Immune system reboot - 7 things to start/continue + Many more to Stop/Avoid ..

 

Preface

When there is an auto-immune disorder diagnosed, all that is diagnosed is that there is a potential issue somewhere in the immune system. Where, how, since when, the actual root cause and many other questions can take a while to get to. Whatever the diagnosis methodology, there are some plain, simple strategies that do not contradict any medical advice and assist the body to get back to its natural state of homeostasis where it is constantly healing and repairing itself as it is naturally programmed to do without any conscious, intellectual intervention. Strategies mentioned in this post are some repeatable strategies that work irrespective of condition and help with prevention and reversal of dis-ease .. when the body comes back to balance which it is so desperately trying to do all the time, the immune system starts working the way we expect it to

Immune system is still doing the right thing - It is important to remember that even when the immune system is seemingly turned against us, it is technically still doing the right thing. Meaning attempting to get rid of a parasite, a signature of a toxin that looks like a predator etc. It just so happens that because of acute prolonged inflammation, deep cellular metabolic toxicity, the building blocks of our bodies - cells have become so toxic that the immune system has to get rid of them. Suppressing the immune system then is not the solution like most Allergy medications, fixing the root cause of why the cells, tissues etc. are toxic to begin with will fix the true underlying issue .. 

Meeting reminders that are easily ignored - Before an auto-immune disorder is identified via any symptoms or ANA test etc., if there were any conditions that persisted for long periods of time like - seasonal allergies, any form of insulin resistance (pre-diabetic or diabetic), Pulmonary issues (breathing related, Asthma),  un-explained rashes/hives which go away after a quick Benadryl fix, Fatty liver and many more; consider those to be the meeting request reminders or alerts which were hinting that something was not right. If the only treatment we used was to suppress the immune system so that the alert goes away, problem became more severe and is now manifesting as a Auto-immune disorder. Good news is that Immune system naturally is built and programmed to heal and help us thrive. Why it starts acting in a way which is not beneficial to health is not an indication that it needs to be suppressed; it rather is a reminder that we need to fix the real underlying causes so it can resume what it does best.

Informed consumers are conscious consumers - Strategies mentioned in this post are not a catch-all by any stretch of imagination. We are all forever learners and will keep adapting based on what we continue to learn and integrate in our loves. it though is important to note that we need to take ownership of our own health vs. un-intentionally outsourcing it to others. We don't go to a real estate agent and have them sell whatever home they want to sell us, we don't go to a electronics store and have them sell whatever TV they want to sell us ... for these decisions we spend months if not years researching all aspects of what we are getting into. For our own life and death decisions then, it is imperative that we at least learn about our own bodies systems, hormonal cycles, immunity, organs and organelles, function of now considered defunct organs like Appendix, function of under-appreciated parts of our body like Pineal gland and a lot more. Doctor's don't go to Apple or Google or Microsoft for 5 years to learn how to use their phones, we don't need to become medical professionals to learn how our own bodies work too. Once we know at least the basics the quality of our discussion with our health care providers can be very high value as well. This allows our doctors to focus on what matters most for root cause analysis vs. the doctor visits turning into them educating us on basic things like  - what are lymph nodes, how MTOR and Autophagy work in body and so on so forth. Doctors are an integral part of our health care team and we need to arm them with as much high value information as possible so they can help for what they are good at. Informed consumers usually make better choices - this applies to us as consumers for health care services as well.

7 things to start and/or continue  … 

	What?	Why?	How?
1	Build muscle, especially in major body parts - legs, back, chest, shoulders	Multiple organs in our body are on the same internal electrical circuit, there are many un-obvious connections. E.g. Legs are the battery packs for eyes and brain .. no wonder when we walk, especially bare-feet in nature - we see better and clearer ..	Intentional weight training - doesn't have to be at the gym - home resistance exercises - Yoga / weight training etc. are equally effective. An easy test for say litmus testing the upper back muscular strength is this - If you cannot lift the entire body up on a flat bar at least half way for at least 3-5 times, the organs which are dependent on back as it’s major battery source will be diseased ..
2	Fix leaky gut - assume that you have leaky gut and follow the protocols to fix it. There are no reliable tests for this and most doctors do not even recognize the condition. Fixing protocols are slam dunk and just call for toxin elimination and good food ingestion ..	80% of immunity is controlled by Gut. Dis-eased gut == Dis-eased brain / head health - Vagus nerve is the direct pathway between Gut and Brain. There are a variety of causes of which food is responsible for no more than 1/3rd by % .. this is a simple, not perfect post on it - https://www.parsleyhealth.com/blog/heal-leaky-gut-5-easy-steps/  ... way too many books on this as well. Key is this - Physical, Mental toxins create permeability in the gut and environmental toxins along with toxins we ingest intentionally  (many grains - gluten, casein from milk products, linoleic acid - from oils ..) , so stopping the bleeding is Step # 1, followed by Healing and Building a strong microbiome  In addition to the obvious Gut issues as it's leaky gut, Migraines, multiple Auto-immune unexplainable, usually idiopathic conditions are typical manifestations including first signals of allergies etc.  To Stop - Linoleic acid (veg oils - especially sauteing, frying tadka ), dairy (with the exception of little ghee if you want on top of daal ) , grains / nuts and seeds which are not at least soaked. Ideally and in that order of priority - soak, sprout and fermenting them if possible gets rid of the toxicity and allows them to assimilate in physical body the best	focus on 'pre-biotics' . industry is full of pro-biotics . they are good, but creating the right gut conditions so pro-biotics can thrive and survive is far more important, that's pre-biotics --- most organic clean plants really ..  Key takeaway - Gut is important hence Gut microbiome is important as well. But remember - we are walking communities of trillions of microorganisms in and outside the body. Think of dosa batter, if you keep it in the fridge, it will not ferment, if you keep it in too much heat for too long it goes rancid. Somewhere in the middle, the microbiome around us ferments it, a sweet aroma arises, we consume it and the biome we are engulfed in loves it. Find ways to eliminate toxins - chemical based cleaners, artificial scents and so-on - they not only kill the microbiome which protects us but they also create havoc in our endocrine systems and hormonal pathways
3	Oxygenation	without the right % of oxygen in blood, no nutrients get transported to the right places when it is needed. While nutrient absorption is blocked, toxins continue to come in from the environment, IN-ORGANIC foods as they contain poisons (Glyphosate is one such poison but there are dozens more endocrine disruptors .. _	breathing alone is not enough. It's like practice. Practice does NOT make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Easiest way is to get some good breathing in sunlight. even if the sun is behind clouds . Here's a str. fwd way which is very effective - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ   (str. fwd. no strings attached win hoff version of yogic pranayama - of course if you like Yoga then a combination of the following is perfect - anulom-vilom, kapalbhati, bhastrika, agneesaar, simha kriya .. )  Buy Organic only. from  In-Organic foods toxins within the body get in the way of appropriate oxygen absorption thereby blocking healing .. Key takeaway - just because we are alive does not equate to proper, conscious breathing which maximizes Oxygen intake and absorption in the body. in older cars and motorcycles when we had carburetors , reduce the air and the vehicle starts knocking instantly. Those bajaj scooters were a great wake up alarm replacing roosters. Our bodies are the same way - but because they are so resilient, knocking shows up in the form of dis-ease ..
4	Hydration	good water is a good conductor of electricity - structured water. murky water loses / greatly reduces conductive properties and results in key organs starving for real hydration - drinking 8 or 80 glasses does not fix the issue.	One of the easiest way to improve water's energy and mineral profile is add a pinch of himalyan pink salt before drinking .. 250 million+ year old rocks with over 80 trace minerals which are now depleted in soil hence in meat and veggies both ... there are many more ways, but this is a quick start to drastically fortify water the way it is at Gangotri ..  A good countertop filter like berkey is a simple stop gap if fancy systems for RO, Vortation and re-mineralization are not an option .  Filter - https://www.berkeyfilters.com/products/royal-berkey-stainless-pro-kit-bundle-sale   ...  Stop - weak fridge based or cheap brita type filters. Town water is full of fluoride, chloride and many more things that do not belong in the body
5	Sunlight	use light to heal. Simplest is taking in 30-60 minutes of sunlight as it has full spectrum light which penetrates through skin, fat, muscle and in bone ... western shortcut is infra-red heaters / lights .. they are ok, when there is no sun -.... Over-exposure with our lifestyles is a non-issue ..  Sunlight penetrates through the skin, subcutaneous layer (fat), muscle and in bones. In addition to other obvious benefits , it structures the water already present in the body and all neurotransmission benefits instantly; it balances the charge in water hence cells. Body needs -25mv to create new healthy cells and -50mv to operate them in good health. Lack of sunlight hence, lack of enough structured water creates a havoc which is hard to recover from with non-Sun alternatives (there are none)	minimum of 30-60 mins per day in sun - it would be perfect if you combine breathing exercise with barefoot on grass for combined benefit and spend a lot less time overall  Stop - sunblocks , sun-glasses Key takeaway - get a lot of sun. unless you are in an outdoor vocation, you will not be able to expose yourself to the point where you need to stay away from sunlight ... Remember, if we needed shades / glasses our pupils would automatically make everything look brown or black as the sun came up. That is not the case and there is a good natural reason why, trust nature ..
6	Alkalization	this is str. fwd. keep the body alkaline with right water, right sunlight, right oxygen levels and no more than 2 meals with no snacks during the day even if the meals are large. (based on activity) ...  an often ignored part of this is - thoughts. An acidic thought has the same if not more acidic impact in the physical body and creates spasms and other pain .. ANTs eat our energy very quickly. ANT = Autonomic  negative thoughts. find a way that works to replace ANTs with APTs - P == Positive . reptilian brain in an attempt to protect us, is more prone to ANT storms than APT storms ... These storms can disrupt the actual electrical voltage in the physical body, there are researches where many patients measure between 20-100 Volts of electricity which is a million times more than what it needs to be ...	right water, right sunlight, right oxygen levels and no more than 2 meals with no snacks during the day Key takeaway - alkalizing foods are easy. but we also need to focus on creating alkalizing thoughts - that takes a conscious effort and developing the right rituals ..
7	Grounding	As the name suggests, it takes all the excess electric charge that builds up in the body. When there is excess charge it creates inflammation as the body attempts to combat it. when it never gets grounded, it creates spasms thinking that we are intentionally creating the inflammation and dis-ease happens ---- depending on where the charge is most, that organ starts malfunctioning ... bare feet on non glyphosate (round-up) treated grass is best , no need to move if you cannot for medical reasons - just sit, stand on it bare feet .	To research / do - Products - these are good products for grounding when stepping on bare ghaas is not an option - https://www.earthing.com/  . This is a good family watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ddtR0XDVU  Key takeaway - Physical bodies came from and will go back to Mother earth. Umbilical cord is the process of grounding and it constantly gives us the life force we need to thrive .. just like a baby needs to be in mother’s womb for 9 months to  develop with un-obstructed umbilical cord connection, we must to be connected to our real mother - earth throughout the lifetime to thrive and sustain great health. Just like our biological mothers, whatever we don't need, mother earth absorbs it and leaves us light and vibrant ..

Toxins to eliminate and / or reduce as much as possible 

	What and Why?	Where?	How to eliminate?
1	Mold - slow internal fungal and other microbial growth - unchecked for a long period of time, the immune system starts to hyper-respond and gets over-activated.  This is a very typical blind spot and can take a while to isolate	Home  Basement Bathrooms rooms with no fresh air and sunlight  North facing only rooms with no air and sun Bedrooms especially with carpets. Carpets hold a lot more than we can ever see  Air ducts and vents	Mold testing for home in suspect areas  Mold testing for body - usually manifesting in fungal or similar interior residues  Air duct cleaning - professional without any chemicals  For carpet floors - If on the onset of a chronic immune system issue or already suffering from one, see if you can switch to a room with hardwood floor, at least for a couple of months while you are detoxing …
2	Lead - in older paints on walls and/or floor	Wall and furniture paints	Scrap old paint and repaint with non-lead versions
3	Radon - typically in basement. It’s a test before home closing but usually taken very lightly and majority results are inaccurate. Environmental changes can impact home basements even if they were radon free in past	Basements	Simple radon test kit from home depot
4	Heavy metal toxicity  There are many metals to identify - Aluminum, Mercury, Ferrites to name a few	Body - this impacts at the intracellular level , meaning within cells and hence is usually not a straightforward symptom manifestation. A positive reading for ANA tests merely suggests that something is wrong somewhere - where, why, how is an entirely different multi-week or in some cases a multi-month/year effort. Point is to eliminate as many known culprits as logistically possible ..	Heavy metal testing in the lab - usually prescribed by a good functional doctor and/or a holistic compounding pharmacy. General practitioners typically do not get to this level of detail .  Get rid of  Aluminum cookware - especially pressure cooker and swap with 100% steel versions In-organic fish and fish based supplements (fish oil etc.) - based on where they come from they can ba a source of mercury  Any cookware which is leaching any oxidized metal - usually cast iron based   Some blind spots related to this are  Even if you are getting wild caught and/or organic fish / meat sources - the water or natural environment they are living in has a ton of chemicals, glyphosates, mercury and other metals in it. These toxins bind to fish and meat flesh and we consume them indirectly …
5	PFA toxicity - from non-stick cookware  These are immune system and endocrine system disruptors and hormetic stressors	Non-stick cookware	Swap with 100% steel and/or good quality cast-iron versions …
6	BPA - from all plastic utensils, storage bartan, glasses  Endocrine disruptors and immune system issues	Cookware and storage ware	Swap with steel and/or glass  Skip plastic water bottles for walk/run etc.  A typical misconception is that if dry foods are kept in plastic ware, it is ok. It is not - easiest way to think of it is this - if we keep haldi , beetroot in a plastic container - in less than a day they change color. No exchange is unidirectional - plastic also leeches in the food, it’s just that we do not see it with naked eyes - our cells do and their metabolism goes haywire over time … it’s slow poison vs. cyanide
7	Carpet - free storage and breeding ground for trillions of microorganisms which do not promote health	Carpets	Swapping carpets is expensive so for short term at least - start sleeping and living in non-carpeted rooms which have tile and/or hardwood which can be cleaned with warm water and Apple cider vinegar
8	Bucket seats and cushy chairs which make us sink in them  When the spine is curved in a bucket seat, the brain has trouble sending the right signals throughout the body. Imagine if the old PSTN phone line is twisted right before it hits our home - we would not get a stable phone connection … same happens in this modern sitting posture  Sitting is the new Smoking	All bucket seats, sofas and cushy chairs	Swap daily sitting with up-right sitting options. E.g. sit on a bench with a thinner cushion  Ideally sit in at least a sukh-asan and/or ardh-padmasan so the spine always stays erect and the brain + nervous system gets to do what they are intending to --- heal ..
9	Sleeping - on a spring based mattress  Based on the # of springs, quality of springs and density etc. - they can interfere with bodies' natural magnetic fields. Take a compass close to a magnetic or a phone and see what happens .. this is what happens to body all night long and bodies energy fields are disrupted - body , blood contains all metals known to us - disrupting fields cause havoc over a period of time	Spring based mattress in sofa / beds	Sleep on a wood frame bed with a thin foam base / traditional indian 2-3 inch max thick mattress Even better, if you can put the mattress on hard floor (not carpet - wood / tile is good .. )
10	EMF toxic load when working - computers have to be used, but a combination of EMFs from computer + EMFs from bluetooth devices + headphones + Phones + …. Creates a toxic overload	Electronic devices	5 minute break every 45-55 minutes  If on a call, use computers speakers and microphone vs. staring at computer + using a bluetooth, phone headset as the EMF load is quadrupled with multiple devices together  Turn off bluetooth on all devices in general - turn them on only and when needed for short durations  Use a grounding pad when sitting to keep and equilibrium of charge in body  Expose to full spectrum light - meaning Sunlight in that 5 minute break - it neutralizes the toxicity ..
11	EMF toxic load when sleeping  Sleeping the healing time, EMFs from electronics and even from home electric circuits create havoc ..	Cell phones, IPads, electric circuits	Cell phone ideally out of the room . if has to be there for emergency only - then on airplane mode  All circuits off from the main as much as practically possible - keep a torch for emergency lighting  If the place where sleeping is in close proximity to a heavy duty furnace, AC unit or similar - move sleeping location to the place with least electric fields  Turn off the home wi-fi router when going to sleep. Turn it on when you wake up .. These wifi routers are almost as powerful as cell phone towers and create a ton of toxic overload Download a free App like EMF meter to test EMF fields in the area of sleep  Purchase faraday bags for mobile devices. They block harmful radiation from leaving the bag ..
12	EMF toxicity - traditional microwave  Traditional microwaves are a big health hazard and their frequencies are known to create a whole host of brain, immune system and EMF hazards	Traditional microwave	Use cooking range for heating water / other foods  Swap with convection oven if possible - they look like microwaves but like normal large ovens they use heat and air only - there are no microwaves to fry the water and cells in our body
13	EMFs while driving  From wi-fi, bluetooth etc. in car	Car electronics  Phone	Keep the car bluetooth and phone bluetooth off when driving
14	Gluten  Known to be at the root of many-many inflammation related diseases. Inflammation is the root cause of all disease .. .	Wheat and wheat based and/or gluten products	It’s hard to prove it’s guilt but it’s found in most situations where there is a crime. A gluten allergy test will return a negative result, but remember an alcohol allergy test will return a negative result as well. That does not mean alcohol does not kill the brain and liver cells … similarly gluten causes inflammation in the body. At least skip for a few months when healing and detoxing
15	Dairy  Known carcinogen - The china study by Dr. Colin Campbell is one of the best known studies which includes data from many decades and from thousands of subjects WW	In tea In dahi  In foods - sweets …	Swap with cashew, almond, hemp, flax, oat milks … soak them at home and use vitamix to make them ..
16	Processed foods - white flours - rice / wheat … / breads made outside home / rotis from outside	Foods	Swap with whole grain equivalents - ideally just get raw forms and cook at home vs. getting pre-made rotis, breads etc.
17	Canned anything - juices, beans, any foods …  There is no remaining life force in them - you cannot grow a new plant from them --- they are dead and a toxic overload on your body	Foods	Raw organic veggies  Juice - swap with Vitamix smoothies
18	Tap water  It is full of toxins	Water	Swap with at least berkey filtered water  Add pink salt + drops of lemon and Apple cider vinegar to make it a superfood  Ideally  RO the water followed by  Mineralize water - pink salt
19	Dead foods - over-cooked and fried foods  We can get the best organic foods - deep fry them and/or overcook them --- they are dead and the body needs to spend energy to digest them vs. getting energy by integrating them …  These also create unneeded free radicals in the body which cause a havoc at the cellular level. Most importantly, fried / deep fried foods create inflammation we do not need.	Foods	Steam the veggies to just when they are edible. E.g. if green beans take 10 minutes to steam in their own water in a pan, cooking them for 30 minutes with gravy kills anything good in them …
20	Stimulants - Caffeine, white sugar ..  Caffeine puts a ton of load on adrenals and keeps the nervous system stimulated for no reason … tea is healthy in general - a cup in AM can be it for the entire day vs. multiple servings ..	Tea, coffee - especially after noon time.	Black / Green / White tea is best if you absolutely need to have it. Some coffee can be beneficial because it is high in antioxidants so long as the brain receptor sites are not dependent on it to tell adrenals to create enough cortisol and hence increase energy levels …  Skip the white sugar and swap with organic local honey
21	Deodorants, shampoos, conditioners, colognes, perfumes  Many of them have aluminum and other toxins ..		Swap with 100% natural, no paraben options like the ones from whole foods, EO etc.
22	Bleach for clothes		Natural , non-toxic detergents
23	Dishwashing, hand wash detergent		Natural , non-toxic soaps like Dr. Bronner's 18-in-one castile soap ,
24	Floor and countertop cleaners		Warm water , warm water with Apple cider vinegar …
25	Shower filter  Tap water is full of Cl, FL and more .. bodies do not need them ..		Add a berkey filter or equivalent to shower heads
26	Undigested food in stomach when going to bed to sleep  Creates ‘Am’ in body (Am in ayurveda === plaque / scum .. )	Food	Finish dinner at least 3 hours before sleeping. It should already be in the lower intestine. Sleeping is healing and cell repair time , if the system is busy digesting , there is no time to heal …
27	Same exact foods over and over and over again …  All foods - veg or non-veg, organic or not have toxins in them and we need to cycle through them like farming. Mono-cropping kills the soil and depletes the nutrients - similarly even the healthiest foods taken without break forever create toxicity. Low doses of Arsenic, mercury, all heavy metals and other environment toxins are unavoidable as they are in rain , river water now too	Food	Cycle foods - even the healthiest ones so body does not accumulate too much of the same toxin creating immune system issues  Go with the season - if it’s season for berries , have them . if it’s not , slow down and/or skip .. nature’s way of cycling . just because it’s available 365 days a year does not mean nature intended for us to have it round the year ..  FAST and FAST often, say once every ekadashi or whatever day you like every 1/2/4 weeks . When the body FASTs, the immune system heals - it’s as simple as that .
28	Sleep  High quality sleep === High levels of system healing. This means that leading up sleep time is very important and toxicity must be reduced for a high quality healing sleep		No electronics, reduce  / TV ~ 3-4 hours before sleep - blue light in TVs, screens interferes with circadian rhythm Avoid sunglasses when in sun - brain thinks it's time to sleep and reduces / stops melatonin production --- this impacts skin directly as it needs melatonin to absorb full spectrum sunlight . it also interferes with circadian rhythm hence healing as it is not time to sleep yet though melatonin production is practically stopped as we have tricked the brain ..