Believers agree: God has made us in His own image (Gen. 1:27). But sometimes, our actions mar that image and keep it from its intended purposes.
That’s the message Mark Sherwood, a leading naturopathic doctor and co-host of the Hope and Health podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, is trying to spread. He says by sticking to our standard American diet, we are unwittingly destroying a critical part of our body: our immune system.
“You’ve got to have a SWAT team,” he tells Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of the Greenelines podcast, using a tactical metaphor for the immune system. “So the idea is that when something it comes into the body, or tries to get into the body, or is generated inside the body that’s dangerous or harmful to us, the immune system is going to get induced. … So once the immune system gets induced, that means the immune system looks around, it say, ‘OK, I’ve surveilled something or identified something—what is it? Do I tolerate this? Is this good for me? Or is it intolerable? In other words, is it the enemy—something that’s going to harm me?'”
After the immune system is induced, it signals the body through a massive system that includes inflammation, Sherwood says. “So think of the inflammatory signals as being activated from an induced immune system that sends these emergency signals lamp lights and sirens around the body, ‘Emergency! Emergency! Emergency! We’ve got a problem!'”
That emergency response is often accompanied by pain, Sherwood says, and other evidences of immune response such a swelling, soreness, redness and heat.
People need to understand that parasites and other toxins trigger the immune response—bacteria, viruses and other invaders that don’t belong. However, “the most consistent inducer of the immune system state is going to be the chemicals, pollutants and toxins within the standard American diet,” Sherwood says. “Every single time those things come in the body, the body says, ‘I don’t know what you are; you’re not food at all; you’re an enemy invader. So the immune system is induced, inflammation increases, and we have a problem.
“That is why nearly all Americans around the country and really, the exportation of the Western diet across the world, has created a systemic cascade of upregulated, chronic inflammation across the people,” Sherwood says. “And that right there creates immunocompromised, and we have the promise we have today.”
For much more from naturopathic doctor Mark Sherwood on the problem of being immunocompromised and how changing our diet can help, listen to the entire episode of Greenelines at this link, and subscribe to Greenelines on your favorite podcast platform for more informative, inspiring stories. Check out the Sherwoods’ Hope and Health podcast at this link. {eoa}
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