Understanding What Is Inflammation: What You Need to Know As A Woman

As women age, especially after 40, the body undergoes physiological changes that can subtly or significantly impact overall health. One key area that demands attention is inflammation — often overlooked, yet deeply tied to weight, energy, aging, and even emotional well-being.

This edition of our newsletter is dedicated to understanding inflammation — what it is, why it matters, and how to realistically address it through nutrition, mindset, and lifestyle.

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is the body’s natural immune response to perceived threats, such as injury, toxins, or infections. In small doses, it’s protective. But when inflammation becomes chronic, it shifts from a healing mechanism into a silent saboteur of health.

Where Does Inflammation Come From?

Chronic inflammation doesn’t come from one source. Instead, it’s often a culmination of stressors, both physical and emotional, including:

• Poor nutrition (high sugar, processed foods)

  • Busy schedules, emotional eating, convenience culture, and lack of nutritional education often lead women to rely on ultra-processed foods, sugary snacks, and quick fixes. These foods are heavily marketed, affordable, and accessible. Many women prioritize others before themselves. Meals are skipped or rushed, leading to sugar cravings and blood sugar crashes. Emotional fatigue also fuels the cycle of comfort eating. Over time, poor food choices become habitual and feel easier than cooking from scratch.

• Hormonal shifts (perimenopause and menopause)

  • This is a natural biological phase beginning in the 40s or even late 30s, marked by fluctuating estrogen and progesterone. These shifts influence metabolism, mood, weight, and inflammation. Because it's “normal” and expected, symptoms are often dismissed or minimized. Many women aren’t given the tools or education to support their bodies through this transition, leading to unmanaged symptoms and growing frustration.

• Sedentary lifestyle

  • Desk jobs, caretaking responsibilities, and exhaustion often mean movement gets deprioritized. Structured workouts may feel unrealistic or inaccessible after a long day. Lack of time, energy, or support, along with the belief that exercise must be intense or long to be effective, keeps many women from moving at all. Inactivity then becomes the default, even though the body craves movement for relief and vitality.

• Chronic stress or unresolved trauma.

  • Financial pressure, caregiving roles, past trauma, relationship strain, and the constant mental load many women carry daily. These stressors are layered and cumulative. Most women are never taught how to process emotions safely or ask for help without guilt. High-functioning stress becomes normalized, and survival mode is often mistaken for resilience. Without intervention, the nervous system stays dysregulated.

• Poor sleep quality

  • Hormonal fluctuations (especially cortisol and melatonin), anxiety, hot flashes, and overstimulation (screens, caffeine, late-night multitasking) all affect sleep quality. Sleep is often sacrificed to “get things done,” and few prioritize winding down. Additionally, poor sleep leads to fatigue, which drives sugar cravings and stress, creating a reinforcing loop of poor rest and increased inflammation.

• Exposure to environmental toxins

  • Everyday products, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, plastic containers, non-organic produce, polluted air, can introduce toxins that disrupt the endocrine system and drive inflammation. These exposures are invisible and feel out of our control. Without awareness or resources, many women continue using the same products for years without knowing they may be silently affecting their health.

• Blood sugar dysregulation and insulin resistance

  • Years of inconsistent eating, carb-heavy meals, sugary drinks, and long periods without food (especially skipping breakfast) lead to unstable blood sugar. Over time, this contributes to insulin resistance. Most women don’t learn how to eat for hormonal balance. They may follow outdated or restrictive diets that cause crashes and cravings, unknowingly fueling the very imbalance they’re trying to fix. This leads to frustration, guilt, and eventual surrender to unhealthy patterns.

How is It Elevated?

Chronic inflammation builds up over time. Key signs it may be affecting you:

• Unexplained fatigue

• Joint pain or stiffness

• Brain fog

• Weight that won't shift despite effort

• Puffy face or body

• Frequent bloating

• Mood swings or anxiety

These are not signs of aging — they are signals from your body that something needs attention.

Common Triggers in Women Over 40

• Estrogen Decline: Estrogen is anti-inflammatory. As levels decline in perimenopause, women often experience heightened inflammation.

• Dietary Inflammation: Foods such as refined carbs, processed oils, and excess alcohol disrupt gut health and immune balance.

• Chronic Cortisol Elevation: Ongoing stress elevates cortisol, which increases blood sugar and inflammatory markers.

• Poor Gut Health: 70% of the immune system is in the gut. Dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) can be a hidden source of inflammation.

What Can You Actually Do?

Addressing inflammation is not about a quick fix, it’s about layered, consistent changes that support your body. If these recommended tips are not yet enough for you, you can follow us on our Instagram page to get your daily dose of health information!

Nutritional Shifts:

• Focus on whole, anti-inflammatory foods: fatty fish, leafy greens, berries, turmeric, ginger, green tea, olive oil.

• Minimize sugar and refined carbs.

• Support gut health with fermented foods and prebiotics.

Lifestyle Strategies:

• Sleep: Aim for 7–9 hours of quality sleep.

• Movement: Prioritize low-impact strength training, walking, and yoga to manage inflammation without over-stressing the system.

• Stress Reduction: Breathwork, journaling, and therapy aren’t luxuries—they are therapeutic tools for healing.

If You Can’t Start Anything Physical, Start With Your Mindset: You Are Not Broken

One of the most important yet overlooked aspects of inflammation is the psychological toll it takes. When you’re doing “everything right” but still feel inflamed or stuck, it’s easy to fall into shame or self-judgment.

Reframe your mindset. Our bodies are built different, some strategies, workouts, lifestyle or hacks can help others, but that doesn’t mean it works for everyone. BUT, on the bright side, it means that since our body is unique, you get to know yourself deeply, you get to learn yourself more, and study about what your mind and body wants. You get to know EXACTLY what you want and even who you really are. REMEMBER:

Approach healing not as punishment, but as self-respect. It requires consistency, not perfection. And you have to accept the fact that sometimes healing is UGLY. Healing is raw, it shouldn’t be performative. You have to sit what is wrong with you, so you can exactly know the root of the problem that’s hindering you to achieve a transformed life!

Home-Based Remedies That Support Recovery

These simple additions can help reduce inflammatory load naturally:

• Golden milk: Turmeric + ginger + black pepper in warm plant milk

• Epsom salt baths: Help with muscle relaxation and detoxification

• Castor oil packs: Applied over the liver or abdomen to support digestion and lymph flow

• Daily sunlight: Natural Vitamin D reduces inflammatory markers

• Hydration with minerals: Water alone isn't enough—add sea salt or trace minerals for better cellular balance

Inflammation and GLP-1: The Missing Link

GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) is a hormone that helps regulate appetite, insulin response, and blood sugar levels. As we age, our GLP-1 response may diminish, especially with poor metabolic health.

Here’s the link:

• Chronic inflammation impairs GLP-1 production and function.

• Poor GLP-1 response can result in weight gain, insulin resistance, and increased hunger.

• Improving GLP-1 sensitivity can be achieved through:

  • Fiber-rich diets (especially from plants and legumes)

  • Resistant starches (like cooled sweet potatoes or green bananas)

  • Intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating

  • Blood sugar balance (no skipped meals, stable macros)

Some GLP-1 agonist medications (like Ozempic or Wegovy) mimic this pathway, but supporting your natural GLP-1 production through lifestyle remains powerful and sustainable.

I hope you’ll bring this knowledge wherever you go.

Inflammation after 40 is not inevitable, but it is addressable. Your body has a remarkable capacity to heal when given the right conditions: safety, nourishment, movement, and rest.

You don’t need a 30-day detox or a rigid diet. You need a realistic, science-informed plan that honors where you are right now.

If you’d like personalized support, I offer 1:1 coaching programs personalized to women over 40 who want to reduce inflammation, balance hormones, and finally feel like themselves again, even if you’re taking GLP-1.

No woman left behind.

With care and commitment,
Adryenne
Certified Nutrition & Fitness Coach | Health Educator | Women’s Wellness Specialist

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