Stop Inflammatory Foods

Before increasing your intake of dietary fats (even healthy fats), it’s important to stop eating inflammatory foods. It’s a strange way to start a new diet by telling you what you can’t eat, but in this case, it’s really important. If you continue to eat inflammatory foods while increasing dietary fat, you could create an inflammatory environment in your body, the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do.

We understand that everyone moves at a different pace. Some people may not be ready to completely embrace the KetoFLEX 12/3 nutrition plan. They prefer to ease into the program by cutting out foods in stages: first sugar, then simple carbohydrates (processed foods), then grains, and finally conventional dairy. There’s no right or wrong way, but those who fully embrace the diet do have the opportunity to heal more quickly.

If you aren’t ready to fully dive in by eliminating inflammatory foods, you can still enjoy the healthy foods on the Brain Food Pyramid, but you should abstain from including extra dietary fat until you are ready to fully embrace the KetoFLEX 12/3 nutrition plan.

So, What are the Inflammatory Foods?

Sugar   This is the most important food group to give up. Sugar in all of its forms can drive glycemic markers (like HbA1c, fasting insulin, and glucose) higher, leading to systemic inflammation.

When you switch to our whole foods diet, it becomes easier to eliminate sugar because sugar is often hidden in processed foods with many other names, including high fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt, dextrose, sucrose, fructose, lactose, maltodextrin, molasses, beet sugar, date sugar, etc. Sugar lurks in almost all processed foods. You’ll soon find that as you give up sugar in all of its various disguises, you actually lose the taste for sweetness. That’s a sweet victory.

Some acceptable keto alternatives that you can use in small amounts include pure forms of both stevia (like SweetLeaf) and monk fruit (like Pure Monk), and we’ve recently added Allulose (like RxSugar).

Simple Carbohydrates This category includes processed foods such as candy, baked goods, breads, crackers, pasta, soft drinks (both regular and diet, as artificial sweeteners may disrupt the gut microbiome), drink mixes, puddings, sugary fruits, and fruit juices. Although they are technically complex carbohydrates, white potatoes (including fries and chips) are also included here because they can produce blood glucose elevations similar to refined carbohydrates.

All of these foods can raise blood glucose as effectively as sugar and contribute to metabolic damage through similar — and sometimes additional — mechanisms, particularly when combined with the inflammatory, industrially engineered oils commonly used in many of these products. The good news is that once you adopt a whole-food approach, it becomes much easier to reduce — and often eliminate — these foods naturally.

Grains This category includes wheat (even non-gluten versions), rye, barley, corn, oats, and rice. Grains are the most confusing and difficult food group to give up for so many people. They’ve been a worldwide staple and undeniably life-sustaining in other parts of the world, where non-engineered, whole-grain versions are properly prepared and not eaten in excess by those who are physically active and insulin sensitive.

Unfortunately, that is not the case in the US and throughout much of the Western world, where we’ve been told for decades that carbohydrates (bread, cereal, pasta, and rice) should comprise the bulk of the diet contributing to staggering rates of obesity and diabetes in the US and beyond. Additionally, all grains (including whole grains) can lead to pre-diabetes, diabetes, and gut damage, all of which contribute to inflammation. It’s important to understand that grains in the US have been heavily engineered to be lucrative crops without regard to their effect on human health.

A Deeper Dive Into the Damaging Effects of Wheat

Modern wheat is not the same crop it was centuries ago. In the mid-20th century, agriculture shifted toward maximizing yield and commercial performance. Wheat was extensively bred to produce more grain per acre, resist disease, tolerate fertilizer, and improve baking characteristics such as texture and rise. The primary goal was increasing food production and agricultural efficiency — not evaluating long-term immune or metabolic effects.

Wheat contains gluten, a composite of proteins including glutenin and gliadin. Gliadin, in particular, has been shown to activate zonulin signaling, which can increase intestinal permeability. In susceptible individuals — especially those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity — this permeability may contribute to immune activation and systemic inflammation.

Certain gliadin fragments are resistant to complete digestion and can stimulate helper T-cell responses in genetically predisposed individuals. The Glia-α9 epitope is one such fragment associated with celiac disease risk. While not everyone responds to gluten this way, these immune mechanisms are well established in sensitive populations.

Wheat also contains naturally occurring lectins, including wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), which can interact with the gut lining and immune system. Although the clinical significance of WGA in healthy individuals remains debated, in the setting of compromised gut integrity or autoimmune vulnerability it may contribute to inflammatory signaling.

It is important to note that “ancient” wheat varieties are not automatically benign. Some contain comparable — and in certain analyses even higher — amounts of gluten and immunogenic epitopes than modern bread wheat. Individual response matters far more than marketing labels.

Wheat also contains antinutrients such as phytates, which can bind minerals like zinc, iron, copper, and magnesium and reduce absorption. Traditional preparation methods, such as fermentation and sprouting, can mitigate some of these effects, but many modern grain products do not incorporate these practices.

For individuals with vascular, inflammatory, autoimmune, or metabolic contributors to cognitive decline, eliminating wheat may be especially impactful — particularly when insulin resistance, elevated inflammatory markers, or gastrointestinal symptoms are present.

It’s important to understand that sugar (in all forms), simple carbs, and grains have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity, pre-diabetes, and diabetes, which ultimately reduces the brain’s ability to effectively use glucose as fuel and prevents our ability to achieve ketosis as a back-up fuel source — essentially starving the brain.

The relationship between pre-diabetes and diabetes to dementia is so well established that it’s often referred to it as diabetes of the brain or “type 3 diabetes”. Insulin resistance is also one of the main causes of inflammation throughout the body.  

Conventional Dairy This category includes conventional milk, cream, yogurts, kefirs, and cheeses. Dairy affects individuals differently, but several mechanisms are relevant when addressing metabolic, inflammatory, and vascular contributors to cognitive decline.

• Lactose intolerance is common: approximately 65% of the global population loses some ability to digest lactose after childhood. In these individuals, dairy may cause bloating, cramping, gas, diarrhea, and nausea. In symptomatic individuals, continued lactose exposure represents repeated mucosal irritation and altered microbial fermentation patterns at the gut barrier — a localized inflammatory signal that may compound systemic metabolic and vascular stress over time.

• Beyond lactose, dairy proteins — particularly A1 beta-casein found in most conventional cow’s milk — may provoke immune or inflammatory responses in susceptible individuals. A1 casein can break down into beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7), a bioactive peptide associated with gastrointestinal and inflammatory effects in some populations.

• Dairy also stimulates insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling. Even low-carbohydrate dairy products can generate a disproportionate insulin response relative to their glucose content. Because elevated insulin and IGF-1 pathways are linked to metabolic dysfunction and growth signaling, this effect may be counterproductive for those working to restore insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility.
• From a lipid perspective, many dairy products are rich in saturated fat. Individuals with dyslipidemia — and especially ApoE4 carriers, who often experience greater LDL particle elevation in response to saturated fat — may see adverse changes in lipid markers if intake is not carefully monitored. Modern dairy production frequently involves grain-fed cattle and industrial processing that alters fatty acid composition compared to pasture-raised sources.

Alternatives include unsweetened plant-based milks such as almond, coconut, flax, hazelnut, hemp, macadamia, or organic soy milk. If dairy is included, small amounts of grass-fed A2 sources — preferably fermented forms such as yogurt or kefir — may be considered. Fat content should be individualized based on lipid markers, metabolic status, and ApoE4 genotype.