormone imbalance.

It’s like a dimmer switch stuck on high, everything feels just a bit too much.

Detoxification: The Overflow

Your liver is your biochemical sorting station. It’s where your body packages up toxins, used hormones, and environmental exposures for removal.

But when detoxification is under-supported, or overburdened, those packages don’t get moved out. They recirculate. Trigger more immune activity. Create backlog. Especially if Phase II detox isn’t keeping pace with Phase I.

The result? A quiet drip of chronic inflammation that you might feel as puffiness, rashes, mood shifts, or immune reactivity.

When estrogen Doesn’t Clear Cleanly

Estrogen isn’t inherently inflammatory. But if it’s not metabolised well, especially through the liver, it can nudge the system into more immune activation.

This is especially common around midlife, perimenopause, and times of hormonal flux. You might notice it as breast tenderness, PMS, water retention, or cyclical flare-ups of inflammation (even in your joints or skin).

Supporting estrogen clearance through gut, liver, and methylation channels makes a difference.

It’s All Connected

These aren’t separate issues. They overlap. Feed into each other. Build momentum quietly over time.

That’s why calming inflammation isn’t just about one food, one supplement, or one diagnosis. It’s about supporting the whole system, restoring the pathways that process, regulate, and repair.

Because when those systems feel resourced? The noise turns down. The flare settles. And your body gets back to what it was designed to do: respond, recover, and move on.

Here’s the shift: Inflammation is a response, not a diagnosis

It’s not something you “have". It’s something your body does.

In real time. All the time. In response to what it senses.

And the more we ignore those signals, the more the body turns up the volume. Because it’s trying to get your attention.

And if it can’t whisper through fatigue, it will shout through pain.

Food won’t fix inflammation. But it can regulate it.

You can’t out-smoothie a life that’s setting your immune system off daily. But you can build meals that tell your body: You’re safe. You can stand down.

Anti-inflammatory food isn’t trendy. It’s deeply functional. It’s:

Polyphenols that calm immune messengers (think: blueberries, green tea, turmeric)
Omega-3s that shift the whole inflammatory cascade (hello, wild salmon and flax)
Prebiotic fibers that feed the gut, which helps modulate immune overdrive
Bitter greens and herbs that support the liver, where inflammatory by-products get cleared
Stable blood sugar, so your immune system isn’t constantly cleaning up glucose-triggered fire

This isn’t restriction. It’s regulation. Through rhythm, nourishment, and knowing what your body is responding to.

So what does inflammation need?

A reason to calm down
A gut that isn’t constantly leaking signals into circulation
Nutrients that tell immune pathways to resolve, not react
And enough margin, sleep, pause, breath, that your body can return to baseline

Because it can. That’s the part we forget.

Inflammation is reversible. It wants to stop. It just needs help getting there.

The part we don’t say enough?

You don’t have to feel like you’re always under fire. You don’t have to accept that everything aches, swells, bloats, or reacts.

Your body is still responding to you. And that means change is still possible.

Foods That Help Turn Down the Fire

Start here. Let food do what it knows how to do.

Food	Key Compounds	Why It Helps
Broccoli (especially Broccoli sprouts)	Sulforaphane	Activates Nrf2 to signal Antioxidant Response Element (ARE)
Wild salmon	Omega-3s (EPA, DHA)	Helps resolve inflammation, supports immune balance
Blueberries	Anthocyanins, polyphenols	Calms oxidative stress and inflammatory messengers
Turmeric + black pepper	Curcumin + piperine	Modulates NF-κB, the core inflammatory pathway
Green tea	Catechins (EGCG)	Regulates cytokines, supports cellular antioxidant systems
Flax + chia seeds	ALA omega-3s, lignans	Dampens inflammatory signals and supports gut repair
Extra virgin olive oil	Polyphenols, oleocanthal	Naturally anti-inflammatory, gut and brain supportive
Leafy + bitter greens	Folate, minerals, flavonoids	Supports liver clearance of inflammatory by-products
Fermented veg (sauerkraut, kimchi)	Probiotics, postbiotics	Regulates immune response via gut–immune axis
Garlic & ginger	Organosulfur compounds, gingerols	Broad-spectrum inflammation support + gut microbial support

A Note on What Works for You

There’s no single anti-inflammatory food list. Because inflammation isn’t one-size-fits-all, and neither are you.

What calms one body might aggravate another. What feels nourishing in winter might feel heavy in summer. And what works during recovery might not be what you need when you're rebuilding.

That’s not inconsistency. That’s intelligence.

Your body is dynamic. Responsive. In conversation with everything you eat, feel, and do. So instead of asking “Is this food good or bad?” Try asking: “Does this support me, right now?”

That’s the difference between eating by rules… and eating by relationship.

Inflammation can be loud. But so can your healing. And when you listen with curiosity, not fear, your body will tell you what helps.