Immunize Yourself - Against Illness The only way to maintain optimum health, it’s been discovered, is to keep the immune system functioning prorperly…and that’s not always an easy task in this day and age of fast foods and sweets. It seems that our little old imune systems are working overtime to keep up with the huge demand. As it turns out, every bad thing we put in our mouths triggers a hard-work response that uses up precious resources, i.e. minerals and nutrients that would be better used to nourish the body than to troubleshoot. As the process continues unabated, the body has no choice but to start shutting down due to lack of fuel, leaving the system open to disease and chronic ailments. Many people say that someone they know very well who contracted cancer…never did anything wrong to justify such a serious illness. People don’t have to be smokers, drinkers or drug takers to be stricken. Yet, everyone is so surprised and shocked that things other than those can lead to the onset of a life-threatening illness. When the immune system is functioning at top form it is able to neutralize any invader or harmful substance thrown at it, and recover before the person knows what hit it. That’s the nitty gritty of the world according to wholistic health. We all need to take stock and return to a life where food is food and invaders are rebuffed. A good friend of mine recently mentioned that she is losing the battle with her body, not really knowing that her immune system was actually losing the battle. She seems to be catching every infection, cold and flu that’s going around and can’t figure out why! She believes there is no reason for her system to be depressed. Maybe she’s not burning the candle at both ends (recently retired) and maybe she’s not overdoing any of the vices mentioned above. Why the health issues, then? The pitfall that most people fall into is that they think that food is actually feeding their bodies, and somehow have not yet realized that most of the food we eat is very low in nutritional quality although it looks healthy enough. Most folks don’t know that farmers are not leaving their fields fallow every seven years anymore because they believe that the fertilizers will replenish the soil. They don’t know that vegetables are fruits are harvested much too early for the vitamins to be formed for the human body to absorb. In essence, empty calories. The immune system knows what it has to fight, by instinct alone. It knows what antigens and allergens they must counteract and goes to work when they are encountered. However, when the body is not functioning properly, there seems to be a lapse in memory. If we don’t eat properly, our brains don’t function well either (surprise, surprise.) It doesn’t take much to create a downturn in the whole physical system. In a cancerous condition, the T-cells (leukocytes or white blood cells) which are formed in the Thymus, work only very weakly and are not able to eradicate the invaders. This means a dearth of white blood cells and a gradual upswing of multiplying cancer cells. For many years, the Thymus gland was not understood at all, and was considered a very minor gland, but now it’s known that it plays a major role in the immune system. The killer T-cells move into the blood and with the formation of cytokines like Interferon, take up the attack to rid the body of the attackers…but only if all conditions are good. Otherwise, errors are made, and the T-cells lose the war and the battle. The Lymphatic System is also very instrumental in the job of ridding the body of invaders. Up to now, doctors haven’t even been able to understand the Lymph system because it was not visible, and therefore, not important. Actually, the lymph system clears a lot of debris out of our bodies and ensures that the cleaning lady does not leave before the job is finished. To be continued next week. Back to the Writing Index