Autoimmune disease, the body's betrayal - How to heal

(NaturalNews) When you think of disease, life-threatening disease, what first comes to mind? Cancer? Heart disease?

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), 9 million Americans suffer from Cancer on an annual basis; 22 million suffer from heart disease. Autoimmune disease beats them both with an annual number of 23.5 million and rising.

According to American Autoimmune, 50 million would be a more accurate number because the NIH only counts and tracks 24 autoimmune diseases (all with good epidemiology studies) though researchers consider 80-100 diseases to be chronic, autoimmune conditions.

What Is an Autoimmune Disease?

The simple definition of an autoimmune disease is a misguided immune system that attacks healthy body tissue. Some autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis or arthritis target specific body parts, while others, such as lupus, affect many parts of the body.

These diseases cause more than inflammation, pain, or discomfort; many are crippling and are among the leading causes of death in America. The following is a short list of the most common autoimmune diseases.

Common autoimmune diseases

• Addison's disease
• Arthritis
• Celiac disease
• Crohn's disease
• Diabetes (type 1)
• Graves' disease
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis
• Lupus
• Myasthenia gravis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Pernicious anemia
• Polyarteritis
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Psoriasis
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sarcoidosis
• Sjogren's syndrome
• Ulcerative colitis

Conventional medicine offers no cures and has not reached a definitive answer as to the cause of autoimmune diseases. The primary treatment is medication. Steroids are commonly prescribed, despite how damaging their long-term use can be to the body.

Conventional medicine recognizes a genetic component and questions whether a viral infection could trigger an autoimmune disease. They have also acknowledged the fact that many people suffering from autoimmune diseases have celiac disease as well as another autoimmune disease.

How to Cure an Autoimmune Disease

Natural health care practitioners believe that health, or lack of health, begins in the gut. Not only is the gut responsible for 80% of our immune system, an unhealthy gut cannot absorb the nutrients the body needs for every function, including healing.

A sick gut is often a leaky gut, one that allows proteins and food particles to pass into the bloodstream, causing the immune system to attack these foreign particles as pathogens.

An unhealthy gut is the result of an unhealthy diet, antibiotic use, and Candida overgrowth. If you want to rid yourself of any chronic condition, you have to heal the body, one cell at a time. If you are ready to do this, it all starts with diet.

A Truly Healthy Diet Is the Key to Health

The healthiest diet is a whole food, plant-based, 80% raw diet. A full 80% of your diet should be fresh, raw, organic produce - more vegetables than fruit. This will provide your body with the nutrients, fiber, and enzymes it needs and the perfect food to help the colonies of beneficial bacteria in your gut to thrive and reproduce.

There is no room in a healthy diet for processed foods with the exception of a few organic products such as healthy oils. The following should all be permanently eliminated:

• Artificial colors
• Artificial flavors
• Preservatives
• MSG, BHA, BHT
• GMOs
• Trans fats
• Artificial sweeteners
• Processed sugars

During the healing process eliminate the following foods as well:

• Dairy products
• Caffeine
• Gluten (very important!) All grains containing gluten and all sources of gluten contamination.

You may be able to add some dairy, caffeine, or gluten back into your diet on a limited basis after you have healed your gut and eliminated the autoimmune disease, but it is highly possible that you will find you feel better without them.

If you choose to eat meat, be absolutely sure that it is organic. This is vitally important. When you eat meat, you are eating from the top of the food chain. Animals that are not raised organic are fed hormones, antibiotics, and GMO feed, all of which is passed onto you.

To Eliminate Disease, Help Your Body Detox

Once you are eating right, you need to detox and avoid as many environmental toxins as possible. Give your immune system a rest. Use only organic soap, shampoo, skin care products, perfumes, colognes, cleaning products, etc. Your immune system responds to viruses, bacteria, fungi (Candida is the main one), parasites, and toxins. If you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system needs all the help you can give it. Get rid of the chemicals. Remember that your skin is a sponge, soaking up whatever you put on it.

You must kill the overgrowth of Candida in your body. Almost everyone who is sick in any way is suffering from Candida overgrowth. Chances are the "indiscriminate attacks" that your immune system makes on your tissues are either an attempt to kill Candida that is present throughout your body or it's a response to the proteins and other food particles that are routinely released into the bloodstream from a leaky gut. To heal the body, kill the Candida and heal the gut.

You need to move. Your lymphatic system is an integral part of your immune system. In order to work properly, it must circulate. Rebounding is considered the best exercise to move the lymph, but other exercise works as well. Walk, run, swim, do yoga, dance - just move.

A healthy immune system also requires vitamin D. The best source is the sun, but many of us don't live in an optimal climate and many with autoimmune diseases are photosensitive. If you supplement, be sure to choose a quality vitamin.

Conclusion

To heal the immune system, you must heal the whole body. The good news is that every cell in the body requires the same thing: elimination of toxins and an abundance of high-quality nutrients.

To learn more about a healthy diet, read 80% Raw Food Diet. Also see the Total Body Detox Plan, Inexpensive Easy Detox and How To Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem.

Sources:

http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com

http://www.cureceliacdisease.org

About the author:
Allene Edwards first became interested in alternative medicine and holistic treatment modalities when she successfully used diet therapy to manage her children�s ADHD. Later when she became chronically ill with an auto-immune disease that multiple doctors could not identify, much less cure, she successfully treated both the symptoms and the cause through naturopathic treatment and nutrition. She is the Managing Editor of Organic Lifestyle Magzine and a regular contributor.