Why Is Your Body Attacking You? Autoimmune Diseases

Do you or your family have an autoimmune disease?

You’ve probably thought that once you develop one, it will be with you for life and that you’ll just have to learn to live with the symptoms.

But—did you know none of this has to be permanent?

Autoimmune diseases or disorders are conditions in which your immune system loses the ability to distinguish between what is foreign and what is self, and begins to attack your own tissues.

For this to happen, genetic susceptibility is necessary, yes—but other factors also play a role, such as:

• Hormones (more common in women)
• Environment
• Infections
• Diet
• Emotions

All of these are burdens you need to remove.

Imagine for a moment that you are a donkey carrying a heavy load—but instead of just carrying food, clothes, or work tools, you're also weighed down by:

• Psychological stress: and your worries are probably far more complex than those of that donkey.
• Environmental toxins: and you are likely surrounded by more pollution and chemicals than the donkey ever will be.
• Infections: and you're probably exposed to as many microbes as that donkey. When your body has to deal with a harmful microorganism, your immune system goes on high alert, and may become overactivated—confusing what’s foreign with what’s your own tissue.

This is especially likely if:

• Your gateway is open (i.e. you have leaky gut), or
• You’re consuming enemy foods to which you're sensitive or that feed these “bugs”.

Yes, you read that right — your diet can also be the cause of your inflammation!

When your eating habits are rich in “enemy foods,” even those you may think are “healthy,” “low-fat,” or “light,” they could still be overloading your system. And if you’re increasingly consuming more inflammatory or unfamiliar foods, that’s even worse!

Imagine again our little donkey, who usually eats his fresh green pasture, now being fed longer, but dry and nutrient-poor grass. That’s exactly what we’ve ended up doing with our meals today — especially when compared to the foods our grandmothers used to prepare.

But unlike the donkey, you do have control over this last factor. You can choose to feed your body friendly, nutrient-rich foods that your gut is able to absorb properly.

Because it turns out that your gut houses 70% of your immune system and is the largest surface of contact with the outside world.

You become inflamed when you eat foods that your digestive enzymes can't properly break down — from “words” into “letters” — which are the forms your body actually recognizes as nutrients.

[Related: Chronic Inflammation — Symptoms, Causes, and How to Fight It]

How does that work?

Imagine that foods are grouped like a library filled with books, sentences, and words — and all using the same alphabet or basic building blocks: letters, which your immune system recognizes as NUTRIENTS.

These letters or nutrients are what should enter your body and, using that same alphabet, build another library called: You. Everything from your thoughts and emotions, to your bones, pancreas, hormones, enzymes — all of you.

But this only happens if you consume “friendly foods” — the kind your body can break down into its most basic components, the letters: NUTRIENTS.

When you eat “enemy foods,” your body can’t fully digest them, and they remain in larger chunks — like syllables, which become ANTI-NUTRIENTS.

Even though anti-nutrients are made from the same building blocks, the fact that they remain in larger chunks means your body can’t use them. And since they’re larger than expected, your immune system mistakes them for pathogens.

So when your immune system sees syllables (anti-nutrients), it tries to neutralize them, burn them, or remove them by building a campfire — inflammation.

If that fire keeps burning and you keep throwing in more wood (enemy foods), it will turn into a wildfire with serious consequences: Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Leaky Gut Syndrome allows all these anti-nutrients, toxins, and infectious agents to enter the body.‍

As these anti-nutrients, toxins, and infectious agents make their way into your system, your immune system may become overactivated. It may then begin to attack not only the “masked thief” — your enemy food — but also the “Venetian gondolier” — your thyroid or pancreas.

This phenomenon is known as molecular mimicry: when the immune system launches an attack on both foreign invaders and your own tissues. This is how autoimmune conditions can develop, especially when you have a genetic predisposition.

A clear example of this occurs with gluten and casein — reacting to one often means reacting to the other. And your body might confuse either of these two “thieves” with your pancreas or thyroid, depending on your genetics, leading to autoimmune diseases.

That’s why we affirm that leaky gut is the gateway to all diseases, symptoms, and infections.‍

But… do you know how to prevent it?
Through your personalized 3R Protocol!

- Remove those foods that are hard for your gut to digest, that inflame it and make it porous like a sieve, preventing nutrients from entering.

- Replenish with friendly foods for you and your gut — ones you can extract nutrients from.

- Recover your health through nutrition.

Do you already know which foods become "letters" (nutrients) and which ones stay as "syllables" (anti-nutrients)?

But this doesn’t end here — you can prevent, treat, and recover with your 3R Protocol!
We invite you to personalize it through an online consultation with our team of NutriWhite Ambassadors.