Breadcrumb Trail Links
There is no escaping the importance of a good diet, especially when it comes to autoimmune diseases. There is a very strong connection between foods and inflammation and the immune system attacking self.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Whether you have MS, Hashimotos thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, or any of the autoimmune diseases there is one marked commonality: Once you strictly adopt an anti-inflammatory diet you then have traction to turn the disease around. You can not only halt progression, but you can also eliminate all the symptoms that you were experiencing.
A number of years ago, my partner became progressively more achy, more miserable and fatigued over a six-month period. However, because he had experienced several significant injuries in that period, it took a while to realize what was going on. However, when he could only crawl up the stairs and couldnt even put socks on his feet due to the swelling then it was definitely time to get tested. He had a very aggressive form of rheumatoid arthritis (despite being negative for rheumatoid factor).
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Of course, the mainstream approach is to immediately start a course of prednisone and methotrexate (a chemo drug) or a biologic (which also carries a host of side effects). Which made it a no-brainer for my partner to opt for a natural approach. One of the first steps was to get food sensitivity testing done, as well as checking for parasites (bacteria, protozoa, and more).
Very often, one of the underlying factors that triggers an autoimmune disease is an unresolved low-grade infection so these need to be identified and treated. Interestingly, in my partners case, Campylobacter was one of the organisms discovered a few years previously on a trip in the US he developed food poisoning, and clearly, he had not quite gotten rid of the causative bacteria.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
So, he went on a course of herbs to clear the bacteria and other parasites, and a diet that eliminated gluten, night-shade vegetables, soy, corn, and cow dairy. As well as sugars and other problematic foods. It took a couple of months, but he started to look and feel a lot better than before. However, everything would go sideways the moment he deviated from the diet or when he was under a lot of stress. And it would be harder and harder to get things back on track. Which was when I convinced him to change his diet to Auto-Immune Paleo and that made the biggest difference. Eliminating legumes removes a number of inflammatory proteins in particular, saponins and lectins. Surprisingly, everyones favourite non-gluten grain quinoa contains a fair amount of lectins, saponins, and other inflammatory compounds. And, to someone who is very sensitive, all of these will interfere with healing. So, the gluten grains and legumes were effectively maintaining intestinal inflammation and leaky gut.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Tied into the food-inflammation complex is the issue of a leaky gut where the cells that line your intestines become unglued with long-term cellular damage. Larger undigested molecules are then able to migrate through openings and into your circulatory system setting off inflammation throughout the body. So, no treatment is complete without repairing and healing the gut walls. And then maintaining all of those improvements.
Five years since the diagnosis, my partner has no joint pains, no swelling and no joint malformation. And, all without pharmaceutical interventions.
However, there were and are a number of supplements to take daily. These are primarily antioxidants and minerals. The most important of the antioxidants would have to be Vitamin D3. D3 modulates immune function and, in optimal amounts, plays a key role in reducing the likelihood of developing an autoimmune disease, as well as simply lowering inflammation.
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Go here to see the original:
Autoimmunity and your diet - The County Weekly News
