We’ve all heard it before: the gut is the foundation for overall health. Treat the gut and the immune system will heal and strengthen. While I still believe this, one of the things I’ve learned in my years of practice is that gut health is not the whole picture. I’ve treated the gut for a quite a few kids whose symptoms just didn’t get any better.
So why is it that some kids respond to one treatment but others don’t respond at all? Why does someone like Elon Musk rarely get sick, only need four hours of sleep, and have the energy of an ox, yet other people his age are always tired and seem to get sick every time they open a window? It all has to do with the mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells.
Our mitochondria give us vitality, energy and resiliency. They’re primary to our state of health and long term ability to fight disease. In short, when your mitochondria are functioning at the highest levels, your immune system is at its strongest and your vitality soars.
If you do a search for “mitochondria” and “vitality”, you’ll find article after article explaining how these little suckers in our cells are profoundly connected to immune system functioning. One example has to do with your dendritic cells, which give marching orders to all the immune cells in our bodies. When dendric cells go haywire for whatever reason, your mitochondria get wonky. Then your dendric cell behavior begins changing in irregular and abnormal ways. The end result? Massive immune disregulation (even if the gut is in good condition)!
When your mitochondria are dysfunctioning, other organs systems besides your immune system go a little haywire too, and your whole body starts acting in an erratic fashion. The way I treat this (and any) condition is to address it at the cellular level: by working to maximize mitochondrial health. In short, what I aim to give my patients, in addition to relief from symptoms, is increased personal vitality.
The healthier your mitochondria are, the more energy you have. The more energy you have, the more electricity you can produce. The more electricity you produce, the stronger your immune system becomes. So the next question is, how can you optimize your mitochondrial functioning, particularly with Covid-19 out there? Stay tuned for future videos in which I’ll offer ways to do this, which will have the added benefit of revving up your overall vitality as well.