How consistently do you include plant-based omega-3 sources — ground flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, or hemp seeds — in your meals?

Occasionally — a few times a month

How often do you cook with or regularly consume refined omega-6 seed oils — sunflower, corn, soybean, or vegetable oil — either at home or in purchased or restaurant foods?

Daily or in most purchased foods

Occasionally — a few times a month

Rarely or never — I primarily use olive oil

Think about how omega-3-rich foods actually show up in your week — oily fish or plant sources like walnuts, flaxseed, or chia. Which of these sounds most like your honest pattern?

I like to keep things varied — I don't repeat the same omega-3 foods week to week, I just include whatever appeals in the moment

I have one omega-3 source I come back to sometimes, but it doesn't happen every week

I have one reliable omega-3 source most weeks, though I don't have a second one

I always eat the same two omega-3 sources every week — one fish-based, one plant-based — pretty much regardless of what else is going on

How often do you eat foods with significant added sugar — sweets, cakes, biscuits, sweetened cereals, or confectionery — as a regular part of your diet?

Daily — often across multiple occasions

Most days — at least once a day

Rarely or only on special occasions

How often do you drink sugar-sweetened beverages — fizzy drinks, fruit juices, sweetened teas, flavoured coffees, or energy drinks?

Occasionally — once a week or less

Think about the bread, rice, pasta, and other grain foods you actually ate this week — which of these best describes your pattern?

I don't limit myself to whole grain — I eat whatever's convenient, refined or not, because I don't like being strict about food choices

My grain choices are a genuine mix of refined and whole grain, without much of a deliberate pattern

I lean toward whole grain most of the time, though refined options still show up regularly

I default to whole grain or grain-free options nearly every time — it's just become automatic

How do you typically think about fat and oil when you're cooking or preparing food?

I keep meals simple and don't add much oil or dressing at all — extra fat feels like an unnecessary addition rather than something worth including

Olive oil is one of several fats I use, but not the one I reach for most often

Olive oil is my main fat most of the time, with occasional exceptions

Extra-virgin olive oil is my default for pretty much everything — cooking, dressings, even instead of butter on bread

How regularly do you eat legumes — lentils, chickpeas, beans, or peas — and how varied is your overall weekly range of plant foods across fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains?

Rarely — legumes are uncommon and plant variety is low

Occasionally — legumes a few times a month with moderate plant variety

Regularly — legumes most weeks and reasonable plant variety

Consistently — legumes multiple times a week and high plant variety

How consistently do you use herbs and spices in cooking — turmeric, ginger, rosemary, garlic, oregano — or drink green tea or black tea on most days?

Rarely — herbs, spices, and tea are largely absent

Occasionally — used sometimes but not consistently

Regularly — most days have at least one herb, spice, or tea

Consistently — herbs and spices in cooking and tea most days

How often do you cook meals at home from unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients — rather than relying on ready meals, takeaways, or heavily processed convenience foods?

Rarely — I mostly rely on convenience foods and takeaways

Sometimes — convenience foods account for half or more of meals

Most days — with occasional convenience food or takeaway

Consistently — I cook most meals from whole ingredients

How often do you eat processed meats — bacon, sausages, ham, salami, hot dogs, or deli meats — as a regular part of your diet?

Daily — processed meat is a staple protein source

Occasionally — a few times a month

When you're grocery shopping or ordering food, how much attention do you actually pay to how processed something is?

I don't pay much attention to processing level — I don't want to be the kind of person who obsesses over ingredient lists, I just eat what looks good

I notice it sometimes, but it rarely changes what I actually buy

I'm fairly aware of it and it shapes most of my choices

I actively check what's in the packaged foods I buy and consistently pick the less-processed option — it's just a habit at this point

When you do drink alcohol, how much do you typically consume in a single occasion — one standard drink being a small glass of wine (125 ml), half a pint of standard-strength beer, or a single shot of spirits?

I do not drink, or I have one standard drink at most

Roughly how many standard drinks — a small glass of wine, half a pint of standard-strength beer, or one shot of spirits — do you consume in a typical week in total?

More than fifteen standard drinks

Eleven to fifteen standard drinks

Fewer than five standard drinks, or none

Think about your actual drinking pattern across a typical week — which of these sounds most like you?

I have a drink most nights, but always just one — a small glass of wine with dinner, nothing excessive. I don't do strict 'dry days'; that feels more like a diet mentality than genuine moderation

Alcohol shows up most days of the week in one form or another, though I don't always keep track

I have a few alcohol-free days most weeks, though not the majority of days

I have several days each week where I don't drink at all — it's not a strict rule, it's just how the week tends to fall

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Where Your Anti-Inflammatory Eating Habits Actually Start

Your Anti-Inflammatory Diet Profile

Where Your Anti-Inflammatory Eating Habits Actually Start

A 20-scenario self-report that groups your selected answer points across five editorial dimensions. It is not a validated measure of an underlying trait.

20 scenarios5 groups4 forced choicesno neutral option

Topic context from the cited source; it does not validate this questionnaire or its score thresholds.

— Schwingshackl & Hoffmann (2014)

What your answers coverOmega-3 BalanceWhether your diet favours omega-3-rich fish and plants over refined seed oils.Refined Carb LoadRelying on refined grains, added sugar and sweet drinks instead of whole foods.Polyphenol DiversityEating a wide range of colourful plants, herbs and olive oil regularly.Processed Food LoadRelying on ultra-processed food and processed meat rather than cooking from scratch.Alcohol LoadDrinking alcohol often, in large amounts, or with few alcohol-free days.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Self-Reflection: How Does Your Plate Match the Research?

Twenty forced-choice scenarios are summed into editorial answer-score bands; the result does not diagnose or measure an underlying trait.

~7-9 min · Item answers and results stay on this device · Share links and invite cards carry no scores

Answer for what you actually ate this fortnight, not your intended diet — the honest plate is the one worth reflecting on.

A structured self-reflection — not a diagnostic.

This assessment is a structured self-reflection tool and educational resource — it is not a validated diagnostic and is not a substitute for clinical evaluation. Every dimension insight references peer-reviewed literature for educational context only. If you have concerns about your health, consult a qualified professional. Self-report instruments of this kind have no validated retest interval; the four-to-six-week Second Reading is a sensible practice, not a clinical standard.

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Anti-Inflammatory Diet Self-Reflection: How Does Your Plate Match the Research?

This literature-informed structured self-reflection adds up what you select about five food-habit groups — omega-3 to omega-6 balance, refined carbohydrate load, polyphenol diversity, processed food frequency, and alcohol intake. It cannot detect inflammation, and it cannot tell you whether your diet is causing or reducing it.

Interactive scoring requires JavaScript. You can still read every question and answer option below.

How often do you eat oily fish — salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout, or herring?
- Rarely or never
- A few times a month
- About once a week
- Twice a week or more
How consistently do you include plant-based omega-3 sources — ground flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, or hemp seeds — in your meals?
- Rarely or never
- Occasionally — a few times a month
- A few times a week
- Daily or most days
How often do you cook with or regularly consume refined omega-6 seed oils — sunflower, corn, soybean, or vegetable oil — either at home or in purchased or restaurant foods?
- Daily or in most purchased foods
- Several times a week
- Occasionally — a few times a month
- Rarely or never — I primarily use olive oil
Think about how omega-3-rich foods actually show up in your week — oily fish or plant sources like walnuts, flaxseed, or chia. Which of these sounds most like your honest pattern?
- I like to keep things varied — I don't repeat the same omega-3 foods week to week, I just include whatever appeals in the moment
- I have one omega-3 source I come back to sometimes, but it doesn't happen every week
- I have one reliable omega-3 source most weeks, though I don't have a second one
- I always eat the same two omega-3 sources every week — one fish-based, one plant-based — pretty much regardless of what else is going on
How often do you eat refined grain products — white bread, white rice, white pasta, or processed pastries — as a substantial part of your daily diet?
- Daily and across multiple meals
- Once a day — it is a regular feature of most meals
- A few times a week
- Rarely — I choose whole-grain alternatives or avoid grains altogether
How often do you eat foods with significant added sugar — sweets, cakes, biscuits, sweetened cereals, or confectionery — as a regular part of your diet?
- Daily — often across multiple occasions
- Most days — at least once a day
- A few times a week
- Rarely or only on special occasions
How often do you drink sugar-sweetened beverages — fizzy drinks, fruit juices, sweetened teas, flavoured coffees, or energy drinks?
- Daily — one or more glasses
- Several times a week
- Occasionally — once a week or less
- Rarely or never
Think about the bread, rice, pasta, and other grain foods you actually ate this week — which of these best describes your pattern?
- I don't limit myself to whole grain — I eat whatever's convenient, refined or not, because I don't like being strict about food choices
- My grain choices are a genuine mix of refined and whole grain, without much of a deliberate pattern
- I lean toward whole grain most of the time, though refined options still show up regularly
- I default to whole grain or grain-free options nearly every time — it's just become automatic
How often do you eat deeply coloured fruits and vegetables — berries, dark leafy greens, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, or purple cabbage — as part of your daily diet?
- Rarely — colourful plants appear infrequently
- A few times a week
- Once a day or most days
- Multiple times daily and with good variety
How do you typically think about fat and oil when you're cooking or preparing food?
- I keep meals simple and don't add much oil or dressing at all — extra fat feels like an unnecessary addition rather than something worth including
- Olive oil is one of several fats I use, but not the one I reach for most often
- Olive oil is my main fat most of the time, with occasional exceptions
- Extra-virgin olive oil is my default for pretty much everything — cooking, dressings, even instead of butter on bread
How regularly do you eat legumes — lentils, chickpeas, beans, or peas — and how varied is your overall weekly range of plant foods across fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains?
- Rarely — legumes are uncommon and plant variety is low
- Occasionally — legumes a few times a month with moderate plant variety
- Regularly — legumes most weeks and reasonable plant variety
- Consistently — legumes multiple times a week and high plant variety
How consistently do you use herbs and spices in cooking — turmeric, ginger, rosemary, garlic, oregano — or drink green tea or black tea on most days?
- Rarely — herbs, spices, and tea are largely absent
- Occasionally — used sometimes but not consistently
- Regularly — most days have at least one herb, spice, or tea
- Consistently — herbs and spices in cooking and tea most days
How often do you eat ultra-processed foods — packaged ready meals, fast food, industrially produced snacks, instant noodles, or reconstituted meat products — as a substantial part of your daily diet?
- Daily — ultra-processed foods are a dietary staple
- Most days — several times a week
- Occasionally — a few times a month
- Rarely or never — I eat mostly minimally processed foods
How often do you cook meals at home from unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients — rather than relying on ready meals, takeaways, or heavily processed convenience foods?
- Rarely — I mostly rely on convenience foods and takeaways
- Sometimes — convenience foods account for half or more of meals
- Most days — with occasional convenience food or takeaway
- Consistently — I cook most meals from whole ingredients
How often do you eat processed meats — bacon, sausages, ham, salami, hot dogs, or deli meats — as a regular part of your diet?
- Daily — processed meat is a staple protein source
- Several times a week
- Occasionally — a few times a month
- Rarely or never
When you're grocery shopping or ordering food, how much attention do you actually pay to how processed something is?
- I don't pay much attention to processing level — I don't want to be the kind of person who obsesses over ingredient lists, I just eat what looks good
- I notice it sometimes, but it rarely changes what I actually buy
- I'm fairly aware of it and it shapes most of my choices
- I actively check what's in the packaged foods I buy and consistently pick the less-processed option — it's just a habit at this point
How many days in a typical week do you drink alcohol?
- Five or more days a week
- Three to four days
- One to two days
- None — I do not drink or drink very rarely
When you do drink alcohol, how much do you typically consume in a single occasion — one standard drink being a small glass of wine (125 ml), half a pint of standard-strength beer, or a single shot of spirits?
- Six or more standard drinks
- Four to five standard drinks
- Two to three standard drinks
- I do not drink, or I have one standard drink at most
Roughly how many standard drinks — a small glass of wine, half a pint of standard-strength beer, or one shot of spirits — do you consume in a typical week in total?
- More than fifteen standard drinks
- Eleven to fifteen standard drinks
- Five to ten standard drinks
- Fewer than five standard drinks, or none
Think about your actual drinking pattern across a typical week — which of these sounds most like you?
- I have a drink most nights, but always just one — a small glass of wine with dinner, nothing excessive. I don't do strict 'dry days'; that feels more like a diet mentality than genuine moderation
- Alcohol shows up most days of the week in one form or another, though I don't always keep track
- I have a few alcohol-free days most weeks, though not the majority of days
- I have several days each week where I don't drink at all — it's not a strict rule, it's just how the week tends to fall

Appendix · Method & evidence Nutri · Case file

How this instrument works

This is a 20-item structured self-assessment of your anti-inflammatory eating habits, read across 5 dimensions: Omega-3 Balance; Refined Carb Load; Polyphenol Diversity; Processed Food Load; and Alcohol Load. Each item is a concrete scenario with four forced-choice responses — no neutral midpoint, so every answer commits to a direction — and response order is shuffled on every run to vary position; this implementation has not been tested for bias reduction. 5 of the 20 items are reverse-keyed — the attractive-sounding response is the structurally weak one — with wording intended to challenge socially desirable framing; this design has not been tested for bias reduction.

Scoring combines an overall reading with a per-dimension profile. Cascade flags compare configured dimension totals with editorial thresholds. They do not establish a compound risk and may not reflect the item-level pattern. The result bands are editorial guidance, not clinical thresholds: they organise the reading, they do not describe.

Every dimension insight cites peer-reviewed literature, and most answer reveals do — 8 sources back this instrument, each with DOI metadata supplied at build time; source relevance and claim interpretation remain editorial judgments. Compiled by the High Performance Culture editorial team. Instrument v1.1 · August 2026.

Read the full assessment methodology →

Items: 20
Dimensions: 5
Format: Forced choice, 4 options
Sources: 8
Instrument: v1.1 · August 2026

The 5 editorial answer groups

Omega-3 Balance

Strength here looks like eating oily fish twice a week or more, including a plant omega-3 source daily, and keeping refined omega-6 oil use low.

The vulnerable pattern: rarely eating oily fish or plant-based omega-3 sources, and relying mainly on refined seed oils.

Sample itemHow often do you eat oily fish — salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout, or herring?

First structural move: Add oily fish twice this week and one plant omega-3 source daily — tinned sardines or mackerel, and ground flaxseed, walnuts, or chia seeds. Swap refined seed oils for olive oil where you can. This is a specific, observable change; it is not a guaranteed effect on inflammation.

Go deeperGlossary: Omega-3 fatty acids →Glossary: Inflammation →

Refined Carb Load

Strength here looks like keeping refined grains and added sugar to occasional use, consistently choosing whole-grain alternatives, and avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages.

The vulnerable pattern: eating refined grains and added-sugar foods across most meals, and drinking sugar-sweetened beverages regularly.

Sample itemHow often do you eat refined grain products — white bread, white rice, white pasta, or processed pastries — as a substantial part of your daily diet?

First structural move: Replace one refined-grain item and one sugary drink with a whole-grain alternative and water this week. It is a specific, observable substitution, not a guaranteed effect on inflammation.

Go deeperProtocol: The Metabolic Reset Protocol →Deep dive: Sugar and the Brain →Glossary: Glycaemic load →

Polyphenol Diversity

Strength here looks like eating deeply coloured fruit and vegetables daily with real variety, using extra-virgin olive oil as the main fat, and adding legumes, herbs, spices, and tea regularly.

The vulnerable pattern: rarely eating colourful plant foods, relying on a narrow plant range, skipping olive oil, and missing herbs, spices, and tea.

Sample itemHow often do you eat deeply coloured fruits and vegetables — berries, dark leafy greens, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, or purple cabbage — as part of your daily diet?

First structural move: Add frozen berries to breakfast daily, switch to extra-virgin olive oil, and add one herb or spice to today's cooking. These are three specific habits to try — not a guaranteed effect on inflammation.

Go deeperGlossary: Polyphenols →Glossary: Mediterranean diet →

Processed Food Load

Strength here looks like building meals around home-cooked whole foods, rarely eating ultra-processed foods or processed meat, and choosing minimally processed alternatives over convenience options.

The vulnerable pattern: relying on ultra-processed ready meals, processed meat, and packaged convenience foods as a regular part of the diet.

Sample itemHow often do you eat ultra-processed foods — packaged ready meals, fast food, industrially produced snacks, instant noodles, or reconstituted meat products — as a substantial part of your daily diet?

First structural move: Identify the two ultra-processed foods you eat most often this week and swap one protein source and one snack for a minimally processed alternative. This is one observable substitution, not a guaranteed health effect.

Go deeperGlossary: Microbiome →Glossary: Leaky gut →

Alcohol Load

Strength here looks like not drinking alcohol, or drinking rarely and in small amounts, with several deliberate alcohol-free days most weeks.

The vulnerable pattern: drinking on most days of the week and in larger amounts per session, without deliberate alcohol-free days.

Sample itemHow many days in a typical week do you drink alcohol?

First structural move: Set a target of at least four alcohol-free days this week and a specific per-session limit before your next drink. These are two concrete, observable changes — not a guaranteed effect on inflammation.

Go deeperProtocol: The Breaking Addiction Protocol →Deep dive: Willpower and Ego Depletion →Glossary: Willpower →

Questions, answered

Is this a diagnosis?

No. This assessment is a structured self-reflection tool, not a validated clinical instrument. Its result bands are editorial guidance, not clinical thresholds — they organise your answers into a readable profile; they do not describe a condition. If you have concerns about your health or wellbeing, speak to a qualified professional.

How were the questions designed?

Each of the 20 items presents a concrete scenario with four graded responses and no neutral midpoint, so every answer commits to a lean. Items were authored against the peer-reviewed literature listed in the evidence file on this page, and citation metadata is supplied at build time; source relevance and claim interpretation remain editorial judgments. Response order is shuffled on every run to vary position; this implementation has not been tested for bias reduction.

What happens to my answers?

Assessment answers stay on this device. Unfinished progress expires after 30 days. A completed profile and optional comparison history remain until you delete local assessment data or clear browser data. If you opt into email, your email address is sent; item answers are not. If you share a result link, total and dimension scores are included in the URL and may appear in browser, server, CDN, or analytics logs.

How often should I retake it?

The instrument keeps your previous reading and sets the two side by side when you retake — the Second Reading. There is no validated retest interval; repeat only if a raw answer-point comparison would be useful, and do not treat it as confirmed underlying change.

Why bands instead of percentiles?

Because this assessment does not collect a population score set, there is no reader population to rank you against — and we will not invent one. The 5-dimension profile groups selected answer points for editorial display; it is not a validated structural or decision-utility model.

Where does the evidence come from?

Every dimension insight cites peer-reviewed research, and most answer reveals do — 8 sources stand behind this instrument, each with DOI metadata supplied at build time; source relevance and claim interpretation remain editorial judgments. A few reveals are straightforward editorial reasoning from the same evidence base and carry no citation by design. The full list, with DOIs, is in the evidence file below.

The evidence file

8 peer-reviewed sources stand behind this instrument's items and insights.

Calder (2006) — n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammation, and inflammatory diseases. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/83.6.1505S ✓ Crossref‑verified
Minihane et al. (2015) — Low-grade inflammation, diet composition and health: current research evidence and its translation. British Journal of Nutrition. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114515002093 ✓ Crossref‑verified
Estruch et al. (2018) — Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet Supplemented with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Nuts. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1800389 ✓ Crossref‑verified
Zinöcker & Lindseth (2018) — The Western Diet–Microbiome-Host Interaction and Its Role in Metabolic Disease. Nutrients. DOI: 10.3390/nu10030365 ✓ Crossref‑verified
Rico-Campà et al. (2019) — Association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality: SUN prospective cohort study. BMJ. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l1949 ✓ Crossref‑verified
Schwingshackl & Hoffmann (2014) — Mediterranean dietary pattern, inflammation and endothelial function: A systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention trials. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2014.03.003 ✓ Crossref‑verified
Chiva-Blanch & Badimon (2019) — Benefits and Risks of Moderate Alcohol Consumption on Cardiovascular Disease: Current Findings and Controversies. Nutrients. DOI: 10.3390/nu12010108 ✓ Crossref‑verified
Tangney & Rasmussen (2013) — Polyphenols, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Disease. Current Atherosclerosis Reports. DOI: 10.1007/s11883-013-0324-x ✓ Crossref‑verified

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Where Your Anti-Inflammatory Eating Habits Actually Start

Where Your Anti-Inflammatory Eating Habits Actually Start

Anti-Inflammatory Diet Self-Reflection: How Does Your Plate Match the Research?

Answers that stood out on their own

Your answers

How this instrument works