I have always believed that the you are as healthy as your immune system.
In the early 1980s when I had this mindset, there was very little available scientific research and medical professionals were reluctant to accept the link between disease, wellness and food. Ironic don’t you think, given Hippocrates teachings.
Hippocrates believed that Immune system weakness and disease begins in the gut.
More than 30 years ago I experienced first-hand how strengthening the immune system via the mind-body connection gave me hope when fighting cancer. I watched how introducing whole foods and cutting out processed food, meat, diary and sugar had a healing effect on the immune system’s ability to fight disease. Consider that 70-80% of the immune system is shared with your microbes in your gut – you really are what you eat.
Chemotherapy weakens your immune system and many people get colds and flus during this time or are generally more susceptible to other illness while having treatment. When you consider that the first line of defence to the outside world is only ONE cell wide in your gut, it is no wonder that people get ill when they eat unhealthily or live with stress.
The microbiome in your gut talk to your immune system and tell it what food to react to and in this way control inflammation when it is healthy. But when unwanted food and bacteria seep through the single cell lining of your intestines, the immune system starts to attack increasing the chances of immune diseases. Therefore, we should all be mindful of what we eat which could potentially cause the intestinal lining to be forced open. This is also called ‘leaky’ gut which is not my favourite term.
When large pieces of food move through your intestinal lining, it can lead to inflammation, allergies and sensitivities too because the body does not recognize it. You need to get your good bacteria back on track and keep this porous membrane working properly.
Case study
Anne has Lupus and Crohns autoimmune diseases and for years removed the skins of tomatoes which helped tremendously. She also found that cutting out gluten and cutting out sugar has really helped her gut and calm down her gastro intestinal tract.
As a researcher the science is important, but how you feel and what you witness in your own body are also really good indicators of what is working for you. And every ‘body’ is different, so trying to work out what applies to you and your condition can be overwhelming. I hope I can short circuit some of the reading on health, body and mind issues I have done for over 30 years and experiments on myself, family and friends for you in a helpful way.
This immune system blog is one of many, as you will tell I am obsessed with it! Let’s start with how does the immune system get involved – it all starts with your GI tract (gastro intestinal tract that extends from your mouth to your anus).
Intestinal walls are ONLY one cell thick – that isn’t much if you think how easy it could be for ‘bad’ bacteria to pass through. But the good news is that cells are very tightly bonded together to prevent ‘bad’ foods passing through into other cells/parts of your body/organs. This is good and bad news, because nutrients such as protein (amino acids), fat (fatty acids) and sugars/starches have to also pass through the body. We should want to protect this lining with passion and fervour!
Intestinal walls are ONLY one cell thick, we should want to protect this with passion and fervour!
Microbes (or many micrbiome) are organisms (bacteria, fungi and some viruses) that live in your gut, mouth and on your skin and are essential in keeping your whole body healthy. There are literally hundreds of trillions of them living with you and it is a mutually rewarding relationships when we keep each other happy! We feed them and they make sure our tracts stay healthy and pass good nutrients through the gut wall.
The immune system attacks itself if it thinks that there is a foreign invasion, for example when bad proteins (some lectins in certain foods) push through the GI lining into the body, or stop the absorption of other nutrients. There are many reasons why the wall becomes weakened as well for example smoking (eg. in the lung area), bad nutrition and stress, but don’t worry you can heal this between 30-90 days.
Changes to make: Organic plant-based food (predominantly if you can’t cut out fish), exercise, positive mindset, deep sleep and a sense of purpose and prayer will make for happy gut microbes making serotonin – keep your bacterial visitors well fed for a wholesome symbiotic relationship.
A brilliant video on how not to discount the intelligent warnings from your immune system. Nobel prize winner Dr Sharp knows that we are 50% viral so how about having a harmonious relationship with our immune system?