The Gut and its crucial role in ensuring a Healthy Immune System
Today I want to share the story of a woman, Lee Holmes, who has created a world of healthy recipes and is helping save people one recipe at a time. Lee is living-proof that you can overcome an autoimmune disease through nutritious food, natural healing and ensuring a healthy immune system. Her personal story is truly inspirational.
I have taken snippets of her story from an article published on Food Matters TV. See link below for the full article.
“To give my digestive system time to recover and heal by itself, I went on a basic elemental and nourishing diet and I found this really gave my body the chance to repair itself. The foods I chose were foods in their closest state to nature. The more that nature is disrupted in your food, the least likely that your gut bacteria will know how to handle it. Eating the way that I describe in the Heal Your Gut eBook not only gave my system a rest and a chance to repair itself but also provided me with key nutrients my digestive system needed to function at its best; delivering healing nutrients to all the systems of my body and creating an environment where true healing could take place.”
Do you believe your gut plays a crucial role in having a healthy immune system?
“To begin my expedition into healing my autoimmune disease naturally I had to do a lot of research on the gut and how it affects your health. I found that your gut is not just your belly or your waistline; it’s the gateway to the health of your brain and immune system. Your gut health and immune system are inextricably linked. I discovered that approximately seventy to eighty percent of your immune tissue is located within your digestive system. The gut is often the first entry point for exposure to pathogens (bad bacteria and virus’ that can cause disease); therefore your gut immune system needs to be thriving and healthy in order to avoid illness.
This was one of the key drivers to my own healing, knowing that if I could heal my gut then my symptoms would start disappearing. In fact the gut mucosa connects with the largest population of immune cells in the body. These are also known as gastrointestinal immune cells; which come from the lymphoid branch of the immune system. Their aim is to secrete lymphocyte cells which attack harmful invaders. These lymphatic cells also form bundles known as ‘Peyer’s Patches’ which work together to protect the mucous membranes of the small intestines from infection. They do this by releasing specific white blood cells known as T-cells and B-cells to defend the inside of the digestive tract from infection, as well as the damage that they cause to the intestinal walls.
Aside from containing specialized immune cells, the particular strains of friendly gut flora that reside within your intestines are also critical for overall immunity. These guys act as mighty warriors for the immune system, and are dependable allies for immune cells; helping them to enhance their “natural killer” effectiveness and boosting their overall defence of the intestinal walls to prevent pathogens and infections being absorbed. This is one critical reason why maintaining a healthy balance of good bacteria in the gut is so important. Without them, your immune system cannot do its job effectively, and in essence it is defenceless.”
To read the full article, click here.