Environmental factors play a huge role in autoimmunity but there is only one environmental factor that most people focus on initially which is diet. If you have been focusing solely on diet to heal your autoimmune disease now is the time to take a look at the environmental factors that may also be contributing.
Many times when starting on a healing journey from autoimmunity people focus on diet alone. While diet is a great place to start. Healing from autoimmunity requires a multi-angle approach. Many find success with diet initially but then their healing plateaus.
When I started my healing journey over 15 years ago diet was my focus. I had great success initially but overtime I started having more frequent flares and symptoms. I became frustrated and started feeling that all the work I had put it was pointless. That was until I looked at how my environment was hindering my healing.
HOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT CAN HINDER YOUR HEALING
Epigenetics is the study of how genes express themselves meaning “turning on” or “turning off”. Just because you have a gene that predisposes you to a certain disease does not mean you will get that disease. Genes that predispose us to disease can be turned on but they can also be turned off.
We are surrounded by environmental factors every single day that affect our health regardless of if we have an autoimmune disease or not. While we can’t control our exposure to all of them we can take a look at which ones may be affecting us the most and how we can make changes to reduce our exposure. Some are much easier than others.
For example, if we are currently eating all conventional produce we can start buying organic or if we eat mostly processed and packaged foods we can reduce our consumption of these foods and introduce more fruits and veggies. I know not everyone has the same level of access to fresh fruits and veggies but the idea is to do the best you can.
Eliminating toxins through food is a great place to start.
An environmental factor that is more difficult to address is something like emotional trauma. We all carry trauma with us. Many times something that affected us long ago is still with us years later. Trauma can manifest into disease. If you are carrying trauma you may need to work with a medical professional. This one is not as easy to address but is something that is very important to look at when you are ready and have the resources to address it.
WHAT ARE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
- Diet
- Pharmaceuticals
- Chemicals (on food, in lawn care, in cleaning products, in skin + personal care products, in our furniture, and beds, and in the air just to name a few)
- Smoking
- Viruses and Bacteria
- Hormones
- Poor Diet
- Antinutrients such as Gluten and Lectins
- Dairy
- Microbiome
- Systemic Inflammation
- Leaky Gut
- Chronic Stress
- Emotional Trauma
Our environment can hinder our healing but it can also accelerate our healing. By taking a hard look at your environment and then taking action on even one thing from the below list you can start to help your body get back into balance and move towards healing
If you are stuck on your journey reach out to me. I am happy to help however I can!
In Love, Health + Gratitude,
Katie