How to Overcome Autoimmune Disease

Hey guys, Dr. Axe here, doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com. In this video, I'm going to do an advanced training on how to overcome autoimmune disease. I'll talk about my 5 steps to overcome autoimmune disease with natural treatments, diet, supplements, essential oils, and much, much more in this training video.

And first off, autoimmune disease can affect many different areas of your body, conditions such as lupus. Fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, different types of inflammatory bowel disease, all of these issues can be connected to autoimmune disease. Hashimoto's thyroiditis, it can affect your thyroid and many other tissues and organs.

And what happens in autoimmune disease is your body's own immune system starts to attack your own cells and tissues. So what we have to do in order to beat and reverse autoimmune disease is we have to reduce inflammation and help modulate and balance out your body's immune response. Number one step to start overcoming autoimmune disease is to remove certain things from your diet.

So foods that cause an inflammatory reaction, and I really believe 100% of autoimmune disease starts in your gut lining with a condition called leaky gut, and that occurs when you have microscopic holes in your gut lining. Imagine your gut lining as a net. In between your intestines and your bloodstream.

Well, that net can get rips and tears in it to where then certain things such as gluten, toxins, bad bacteria get into your bloodstream. Over time, if they stay in there, your body will not only attack them, oftentimes it will start to affect and attack the other tissues and cells within your own body. So number one step is reduce the intake of foods that cause inflammation.

Number one is going to be sugar. If you're consuming processed sugar, it causes the overgrowth of yeast in the body which actually eats away at the gut lining causing leaky gut which in turn causes autoimmune disease over time. Number 2, hydrogenated oils or consuming too many omega-6 fatty acids. That causes inflammation in the body.

Also gluten and casein, so consuming wheat bread and dairy products on a regular basis will absolutely cause inflammation within the body. And last but not least, over-consuming grains, and I'm talking about even whole grains, can cause inflammation in your body.

So for a time, if you have autoimmune disease, one of the big things you typically want to do is go grain-free for a period of time or at least consume grains that have been sprouted and slow-cooked for a long time like a wild sprouted sprouted rice that you cook and make into congee. That's okay for some people, but in general with autoimmune disease, you want to go grain-free for a time.

And then last here, any additives, food colorings, artificial sweeteners, any type of packaged food you typically want to stay away from or processed food or fast foods with autoimmune disease. And the key there is reducing inflammation.

Then what we want to do, step number 2, is we want to transform your diet and start consuming foods That help heal your cells and tissues and help reduce inflammation. Number 1 food group is going to be cooked vegetables. With autoimmune disease, you typically don't want to do a lot of raw foods.

That might surprise you, but a lot of raw vegetable juices or raw salads or raw broccoli, things like that, those are hard to digest and hard for those with leaky gut, which can contribute to autoimmune disease. So a lot of cooked vegetables in your diet, such as cooked spinach, Carrots, celery, you know, any type of cooked vegetable is great with autoimmune disease.

Number 2 is fruit, specifically berries and fruits that are easy to digest such as pears. Also fruits with enzymes in them such as kiwis, figs, papaya, pineapple. But again, fruit in moderation. You don't want to go overboard because of too much sugar, but 1 to 2 servings of fruit a day is Okay.

The next food, number 3, is going to be wild-caught meats such as grass-fed beef, organic chicken and turkey, and wild-caught fish like salmon. In fact, wild-caught fish like salmon might be the most beneficial because they're high in a type of omega-3 fatty acid called EPA and DHA, which naturally reduce inflammation within the body.

The 4th superfood you want to be getting in your diet to help fight autoimmune disease is get bone broth. Bone broth might be the most beneficial of all foods. It contains the amino acids proline, glycine, and L-glutamine, which help repair the gut lining, healing leaky gut, which is going to stop things like gluten and these other factors from getting in, causing an immune reaction.

So again, bone broth is incredibly beneficial. Number 5, get more healing herbs in your diet such as turmeric. Ginger, cumin, rosemary, and any type of herb. Again, most of these herbs really help support the body in the natural healing process. And those are going to be the most beneficial foods for you if you're struggling with autoimmune disease.

And last I'll say, also getting some good probiotics can be good. But here's an ideal meal for those with autoimmune disease is a big bowl of bone broth soup. Think chicken broth. Chicken, celery, onions, carrots, maybe a little bit of ginger or turmeric in there. Drinking bone broth on a daily basis is so beneficial.

One more food I wanted to remember that I wanted to mention here is coconut products. Coconut oil should be your go-to cooking oil if you've got autoimmune disease. And of course, avocados and olive oil and ghee, those are good as well. Coconut oil though, one of the best. So again, a diet that's high and cooked vegetables, fruits, wild meats, and bone broth should be the diet you follow.

Step number 3 in overcoming autoimmune disease is you want to take the right supplements. The most beneficial supplements, number 1, is probably going to be a bone broth powder. So you can get bone broth in powder form, add it to a smoothie, and so do bone broth daily as a powder. Also collagen powder. Or a collagen protein supplement, a scoop of that a day is very beneficial as well.

The next thing I would say would be probiotics. You know, probiotics help support the immune system. They help, again, modulate the immune system, which helps autoimmune disease. So getting probiotics, typically 50 billion IUs twice daily is key. Also look out for probiotics that have soil-based organisms. SBOs are great as well. And then I would say take an omega-3 supplement.

Like a fish caviar supplement or something like a fish oil or cod liver oil, but 1,000 milligrams once to twice a day of an omega-3 supplement is very beneficial. And the next thing I would say here are digestive enzymes. Taking digestive enzymes with your meal can help reduce inflammation and ease your body in the digestive process.

I would say those are the most beneficial supplements for naturally combating autoimmune disease. The next thing here, step number 4, is use essential oils. Essential oils are fantastic. One of my favorite essential oils for autoimmune disease is Roman chamomile oil. Roman chamomile can help bring down cortisol levels, helps relax the body, reduces stress on the body.

So chamomile, diffusing that, rubbing a few drops, putting it on your neck, chamomile is one of the best for autoimmune disease. As are frankincense and myrrh. Let's say you have Hashimoto's thyroiditis or rheumatoid arthritis in a specific area, what I would do is do 2 drops of myrrh, 2 drops of frankincense, and rub it directly on the area.

A few other oils that can be beneficial, another couple favorites of mine are lavender oil and ylang-ylang. Lavender oil and ylang-ylang both help improve your mood, help lower cortisol, Reduce stress on the body. And the essential oil thyme oil, that's T-H-Y-M-E, thyme, thyme oil is also beneficial. So again, all of those oils, some of my favorites for naturally fighting autoimmune disease.

Use those daily. And the last step here for fighting autoimmune disease, incorporate techniques into your week that help you naturally reduce stress. So for some people, it might be practicing exercise such as yoga, Pilates or barre, doing things that helps with your deep breathing, that helps with the immune system and helps your body naturally reduce stress.

Doing a spiritual triathlon in the morning where you wake up and for 5 minutes you get grateful, for 5 minutes you read a Bible or devotional, for 5 minutes you spend in prayer or praise. But again, spending some time reading, again, something spiritually uplifting and growth is great. And last but not least, here's what I want to challenge you to do. Take a healing bath at night.

Those essential oils I talked about, do about 10 drops in a bath with 1 cup of Epsom salts. They're loaded with magnesium. Magnesium is known as the relaxation mineral. So again, soaking 3 days a week with essential oils and Epsom salts or magnesium oil, soaking in a nice warm to hot bath and just winding down.

Part of the key to overcoming autoimmune disease is taking care of stressful emotions and just unwinding. So again, exercise, a healing bath, working on spiritual growth, and just scheduling you time, time where you get to do lunch with a best friend or go on a walk or just do your favorite hobbies. Make sure you incorporate those in your weekly schedule.

And if you follow my 5 steps of removing toxic foods, adding in anti-inflammatory foods in your diet, taking supplements that help heal leaky gut, taking essential oils that reduce stress, and transforming your lifestyle. You follow those 5 steps, you're going to see great results in overcoming autoimmune disease.

And guys, by the way, if you want to learn more about how to naturally heal with remedies, make sure you subscribe here to my YouTube station. Also, I've got an advanced article on autoimmune disease. If you want to know even more in-depth information, just search my name on Google, Dr. Axe autoimmune disease. And you'll find a lot more there. So guys, hey, thanks for watching.

This has been me, Dr. Axe, talking about natural treatments for autoimmune disease.