Could Inflammation Be Affecting Your Weight, Digestion, and Recovery?
Joint pain. Digestive issues. Feeling like your body is holding onto weight despite doing "all the right things."
If you've noticed any of these, inflammation may be part of the picture.
Inflammation often gets a bad reputation, but it's actually one of your body's normal protective responses. Whether you're recovering from a workout, healing from an injury, or fighting off an illness, your immune system creates inflammation to help your body repair itself. The goal isn't to eliminate inflammation—it's to help your body return to balance.
When inflammation lingers longer than it should, however, it can begin affecting how you feel, recover, and perform.
I've experienced this firsthand. Over the past year and a half, I've worked through digestive challenges and the ups and downs that often come with perimenopause. And just when I felt like things were moving in the right direction, I experienced another setback. This just reminds me that healing isn't always linear. Sometimes our bodies need more support, not more pressure.
When Your Body Starts Sending Signals
Inflammation doesn't always show up as obvious swelling or redness. More often, it's the subtle changes that catch our attention.
Maybe your knees ache after workouts that never used to bother you. Your digestion feels "off". Recovery takes longer than it once did. You feel more fatigued, your clothes fit differently, or the scale jumps overnight without any real change in body fat.
These symptoms don't automatically mean inflammation is the problem, but they are worth paying attention to.
For women in perimenopause, this can become even more challenging. As hormones fluctuate, many women notice changes in recovery, sleep, body composition, and overall resilience. Add in work, family responsibilities, life stress, or digestive concerns, and it becomes easier to see why so many women feel like the strategies that worked in their 30s suddenly stop working.
Looking Beyond the Symptoms
When working with clients who may be experiencing symptoms related to inflammation, I don’t ask, "How do we reduce inflammation?". I ask, "Why is her body responding this way?"
Inflammation isn't the root cause. It's a response.
Sometimes it's related to recovery. Other times it may be influenced by nutrition, chronic stress, digestive health, poor sleep, hormone changes, or even a training program that no longer matches what your body needs right now.
That's why there isn't a single supplement, meal plan, or workout that fixes it for everyone.
The goal is understanding what your body is responding to so you can address the bigger picture.
Why Digestive Health Matters
We can't talk about inflammation without talking about the gut.
Around 70% of the body's immune cells are associated with the gastrointestinal tract, making digestive health an important part of how the immune system functions. When digestion isn't working well, the effects often extend beyond the gut. Energy levels, recovery, bowel habits, nutrient absorption, and overall well-being can all be affected.
Digestive symptoms are often treated as something we simply have to live with, but I don't see them that way. They're valuable pieces of information.
That doesn't mean every digestive issue has the same cause. It does mean they're worth paying attention to instead of simply covering them up.
Supporting Your Body Through Nutrition
While no single food can "reduce inflammation," your overall eating pattern plays an important role in supporting your body's inflammatory response.
Some foods I regularly encourage clients to include are:
Fatty fish like salmon or sardines
Olive oil
Berries
Leafy greens
Chia or flaxseed
Ginger and turmeric
These foods provide nutrients and compounds that have been associated with supporting a healthy inflammatory response. The key isn't eating them once in a while—it's building them into your routine consistently.
The same idea applies to supplements.
Fish oil, curcumin, magnesium, vitamin D, and certain probiotics may be appropriate for some individuals, but supplement recommendations should always consider the whole person. The right choice depends on what's driving the inflammation in the first place. That’s where certain lab work and testing comes into play, so we can dig a little deeper.
Recovery Is Part of the Plan
One of the biggest mindset shifts I encourage is remembering that progress doesn't only happen during your workouts.
It happens because your body has the opportunity to recover from them.
Sleep, stress management, adequate nutrition, and appropriate recovery all influence how your body adapts to training. When one or more of those pieces is missing, your body may have a harder time keeping up with the demands you're placing on it.
That doesn't mean you should stop exercising. It may simply mean your current plan needs to match where your body is today—not where it was five years ago.
Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is adjust the plan so you can continue moving forward. I addressed this in last month’s blog post, Why Perfect Workout Plans Don’t work (But Flexible Ones Do). You can read that blog post here.
Inflammation Is Information
I don't view inflammation as something to fight against. I view it as information. It's your body's way of asking you to pay attention.
Maybe it needs more recovery.
Maybe your nutrition needs adjusting.
Maybe your digestive health deserves a closer look.
Maybe changing hormones are influencing how you're recovering.
Instead of asking, "How do I get rid of inflammation?" I encourage my clients to ask a different question:
What is my body trying to tell me?
That's often where lasting progress begins.
If you're navigating digestive concerns, changing hormones, stubborn weight, joint discomfort, or a body that simply doesn't seem to be responding the way it used to, you don't have to connect all the dots on your own.
Through 1:1 coaching, I help women look beyond the symptoms to better understand how nutrition, fitness, recovery, and lifestyle work together. The goal isn't a restrictive plan built around the idea of “perfection”. It's creating a plan that supports your body so you can build strength, improve your health, and feel confident in the process.
If you're ready for a personalized approach, I'd love to help. Click here to get started.