Autoimmune diseases are a pain in the neck to deal with for those who struggle with it - your own immune system attacking yourself, seems like nature is almost against you.
We Expect Our Immune System To PROTECT Us, Not Attack Us Right?
Well, here's the deal. When we undergo stressors, changes take place on a cellular level - and if the health of the cell-membranes is compromised, hydrolase will begin to leak from the cells out into your body, where an autoimmune reaction will often happen.
What Does This Mean For You? You Can Eat All The Healthy Foods In The World, And You Will Continue To Struggle With Autoimmune Disease For Life, If You Do Not Repair Damaged Cell-Membranes, In Order To Prevent Hydrolase From Leaking Out.
This is important to truly grasp, because many people think it's enough that they cut out all these immune triggers such as soy, corn, gluten, peanuts and nightshades together with eating a lot of "anti-inflammatory" plant oils. The overused term "anti-inflammatory" about certain fats is slightly misleading. Whether something is inflammatory or not has more to do with achieving the right balance, rather than indulging in certain fats only. Actually too much of plant oils can lead to inflammation, and too little arachidonic acid is just as harmful as too much.
Elimination Will Not Solve This Issue.
It may lesson some symptoms a bit as you take out the worst offenders involved in triggering an autoimmune reaction, but the cause here is not solved. The health of the cell-membranes needs to be restored.
So How Do You Repair Damaged Cell-Membranes?
First off, you need to understand that cell-membranes are mainly made up of cholesterol and saturated fat. What this translates to is, that you NEED to eat these fats in abundance for your body to have a surplus for repair matters and cellular healing.
What's not to love? Grass-fed, organic butter is one of few sources of heart-healthy vitamin K, bone-building vitamin D and fat-burning CLA.
Why More Women Than Men Get Autoimmune Diseases.
Women are particularly vulnerable to hormone disruption - and often we don't eat enough of the specific type of fats needed to properly synthesize a balanced estrogen-testosterone level.
When Our Hormones Are Out Of Whack, Everything In Our Body Will Suffer - And Our Immune System Is Strongly Compromised.
This is why women are more vulnerable to autoimmune diseases - our hormones are our weakest link, if not targeted.
When your hormones are out of whack, everything in your body will go against you, so it is absolutely critical to target hormone health and prevent imbalance early. Once hormones like DHEA (involved in Sjogren's disease and also shown to be an efficient remedy for ulcerative colitis and many other autoimmune diseases), testosterone (yes, women need healthy levels of testosterone too for a strong metabolism, muscle definition and good mood!), cortisol (your fatburn hormone) and estrogen go haywire, the healing process is time-consuming.
Hormonal Rebalancing With Nutritional, Herbal And Bio-Identical Strategies Is Absolutely Key To Feel Great And Reverse Immune-Based Disorders.
This is where the fat talk becomes important. Different fats have different purposes in the body, and when we go on a strict cut-out-all-of-one category fat type, because we may have been led in vain to believe, that this is healthy for you, we suffer. Our body doesn't have the building blocks present anymore for certain of the tasks it needs to do.
It's Kinda Like Building A House, But Then Insisting On Building It Without Cement.
I mean, it looks decent from the outside - you have the bricks, the paint and even the furniture on the inside. Yet what happens when the first storm hits? Your house collapses. Cholesterol and quality saturated fat is like cement in your body - it keeps your cell membranes healthy and stable.
Eating Only Unsaturated Plant Fats Will Lead To A Body Out Of Balance Over Time.
Most people feel great in the beginning when switching to a vegan type of diet. And there are things to be said for going vegan in periods of your life, depending on your health needs.
No diet fits all, and our body is always changing and evolving.
That said, unfortunately, the initial benefits of going vegan often relate to the body getting a break from garbage eating habits and getting more fresh, raw enzyme-rich greens - which is good for everybody obviously.
The issue is, though, that over time your body begins to decline, because the hormones in charge of health cannot function without the right satuarated fat for fuel.
Metabolic Damage Comes In, Men Get Male-Boobs, Women Experience Out Of Control Carb Cravings, Many Feel Moody And Depressed After A Couple Years On This Type Of Diet.
This is a direct result of not feeding your brain and body enough stable fats to thrive. It's like you are constantly cleaning your house without putting oil on the exposed wooden floor. That wooden floor is going to fall to pieces in time, even if it looked great after the initial deep-cleaning phase. But then healing, repairing and restoration must always follow a deep-cleanse - as with furniture so with our own bodies.
This Is Not Rocket Science - Pretty Logical Actually.
Cholesterol plays an important part in the human body. When we think of cholesterol as the "bad guy", we are missing the boat.
Cholesterol is a marker of inflammation in the body --- it is there to DEFEND against inflammation. This means, that when you go to your doctor and he tells you, that your cholesterol is elevated, that is not the issue you want to focus on per se.
The Reason Why Your Cholesterol Is Elevated Is Due To Inflammation --- Your Body's Defense Mechanism Against Inflammation Is To Raise Cholesterol.
It's kinda like being scared of the police during a robbery. The police indicates that something is up, but they are there to protect us from further damage -- the police IS the cholesterol.
This is also why, if you go on cholesterol-lowering drugs like Statin, we clearly see an increased risk of death. The police is gone, so now the robbers can go nuts, yet no one from the outside of the building can now see that the robbers are there, because the police has been removed. Same thing when we force the cholesterol levels down unnaturally, so our blood labs look partly normal.
This knowledge is so old, it is an embarrassment in the health and medical community, that we have not managed to communicate this message better to the public. It has resulted in a fatal restriction in the exact type of fats that we need to restore health.
Cholesterol Functions Are As Follows:
- Hormone production. Cholesterol plays a part in producing hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, aldosterone and cortisone.
- Vitamin D production. Vitamin D is produced when the sun’s ultraviolet rays reach the human skin surface.
- Bile production. Cholesterol produces bile acids which aid in digestion and vitamin absorption.
- Cell membrane support. Cholesterol plays a very important part in both the creation and maintenance of human cell membrane.
So What Are The Top 4 Fats That I Recommend To Repair The Integrity Of Cell-Membranes That Should Be A Key Part Of Any Autoimmune Disease Program?
- Grass-fed organic butter and heavy cream (fats need always be organic as antibiotics and pesticides accumulate in fat)
- Goat's and sheep's cheese (higher in the healthy casein a2 than regular cow's dairy which mainly consists of casein a1 that is linked to inflammation)
- Grass-fed Egg yolks (higher in omega-3, rich in lecithin and phosphatidyl choline, in addition to cholesterol)
- Fish oil - yes, omega-3 is still essential to include here, as it does change gene expression for the better.
Everything in moderation - I'm not saying that an all-and-only saturated fat diet is the solution, but many diseases need significant amounts of the right types of fats involved in the manifestation of that specific issue to recover fully.
For auto-immune based and hormonal health issues, saturated fats and cholesterol are key to heal.
For each disease, there is a specific protocol that needs to be followed to provide the right building blocks for that specific imbalance.
With this in mind, take a look at what's on your fork, and whether you might be eliminating some essential fats for a balanced body + mind.
References: J Affect Disord. 2011 Dec;135(1-3):115-21. Low cholesterol is associated with depression among US household population. Tedders SH J Am Coll Nutr. 2002 Dec;21(6):495-505. Omega-3 fatty acids in inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Simopoulos AP. Ayu. 2010 Apr-Jun; 31(2): 134–140. The effect of ghee (clarified butter) on serum lipid levels and microsomal lipid peroxidation Hari Sharma et al. Am J Pathol. 1987 Apr;127(1):106-21. The type of dietary fat affects the severity of autoimmune disease in NZB/NZW mice. Alexander NJ, Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Jan;9(1):8-12. Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations. Fernandez ML.