Overcoming Autoimmune Diseases, Naturally
By Heathar Shepard/ August 13, 2020
Overcoming Autoimmune Diseases, Naturally
Autoimmunity consists of a handful of baffling, chronic and often downward spiraling symptoms that can eventually leave one incapacitated and sidelined from the joys and pleasures of life.
Western docs approach autoimmunity from a place of suppression - they prescribe Rx after Rx, typically in increasing strength and toxicity. Western treatment cannot heal autoimmunity. But, it does approach autoimmunity, and every other chronic disease, by means of symptom suppression.
I talk a lot about the dangers and health concerns of symptom suppression. Suppressed emotions, as well as suppressed physical symptoms, are primary avenues that diminish health and healing capability. The more one uses Rx drugs to suppress symptoms, the deeper the pathology becomes and the longer it takes to make a full recovery.
Rx drugs, including corticosteroids, pain killers, statins and the rest of the western medicine kit all create blocks to healing because they suppress which pushes the pathology into deeper layers of the body.
Autoimmunity is a combination of environmental toxin overload from vaccines, Rx drugs, heavy metals and/or other environmental chemicals and toxins plus, unhealed traumatic events creating an emotional reaction in the body.
Overcoming autoimmunity requires 3 main keys:
- Removing chemical and environmental toxins from the body that have depressed the immune system, mitochondrial health and elimination organs (colon, liver, lungs, skin, mucous membranes, etc.)
- Decreasing inflammation levels in the body
- Removing suppressed emotional energetics patterns
Let’s breakdown these 3 main driving forces behind autoimmunity to better support those struggling with autoimmune conditions from a root place.
Overcoming Autoimmunity Step 1: Removing Chemical & Environmental Toxins from the Body + Strengthening the mtDNA
The majority of autoimmune cases I have worked with thus far have always included repetitive vaccination administered throughout the patients life. This is often one of the first insults the immune system is faced with. Mix this with compromised mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) inherited from your the maternal gene line and the effect of vaccinations and other toxic substances on the body will be much more detrimental.
Side Note: mtDNA differs from your nuclear DNA. mtDNA is a set of DNA specific and unique to the mitochondria. Your mitochondria are your body’s engine, it’s your energy warehouse - your metabolic health and ability to produce clean, high octane energy is almost entirely dependent on your mtDNA health. To learn more about mtDNA, I encourage you to explore the work of Dr Doug Wallace.
The weaker the constitution of the individual, the more harmful and negative impact vaccinations will have on the organism. As the individual receives additional vaccinations, the immune system and organism weakens to an even greater degree. Those who experience the most significant negative side effects of vaccinations tend to have more compromised mtDNA. Vaccinations further weaken mitochondrial health.
Ingredients in vaccinations weaken the mitochondria and immune system - - they add an enormous amount of toxins to the system. Heavy metals, GMO animal proteins, wheat, GMO corn, GMO preservatives, egg whites from factory farmed chickens, RNA from GMO animals - these are a mere few additives present in vaccines.
Vaccines place a dramatic insult on the mitochondria, immune system and on the body’s elimination organs. Elimination organs are your body’s main avenues of removing toxins - you need these organs to be healthy, vibrant and to perform regular house cleaning tasks. Your elimination organs are your body’s house cleaning team. However, when the elimination organs are overburden with chemical and toxic debris, they cannot remove toxic substances from the body.
Each vaccination represses the immune response more and more. This is why some do not get the very infectious diseases the vaccine targets. It isn’t because they’ve built up antibodies to the pathogen, it’s because their immune system is too weak to elicit an immune response.
The immune systems job is to produce symptoms when a pathogen or toxin enters the body. This is your warning sign, your yellow light, it’s your body’s communication system, its’s a wise attempt by your body to get you to pay attention to it. Often, the medicines and treatments we reach for when presented with undesirable, nagging symptoms is sole focused on suppression.
Ibuprofen for reoccurring headaches, Aleve for joint pain, Claritin for allergies, Ambien for restless, poor sleep, melatonin for poor sleep, cannibus for poor sleep, Oxy for pain, diuretics for high blood pressure…
Instead of trying to make these symptoms “go away” and hushing them to sleep with Rx’s, we need to listen to the symptoms and engage in therapeutics that help remove root causes of the symptom pattern. The symptoms you get are not bad, they’re not trying to make your life a living hell. They’re not trying to get you fired or breakup your marriage.
The symptoms you experience are your body’s way of saying, “Hey, remember me?!? I need your help - this layer of my body needs your help before it plunges into deeper layers”. Each vaccination, Rx drug and OCT drug pushes the pathogen into a deeper layer of the body. Ultimately, this prolongs the time it will take the patient to make a full recovery.
Of course, vaccinations are not the only insult that drives autoimmunity and other chronic health struggles. There are many other considerations to take into account such as antibiotic use, EMF exposure, diet and the emotional environment. The suppression approach - inflicted by these initial insults - often sets the stage for autoimmune complications or other chronic health struggles down the road. To overcome autoimmunity, it’s important to “undo” the damage inflicted by toxins, Rx drugs and emotions that have put the patient into a suppression state.
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Overcoming Autoimmunity Step 2: Decreasing Inflammation Levels
High inflammation levels always tag along with autoimmunity. There are several driving causes of inflammation. Some of the most insidious are the most commonly overlooked.
Those are:
- Artificial Light
- Deuterium (found in large quantity in some foods that I outlined below)
Most people turn to Dr Google or a diet book to read about inflammation and how to overcome its devastating impacts on health. Curcumin, Boswellia, fruits, veggies, avoiding lectins, keeping nightshades out of the diet, eating a plant-based diet, adopting a strict elimination diet or API diet for those with gut autoimmunity and other autoimmune conditions are all common protocols for those struggling with autoimmunity or inflammation.
But, we have to really ask the question…”Are these approaches really helpful?”
Every single person with an autoimmune disorder that has entered my Radical Health practice has tried most if not all of these mainstream approaches. And, they still feel bad and they still struggle big time with their symptoms. They aren’t getting better.
Why? Because, our focus on diet has been a linear, black and white approach to health. We focus on the parts of foods vs the whole. We measure its antioxidant content, we measure its macronutrient content - proteins, carbs and fats. We dissect it in a very linear way to try and figure out how it can best meet our health needs.
This approach is antiquated. It’s antiquated because it fails to address the most important determining aspect of what makes a food potentially good or not so good for you. That is, your light environment compared to the light environment the food was grown in.
In 6th grade, you and I learned that we need light to grow food. Photosynthesis in a nutshell. For those of you who grew up with a garden, you might have learned this even earlier in life.
I grew up in Upstate New York - an area with sweltering hot, humid 2-months of summer with intensely bitter cold and snowy winters for 6+ months out of the year. Yet, come spring, we always had a garden. The frost and snow covered garden was barren in the winter months - the snow piles were so high you couldn’t even see the dirt below. My mom, being the handy, innovative homemaker that she is, always had a root cellar filled with canned tomatoes, potatoes, hardy cruciferous veggies, beets, carrots, turnips, onions and horseradish. Mason jar after mason jar lined the shelves of our root cellar. Potato sacks containing veggies filled the dark, damp, cool cellar. Even back then, my family was considered old school. But, the food that filled our plates and bellies was predominantly seasonal food harvested from our garden.
Today, we can walk into any grocery store at anytime of year and fill our cart with whatever we want. Mangos, bananas, watermelon and nightshades in winter. Coconuts from Thailand line every health food store in the states all year round. Macadamia nuts from Hawaii. Oranges and grapefruit from Florida. All year round.
Our excessive and diverse food availability is at the forefront of our chronically elevated inflammation levels.
I deep dive into this topic during episode 24, 25 and 26 of The Primal Pioneer podcast. If you struggle with inflammation, autoimmunity, cancer or your weight, these will be eye-opening and revealing episodes regarding the connection between food, season, light and your health.
Artificial Light and Inflammation
3.5 Billion years ago, natured designed you, your hormones and your metabolism to function optimally in the presence of sunlight. When sunlight hits your eye and your skin it interacts with a molecule known as, melanin. Melanin is located in your retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and your skin. When light hits your RPE and your skin this stimulates a symphony of hormone and metabolic signaling throughout your body. This is why autoimmune, metabolic and hormone-related disorders are an issue of poor light at the core, not poor diet. And, the mainstream science world is starting to catch on - - studies now show that you can develop diabetes, weight issues and metabolic disorders simply by looking at artificial light.
When you swap artificial light for sunlight, the immune cell, metabolic and hormone signaling systems in your body go awry. Weight gain, fatigue, poor sleep, blood sugar issues, mood imbalances, brain fog, low vitamin D levels and low melatonin levels all occur as artificial light exposure increases.
Deuterium and Inflammation
Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen. Both hydrogen and deuterium have the same number of protons - 1. However, deuterium or, D2 has 1 neutron where hydrogen doesn’t have any neutrons.
What’s the big deal here?
Well, for simplicity reasons, deuterium weighs more than hydrogen. This might not seem like a big weight difference but it’s a huge difference at the subatomic and mitochondrial levels.
Autoimmunity and the host of symptoms that often tag along with it: poor, unrefreshed sleep, low energy levels, skin irritations, poor digestion and brain fog are made worse by deuterium.
Question:
How many diet books or diet plans have you read or heard of that teach you how deuterium impacts your health when it gets into your mitochondria?
Let me tell you, there currently aren’t any. But, I do sense they’re coming soon (a hint of foreshadowing for you all:).
Until we address this topic of deuterium - including how to deuterium deplete your cells - people will continue to struggle with autoimmunity, its side effects as well as inflammation and other chronic disease states.
As someone who’s tried diet + exercise + supplements as a primary focus to achieving optimal health, and failing time-and-time again, and being disappointed time-and-time again, its become super clear that I wasn’t accessing the root of the issue.
One major root issue we need to clear and remove when it comes to overcoming autoimmunity is to first remove deuterium-containing foods from your life until you’ve made significant progress with your metabolic health.
Most autoimmune diets, especially gut autoimmune diets (for example, think BRAT diet for diarrhea or vegetarian diets for poor gut health), are chock-full of foods loaded with deuterium. This is counterproductive to the healing process and can actually aggravate symptoms to a great degree.
First, it’s important to learn about foods that are deuterium bombs and why they’re a huge cause of inflammation and autoimmunity.
When it comes to deuterium, think of watery foods, particularly fruits…
Watermelon, bananas, cucumbers, mangos, papaya…
When it comes to deuterium, you also want to think grains, legumes, starchy foods, liquid vegetable oils, nut and/or seed oils and anything hydrogenated.
These foods have a much higher deuterium content then say, your therapeutic ketogenic diet which focuses on: animal fats, animal protein and coconut products which are foods that are virtually devoid of deuterium.
This is one main reason why a ketogenic diet works for many with cancer, T2D and obesity…
It’s naturally low in carbs, yes, of course, but when you cut carbs you also cut deuterium levels.
So, we can say that a keto diet is by nature a deuterium depletion diet.
But, what happens when people with cancer, T2D or even autoimmunity go off of their keto diet or strict diet? They often experience flares and negative side effects such as weight gain, leaky gut, IBS, fatigue and compromised sleep.
In episode 25 of The Primal Pioneer Podcast, you learned why a keto diet is only a band-aid solution to deeper imbalances including, poor mitochondrial health. While a low carb diet will remove main sources of deuterium from the diet - an important initial step to the healing process - the mitochondria are damaged from prolonged periods of eating deuterium-rich foods during the wrong times of year.
To come full circle with deuterium, a low carb diet initially combined with The Sunlight Rx is needed to both deuterium deplete your cells and restore mitochondrial health.
Why is The Sunlight Rx such an important step to deuterium depletion and restoring mitochondrial health?
Foods containing deuterium have a very strong light blueprint because they’re grown in a very strong UV light environment.
Foods in nature that contain more deuterium than others are grown in very hot, tropical regions. Deuterium is also found in foods throughout summer months, but most notably the tropical plants tend to contain more deuterium.
Deuterium is not bad, it’s not always pro-inflammatory or dangerous to health when you marry your sunlight environment to the same environment your food was grown in. Inflammation arises when you eat deuterium-rich foods and live indoor lifestyles inundated with artificial light (another source of deuterium) and modern technology.
Your body has built-in mechanisms to deplete deuterium from your cells. However, you have to be connected to nature in order to activate this mechanism. One of the main ways deuterium is depleted from your mitochondria is via UV light sunlight exposure.
So, let’s say you live in upstate NY and its January and you eat bananas routinely to try and reduce your undesirable and annoying flares of IBS and diarrhea.
You’re sitting at your kitchen table eating a banana and toast, thinking you’re doing a beneficial thing for your health. But really, what are you doing? You’re eating a boat load of deuterium in winter when UV light is nowhere to be found. This is a CORE cause of inflammation, especially at the mitochondria and gut levels.
Deuterium gets in your mitochondria when you eat deuterium-rich foods during the wrong time of year or during the appropriate time of year, sans UV sunlight.
This is at the heart of inflammation. And, is a primary area to address when it comes to overcoming autoimmunity.
This is a diet that I created specifically tailored to boost mitochondria function, it is based on high octane fuel. We want to give your mitochondria the highest octane fuel that we possibly can. No elimination diet or autoimmune diet focuses on this at this point, none of them provide high octane fuel that you need to boost mitochondria health and function. If your diet doesn’t aim to restore your mitochondria health, then it’s won't be the most effective dietary approach when it comes to gut autoimmunity.
The most effective dietary approach combines the jet fuel diet, Sunlight Rx. As a bonus to expedite gut healing, you utilize stool testing and removal of pathogens using frequency modality called radionics. High octane fuel is based on high octane protein, so nothing fake, such as soy, pea protein, and hemp protein. These are not high octane fuel, despite what the claims online or the food packaging says. These things do not provide high octane fuel. We need the high octane fuel in your protein sources to be full of Vitamin D, cholesterol, and minerals that are highly absorbable.
A lot of foods out there disturb your gut’s ability to absorb nutrients. We want to avoid those foods when it comes to healing the gut. Keep the diet low starch, low carb, and no sugar at least in the beginning phases. When I work with people around their diet, we want to move to being able to add more carbs in their diet, I never want them in a full-blown ketogenic diet forever. That’s not ideal and that won't support the healing of your circadian biology.
Hi, I am Heathar
With over 12 years experience as an alternative healer, integrative health coach and one who has been through severe physical injury trying every remedy under the sun to heal myself with no avail…I’m here to tell you, all of those things are not only attainable but are foundational to achieving optimal health and are core elements to overcoming all chronic and stubborn diseases.
At the age of 23 I suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) preventing me from the ability to engage in physical activity for over 12 years post my car accident. Today, I know I could have recovered from this injury much quicker if I had known then what I know now! But….the accident lead me down the healing path. A path that I was destined to take to help myself heal and to learn how to help others heal complicated and chronic disorders as well.
During this time, I learned two things: How to harness the healing power of sunlight and how to utilize frequency based medicine to facilitate biological transformations in the body - all the way down to the mitochondrial level.
Today, I lead an active life and you can bet I’m uber passionate about teaching others how they can overcome even the most daunting health experiences that most medical professionals have band-aid solutions for, at best.
And today, my health continues to improve each day and I now lead an active, healthy lifestyle - all of which I thought would never be possible to achieve again. All it took was discovering the most effective path to health and healing to get me there and now, to help my clients get there as well!
Overcoming Autoimmunity Step 3: Removing Suppressed Emotional Energetics Patterns
Addressing emotional energetic patterns for those with autoimmunity and other chronic illness is one of the most overlooked aspects of the healing process. However, it is one of the most important.
If you struggle with an autoimmune disorder, you didn’t develop it overnight. Autoimmunity, along with all chronic disease (and often, even acute disorders) stem from emotional disturbances that occur early in life. These patterns continue to be played out throughout life taking various emotional, mental and physical manifestations. That is…until they are healed. Which is very possible despite how far back the emotional pain stems from.
I want to give you an example to help you grasp why addressing the emotional energetics is such a vital part of the autoimmunity protocol. Here is an example of a common, repeated pattern that I see in slightly varying forms in my practice.
Here is a case study from my practice. A child with reoccurring strep throat and occasional ear infections is prescribed antibiotics for each infection. On the physical level of health the infections seem to clear with each round of antibiotics.
Before the infection however, the child was administered vaccines, ate a soft food diet and grew up in a household where the mother was emotional shut down and couldn’t express love or her feelings adequately. The father is depressed and cannot show up for the child or relationship in a healthy way.
6-months after the antibiotics, the child becomes irritable, moody and angry. Tantrums happen over minute disturbances such as a piece of toast or sausage not being cooked or cut up the way the child wants. This leads into a full blown tantrum, yelling at the mother and other aggressive behavior.
As the child grows older, asthma and eczema develop. The anger transforms into grief and melancholic feelings. The child is easily depressed and shut down when faced with an undesirable situation. Fuel is added to the fire if the parents divorce or if one or both of the parents seem absent.
Inhalers containing highly immuno-suppressive corticosteroids are taken frequently - not only with asthma attacks but as anxiety around troubled breathing occurs, the inhaler is taken, which the mom is very adamant about. Immuno-suppressive antihistamine and/or corticosteroid creams are applied for the eczema. Throughout his adolescent years, the individual thrives in sports - - finally, his parents and community commend him, lift him up and reward him for his athletic abilities. This however, leads the young adult to be very hard on himself when he “fails” or “loses”.
By the age of 25, the individual struggles with constipation and IBS, depression, phobias and social anxiety. By mid-30, the individual is diagnosed with IBD (irritable bowel disease), an autoimmune related condition of the gut.
The standard approach to IBD includes more suppression: the BRAT diet, suppressive drug therapy and often, surgery.
But, if we trace this story back to its origin, we can see that the IBD is nowhere near the root of the issue. The IBD is an expression of pain from not feeling loved, anger and grief from an absent parent and feelings of abandonment stem from emotional pain experienced early in life. It is a result of a lifetime of suppression.
To restore health to this individual, addressing the emotional layers is a must. By doing so, the physical symptoms will start to clear.
Emotional disharmonies always precede physical disharmonies in the body
Addressing the emotional layers doesn’t mean going back through your life and hashing out every painful detail. Of course, acknowledging the pain can be an extremely valuable part of the healing process. But, digging the knife in and ruminating on it, dissecting it and trying to “figure it out” will only drive the individual to more pain and feelings of victimhood.
Homeopathy, when prescribed the correct remedy, in the correct sequence, can be exceptionally helpful and effective at removing the emotional energetic patterns that drive all disease including, autoimmunity.
The individual with autoimmunity always carries an emotionally disturbing story that has yet to be fully healed. The autoimmune individual often finds ways to cope with and even mask their pain, so when autoimmunity hits, the emotional pain is typically buried so deep from years of suppression that it often isn’t considered an important part of the healing protocol. But, it’s often the most important to address due to its ability to begin uncovering and removing the suppressed emotions that started from a very young age.
Overcoming Autoimmunity Overview
Autoimmunity is a multi-faceted disease triggered by emotional suppression as well as OTC and Rx drugs that further perpetuate suppression. Each emotional disturbance and Rx administration further pushes the pathology into deeper layers of the body fueling advanced levels of poor health.
A poor environment consisting of artificial light, pro-inflammatory foods rich in deuterium (sans deuterium-depletion methods) and an environment consisting of strong EMF frequencies add fuel to the autoimmune fire.
Addressing these core areas are ways to help support the individual struggling with autoimmunity make forward moving, lasting progress with their health.
References
Dr Doug Wallace - Mitochondria expert
Blue light & blood sugar levels
Artificial light & reduced melatonin levels
Artificial light from electronics & reduced melatonin levels
De Simone, C., Pugnaloni, L., Cilli, A. et al. (1984) Pharmacokinetic assessment of immunosuppressive activity of antibiotics in human plasma by a modification of the mixed lymphocyte reaction. Critical Care Medicine. 12(6):483-5.
Hauser, W.E., Remington, J.S., (1982) Effect of Antibiotics on the Immune Response. American Journal of Medicine. 72:711-6.
Leclercq, S., Mian, F. M., Stanisz, A. M., Bindels, L. B., Cambier, E., Ben-amram, H., Beinenstock, J. (2017). Low-dose penecillin in early life induces long-term changes in murine gut microbiota, brain cytokines and behavior. Nature Communications. 8,15062.