Top 10 Things That Damage Immunity

As discussed in my last post, your immune system is an incredibly important system in your body and when it’s not functioning correctly your health (and therefore you) will suffer.

It’s worth taking the time to learn and to consider the ways in with you can influence the state of your immune system and making an effort to take care of it.

This list is again taken from Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride’s book Gut and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, A.D.D., Dyslexia, A.D.H.D., Depression, Schizophrenia and is her list of the top ten influences that will damage your immunity:

1. Sugar and everything containing it: sweets, soft drinks, confectionery, ice cream etc
2. Processed carbohydrates: cakes, biscuits, crisps, snacks, breakfast cereals, white bread and pasta
3. Chemically altered and artificial fats: margarine, butter replacements, cooking and vegetable oils, processed foods prepared with these fats
4. Lack of high quality proteing in the diet from meats, and fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts and seeds
5. Exposure to man-made chemicals: cleaning and washing chemicals, personal care products, paints, fire retardants, petrochemicals, pesticides etc
6. Exposure to man made radiation: electronic screens (TV, computers, play stations etc), mobile phones, hight power electricity lines, nuclear stations and nuclear wastes
7. Drugs: antibiotics, steroids, antidepressants, painkillers, anti-cancer medication, anti-viral drugs etc (all pharmaceutical drugs)
8. Lack of fresh air and physical activity
9. Lack of exposure to sunlight
10. Lack of exposure to common microbes in the environment. Living in a too sterilised environment is strongly associated with compromised immunity. The immune system needs constant stimulation from the microbes in the environment.

Again I would add a couple to this list. They would be:

1. Emotional stress: unhappiness, bad relationships, grief, work that doesn’t satisfy you or makes you miserable etc
2. Processed foods generally: I would say all processed foods rather than picking out certain ones. Anything that comes out of a ‘food factory’ is very likely to have a negative impact on your immune system. Reduce or remove these foods from your diet, opting instead for whole foods in as close to their natural state as possible. Cook or prepare food at home from scratch!

Tags: immune system, immunity