Most people today have an imbalance of omega fats in their diets and as a result their immune systems are totally out of whack. There are two main branches or "arms" of the immune system. They are generally called T1 and T2 cells. Omega 3s feed the T1s and Omega 6s feed the T2s. Most American diets are seriously lacking in Omega 3s and too high in Omega 6s. When this happens the T2 cells overpopulate and when they are called on to fight illness they create an overabundance of cells and even after viruses are killed, the T2 cells don't turn off and they begin attacking friendly tissues. Without the T1s to balance this all out, we wind up with autoimmunity which creates a variety of problems, like food intolerances, arthritis, lupus, restless leg syndrome, thyroid disfunction, pancreas disfunction and many more. This seriously weakens the body and makes it nearly impossible to absorb any new nutrients properly so everything just continues to cycle downwards until the body just crashes or has an
immune system breakdown.The way to change this is to make sure that you are feeding your T1 cells. They need Omega 3 fats (nothing hydrogenated and no soy).
Natural sources of Omega 3 fats include: Avacodoes, Walnuts, Walnut Oil, Fish Oil, Salmon, Scallops, Halibut, Shrimp, Snapper, Tofu, Squash, Herring, Mackerel, Anchovies, Sardines, Tuna, Chia, Perilla, Purslane, Lingonberry, Hemp, Krill, Krill Oil, Animal Fat (grass fed has higher fat content), Lamb (even commercial lamb is generally grass fed and is reputed to be one of the best meat sources), Dairy (grass fed has higher fat content), MicroAlgae(Crypthecodinium cohnii and Schizochytrium), Brown Algae and Acai(Palm Fruit)
Something to add to the overall health is to avoid antibiotics, oral contraceptives and NSAIDS (Ibuprofen, Ketoprofen, Naproxyn, etc), and chlorinated water. These all kill the helpful bacteria in the gut which help to fight candida which contributes to leaky gut syndrome which also contributes to autoimmune disfunction and food intolerances. These bacteria also help the body to fight many other illness such as strep, staph, ecoli, salmonella and many other microbial illnesses. If your gut is already damaged, then treatment for candida and l
eaky gut syndrome would be in order. The
LGS thread has a complete breakdown of symptoms and treatments, including dietary changes and references to help with this.