Inflammation & joint health: where to start.
Joint aches, morning stiffness, skin flares, allergies, puffiness — the signs of low-grade inflammation, often with the gut and omega-3 status underneath. The path: the plate, the omega-3s, the gut, and hs-CRP to track it.
Three steps, in order.
Why hs-CRP between 1 and 3 is where lifestyle moves it most, and what drives it.
Create a free account, then enter your hs-CRP or Omega-3 Index in the Bloodwork Marker Reader.
Open Bloodwork Marker Reader (free account) →Read these first.
The protocol
Anti-Inflammatory Reset
The complete root-cause framework for cooling chronic inflammation — and easing the aches, stiffness, puffiness, fatigue and brain fog that sit upstream of nearly every chronic disease.
Open the protocolTop 50 Healing Herbs & Essential Oils
The 30 healing herbs and 20 essential oils I trust most, each with its five best uses ranked by research, exactly how to take it, how it works, its Traditional Chinese Medicine profile, and when to be careful.
Open the guideBloodwork Marker Reader
Create a free account, then enter your hs-CRP or Omega-3 Index in the Bloodwork Marker Reader.
Open Bloodwork Marker Reader (free account)Straight answers.
What's a good hs-CRP?
Under 1.0 mg/L is the target; 1–3 is low-grade inflammation where lifestyle moves it most; above 3 needs a look for a cause. Acute illness raises it for a few weeks.
Does collagen help joints?
Modest but real benefits in trials over 3–6 months at 10–20 g a day — more for tendons and cartilage than for inflammatory arthritis.
Which foods cause inflammation?
Refined sugar, seed oils, processed foods and excess alcohol drive it; for some people gluten or dairy add to it. The anti-inflammatory plate is the reverse.