On this very day I became a mother 17 years ago and it was now my 17-year-old child that got me on this path. I can share this story another time but before him, I was one of those avid ‘homeopathic bashing’ scientists. I had not even given it a try, I had never experienced homeopathy, never tried it but I was more than happy to ‘bash’ it. The mention of homeopathy in the laboratory had everyone making jokes about ‘pseudoscience’….I look back 17 years on and am so grateful that I personally experienced it to break me out of that ‘tunnel vision’ attitude.
I even ‘bashed’ parents who were blaming antibiotics for their child’s eczema or formula milk for their child’s constipation or vaccinations for their child’s seizures or autism. It was quite a decade of ‘bashitis’.
But SCIENCE is all about having an OPEN CRITICAL MIND. Not just an open mind, and not just a critical mind. IT INVOLVES BOTH.
We have those that are OPEN-MINDED without any sort of ‘questioning’ and then we have those that are CRITICAL without an OPEN MIND. The word BIAS gets thrown around quite a bit of late.
What we are seeing and experiencing in these times is JUNK science. In science, we have a ‘hypothesis’ and then we set to PROVE or DISPROVE it. Either way, it has to be proven one way or the other. AND It has to be proven in a RIGOROUS manner, not some ‘fast-tracked’ quick fix way. We are NOT to be biased, we are to be OPEN MINDED and CRITICAL.
So with that in mind, I wanted to share what we DO KNOW about our amazing immune system. I am not a virologist or an epidemiologist but my roots are in pharmacology, biochemistry, toxicology, pathology, molecular biology and oncology. It was my years doing my Masters in Toxicology and Pathology that ‘woke’ me to the fact that we are exposed to toxins every day which play havoc with our biochemistry and hence physiology and of course our immune system is part of this physiology.
Onto the immune system, I am going to keep this simple as I want to encourage all HOME EDUCATORS to teach this to their children. Do not wait for schools to teach this topic as most seem to turn it into another boring topic, but this topic is a VITAL topic.
So imagine a castle, with a fort and a moat. The main castle itself is what is called the ACQUIRED IMMUNE SYSTEM.
The moat, bridge, and fort is called the INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM.
We will start with the INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM and move onto the ACQUIRED IMMUNE SYSTEM (which is just incredibly awesome) over the week.
Home educators, you can even get your children to build a castle with all the external ‘defense systems’, they can use, cardboard, recycle your plastic, paint it, draw it, use sugar cubes (sugar cubes are not for oral consumption just to use as raw material for projects). 🙃
The sugar itself is an IMMUNO-SUPPRESSANT, so if they consume sugar they are weakening that INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM, the bridge is weaker, the moat is not failproof, the fort is fragile.
The innate immune system is the PRIMARY LINE OF DEFENSE…this includes our
– Skin – Tonsils – Gut microbiome – Nervous system – Mucus membrane (this lines the respiratory and the digestive system) – Lymph nodes – Lymphatic system – Stomach acid
So the above is equivalent to the moat, the fort, the bridge. All these have to be crossed and invaded before one has a chance of getting into the castle. Before the virus has a chance to ‘spread and take over’.
So the stronger this primary line of defense (innate immune system), the less likely the castle itself will be invaded, even if the ‘badie’ does invade the castle it will not win. Either way, this innate immune system NEEDS to be ROBUST, it has a great communication system going on with those inside the castle (the ACQUIRED IMMUNE SYSTEM).
It is absolutely vital for this communication between the INNATE and ACQUIRED systems to be clear, precise and free. The INNATE immune system is fast, NON-SPECIFIC, ‘nimble on its toes’, whereas the ACQUIRED is slower and specific, it is more ‘professional’. We need the NON-SPECIFIC as it primes the SPECIFIC, it not only warns it that we have some serious work ahead but also is a VITAL part of the IMMUNE SYSTEM.
What makes this communication less clear, less precise, less free? TOXINS.
What are toxins? Toxins are anything that are foreign to the body. Anything foreign to the body has to be ‘dealt’ with. The body can do this in all sorts of ways (thankfully) and one is to raise an immune response.
Toxins include medications, toxic metals such as aluminum, fluorine, mercury, lead, VIRUSES, bacteria, fear, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs such as in-floor finishes, oil paints, ), phthalates (found also in kids plastic toys), ..the list is pretty long and toxic. But we also make our own toxins known as endogenous toxins and these are then detoxified by our detox system, so if you think about it, our detox system plays a vital role in immunity too.
So how can we support this incredible, fast-acting, all-embracing INNATE system? How can we fortify the fort, the bridge, the moat?
– cleaning up the home (remove toxic products, those smelly products that release VOCs, those air fresheners, those toxic candles) – get rid of aluminum pots and pans, antiperspirants – get rid of carpets that off-gas formaldehyde – remove chemical fertilizer, chemical weed killers – avoid medications, try nutrition, try homeopathy, try acupuncture, try anything else before you try medications that stress the body hence the immune system – Support your GUT, antacids are a BIG no-no – REMOVE all fear-mongering media (false news stresses the nervous system which impacts the immune system) – Get informed, learn how you can support your immunity, your gut health – avoid eating meat that is from factory farms (more on this in our new e-course coming up in May) – this meat is not only obesogenic it is inflammatory.
It is interesting that most kids are taken to ‘happy farms’ where animals roam free and are happy and are fed grass. But take your kids to a factory farm, show them exactly how inhumanely these animals are being treated which end up in supermarket fridges and freezers wrapped up in plastic to boot. Teach your children how these animals are being ‘fattened’ with grains and hormones, treated with antibiotics, and hardly see much daylight.
Ask them ‘what is the difference between an eggshell of a chicken that has been raised roaming free and in the sunshine and well-loved to an eggshell from a chicken that has been raised in such a small space, with hardly any day-light and spends most of its time in its own waste material.
If your child is now 17yr and cannot answer this, the school system has failed to provide them an ‘education’. It has succeeded in raising the next generation of the ‘immuno-compromised’, the vulnerable.
Can you see how you can support your own immune system and your family’s immune system? You do not have to wait for the virus to abate, you can be part of the herd immunity movement, be the hero that supports the immuno-compromised, be the one that engages with your natural immunity. We are not ‘powerless’.
We cannot boost our immunity if we are drowning ourselves in toxins. We can wear all the masks, all the protective gear but why are we not encouraged to look inside our homes? On supermarket shelves? The oil industry that supplies the raw materials for plastic toys.
Why are ‘supermarkets’ selling CANCER causing pesticides that contain GLYPHOSATE? ROUNDUP may sound more familiar. These toxins are the enemy, these are the toxins that we are supposed to be isolating from. When did it all go chronically wrong?
If you are a home educator, teach your children about such matters, because the traditional education system will not even mention glyphosate UNLESS you child is at an OPEN-MINDED CRITICAL thinking school that teaches LIFE skills. Educate your children about these insidious chemicals which are the real viruses. A virus cannot invade and destroy a HEALTHY host, repeat a virus cannot invade and destroy a healthy host.
So now we have this ‘foreigner’ in this case a virus, in the fort, on the bridge …you now have to decide how to ‘terminate’ this invader. Do you have the resources? Do you have sunlight? Do you have the nutrients? Do you have a rich HEALTHY microbiome? Have you been supporting large food chains that have no understanding of animal husbandry, let alone animal nutrition? Remember BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy)?
I will be sharing more on the INNATE immune system before we dive more into the ACQUIRED.
Be encouraged, we all can support our immunity, we can boost our health, we do not have to believe we are ‘hostage’ to this invader. Let’s remove the hidden invaders from our homes to support our health and hence immunity.
We cannot wait for someone else to boost our immunity, it is up to you and me.
To health and vitality!