All learning helps you in some way or shape, but the best learning shapes you in some way.

The second happened to me in my twelfth grade English class when we were discussing the ancient Greek play, Oedipus Rex. It’s not important that you know anything at all about the play or the main character, Oedipus, only what my teacher said about his actions.

“They demonstrate that a man’s greatest strength is often his greatest weakness.”

Talk about an insightful comment by an educator — and an aha moment for me.

Immediately, I realized how my need to plot and plan and analyze every little thing in life — a quality that allowed an average but certainly obsessive, 5-11 basketball player to lead the league in scoring, foul shots attempted and foul shots made (as well as excel in school) — also created confidence problems and personality conflicts.

In one way, I was just like that guy in the play written by Sophocles over 2,400 years ago.

If you take a moment and assess yourself, I bet you can recognize in yourself a quality that at times allows you to stand out and shine, yet sometimes bites down long and hard on your backside (or someone else’s). But even if you can’t, there’s certainly something about your body that does.

It’s called inflammation.

In “What Causes Inflammation?,” an article found at Real Simple.com, Sally Wadyka explains that once your body senses injury or infection it sends “white blood cells and inflammatory cytokines, like C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), to the area, to help repair the damage or fight off the invader. Certain pro-inflammatory enzymes, such as COX-2, produce prostaglandins on-site. This rapid, multi-pronged response usually generates a hot or inflamed feeling in the affected part of the body, giving inflammation its name.”

And if you think I’m resorting to journalistic sensationalism by considering this process your body’s greatest strength, consider the consequences if what Medical-Surgical Nursing (McGraw-Hill, 1983), describes as “a sequential reaction to cell injury [that] neutralizes the inflammatory agent, removes necrotic [dead] materials, and establishes a proper environment for healing and repair” did not occur.

That annoying paper cut would never heal. Neither would that twisted ankle.

And that festering infection in your lungs would eventually kill you.

But sometimes — and we’re not sure why — your body’s greatest strength becomes its greatest weakness. The inflammatory response turns on or stays on when it’s not needed.

With no injury or infection to attack, these chemicals attack something else: healthy parts of your body. If this situation occurs, it can, according to that old-time nursing textbook, “be devastating over the long term.”

To wit, unwarranted inflammation has been implicated in the development of asthma, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and Crohn’s disease.

Moreover, too much fat stored in the fatty tissues can trigger the inflammatory response as well, so being overweight is a gateway to all those aforementioned afflictions.

Obviously then, one of the best ways to close the proverbial gate and lessen the odds that inflammation doesn’t unnecessarily occur is by maintaining a healthy body weight. But the eating habits of some who manage to maintain a healthy weight could still create an inflammatory response.

That’s because certain foods have been found to be more likely to create it.

While research has yet to definitively prove that a diet or diets can stop the inflammatory response, it has shown minimizing the consumption of meat and meat products certainly helps.

For instance, studies have found vegetarians have higher plasma AA levels than meat eaters, and low levels of plasma AA have been linked to an increase in overall inflammation — and the incidence of heart disease. Additionally, a study in 2017 found that the consumption of animal products regardless of vegetable consumption increased the risk of unwarranted inflammation.

Similarly, the consumption of certain “bad” foods has been linked to unwarranted inflammation as well. As a result, if your body produces unwarranted inflammation, it’s best to radically reduce — possibly eliminate — the consumption of processed meats, processed snack foods, typical pastas, white bread, and sugary drinks.

These “bad” foods are generally ones of convenience and often eaten because they fit into a fast-paced lifestyle. If that’s your case and you find totally eliminating these foods impractical, here’s another action to take: increase your consumption of omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been found to protect the body against the possible damage caused by inflammation. Good sources of it include salmon, mackerel, tuna, anchovies, sardines, walnuts, chia seeds, soybeans, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, olive oil, and canola oil.

Other foods are touted for having other anti-inflammatory properties as well, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, kale, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges.