Why enzymes are essential to a healthy immune system

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, June, 2006 by Ellen Cutler

* Alcohol is also addictive and causes degeneration of cells.

* Foods and beverages with a high sodium content--a high salt intake can cause a deficiency of potassium, an important mineral for maintaining healthy muscles, including the heart muscle.

* Artificial sweeteners

* Food additives

* Food coloring

* Genetically altered foods

Most commercial crops are sprayed multiple times with pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides before they ever arrive on your supermarket shelves. Since these toxins can put an extra burden on your digestive processes and your immune system, eating as many organic foods as possible will help your body to perform and function to the best of its ability.

Detoxify from Trauma and Stress

In any discussion of toxins and their impact on immune function, we mustn't overlook how emotional and psychological stress adds to the toxic burden and how enzymes can help reduce our physical vulnerability to these toxic effects. I see it every day in my practice, in patients of all ages.

One place where we experience the physiological effects of stress is in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. According to Stephen Holt, the GI tract is a huge body of nervous tissue. In fact, the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon are lined with their own nervous system. Scientists consider this system a single entity and even refer to it as the body's "second brain." It makes sense then that emotions play a huge role in healthy digestion.

The medical literature has also explored at length how the suppressed emotions that often accompany stress can contribute to toxicity and set the stage for physical illness. The conscious mind may be able to ignore stressors, but the subconscious mind--and our cells--remember. These subliminal memories wear down the body, specifically the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. The physical impact is very real.

Since suppressing your emotions can be so harmful, you need to find appropriate venues for expressing them. Build opportunities for release into your life. Here is a list of techniques I share with my patients to help them reduce the toxic burden of stress:

* Practice relaxation techniques such a meditation and yoga. These practices not only relieve stress and tension, they increase circulation to organs and glands. Meditation does not always need to be formally practiced, it can be done when you stop for a red light or stand in line at the bank. For example, in his book, There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, Dr. Wayne Dyer suggests that when you are stuck in traffic, instead of getting stressed out, use the time to meditate. (8)

* Listen to music or learn to play a musical instrument.

* Laughter is another powerful tool for cleansing and healing, as Norman Cousins discusses in Anatomy of an Illness. (9)

* Write about your life experiences in a journal, where you can say what you like and be who you really are without fear or embarrassment.

* Always seek therapy when it is appropriate. Counseling and psychotherapy are helpful as tools for cleansing and de-stressing both our minds and our bodies.