I’ve done Post’s before on the Immune System, and what we need to do to beef it up; but I get so many questions about it and hear so many incorrect comments about how we get sick ( or how our kids get sick), that I’m doing another one. Plenty of resources are included at the end of this.
Here’s the Fact: When you, or your child, or loved one, gets sick, it’s not because we’re a Victim of the Mean Sick Person who came to school/work/the pool/ etc with their germs. Germs are all around us, germs are normal and we’re LOADED with germs BY DESIGN. Science is leaving us with NO doubt that super clean environments actually debilitate our immune system instead of strengthen them.
WE GET SICK BECAUSE OUR IMMUNE SYSTEMS ARE WEAK. In laboratory studies to test drugs, people are purposely infected with bacteria and virus; some people get sick, AND SOME PEOPLE DON’T. They’re not magical people; their immune systems were strong enough to kill the pathogens. That’s all. That’s what our immune systems are supposed to do.
That’s why when a stomach bug goes around an office or a classroom, some people get it and some people don’t. Everyone was exposed, just not everyone was weak enough to be susceptible.
Our body houses hundreds of TRILLIONS of bacteria, on our skin, and though out the entire digestive tract, from the stomach to the rear. We’re all very, very different from each other in our bacterial composition, and that composition evolves throughout our life from our parents, our environment, the drugs we take ( not just antibiotics, but any and all OTC and prescription drugs affect the gut), and *******THE FOOD WE EAT******.
Our entire body is literally made, every day, from the food we put in our mouths. Crap In doesn’t just equal Crap Out.
Crap In equals a Crappy Immune System. Not sleeping 7 to 8 hours equals a crappy immune system. Excessive exercise equals a crappy immune system ( research shows that more than 90 minutes suppress the immune system for about 72 hours ). Bad moods, anxiety, and depression suppress the immune system. Excessive alcohol suppresses our immune system. High Blood Sugar Suppress Our Immune System.
( Parents, is it any wonder our kids get sick so often?? We have enormous influence over their actions: cut out the processed foods, don’t buy them!, pack them a healthy lunch, and get them to bed at an hour that allows the sleep they need.)
Our actions make us or break us; are you the type who gets sick regularly? Here’s what you can do:
Daily, incorporate as many of these as possible: herbs and spices like garlic and ginger; onions, cruciferous vegetables, green vegetables, richly colored vegetables, seasonal fruits, quality proteins from animals allowed to eat their natural diets, and plenty of good fats ( EVOO, coconut oil, pastured butter, etc). Stay away from Sugars, Grains, and Chemicals, always.
The scientific literature is PACKED with decades of studies detailing specific compounds in all those foods with specific beneficial effects on all the various aspects of our immune system. Remember, the bulk ( 70-80%) of our immune system is housed in our gut: bacteria, the lymph system.., but there’s more. Our skin is a first line of defense, it’s acidic ( normal is 5.5) to kill pathogens that land on it, we need to support the health of our skin ( nutrients), and we need to keep all the bacteria that LIVE ON OUR SKIN – there’s about a TRILLION – healthy and functioning ( quit using AntiBacterial Soaps – they mutate the bugs, and if those mutated bugs get in us via a cut or an opening, we’re in trouble. )
Our stomach is supposed to be HIGHLY HIGHLY acidic, MORE ACIDIC THAN BATTERY ACID – HONEST. God made us that way: that acid is supposed to kill any pathogen that gets in our gut via our mouth. ( That acid also triggers many of the necessary digestive actions from the stomach to the anus.) Antacids, alcohol, birth control pills, sugar, grains, anti-inflammatories, all these either destroy the mucus lining of the stomach that makes the acid, or suppress the cells that make the acid. Either way, it’s bad news for us.
Support your gut function by avoiding the above list, and feed your gut the nutrients it needs to be FULLY acidic: apple cider vinegar, digestive bitters, fermented foods, assorted herbs and spices, and bone broth. There’s supplements that are amazing too, email me if you need help here.
We need to make T cells and B cells and Natural Killer Cells, they’re made from Nutrients; we need all our bacteria to be in CORRECT proportions, sugar and crap feed the WRONG bacteria. Did you know that we’re SUPPOSED to house E coli and Strep bacteria?? We are! Let them get out of whack/proliferate with your diet or lifestyle, and trouble begins.
With all the scary news about Ebola, and the Enterovirus, and even rampant Lyme disease, along with all the many normal illnesses that come along and interfere with our life, it’s absolutely essential that we take steps every day – all day to make ourselves as strong as possible instead of weaklings.
More scary news: Antibiotics aren’t working so well anymore. Viruses are incredibly difficult to kill with drugs. “Remedies” for cancer literally DESTROY the immune system. Vaccines don’t insure you won’t get the targeted disease and come with an enormous amount of side effects.
And all the over-the-counter remedies? They just suppress symptoms. THEY DON’T KILL BACTERIA OR VIRUSES EVER. Did you know that SYMPTOMS are actually our immune system trying to kill virus and bacteria?? A fever cooks pathogens; coughing and sneezing expels pathogens, as does the production of excess mucus. Taking OTC drugs that suppress symptoms can actually keep us SICKER LONGER, plus, they’re LOADED with side effects both short and long term.
Here’s some great resources on the immune system:
Me! Contact me for tricks/tips/ and assessments on how to become stronger. It’s a lifestyle.
Subscribe to the Natural Cures Summit this week, it’s totally free, and there’ll be over 30 presentations by doctors and scientists with the facts on how to naturally work with different medical conditions.
Herbs, Spices, and Remedies, from Organic Lifestyle
How to feed your Microbes, and why it’s important, Chris Kresser
Why Vaccines are NOT a sure-fire bet for immunity, by Dr. Kurt