The spectrum of autoimmunity is a progressive state of disease that runs from vibrant health at one end to degenerative disease at the other. In between, you have a broad range of varied but related stages of disease which are connected to each other. In other words, at any point, either you are moving towards disease or you are moving towards health.
By learning how to make sense of your struggles, surrounding yourself with a supporting community, and engaging in activities that go beyond your needs and desires can help you deal with your health issues. This is why having a sense of meaning is important for your health.
You don’t have to wait for anything to be different in your life including getting an exact diagnosis to start supporting your body by creating a healing environment. Whether this is by making healthier food choices, choosing one thought over another, reducing toxins in your immediate environment, or incorporating deep breathing/mindfulness into your life, there are many things that are in your control. When you start living your life in this manner you find that you feel more empowered, motivated, and confident in yourself, in your body and you are able to face any health challenges in the future from a place of strength rather than fear.
You need to remember that the immune system has been designed to be very, very strong to counter any kind of threat and keep you alive. It is the ability to regulate the immune system and keep it in balance is what determines an appropriate versus over the top response.
One of the most empowering things that you can do for yourself in the face of a chronic disease diagnosis (or even if you are trying to prevent one) is to stop being at “WAR” with your body. We are often led to believe that our immune system has gone berserk and that our body has turned against us and this is particularly true in the case of autoimmune diseases. However, by treating our immune system (and our bodies) as our enemy, we are in fact shooting the messenger!
More than ever before, there are more and more of us who are eager to improve our health and are already spending time, money, and effort in doing so but we are not seeing the results. But the problem is that modern day plague of chronic diseases that we are grappling with are beyond our body’s capabilities of keeping us healthy.
We often get stuck with the notion that there is no other way out, no other solution for the health problems. Unfortunately, this approach falls short of addressing the root causes of complex chronic health issues and creating resilient health.
Eating foods that are “healthy” really depends on the current state of your body when you are dealing with a chronic condition and will usually change over time. The good news is that once you understand what your body’s requirements are you can start to eat foods that are healthy for YOU and help your body to deal with your health issues much better.
Whether it’s focusing on foods that are nourishing for your body and removing those which are harmful, incorporating a daily self care routine in your life to deal with stress and working on reducing and removing toxins from your immediate environment, there are many steps that you can take to deal with your autoimmune condition.
At the heart of any autoimmune condition lies immune dysregulation. Autoimmune disease is a progressive disease that has vibrant health at one extreme end and a degenerative state at the other.
The problem is that when we are in the beginning stages of an autoimmune disease, there may not be any obvious symptoms. This is why we can suffer from autoimmune damage long before we are diagnosed and much before any symptoms occur.