"'Inflammation' captures the visceral sense that something in our body isn’t working as well as it should."

"It’s the perfect scapegoat for that creeping feeling so many of us have that our modern world — with our phone addictions and plastic-filled kitchens and pantries stocked with ultraprocessed foods — is slowly poisoning us. For as much as influencers love to talk about inflammation, I had no idea how to picture it. When I ate bread, I imagined my gut swollen and angry. I wondered if a sudden rash on my chin was really a sign that my entire immune system was out of whack. I considered how bad things would have to get for me to give up tomatoes.... One dietitian I spoke to pointed out that, technically, the act of eating anything is inflammatory. In fact, even exercise causes inflammation. When you lift weights, you cause little tears to the muscle that have to be repaired; that process is what grows the muscle. In other words, the inflammation is kind of the point.... Perhaps the only thing that became clear to me was that inflammation is an inevitable part of being alive...."

From "How Inflammation Took Over the Internet/Influencers constantly talk about how to avoid it. But no one quite seems to agree on what it is" (New York Magazine).