The physiology of ease

We all start our lives with vitality and health in an amount that depends on the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual heritage of our individual soul and the ancestral genetic lineage we are born in. It is almost never 100% because none of us can possibly come today from 100% healthy lineages anymore.

We also begin with minimal or zero toxicity. Let's take for the sake of metaphors the example of a new house in which we just moved in. The health and vitality are represented by a pantry full of "functional reserves", some of these being:

• Immune and endocrine system reserves.
• Paired organs such as lungs, kidneys, adrenals, ovaries etc.
• Acid-Alkaline blood and tissue buffering systems.
• Glycogen and Fat stores.
• Enzymatic supplies etc.

The level of toxicity is best depicted by the garage of the "new house" that is empty at birth. As we go through life, stresses start consuming and depleting our health pantry supply and toxic waste starts accumulating in our garage. The typical scenario involves piling up stuff in the garage that we don't use any more but don't want to throw away. Therefore we keep it slightly away from our awareness (bloodstream) and deposit it in the garage (the equivalent is body fat, muscles storages etc.) until one day there is so much stuff accumulated in the garage that the car doesn't fit no more. The next step is barely being able to slide through the piles of stuff. Now that's serious toxic accumulation. Because of the immense biological reserves and "back-up systems" our bodies have, we initially don't "feel" the effects of health depletion and toxic accumulations.

It takes somewhere between 70-95% tissue damage in many organs before their cry for help becomes loud enough to reach our "inner ears". These are called symptoms. They are the body's built in mechanisms acting to heal/regenerate/call for our awareness. As you can see by now, being symptom free is not even close to meaning that one is healthy.

A healthy body detoxifies itself primarily through the intestines, liver and kidneys and secondarily through the lungs and skin. These organs need certain essential factors and nutrients in order to perform their function at peak performance.

The large intestine requires significant fiber, phytonutrients and essential fatty acids. It's health is determined by regular bowel movements, proper flora, no buildup of internal toxins (fermentation and bile products) and a strong intact barrier that prevents leakage into the circulatory system.

The liver requires proper ratios of protein to carbohydrates in the diet, oligo-elements and antioxidant nutrients. It is designed to filter out toxic substances in the blood (from intestines, lymph and lungs) and transform them through a two-phase process into harmless water-soluble ones that are eliminated through the kidneys.

The kidneys require one liter of pure water per 100 lbs. body weight daily and also certain oligoelements.

When the toxic overload cannot be adequately handled by the liver, kidney and intestines, the next line of defense consisting of lungs and skin is kicking in.

When the toxic overload such as mental, emotional, physical, biochemical or spiritual stresses affect us over a longer period of time, the functional reserves and compensatory mechanisms become exhausted and subsequently the body enters progressive stages of degeneration that continuously worsen, if the initial Cause is not being addressed properly.

WHEN TOXICITY STARTS PILING UP...

The body's first reaction to a toxic overload is:

1. excretion (e.g. perspiration, mucus drainage, urination, vomiting, diarrhea, cough etc.). The next phase is the
2. the classic inflammatory response (rubor, tumor, dolor, calor, functio lesa-the ancient latin description meaning redness, swelling, pain, heat and diminished function). This category contains all the "-itis" disorders: tonsillitis, otitis, pharingytis, bronchitis, hepatitis, arthritis... you get the picture. Chronic, persistent inflammation leads to the
3. sclerotic state, whereby tissues harden and abnormal growths are observed. This is the "-osis" category (endometriosis, atherosclerosis etc.). A chronic sclerotic state eventually leads to
4. atrophy whereby progressive functional breakdown and organ insufficiency/failure is noticed.

Let's look into Diabetes Mellitus, a disease that more and more people find themselves unfortunately getting "acquainted with" today in the world of refined carbohydrate indulgences we live in. Over-consumption of high glycemic index foods puts the pancreas in a hyperactive (overactive) state in which it will secrete more insulin in order to accommodate the high glucose levels in blood. Subsequently the blood sugars will drop too low, reaching a hypoglycemic state. As a result, hypoglycemic people need to eat again soon to correct that. This creates a glycemic rollercoaster that puts the whole body under tremendous stress. Over time, the pancreas becomes exhausted and sluggish (hypoactive state). An ongoing abusive lifestyle will continuously increase the need for insulin production that will not be able to match the increased carbohydrate intake anymore and will result in hyperglicemia and decreased insulin receptivity by the cells. When the pancreas reaches the 4th stage of degeneration (atrophy) it shuts down and has nothing left to give. The individual then becomes insulin dependent.

If an organ continues on and on without a chance to regenerate and rest, it will eventually shut down. Then it becomes imperiously necessary to substitute or replace the function that organ served.

A healthy lifestyle will enable the body to heal itself and if given enough time, it will eventually revert to a balanced state of Ease.

Let's look now at the classic "inconvenient" headache or cold that we so often mask by rapidly throwing down the throat some over-the-counter pills that only disconnect the command center (brain) from it's peripheral "agencies" that are reporting the imbalance. A cold or a headache is the body's own warning built-in system attempting to tell us about potential problems such as dehydration, a pH imbalance, an allergic response to a foreign body, increased stress levels etc. Are you listening? One fact is for sure, a headache is not caused by a Tylenol deficiency in our body.

In medical school, our pharmacology (greek for the science of poisons) and internal medicine professors overemphasized the fact that all drugs are toxic.

"All drugs are poisons, the benefit depends on the dosage."
Philippus Theophrastrus Bombast Paracelsus (1493-1541), father of Pharmacology

We are taught that drugs work by interfering with the body's metabolism through blocking or stimulating certain biochemical processes. They actually modify the symptoms of dis-ease, "attempting" to correct the initial imbalance by frankly misinterpreting the body's healing mechanisms for failed responses.

Of course, beyond any doubt, medications are life saving in emergency situations such as severe infections in immuno-compromised patients etc. But drugs don't cure anything! There is no "thing" that cures! Only nature cures! Along with poor life habits and a polluted environment, medications only add to the already existing toxic burden of the body.

"The first duty of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine. The person who takes medicine must recover twice; once from the disease and once from the drug"
Sir William Osler, MD, co-founder of Johns Hopkins Hospital
and School of Medicine, father of Internal Medicine

RETRACING (Healing mechanisms) AT WORK...

Our body has multiple inherent defense mechanisms that protect it from the invasion of toxic substances. These responses are often misunderstood and misinterpreted as symptoms of illness rather than a vigorous health response. Rash, diarrhea, runny nose, fever or headaches are just a few ways through which the body attempts to heal itself (see stages 1-2 above). Rather than support our body in its attempt to heal, we often suppress it with some form of over-the-counter medication. Regular intake of symptom relief medication ultimately will suppress the defense mechanisms, weaken the immune system and make us even more susceptible to future afflictions.

Among the most misunderstood processes is the Inflammatory Response. In physiology it is referred to as a "site-condition-time-specific" response. It is the mechanism through which the body limits the extend of injury by isolating it, putting it at rest, providing all the necessary building blocks for the regeneration journey and ensuring proper clean-up of the damaged area. Rubor, tumor, dolor, calor and functio leasa is the classic descriptive latin pentad of inflammation.

Rubor=redness, signifies the immediate vascular response providing an increased blood supply to the area with subsequent delivery of nutrients and drainage of waste products

Tumor=swelling, signifies an abundant download of construction materials needed for regeneration, tissue fluids swelling

Dolor=signals the command center that an area is under the weather and requires protection and rest (the Police yellow tape ... Caution/Do Not Enter)

Calor= signifies increased heat due to increased blood supply to the area with subsequent delivery of nutrients and drainage of waste products, also speeds up white blood cells traveling to the area, inactivates germs

FunctioLesa=decreased use of the affected area, promoting and reinforcing the necessary rest in order to facilitate proper and permanent healing.

Without inflammation, wounds would never heal and infections would never be contained. By constantly popping anti-inflammatory medication, one completely overrides this mechanism of healing and curses her/himself to a lifetime of sickness and medical treatments.

Fever also ranks pretty high in the top misunderstood processes of the body. For every degree Fahrenheit that our temperature goes up, the speed at which the white cells (the circulating immune system) travel doubles up, such that at 104 F their speed is 64-128 times faster than normal. This provides the "affected area", usually an infection, with all the necessary tools to properly address the situation.

Imagine a huge Tsunami hitting coastal California and injuring thousands of people. The 911 System is sending hundreds of ambulances at maximum speed into the affected area in order to provide immediate relief. Now imagine you take a fever-lowering drug. You have just decreased the speed of the 911 ambulances to a mere 5 MPH ride. How would you think and feel if you were in charge of the Emergency Relief Operations? Perhaps not too intelligent?

And the same applies to coughing, vomiting, diarrhea etc. Natural Medicine understands these self-healing mechanisms and supports and sometimes even stimulates more of the same (increasing an existing fever even more etc.)

We don't develop a streptococcal throat infection at age 28 because mom didn't sprinkle enough penicillin in our breakfast cereal growing up. Headaches are not caused by a Tylenol ES deficiency either. By the same token we do not develop cancer because our diets are low in chemotherapy and radiation.

Our body, homeostasis (the inner doctor) is calling for rest, sleep hygiene, fresh air, pure water, adequate nutrition, proper mineral and vitamin supplementation as needed, exercise, a balanced mental-emotional-spiritual life and removal of the stressing agent/habit -in order for It to exercise It's own prerogative of self-healing.

Health and Healing are a continuous journey. Temporary discomfort in form of symptoms and signs give us the opportunity for self-inquiry, learning, growing and becoming more aware of the present moment as we assume full responsibility of our own life.