Additional Support
Fighting the Odds:
Now that you’ve learned the specifics about your disease, what an anti-inflammatory diet entails, what are your autoimmune triggers – what else can you do? Some of the additional known factors associated with autoimmune disease include that you can address to further your wellness journey include family history, environment, and the stress response.
Family History
Genetic predisposition, or a family history, of autoimmune disease makes you 10x more likely to suffer from one yourself. But you CAN change your DNA! Science has proven that diet and lifestyle can actually turn ON/OFF disease causing genes. Epigenetics is the study exploring how our lifestyle and environment can alter the way our genes work. The lifestyle factors that can have significant epigenetic effects include diet, stress, sleep, exercise, and substance abuse. Scientists are now even investigating how eating habits modify gene expression in adults and their offspring, meaning your healthy choices can affect you and even your children and grandchildren. Recent studies have gone so far as to address how the diet and lifestyle of pregnant women can influence their baby’s genes and development. All of this is exciting proof that you DO have control over your health and you can change biology!
Environment
How and what we surround ourselves with plays a dominant hand in our health. Today’s typical environment has us constantly bombarded with toxins, pesticides, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and other harmful chemicals. Take a look around your home and see if there are any areas that could be replaced with more natural products to lessen your exposure. Synthetic materials traded for cotton, heavily dyed items for dye-free options, traditional chemical cleaners for natural alternatives, and eating organic food when possible. Nature offers free resources proven to improve your health as well; for example adding a house plant to purify the air, opening a window to let in sunlight and vitamin D, bringing in fresh flowers for natural aromatherapy, even just listening to sounds of nature have been proven to decrease stress. Small changes to your environment can make a substantial improvement on your health!
Stress Response
Stress activates a Fight or Flight response in your body. Cortisol surges, muscles tighten, and the immune system is suppressed. Returning your body to a Rest and Digest state is vital for a functioning immune system. Science has already proven that chronic stress is linked to a suppressed immune system increasing the risk of viral infections, the release of histamine causing asthma, alters insulin needs increasing diabetes risk, disrupts acid concentration in the stomach leading to ulcers and colitis, leads to plaque build in the arteries, and the suppression of natural killer cells responsible for destroying infected and diseased cells. The antidote to stress is rest. When we rest our bodies fight infections and inflammation and optimize healing. Prioritizing self care is an amazing way to combat stress, promote rest, and improve your physical and mental health.
Let’s keep going!
There is still more that those suffering from autoimmune disease can do to increase their chances of wellness including addressing vitamin deficiencies, adding probiotics, and strength training.
Vitamins
Vitamin deficiency is the main source of many chronic illnesses. 92% of the general population is suffering from at least one vitamin or mineral deficiency. Vitamins that can offer a boost to a weakened immune system include zinc, selenium, iron, folic acid, and vitamins A, B6, C, D, and E. The 1# most important is Vitamin D!
Probiotics
Because 80% of our immune system is located in our gut, optimal gut health is vital to a functioning immune system. Balancing the microbiome with pre- and probiotics is an often overlooked area of wellness. Not all probiotics or guts are the same. Seed Probiotics is one reputable source to start your research.
Strength Training
Many who are suffering from chronic illness stop exercising due to pain and fatigue, unfortunately this only exacerbates the problems resulting in weaker muscles, bones, and joints. Strength training in particular has recently been proven to provide incredible immune benefits. And when done properly and consistently will strengthen muscles, bones, and joints offering support and decreasing pain.