What is The Immune System?
Our immune system is… simply that- A system of multi-functioning pieces that fit together to defend us from hundreds of nasty invaders. So, keeping our immune system in top working order requires us to expand our understanding of the vital processes that go into fighting off diseases.
There are myths about the immune system that often come from marketing jargon and semantics. One such myth is that you always want to boost your immune system.
“A WEAK IMMUNE SYSTEM WILL LEAVE YOU VULNERABLE TO COMMON AILMENTS SUCH AS COLDS AND FLUES.
OBVIOUSLY, WE ALL WANT TO AVOID THIS. HOWEVER, ARTIFICIALLY BOOSTING A NORMAL IMMUNE SYSTEM CAN ALSO LEAD TO PROBLEMS”
Those who have had a severe or life-threatening reaction to a bee sting, a peanut butter cookie, or an antibiotic, can attest to how much of a problem it can be for the immune system to boost into high gear. Those who suffer from an autoimmune disorder pray for their immune system to return to the normal state. A boosted immune system expresses itself as fever or in various conditions, such as allergies, eczema, asthma, and inflammation.
Therefore, the Ideal state for our immune system is a healthy balance, able to ward off routine invaders without going all Rambo with T-Cell production and attacking our own tissues.
A good way to look at our immune system is to think of it as a large orchestra made up of many sections, each containing many different instruments played by many different players. Like the sections of an orchestra, the parts of the immune system must all work together to fulfill the function for which they were created.
The front line of our immune system is our skin, mucous membranes, and nasal hair. We shed our skin cells along with billions of microbes daily. Our mucus cells trap nasty microbes with their mucus secretions, and the little hairs lining our respiratory tract filter dust and debris.
The front-line chemistry is not quite as easy to see. There is Sebum, which is a fatty acid substance that is part of the oily film on our skin that inhibits growth of microbes, and keeps our skin soft to the touch; Saliva to wash our teeth, gastric juices that destroy toxins and bacteria with powerful acids, and lysozymes. The lysosomes contain many enzymes that can break down bacterial cell walls of all the pathogens. Lysosomes are found in tears and sweat and many other places in the body.
The second defensive line of our immune system is sometimes referred to as the nonspecific resistance defense. It refers to ameboid like cells called macrophages (a type of white blood cell) that feed on all invaders.
When Macrophages get involved, the immune system has become overwhelmed and calls for help. These Macrophages go full Rambo and activate their special forces of the immune system, called a T cells. These T-cells circulates looking for infections. If the T cell receptor detects a peptide from a virus, it warns its T cell of an infection. The T cell releases cytotoxic factors to kill the infected cell and, therefore, prevent survival of the invading virus. During this process T-cells have an effect that produces the inflammatory response which in turn producing swelling which in turn sends out an SOS to bring in more hungry Macrophages. All this boosted immune response has the effect of producing more swelling, redness, pain, and onset of fever in some extreme cases.
T-CELLS ARE THE SPECIAL FORCES OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM. INFECTIONS BEWARE!
The third level of immune defense is the so called the “SPECIFIC RESISTANCE”.
This is the immune system’s criminal defense database made up of identified and unidentified proteins that can become compounds known as antigens which is just short speak for ANTI-body GEN-erating substances. A lot of these antigens are responsible for allergies they are also the agents responsible for producing serious physiological conditions up to and including anaphylactic shock.
Antibodies are proteins that specifically recognize invading pathogens and bind (stick) to them. They are known as immunoglobulins, present on the surface of B cells (surface immunoglobulins). Activated B cells become plasma cells and produce large amounts of antibodies. These “surface immunoglobulins” are serving as antigen receptors (BCR) or are secreted into the extracellular space where they can bind and neutralize their target antigens.
I will stop here. Those who wish to get more than just their toes wet with my over simplified run through of our immune system will need to seek further study. However, I think that I’ve provided enough information to make the following point: Why would we want to eat or drink anything that could possibly boost our immune systems? Instead we should strive to maintain a balance, a homeostasis within our bodies to let this very complex system of organs and chemistries to do their very best to keep us healthy.
What are Vitamins, and Why do we need them?
BY SONJA T. SLADIC | COO/ VP R&D
The word vitamin is derived from two words: vital amine. Vitamins are organic molecules that mainly function as catalysts in numerous reactions within the body. A catalyst is a substance that allows a chemical reaction to occur using less energy and less time than it would take under normal conditions.
When we have Vitamin deficiency, these “catalysts” are missing, and numerous of our body normal functions may be interrupted or even broken down. This causes our bodies to become susceptible to various diseases. Therefore, we need to support our intercellular and overall health with these essential nutrients. They are essential because our body cannot make these micronutrients on its own (sometimes not in sufficient quantities or sometimes not at all).
In the healthy body, vitamins and minerals are required only in tiny amounts. Their synergy is very important, mainly because overdosing in some minerals or vitamins may prevent the absorption of other nutrients.
Diet is important to overall health at all stages of life
We should plan our daily diet very carefully. We all know that a good diet can naturally support our immune system and reduce the risk of major factors that impact chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.
It seems that good nutrition in principal is not difficult. All we need to do is eat the appropriate amount of those foods that provide our bodies with the exact proportion of nutrients, and energy to meet our lifestyle needs. Thus, the choice we make to achieve our own healthy lifestyle, needs to be based on a dash of common sense, our age, and our activity levels.
It is important to understand that our body cannot make essential vitamins, minerals, or essential fatty acids on its own. That is why it is necessary that we obtain such important nutrients from our food and/ or supplements.
LF MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
It’s hard to picture Life Force without the leadership of Michael Jude and Christa Way. Seemingly from day 1, they have been a guiding light for a huge downline that truly spans the globe, with a large portion in the Australia/New Zealand markets, in addition to their USA groups.
With backgrounds in business and economics, as well as health and nutrition, they have mastered the art of teaching and training in both the business opportunity and product knowledge. They reached our top rank of Crown Diamond in just their first few years with Life Force, and have reached and maintained that rank more often than any Members in our history.
“It’s all about giving people an enhanced quality of life. We love passing on what has been such a huge blessing in our lives. Making a difference is its own reward.”
-Christa Way
SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM RON HILLMAN:
TIMES ARE TOUGH BUT WE ARE TOUGHER!
I’d like to take a moment to express my gratitude to the entire field for your diligence and dedication to empowering human potential and for helping us grow over the last few months, in spite of the global pandemic and the difficulties we all face on a daily basis.
I feel rejuvenated and inspired by how well our members have adapted, put their shoulder to the wheel and just made it happen. We look forward to continued growth and prosperity for all. Stay safe and blessed!
Ron A. Hillman
Warmest Welcome to our New Members!
We thank you all for taking advantage of our industry – leading business opportunity by joining Life Force as Members and enjoying the benefits of our amazing products. We also thank you for your desire to help others. We hope that your journey will be fun, joyful, successful, and memorable!