Natural Immunity Plays Important Roles in Your Health

Easy to understand immunity video (YouTube link)

Naturally acquired immunity can result from either passive or active immunization.^[1]

• Naturally acquired passive immunity
• Immunity is transferred from mother to fetus through placental transfer of IgG or colostral transfer of IgA.
• Naturally acquired active immunity
• Occurs when a person is exposed to a live pathogen, and develops a primary immune response, which leads to immunological memory.
• This type of immunity is “natural” because it is not induced by deliberate exposure.

The complex immune system acts as the body's shield, constantly adapting through rapid gene evolution to defend against viruses, infections, and other threats while interacting with the ever-changing environment.^[51]

In this article, we will discuss the following topics:

1. The importance of natural immunity
2. What can cause depressed immunity?
3. Natural immune boosters

Importance of Natural Immunity

Excellent health is not merely how you feel at the moment. It is also how resistant your immune system is to microbes and how resistant you are to cancer. When children are born, they develop natural immunity to a large variety of microorganisms that they breathe, eat, and touch. The immune responses initiated by cells lining their airways, skin and intestines are very important in creating "memory" and protection against the microorganisms they naturally come into contact with every day.

Vaccination produces greater amounts of circulating antibodies than natural infection. But a new study^[42] suggests that not all memory B cells are created equal. While vaccination gives rise to memory B cells that evolve over a few weeks, natural infection births memory B cells that continue to evolve over several months, producing highly potent antibodies adept at eliminating even viral variants.

Today we are exposed to more dangerous infections from around the world than ever before.^[4] We are routinely in airports and jets crowded with world travelers who have come in contact with exotic and newly created microbes, and we are in schools and hospitals with bacteria circulating that have developed antibiotic resistance.^[14,16,32]

That's why we need to have well-functioning immune systems, especially natural immunity; otherwise, the consequences can be devastating:^[3]

• A mild infection can hang on for weeks; worse yet, it can develop serious consequences such as heart damage or nerve paralysis, or it can blossom into a difficult-to-treat bacterial infection such as a life-threatening pneumonia.
• Tumors may grow out of control: Our immune system also protects us from developing cancer.
• There is a lot of evidence that tumors can elicit an immune response.^[2]
• The same white blood cells and other immune system components that are utilized to fight infection are also used to recognize our own human cells as they become abnormal and to remove them before they can evolve into a tumor or cancer.

What Can Cause Depressed Immunity?

Impaired natural immunity may result from poor nutrition, the overuse and dependency on medication and many other factors:

 
Poor nutrition

• Poor nutrition not only makes us more susceptible to viruses but significantly impacts the length and severity of an illness.
• It has been known for years that malnutrition interferes with various physical barriers or immune responses, making the body more vulnerable to attach from microbes, including viruses.
• If you are deficient in virtually any known vitamin or mineral, research has shown that your defense functions can be negatively affect.
• Dr. Beck's work at UNC^[11] has pointed out the importance of host nutrition in not only optimizing the host immune response, but also in preventing viral mutations which could increase the viral pathogenicity.
• A phytochemically deficient diet is largely responsible for a weak immune system.
• When diets are low in consumption of green and yellow vegetables, viral illness takes a more serious form.
• Populations with a much higher intake of vegetables have much lower rates of cancer, and the longest-living populations throughout history have been those with the highest intake of vegetables in the diet.^[8]

Medication

• Couple our nutrient-poor diet--and the resultant immune system weaknesses, leading to frequent illness—with the use and overuse of medications, including antibiotics,^[5,30] vaccines, and immunosuppressive drugs for autoimmune diseases, and we have a good reason for the explosion in cancer rates over the last 70 years.
• Exposure to more medical care, more drugs, more vaccines, and more doctors does not beget Super Immunity^[3]
• In fact, medical care is part of the problem, not the solution.
• The use of antibiotics is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.^[5]
• The first pharmacology lecture Dr. Fuhrman heard in medical school-the professor emphasized, "Make no doubt about it: all drugs are toxic and can even hasten one's dealth. They should be used only after careful consideration of the risk-to-benefit ratio, because they all have considerable and serious risks.

Stress^[26]

• Too much stress eventually inhibits the functioning of disease-fighting white blood cells and suppresses the immune response, leaving us susceptible to infection and disease.

Season Change

• Winter season when sunshine is scarce (hint: Vitamin D).

Toxins

• See [29].

Immune System Boosters

Natural immunity is acquired at our early ages. As a matter of fact, immunity can be transferred from mother to fetus through placental transfer of IgG or colostral transfer of IgA. A mounting body of research also suggests that exposing infants to germs may offer them greater protection from illnesses such as allergies, asthma and other autoimmune diseases during adulthood.^[17-20]

Just as a baby's brain needs stimulation, input, and interaction to develop normally, the young immune system is strengthened by exposure to everyday germs so that it can learn, adapt, and regulate itself, notes Thom McDade, PhD, associate professor and director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University.^[20]

If you are adults, you can still find many ways to boost your immune system:

• Vaccination
• For most people who is more vulnerable to the COVID-19, vaccination is a good option for them to avoid severe symptoms or even death.^[42,43,45]
• Hand washing
• As many as 80 percent of infections are transmitted via contact like sneezing, coughing or touching surfaces that have been sneezed or coughed on. To diminish some of the exposure risks, you can protect yourselves with handwashing and other proper hygienic measures, such as not touching your face without washing first.
• Sleep^[21]
• Getting your 7 to 9 hours a night means your body can repair and heal itself and ward off infections.
• Exercise^[22]
• Getting your blood pumping regularly can increase the activity of a type of white blood cells that attacks viruses.
• Exercise is the pump to the lymphatic system as heart is the pump to the cardiovascular system.
• Zinc^[23]
• Zinc interferes with viruses gaining full access to our cells.^[15]
• Zinc is necessary for the functioning of more than 300 different enzymes and plays a vital role in an enormous number of biological processes.
• Garlic^[24]
• It is believed that garlic has immune-boosting properties that may reduce cancer cell growth and help the body fight off diseases such as colds or the flu.
• Water
• Without sufficient moisture, immune system cells can't optimally work. So, it's important to stay hydrated.^[15]
• Skipping happy hour
• Alcohol suppresses both the part of the immune system that protects you from coming down with something and the part that fights off the germs already in your system.^[15]
• Laughter
• While there's much that's still not well understood about the process, it seems that certain immune cells are produced by a big belly laugh.^[15]
• Massage
• While there's been little research into exactly how it works, massage certainly increases circulation, which may help promote the general "state of wellness in the body.^[15]
• Healthy diet (We are what we eat)^[3,12-13]
• To have normal immune function we require hundreds of additional phytochemicals in addition to vitamins and minerals.^[3]
• Phytochemicals (plant-chemicals or phytonutrients)
• Phytochemicals are compounds that maximize cell function, thus enabling the healing properties of immune cells, which include:
• alpha-lipoic acid, flavonoids, bioflavonoids, polyphenols and phenolic acids, quercetin, rutin, anthocyanins and proanthocyanins, allium compounds, allyl sulfides, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, lignans, and pectins
• A combination of these compounds is more effective than a single agent, even in a high dose.
• See [25] for a list of immunity-boosting foods from Dr. Oz.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy^[34]
• Dr. Stephen R. Thom has found that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can mobilize your stem cells and boost your immune system.
• Watch video & video to see the potential health benefits of HBOT.

Conclusions

Without doubt, nutrition plays the most important role of our healthy immune systems.  Pathogens can adapt themselves to the host (our body) and becomes dangerous and multiplies as a result of the host's disease-promoting environment. In most cases, however, pathogens would remain harmless when they are exposed to a healthy, well-nourished body.

The most effective artillery we have to protect ourselves against the potentially damaging effects of influenza and other infectious disease is nutritional excellence.  Life is not without risks, and of course optimal nutrition cannot prevent all microbial diseases and all cancers.  At minimal, optimal nutrition can boost our natural immunity.  And immunity, when optimized, can ward off infection; and if infection does occur, it is much more likely to have a harmless outcome.

As discussed in [27], fever is a protective mechanism.  When our body temperature reaches 101.3 ^oF (38.5^oC), the immune system shifts into a state of alarm.  At this temperature, the level of immune chemicals in the bloodstream doubles, and immune defenses throughout the body increase.  Within 6 hours, almost every major defense within the immune system doubles its efforts.^[28] As advised by Dr. Gorter, don't reach out for medication unless you have worsening symptoms which involve labored breathing, persistent fever above 103 degrees for three days, abdominal pain, changes in behavior or mental status, and persistent diarrhea or vomiting.

Photo Credit

• Myriam Dion

References

1. Microbiology and Immunology On-Line Textbook: USC School of Medicine
2. Tumor Immunology On-Line Textbook: USC School of Medicine
3. Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman, MD
4. The global infectious disease threat and its implications for the United States. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE 99-17D). January 2000. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/nie/report/nie99-17d.html
5. Velicer CM, Heckbert SR, Lampe JW, et al. Antibiotic use in relation to the risk of breast cancer. JAMA 2004; 291(7): 827-35.
6. Are You Fever Phobic? (Travel and Health)
7. Boggs DA, Palmer JR, Wise LA, et al. Fruit and vegetable intake in relation to risk of breast cancer in the Black Women's Health Study. Am J Epidemiol 2010; DOI:10.1093/aje/kwq293. Gullett NP, Ruhul Amin AR, Bayraktar S, et al. Cancer prevention with natural compounds. Semin Oncol 2010; 37(3): 258-81.
8. Healthy at 100, by John Robbins.
9. Liu RH. Potential synergy of phytochemicals in cancer prevention: mechanism of action. J Nutr 2004; 134(12 Suppl): 3479S-3485S.
10. Peterhans E. Oxidants and antioxidants in viral diseases: disease mechanisms and metabolic regulation. J Nutr 1997; 127: 962S-965S.
11. Beck MA. Antioxidants and viral infections: host immune response and viral pathogenicity. J Am Coll Nutr 2001; 20 (5 Suppl): 384S-388S, discussion 396S-397S.
12. Roman GC. An epidemic in cuba of optic neutopathy, sensorineural deafness, peripheral sensory neuropathy, and dorsolateral myeloneuropathy. J Neurol Sci 1994; 127:11-28.
13. Domingo E. Newly emerging viral diseases: what role for nutrition? J Nutr 1999; 127:958S-961S.
14. Achievements in public health, 1900-1999: control of infectious diseases, MMWR 1999; 48(29): 621-29.
• The emergence of antibiotics resistance in many organisms is reversing some of the therapeutic miracles of the last 50 years and underscores the importance of disease prevention.
15. The Best Immunity-Boosting Breakfasts
16. Documentary: Rise of the Superbugs (Dr. Mercola)
17. Are Dogs More Protective For Children’s Health? (Travel and Health)
18. Hepatitis A and Allergic Diseases (Travel and Health)
19. Can Parasites Heal the Gut? (Travel and Health)
20. Is Dirt Good for Kids? (WebMD)
21. Enjoy Good Night Sleep and Live Longer (Travel and Health)
22. Exercise and Its Benefits (Travel and Health)
23. Did You Get Enough Zinc Lately? (Travel and Health)
24. Garlic—a Vegetable, a Condiment, and a Medicine (Travel and Health)
25. Dr. Oz's 12 Natural Immunity Boosters
26. Stress and How to Diffuse It (Travel and Health)
27. Are You Fever Phobic? (Travel and Health)
28. Fighting Cancer — A Nontoxic Approach to Treatment by Robert Gorter, MD, PhD and Erik Peper, PhD.
29. Toxins Are Everywhere — I'm Not Kidding (Travel and Health)
30. Do Antibiotics in Animal Feed Pose a Serious Risk to Human Health? (Dr. Mercola)
31. Does adding routine antibiotics to animal feed pose a serious risk to human health? (BMJ)
• It will get worse. Ten times more cases of meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus occurred in US children’s hospitals in 2008 than a decade earlier.
32. Meningitis: What Is The Dangerous Infection Spreading At Princeton And UC Santa Barbara?
33. Immune System Basics (University of Arizona)
34. Thom SR, Bhopale VM, Velazquez OC, Goldstein LJ, Thom LH, Buerk DG. Stem cell mobilization by hyperbaric oxygen. American Journal of Physiology. 2006;290(4):H1378–H1386.
35. Major Advantages of Massage Therapy
36. Antimicrobial Shoes and Clothes?
• Dr. Francine Yep says "no thanks" and saves your money.
37. CRE bacteria: What you should know
38. The New Science of Disease Recovery (good)
39. Dr. Kurt: why I will never choose to vaccinate my own son and any future kids my wife and I have
40. Your birth year predicts your odds if flu pandemic were to strike
41. Xiao L, Xing C, Yang Z, Xu S, Wang M, Du H, Liu K, Huang Z. Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of childhood acute respiratory infections: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Br J Nutr. 2015 Oct 14;114(7):1026-34.
• As reported, vitamin D supplementation simultaneously enhances the effectiveness of the antimicrobial response of the innate immune system and diminishes the natural consequence of inflammation.
42. Differences in COVID antibody responses emerge
43. Immune Systems Are like Our Fingerprints 
44. How to keep your immune system strong?
45. Immune Responses Dictate COVID-19 outcome
46. Persistence of neutralizing antibodies a year after SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans
47. Having SARS-CoV-2 once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine—but vaccination remains vital
48. Hedgehogs are the cutest reminder that we shouldn’t overuse antibiotics
49. Risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection and COVID-19 hospitalisation in individuals with natural and hybrid immunity: a retrospective, total population cohort study in Sweden
50. Effectiveness of CoronaVac, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, BNT162b2, and Ad26.COV2.S among individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in Brazil: a test-negative, case-control study
51. Interactions between immune cell types facilitate the evolution of immune traits

Smoothie Recipes for Better Health

Attention: Click here to view a mobile-friendly version.

Eight years ago, Dr. Tom Wu^[1] has introduced me to the Naturopathy. Since then, I have started my morning fruit-and-veggie routine as described below:

• Four Important Cleaning Tasks In Your Morning Routine (Travel to Health)
• Drink Your Fruit-and-Veggie Smoothies in the Morning (Travel to Health)

In this article, I will discuss smoothie recipes for better health, but not for better taste.

Four Important Cleaning Tasks In Your Morning Routine

"I personally try to eat about 85 percent of my food raw", said Dr Mercola^[1]. In this article,

Drink Your Fruit-and-Veggie Smoothies in the Morning

I have shown you one way to increase raw-food update in your diets.

However, there are caveats with raw-food eating—food-borne diseases and pesticides. In this article, I will show you four important cleaning/cleansing steps to protect and improve your health:

• Pipe cleaning
• Water pipe
• Food pipe
• Surface cleaning
• Food surface
• Skin surface

Pipe Cleaning

There are two types of pipes which are covered here:

1. Water pipe
2. Food pipe (i.e. Human Digestive Tract)

"When your water has been sitting for several hours, you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking," suggests Mid-Peninsula Water District.

The first thing in my morning is the food preparation routine. In this routine, I always flush our tap for at least 2 minutes. However, instead of wasting away precious water resource, I use that water in food cleaning. For example, I usually rub the surface of carrots in the tap stream. Then place carrots in a container for further cleaning (see next section).

While we sleep in the evening, our organs still work hard to repair our cells and detox our bodies. For example, new research shows that a recently discovered mechanism that removes waste products from the brain is mainly active during sleep.^[3] As suggested in [2], drinking fruit-and-veggie smoothies in the morning helps hydrate your digestive tract and aids your colon in the elimination of fecal matter. So, that's our second cleaning and probably the most important one in your morning routine.^[2,7]

Surface Cleaning

There are also two kinds of surface cleaning involved in my morning routine:

1. Food cleaning
2. Skin cleaning

Forget about removing systemic pesticides.^[9]  As shown in many reports, you cannot simply remove them by washing. However, for raw-food preparation, we still want to reduce the health hazards posed by the following pathogens and toxins as much as possible:

• Bad germs (i.e., E coli., Salmonella, etc.)^[4,14]
• Pesticide residues on the surface of fruits or veggies

In my morning routine, I wash our fruits or veggies in the following steps:

1. Rubbing hard-skinned foods under the tap stream
2. Soaking foods in water with baking soda^[4,5,11]
• After 15 minutes, pour away the water. Note that we usually use this water for our indoor or outdoor plants.^[13]
• Add water again and then throw away this water too.
3. Soaking foods in water with salt and vinegar (or lemon juice)^[5,8]
• After 2-5 minutes, pour away the water. Note that this water is not good for plants. For water conservation, you can save it later for dish washing.
• Add a bit more water and make sure all water are drained.

Baking soda is alkaline and is a good surface washing agent. Based on some reports, it was said that pesticides are acidic. So, it makes sense to wash your fruits and veggies with baking soda first. Salt and vinegar are also good washing agents. To remove baking soda residues, we choose to use acidic liquids such as vinegar or lemon juice to achieve the task.

Instead of using vinegar, I usually choose lemons (or limes). So, in step 3 above, you can cut open a lemon and squeeze its juice into the soaking water. After that, don't throw away your lemon yet. You can use the remaining lemon to clean up your skins (i.e., face and hands). Using lemon to clean up your face or wash your hands can help your skin healthy in two ways:

• Healthy skin should be slightly acidic
• Lemon contains high amounts of Vitamin C

Personal Experience

For over 8 years now, I have been practicing the above cleaning tasks in my morning routine. These cleanings or cleansing can help you:

• Protect against food contaminants
• Start your morning with a healthy diet
• Deep clean and nourish your skins

Without hesitation, I will strongly recommend you doing the same. As John Robbins^[10] said,

"May all be fed. May all be healed. May all be loved."

References

1. When You Heat Natural Plant-Based Foods You Can Get Cancer-Causing Acrylamide
2. Drink Your Fruit-and-Veggie Smoothies in the Morning (Travel to Health)
3. Sleep helps 'detox' your brain
4. Foodborne Illness Outbreaks
5. Baking Soda
6. Cleaning Never Tasted So Good (EWG)
7. HOW TO CLEAN OUT THE COLON NATURALLY WITH FOOD (LiveStrong.com)
8. What Does It Take to Clean Fresh Food? (NPR)
9. You cannot wash off systemic pesticides
10. Healthy At 100 by John Robbins
11. A Little about Baking Soda, Baking Soda Book
• Baking soda is nature's most versatile cleaning product, a natural substance that has been used around the world for nearly 150 years to remove odors, soften water, dissolve dirt and grime, scrub soap scum, and even unclog drains.
12. 錯誤的蔬果清潔，越洗越毒 (in Chinese) 
13. Your Fruit Is Covered With Nasty Pesticides: Scientists Have Discovered the Best Way to Wash Them Off
• After a 15-minute baking soda soak, almost all of the chemicals had been removed from the surface.
14. What Foods Are Most Likely to Make You Sick?

Drink Your Fruit-and-Veggie Smoothies in the Morning

"I personally try to eat about 85 percent of my food raw", said Dr Mercola^[1]. Maybe it is also wise for us to strive to get as much raw food in our diet as possible . You can read [2] for more information on "Raw Foods and Healthy Living."  One way to achieve that goal is to drink fruit-and-veggie smoothies.^[3]

Starting from 2006, I have been drinking my fruit-and-veggie smoothies in the morning. This morning juice will flush your large intestine and provide you with vitamins and minerals that are essential for your good health.^[8,16] As a result, my metabolic syndrome^[13] disappeared years ago as shown below:

Health Benefits of Drinking Fruit-and-Veggie Smoothies in the Morning

After a good night sleep, your body becomes dehydrated. Adding fruit-and-veggie smoothies in the morning can help hydrate your digestive tract and aid your colon in the elimination of fecal matter. For years, I have been annoyed by hemorrhoid due to long-hour's sitting in front of computer. However, after introducing my morning smoothie routine, my bowel movements^[6,8] become regular in the morning and thus relieve my hemorrhoid symptoms.

As discussed in [4], vegetables and fruits contain lots of minerals (i.e, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, Cobalt and Copper). So, they are alkalizing foods. Ideally, human blood pH should be slightly alkaline, at about 7.35 to 7.45.  Morning smoothie can help bring your blood pH to that healthy range.

However, as most vegetarians can testify, most of them yearn for sweets in the afternoon. As shown in [4], sugar, flour and grains are acid-forming foods. So, that's one of our body's mechanisms to keep the acid-alkaline balance by taking some acid-forming foods after taking some alkalizing foods.

After my morning smoothie routine, I have found that I feel hungry regularly around 11:30 am. This has prepared me for a full meal at noon time.  As centenarian Frances shared her health tips with us at age 101^[5]. One of her secrets is that she eats her heavier protein-based meal for lunch and enjoys a light chicken soup and fresh bread in the evening.

This health tip is really important—our body produces the most digestive juice around noon time. Therefore, our biggest daily meal should be the lunch. Because your morning smoothie, you have emptied your bowels and raised your blood pH higher (i.e. more alkaline). This has prepared you for a heavier protein-based meal which provides you more acid-forming ingredients.

Avoid a Heavy Dinner

After my morning smoothie and heavy protein-based lunch, I often feel hungry again around 3 pm. This is the time that I enjoy whole fruits, nuts, and occasional sweets. As a surprised side effect, I have found that I don't yearn for my dinner anymore. As centenarian Frances do, I just take a light dinner in the evening. This has made my family members wonder why I don't eat much in the evening. They have described that I have become god (成仙了? 不吃不喝的) because I don't seem to eat anything in the evening.

Eating at the appropriate times throughout the day will help to maximize satisfaction and keep hunger at bay. To nurture healthy eating habits, following my example, start your morning with fruit-and-veggie smoothies. This will help your body go through the following cleansing cycles daily:

• Detoxification
• Nutrients absorption -> Body Repair and detoxification^[11-12] -> Body wastes Elimination 
• Blood acid-alkaline balance
• More alkalizing foods -> More acid-forming foods -> Healthy acid-alkaline balance

Know when and how we eat can make a huge difference^[9,10]. In this daily routine, I have also lost weight around 20 pounds.  Here I have shared with you my 8 year's personal experience. At my physical examine of this year (i.e., 2013), I can proudly tell you that all my bio-markers are in the healthy range.  Cheers!

References

1. When You Heat Natural Plant-Based Foods You Can Get Cancer-Causing Acrylamide
2. Raw Foods and Healthy Living (Travel and Health)
3. "Juiceman's Power of Juicing" by Jay Kordich
4. Acid-Alkaline Balance (Travel and Health)
5. Health Tips From People Who've Lived 100-plus Years
6. Constipation and Its Remedies
7. What Does It Take to Clean Fresh Food? (NPR)
8. HOW TO CLEAN OUT THE COLON NATURALLY WITH FOOD (LiveStrong.com)
9. Eat less live longer (Travel and Health)
10. The Best Times to Eat for Weight Loss
11. Sleep helps 'detox' your brain
• The glymphatic system clears away toxins or waste products that could be responsible for brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders.
• In this study, the team conducted a series of new experiments on mice and found that the glymphatic system is nearly 10 times more active during sleep. 
12. Is carbonyl detoxification an important anti-aging process during sleep?
13. What Is the Metabolic Syndrome?
14. Could You Have Type 2 Diabetes?
15. Four Important Cleaning Tasks In Your Morning Routine (Travel to Health)
16. Want to Lose Weight, Boost Energy? 5 Reasons to Eat Breakfast
17. Which Food Fights Cancer Better? (Travel to Health)
18. Evening Hours May Pose Higher Risk for Overeating, Especially When Under Stress, Study Finds
19. Self-help steps to get through hemorrhoid flare-ups
• Some effective steps you can take to care for hemorrhoids:
• Step up the fiber
• Less strain, more gain
• Off-the-shelf hemorrhoid remedies
• Time for hemorrhoid removal?
20. Hemorrhoids: The Definitive Guide to Medical and Surgical Treatment (Cleveland Clinic)

Root Cause of Cancer—Impaired Immune System

In clinical practice^[7], doctors observe that many cancer patients simply don't develop fevers, and cancer patients often report that they were never ill. Fever is the signal that launches our immune defenses.^[19] Once a fever reaches 101.3^oF (38.5^oC), the level of immune defenses in the blood doubles within the next six hours.

Cancer patients also often report that long before they received a cancer diagnosis, they suffered from insomnia in one form or another, with constant fatigue and sometimes feelings of depression or loss of control^[7].

Growth-Signaling Pathways

Cancer is a disease of our genes (or DNA) and their proteins. Like all living organisms, our bodies are making defective cells all the time.

Body grows and repairs by duplicating cells. Cell division normally begins with the tightly coiled DNA opening up to start copying itself in response to signals triggered from outside the cell. The message are carried along from the cell surface to its nucleus by a series of proteins that make up growth-signaling pathways.

The human genome is loaded with genes which express proteins that make up these metabolic routes, and when the genes start barking out inappropriate orders to divide in an uncontrolled way, any one of them can become an oncogene.

Oncogenes (or cancer-inducing genes) can form at many points along this relay: growth factors outside the cell, specific growth receptors on the cell membrane that these factors lock onto, other proteins inside the cell that pick up signals from receptors and relay them to the cell nucleus, and ones that interact directly with the DNA to trigger or sustain the cell division process.

Apoptosis

Due to normal wears-and-tears and other environmental factors, DNA changes or mutates. These changes can accumulate over time and cause genetic errors. In Mother Nature's wisdom, adult cells age and will eventually be disposed of by the body. Apoptosis is used to describe this natural and purposeful cell death. Suicide genes lie dormant in all cells, waiting until they get a fateful call to trigger apoptosis. When the system is working, apoptosis eliminates rogue cancer cells long before they have a chance to form a tumor mass. However, sometimes cancer cells can evolve ways to outwit our many bodily defenses.

A Balancing Act

Cancer lies dormant in all of us. New research^[3] suggests that microscopic cancer, small cancer cells (0.5mm³) that can only been seen under a microscope, is widely prevalent. A recent study of women in their 40s indicated that 40% of them had microscopic breast cancer. Even more shocking, almost 100% of people in their 70s will have microscopic cancer in their thyroid glands.

However, our bodies are also equipped with a number of mechanisms that detect and keep such cells in check. It is up to each of us to use our body's natural defenses. When we're healthy, there is an ongoing balance between the spontaneous development of new cancer cells and our bodies' immune activity to identify and eliminate the newly formed cancerous cells as rapidly as possible.

Dr. Gorter's clinical practice has shown that:^[7]

• Some patients have impaired immune function. This means they are unable to mount a fever to fight cancer cells.
• Other patients have impaired immune signaling. The cells that normally identify cancer and trigger an immune response are inactive.

Without a strong immune system to keep them at bay, cancer cells can proliferate unchecked. They selfishly consume resources to sustain their own perpetual life, ultimately draining the life from the very body they depend on for survival.

In a healthy body, the immune system can fight and disable cancer cells. However, if the immune system is compromised, it cannot cope with the task of neutralizing cancerous cells, and they are left to multiply and grow, leading to symptoms of cancer.

To conclude, Dr Agus^[20] has described cancer as:

What keeps cancer under control is a conversation that is happening between your cells, and the language of that conversation is contained in your proteins. For cancer patients, somehow

• The cells are deciding to divide when they shouldn't, not telling each other to die, or telling each other lies.
• All the regulation that is supposed to happen in this conversation is broken.

Dr. Harvey Risch,^[27] a Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Scientist in Epidemiology,  believes that cancer is something a healthy human body can fight and disable, as the non-normal cancerous cells are gobbled up when detected in a body with a functional immune system. If the immune system is compromised, however, it cannot cope with the task of neutralizing cancerous cells, and cancerous cells are left to multiply and grow, leading to symptoms of cancer.

 

References

1. Living Time—Faith and Facts to Transform Your Cancer Journey, written by Dr. Bernadine Healy, which most of my writing is based on. She is a cancer survivor herself and have been the former director of the NIH. This book simply walks you through her cancer journey.
2. Anti Cancer—A New Way of Life written by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber. He is also a cancer survivor and has been the Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. His book has become a big success and an international bestseller.
3. 5 Foods That Starve Cancer
4. Stress and How to Diffuse It
5. Naturally-Occurring Antiangiogenic Substances
6. Pros and Cons of Aspirin
7. Fighting Cancer—A Nontoxic Approach to Treatment by Robert Gorter, MD, PhD and Erik Pepper, PhD. The Gorter Model was developed by Robert Gorter, MD, PhD, who himself recovered from Stage IV testicular cancer in 1976 by using nontoxic treatment.
8. Documentaries about the Gorter Model — These videos include interviews with patients who have overcome cancer receiving the Gorter Model treatment.
9. Foods to Fight Cancer: Essential Foods to Help Prevent Cancer by Beliveau, R., and D. Gingras. Excellent overview and description of foods and herbs that help fight cancer and promote the immune system.
10. Make Health Happen: Training Yourself to Create Wellness by Peper, E., K.H.Gibney, and C. Holt. A sixteen-week structured stress-management and healing approach with detailed guided instructions that help us live with our bodies.
11. Cancer as a Turning Point by LeShan, L. Written by a master clinician using case studies to show how listening to yourself and doing what you truly want improves your quality of life.
12. My Path by Van Leusden, C. The book describes how the author chose a path through the cancer nightmare of metastatic breast cancer and is still here to enjoy the Now.
13. Full Catastrophe Living by Kabat-Zinn, J. Describes the basis of mindfulness mediation that is used with many cancer patients.
14. Dr. Vincent Li from Angiogenesis Foundation
15. How to reduce your risk of cancer
16. What's Cancer—A Different Perspective
17. How to Track down Bad Genes in Your Genome?
18. Databases vs Cancer Cells: A Clash of Titans
19. Are You Fever Phobic? (Travel and Health)
20. The End of Illness by David B. Agus, MD
21. Learn How to Make Cultured Veggies at Home to Boost Your Immune System (Dr. Mercola)
22. Immune System Basics (University of Arizona)
23. Scientists finally figured out why you rarely get sick in the summer
• Our genes change with the seasons, just like the weather.
• Previous research has also found similar seasonal changes in various components of the immune system.
24. White Blood Cell Chases Bacteria
25. Which Food Fights Cancer Better? (Travel to Health)
26. The DNA damage response pathways: at the crossroad of protein modifications
• Proteins involved in DNA Double-Strand Breaks Repair Pathways are essential to prevent the development of Cancer.
27. Harvey Risch, MD, PhD—Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Scientist in Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases); Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Natural Treatments for High Blood Pressure

Next to old age and obesity, high blood pressure is the most potent predictor of death. Although a few people with early-stage high blood pressure may have dull headaches, dizzy spells or a few more nosebleeds than normal, these signs and symptoms typically don't occur until high blood pressure has reached an advanced — even life-threatening — stage.

Once you're diagnosed with high blood pressure, you need to get treatment immediately. The good news is that there are many good blood pressure control medication available on the market. The bad news is that cholesterol and high blood pressure medications are age accelerators and may have many side effects^[1,2] (as a matter of fact, it was reported that the drug-treated group had almost double the incidence of stroke in the large POISE trial^[3]) . While these medications will keep your cholesterol in check and may help prevent Alzheimer's disease, they reduce your sex drive, aging all of your major organs (heart, brain, lungs, and kidneys) and can shorten your life by more than 16 years, especially if you are more than 10 pounds overweight^[4].

In this article, we will look at alternative treatments.

Natural Treatments^[5]

• Celery Juice
• Drink an 8-ounce glass of fresh celery juice 3 times a day for 1 to 3 months, until blood pressure is normal.
• Buy organic celery because it's one of the dirtiest dozen reported by EWG.
• A component in celery (3-n-butylphthalide) acts as as a diuretic and vasodilator and helps relax the muscles lining the blood vessels.
• Wake-up Drinks
• First thing upon waking, on an empty stomach, drink 8 ounces of warm water mixed with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (always buy organic brand) and 1 teaspoon honey. Drink this regularly.
• The honey ensures regularity of the bowels, and is helpful because constipation may aggravate high blood pressure.
• The vinegar alkalizes the body and lowers blood pressure as well^[6].
• If you have a concern about this vinegar-drinking advice, read this article--"Vinegar for a Longer and Happier Life".
• Cucumbers
• Eat 2 fresh cucumbers every day for 2 weeks, or until blood pressure improves.
• Cucumber is a natural diuretic, it will help hydrate your body and lower blood pressure.
• Herbal Tea
• Make a tea by boiling 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, 1/4 cup dried chrysanthemum flowers, and 2 tablespoons cassia seeds in 5 cups of water for 20 minutes. Strain. Drink 3 cups a day.
• A recent research shows that drinking 3 cups of hibiscus tea a day may lower blood pressure ^[7].
• Sleep Pillows
• Sleep on a pillow stuffed with mung beans, lentils, and split peas— they help to draw the fire from the head and lower blood pressure.
• Toss your salad with sesame
• Loaded with unsaturated fatty acids and calcium, sesame oil may help lower blood pressure and let you reduce your dose of calcium channel blockers.
• Try downing 2 tablespoons daily for two months, then have your blood pressure rechecked.  If your numbers go down, ask your doctor about cutting down your drug dosage, too^[8].
• Dig up dandelions 
• The greens are an excellent diuretic that won't flush out potassium and are in fact rich in the mineral.
• Ask your doctor if you can substitute 3 or 4 cups of dandelion tea a day, suggests Dr. Ingels, but don't combine it with medication, especially diuretics or potassium supplements^[8]. 

Warnings

Do not stop your blood pressure medication on your own. Always consult your physician before making any changes to your treatment plan. It's also wise to consult with your physician before adopting any of the recommendations made in this article.

References

1. Atenolol Chlorthal Side Effects
2. Swaminathan RV, Alexander KP. Pulse pressure and vascular risk in the elderly: associations and clinical implications.  Am J Geriatr Cardiol 2006; 15(4): 226-32; quiz 133-34.
• Medications to lower blood pressure can lead to falls in the elderly, potentially causing hip fractures, and they can lower diastolic blood pressure excessively (as they lower systolic), which increases the potential for cardiac arrhythmias, potentially leading to death.
3. POISE Study Group. Effects of extended-release metoprolol succinate in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery (POISE trial): a randomised controlled trial.  Lancet 2008; DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60601-7.
• The metoprolol(a common beta-blocker)-treated group had almost double the incidence of stroke.
4. Younger You by Eric R. Braverman, M.D.
5. Secrets of Self-Healing by Dr. Maoshing Ni.
6. Acid-Alkaline Balance
7. Hibiscus Tea May Cut Blood Pressure
8. New Healing Foods by Colleen Pierre, M.S., R.D.
9. Food Remedies for High Blood Pressure (Travel2Health)
10. How You Can Normalize Your Blood Pressure Without Drugs
• If you’re 50 or older, your systolic pressure gives the most accurate diagnosis of high blood pressure.
• If you have high blood pressure, you probably have too much insulin and are in­sulin resistant.
• If you have high blood pressure, the first thing you should do is remove all grains and sweets from your diet until both your weight and your blood pressure have normalized.
11. Drug-Free Strategies to Lower Your Blood Pressure
12. Half of American adults have high blood pressure
13. Food Remedies for High Blood Pressure (Travel to Health)
14. Current blood pressure targets may not be low enough (Stanford Medicine)
• People with blood pressures around 115/70 live the longest

Food Remedies for High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (or hypertension) is a condition in which blood pressure is chronically elevated. According to the National Institutes of Health, blood pressure readings of 140/90 mmHg and higher on recurring measurements is considered hypertension.
Persistent hypertension is one of the highest risk factors for:

• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Arterial aneurysm

For each 10 mm Hg increase in systolic pressure (the top number), odds of an ischemic stroke go up 28%, and 38% for a hemorrhagic, or bleeding, stroke ^[1].  Hypertension is also the leading cause of chronic kidney failure.^[3]

Figure 1.  Preikestolen, Norway

Food Remedies

• Beet Juice
• Beet juice can help lower blood pressure. 
• Research published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension showed drinking 500 ml of beet root juice a day led to a reduction in blood pressure within one hour. 
• The reduction was more pronounced after three to four hours, and was measurable up to 24 hours after drinking the juice.
• Oat
• More recently, two intervention trials found that increasing fiber intake from oat cereals or oat bran resulted in modest but significant reductions in blood pressure compared to low-fiber placebos.
• Orange
• The most important flavanone in oranges, hesperidin has been shown to lower high blood pressure as well as cholesterol in animal studies, and to have strong anti-inflammatory properties. 
• What is important is that most of this phytonutrient is found in the peel and inner white pulp of the orange, rather than in its liquid orange center. 
• Olive Oil
• A study conducted in Greece indicated that olive oil lowers blood pressure ^[2].
• Dark Chocolate
• Eating an ounce of flavanol-rich dark chocolate can increase the level of nitrous oxide in the blood, which helps keep the vascular system supple and can reduce blood pressure ^[2].
• Pomegranate
• Pomegranates contain 2 to 3 times more antioxidants than red wine and green. Consuming them may help lower blood pressure.^[1]
• Those tiny pomegranate seeds contain big rewards of vitamins C and K, potassium, fiber, and potent phytochemicals such as anthocyanin and resveratrol. 
• These nutrients may be behind the potential benefits of eating pomegranates; according to a 2020 review of the research on pomegranates, this fruit shows potential for helping keep blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels in check.
• Green Tea
• Drinking green tea is associated with lower blood pressure.^[2]
• Banana
• A diet that includes natural sources of potassium is important in controlling blood pressure because potassium lessens the effects of sodium. 
• Bananas have excellent levels of potassium (higher than most other fruits and nuts).
• Other potassium rich foods include:
• Spinach, asparagus, papaya, kiwi, tomato, and potato
• High blood pressure patients should by all means avoid constipation.^[4]
• A medium banana contains 3.1 grams of fiber, including 1 gram of soluble fiber.^[6]
• Note that hypertension can cause kidney problems.  Depending on your stage of kidney disease, you need to limit the intake of potassium and phosphorus.
• Herbs and Spices
• The following herbs and spices can help increase circulation
• Cayenne aids the body to balance pressure levels and resist abnormal bleeding
• Ginger enhances circulation
• Garlic aids in circulation and lowers blood pressure
• Cinnamon increases circulation, especially in arthritic joints
• Turmeric increases blood flow

Figure 2.  Ginger enhances circulation

Warnings

Do not stop your blood pressure medication on your own. Always consult your physician before making any changes to your treatment plan. It's also wise to consult with your physician before adopting any of the recommendations made in this article.

Figure 3.  Natural remedies

References

1. 100 Simple Things You can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's by Jean Carper
2. Essential Best Foods Cookbook by Dana Jacobi
3. High Blood Pressure? - Hypertension Causes Kidney Disease
• Kidney Failure
4. Constipation and Its Remedies (Travel and Health)
5. Potassium and High Blood Pressure (American Heart Association)
6. Are Bananas High in Soluble Fiber?