Consider two hypothetical individuals. They are the same age, live in the same polluted city, and work at the same type of stressful job. This is where the similarities end.
Person A comes down with multiple infections over the course of each year, including colds and the flu. He also has chemical sensitivities and allergies, and as he gets older he starts to develop degenerative diseases, such as arthritis. Person A’s doctor tells him that the different diseases and conditions he has are separate, unrelated, and unavoidable disorders, all of “unknown etiology.” Person B, though, hardly ever gets sick, and what’s more, with the advancing years he’s still energetic and disease-free.
What’s the difference between the two of them? B is making an effort to feed his immune system, and A isn’t. Further, A is actually poisoning his immune system, through the foods he consumes and even his mode of interacting with the world.
Let’s take a look at how each of these people live. Person A, a man living the average American lifestyle, believes it’s okay to do anything—in moderation. So in moderation he smokes; drinks alcohol; drinks coffee, colas, and other beverages laced with sugar or artificial sweeteners; eats the average American diet of denatured, refined foods; and eats hamburgers, chicken, and that favorite American vegetable, French fries. Once in awhile he has an iceberg lettuce salad or a bit of fruit. He’s about 10 percent over his ideal body weight but doesn’t think much of it because most of the people he knows are too.
Person A does exercise—in moderation. So on weekends, if it’s sunny, he’ll play a game of tennis. He’ll take a walk—maybe once a season. Otherwise, he’s sedentary, sitting at a desk or dining table, on a couch in front of a TV, or in his car.
When he’s in his car going to work, sometimes people do things to make Person A mad. Other drivers will cut him off, and person A will yell and scream at them, sure that they have a personal vendetta against him and that he is honor-bound to retaliate. Sometimes at work Person A’s boss will make him mad. Then, he can’t yell and scream, but he can hold his anger in, and keep it there all day. He seems to be used to the chronic surge of anger-induced hormones, such as adrenaline, that are coursing through his bloodstream all day at work. At home, he hardly notices the anger, because he has the distractions of the TV, the telephone, the radio, the computer, and various interactions with his family, which, because of the pace of everyone’s life these days, always seem to be rushed.
Person B has a totally different approach to life. For instance, B follows the same route to work as A, so people cut him off too, but B just figures that many of these people don’t mean to cut him off, or if they do, so what? B listens to books on tape in his car, so he doesn’t feel that his commute is wasted time. At work, when B’s boss is unfair with him, he tries to talk to the boss calmly about the problem right away. If this is impossible, the situation is just not that big a deal to B as it is to A. Maybe that’s because B knows he’ll be doing something relaxing and meaningful at the end of the day, such as riding his bike through the park, where he’ll be able to think things through and enjoy being out in nature. B tries to spend some introspection time each day; he finds it helps him maintain his generally positive attitude. He also tries to spend some relaxed “downtime” with his family daily. He and his family discovered a long time ago that it’s not necessary to shop as much as everyone thinks it is, and that if you shop less, life becomes less frantic.
There’s a tremendous difference in the way A and B eat. B has done extensive reading about how antioxidants promote immune fitness, and he puts what he’s learned to use every day in the kitchen. He eats many servings of organic vegetables—steamed, raw, or juiced—daily, and many servings of organic fruit—raw or juiced—as well. The juice portion of this intake averages three to four glasses. B also eats whole grains, such as kamut, quinoa, and barley, because he knows that these all contain enzymes that are catalysts, acting like spark plugs to enhance metabolic activity. B’s reading has helped him understand that since aging is characterized by generally slowed metabolism throughout the body, anything he can do to promote metabolic activity is going to help him stay young.
B understands the value of phytochemicals, the plant-based substances that help us fight disease, so his diet is rich in phytochemical-rich foods like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, plums, sea vegetables, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, and soy foods. He consumes about 60 grams of fiber a day from a variety of sources. He eats about three to five servings of grains a day, two to three servings of legumes, a serving of nuts, and one of seeds. He also gets acidophilus from nondairy yogurt. B avoids dairy products and does not eat meat. He also avoids sugar; refined carbohydrates, such as white-flour-based baked goods; caffeine; and alcohol. His body, like his diet, is on the lean side.
Although he knows that food is the best source of nutrients, B also takes supplements. He’s periodically consulted with his health practitioner about an immune-enhancing supplementation plan based on his individual needs, and following are some of the things he’s taken on a daily basis at different times:
- Alpha-lipoic acid–200 mg
- Acetyl-L-carnitine—1000 mg
- Coenzyme Q-10—200-300 mg
- Gingko biloba—100 mg
- Calcium and magnesium from citrate—1400 mg
- Vitamin C—3000-10,000 mg
- Bioflavonoid complex—2000 mg
- Garlic—3000 mg
- Aloe vera—2 to 3 ounces
- Full-spectrum B complex vitamin—50 mg
- Selenium—200 micrograms
- Zinc—at least 30 mg
- MSM (methyl sulfonyl methane)—500 mg
- Primrose oil—1500 mg
- Trimethylglycine—500 mg
- Glutathione, reduced—500 mg
- Phosphatidyl choline—500 mg
- Phosphatidyl serine—500 mg
- NAC (N-acetylcysteine)—500-1000 mg
- SAM (S-adenodylmethionine)—500 mg
This list of antioxidant supplements—although far from complete–is long, and in no way am I recommending that everyone should be taking all of these things every day. The point is that a person who is diligent about his or her immune wellness might want to be taking some of these supplements, after exploring with his health practitioner how they might help.
Let’s look a little further into how B lives. He exercises aerobically 45 minutes to an hour each day, and he lifts weights as well. The many benefits of exercise, he knows, include its facilitating the circulation of lymphatic fluid. Also, he’s made an effort to keep his home environment as clean as possible, by getting rid of shag carpeting, sealing or shellacking any surfaces that were outgassing fumes, installing a water filter, getting an air filter, and keeping street-soiled shoes from his floors (see next chapter, on detoxification). And it goes without saying that he would never smoke.
The outcome of B’s lifestyle is that when his body is threatened by a virus, his immune system will be equipped with a full armamentarium of neutrophils, basophils, natural killer cells, and everything else necessary to neutralize it. He’ll be able to stay healthy in many situations in which A will get sick, because he’s nurtured his immune system all along. This is not to imply that this tale of two immune systems has to end sadly for A. No matter what stage of life he’s in, it’s not too late for him to start turning things around by detoxifying and fortifying his system. GARY NULL 1999 (C) www.garynull.com
No comments:
Post a Comment