Pathogens will always be a way off life. There are countless bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi that want to possess a little bit of real estate in your body. Thankfully you have an entire intelligent, adaptive defense force that can and will counter any possession attempts and keep you living happy and healthy. Except…what about when we’re not?
Sugar. We love it, but our friends the pathogens love it even more. Did you ever wonder why sugar cravings are so strong? It’s often because these pathogens make us feel lousy until we feed them sugar, and then they chill out. We learn that we feel good when we eat sugar; however, that sugar lets the pathogens multiply quickly. And because of that multiplication, it places a real strain on our defense force.
We can’t forget the role that carbs play in this. Simple carbohydrates break down into sugars. And in today’s world guess what we eat most? Protein? Vegetable carbohydrates? Not usually. It’s simple and refined carbs and sugar.
The chain of events goes something like this: The thymus, which makes antibodies to fight these pathogens, gets exhausted and needs more power than normal to keep its systems running non-stop. The good bacteria in the gut that help us digest our foods are overrun by the bad bacteria that are multiplying like crazy. We don't have full access to the nutrients that we’re eating because things aren’t running right in the digestive department, so that puts another strain on our energy system. The adrenal glands are constantly pumping out adrenaline to keep the whole thing going while the liver is running ragged trying to process and dump all the bad guys out of the system after the T-Cells hunt them down. It’s exhausting just thinking about it!
That’s why foods, and what we do and don’t eat, make a big difference in how we feel. There are other factors like inflammation, emotional and physical stress, and even your mental focus and belief (the placebo effect) that factor into this too. Changes like eating quality whole foods (food found in its natural form) can really boost your body’s ability to heal. At the end of the day, our health is as complex as we are, and we’re all a little different.