AIP is inherently an anti-inflammatory diet, so the title of this recipe is like describing a banana to someone who has never eaten one as “banana-y”. These ‘balls are especially designed for people with inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s, and colitis. Just so happens they taste fantastic.

 

I wanted to support my anti-inflammatory claims with some hard & fast research. This kind of stuff really gets me going, and I have a feeling most of you are pretty into the magic of food too.

 

Ginger Benefits

  • Ginger has been shown to relieve joint pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by inhibiting prostaglandin activity and leukotriene biosynthesis, which are major players in the inflammatory process
  • Researches fed 33 mg of ginger oil to arthritic rats for 26 days, significantly suppressing paw and joint swelling
  • 75% of RA patients in one study experienced marked pain relief and swelling reduction when ingesting ginger, and 100% of people in the study with muscular discomfort reported the same results (Al-Nahain, Jahan & Rahmatullah, 2014)

 

Cilantro Benefits

  • Rats with carageenan*-induced paw edema had significant reductions in inflammation when fed dried coriander (cilantro) seeds via a reduction in macrophagic (inflammatory) activity
  • These rats also showed a significant reduction in granulomas and tumors (Nair, Singh & Gupta, 2013)
  • *Yeah that stuff in your ice cream.

 

Garlic Benefits

  • A study exploring the effects of garlic on insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress of diabetic rats on a high fructose diet found that garlic reduced blood glucose levels and indications of oxidative stress caused by diabetes
  • Garlic has been shown in other studies to lower blood lipid levels and have anti-coagulant and anti-cancer effects
  • Garlic extract used in the study above was made by boiling 100g whole garlic in water for 20 minutes (Sivaraman, Senthilkumar & Bobby, 2013)

 

 

 

These anti-inflammatory beef meatballs feature the powers of cilantro, garlic and ginger!

 

 

Print
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Anti-Inflammatory Meatballs

  • Author: Alaena Haber
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Cuisine: main

Description

 


Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, tightly packed
  • 5 garlic cloves, pressed
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
  2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Form into 12 equal size meatballs, about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Bake for 23-25 minutes until the center is light pink. Sprinkle with extra sea salt before serving.
  3. Store in a sealed glass container in the fridge or freezer. Serve with a green salad with sliced avocado, parsley, and cilantro.

Notes

 You may also use ground pork here or 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger in place of the ground ginger.