Your body is being automatically defended by the most sophisticated, and powerful military force that ever was. That military force is the immune system. Your immune system’s worst enemy is your own ignorance, and lack of knowledge when it comes to food and drink choices you make. For you to get rid of risks and/or vulnerability, you must learn, comprehend and implement the basic knowledge of how the immune system works, and what does it require for operations.

The immune system is broken down into two different parts: INNATE and ADAPTIVE/ACQUIRED:

1. You are born with the innate part of the immune system. It is being passed from mothers. Immune cells are also being passed on to babies by breastfeeding. So, if your mother has some antibodies, she will pass those on to you.
   • Basically, the most important part of your life to develop a healthy and strong immune system is when you’re in the womb, till the age of two;
   • In fact, this is one of the reasons why so many babies are these days being born with different forms of deformity and/or auto-immune disease. The answer might be found in foods their mothers have consumed during pregnancy. Most groceries you can buy in the supermarket are adulterated, filled with different kinds of hormones, or are of GMO origin. A warm suggestion to all future mothers: EAT ORGANIC FOOD, ONLY!
   • The interesting thing about the immunity of babies is that the more time babies spend in a super-clean (sterile) environment, the weaker their immune system. Being exposed to microbes, and germs are one of the ways to develop/strengthen immunity.
2. ADAPTIVE (acquired) part of the immune system is being developed by exposure to germs and pathogens. Once the body goes through and overcomes the infection, it will develop antibodies (and memory). The next time you get exposed to these pathogens, you’ll be protected.

Three main cells of the innate part are programmed by nature. Those “guys” know what to do. I am calling them the frontline defense villains. If they will need any help or assistance, they will recruit the backup. The adaptive part needs a bit more time to recruit because the body needs to produce cells. The production of so-called T-cells and B-cells is being activated by signals from other cells. So, the frontline defense villains will defend the gate while they recruit backup help. The body might need up to a week to produce enough T-cells and B-cells.

There are three main players of the innate immune system. Now, we are going to talk about two of them, the so-called phagocytes, which are “cells that eat”.They are very similar to Pac-Man. Once they get “angry” they join the “battle” and literally eat bacteria, viruses, etc. If there is no infection going on, the third main player of the innate system, called macrophage will eat debris, and garbage. He is the garbage disposal. During infection, he is the professional phagocyte. He eats everything on his path. Those three players are the border patrol of your immune system.

So, phagocytes eat pathogens (microbes that cause disease). The battle is very similar to chemical warfare. Phagocytes are using acids to dissolve microbes. For example, hydrogen peroxide and interferon (a very powerful and deadly chemical that your body makes). Now, that’s a true virus executor!

Mr. Macrophage’s life span is longer than that of other phagocytes. Another player is Mr. Neutrophils, which have a very short lifespan because neutrophils are releasing deadly chemicals that can sometimes get in your body, and cause destruction and inflammation.

Neutrophils have three ways of dealing with microbes. They can eat microbes (same as macrophage), they can cast a net over the microbe, and put chemicals like the immune version of Spider-Man, or they can release chemicals externally and kill off microbes that way.

CERTAIN NUTRIENTS THAT AFFECT PHAGOCYTES

• Zinc is very important in making sure that phagocytes work correctly. If you are zinc deficient, then you don’t produce enough phagocytes.

• Vitamin C ensures the fighting ability of phagocytes.
  • Attention: if your body is too alkaline (too high Ph), phagocytes will act slowly. That is why vitamin C may stimulate phagocytes to work faster. A synthetic version of “acid” may help only in certain aspects, but the best solution is apple vinegar.

• Vitamin D is of great importance in two things:
  • it calms down the inflammation process after the infection has stopped. Enthusiasm is great, but if the immune system becomes over-enthusiastic it will start producing the collateral damage;
  • it helps to modulate or adjust the right amount of chemicals (for defense).

• Sugar is a tricky one! Image for a moment the sugar as a very charming and attractive lady, and phagocytes as easily seduced young men. When you eat sugar, phagocytes will forget about the infection and start chasing sugar. Sugar is a great enemy and paralyzer of the immune system (so make sure your diet is a low carbohydrate-zero sugar). The worst thing for you to do when you are getting sick is eating sugar.

• Mental Stress (for example, fear and worry) has a huge influence! It SHUTS DOWN the immune system. Do you still wonder why governments want to keep you in fear? Another form of mental stress that shuts down the immune system is grief. It may actually trigger the auto-immune reaction. For example, my great grandfather died one month after my great grandmother passed away. The reason? Grief (sadness)!
  • To summarize, mental stress is more harmful than a nutritional deficiency. You may eat perfectly, but if you are stressed out, expect illness to knock on your doors.
  • HINT: carefully choose who you are being accompanied with because other people’s stress can kill you!

• Fasting is the last factor I will talk about in this article. Fasting can create a profound effect on your immune system. By the following logic, you’d conclude that you need to nourish your body by eating when you are ill, but fasting is actually way more beneficial because fasting turns on all sorts of genes that strengthen the immune system. Some good bacteria get active when we do not feed them. On contrary, food makes them sluggish and lazy.

This article is courtesy of @gemstone. Visit @gemstone on hive for more.