Self-healing after eating 1: five defense mechanisms of the body

The author believes that to understand the relationship between diet and health and what is self-healing, we must first know what health is.

What is health?

You will definitely say that health means not getting sick. However, many times, even if we are not sick, I feel uncomfortable here and there from time to time. Therefore, not getting sick is only the minimum standard of health.

However, is there a higher requirement for health, that is, to keep the body in the best condition at all times? Of course, this is impossible. Our bodies may be hurt at any time, such as bacterial infection and so on.

However, these injuries may not necessarily become diseases, because our bodies naturally have a "self-defense system" that can resist injuries and repair mistakes. This is the "self-healing power" in the title.

How does the self-defense system work?

When it comes to physical protection, I immediately think of immunity, but after reading this book, you will find that the self-defense system is much more complicated than we thought. In addition to immunity, there are intestinal flora, angiogenesis, stem cell regeneration and DNA protection.

These five mechanisms are the five manifestations of self-healing.

The working principle of the five mechanisms.

The first is the immune system. The immune system is like a guard. As long as something can get close to the body, it will start to look for files stored in the body (immune files, quickly find files). Archives will help the immune system identify the source of infection and quickly find a solution to the enemy. If the source of infection is unfamiliar, it will start another more complicated mechanism and explore a reasonable strategy against the enemy. As long as the immune system is normal, the body can resist most infections.

The second type, intestinal flora, should be called microflora. They not only live in advocacy, but also live in the mouth, nose, lungs and other parts, which can be said to be all over the body. They are like mercenaries invited by the body, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, two common probiotics, which can produce a fatty acid, which can lower cholesterol, prevent atherosclerosis, promote wound healing and even prevent influenza.

Third, angiogenesis. This word may be unfamiliar. For example, when our fingers are scratched and the wound scabs off, we can see a piece of red shiny tissue, which means that thousands of cardiovascular systems are growing. Any place is injured, angiogenesis will send a rescue team to repair the wound at the first time.

Fourth, stem cell regeneration. From the fertilized egg, the fetus grows bones, muscles, organs and so on, all by the hard work of stem cells. Stem cells are not only responsible for building the body, but also for repairing and regenerating. Our lungs and stomach regenerate every 8 days, our skin regenerates every two weeks, and our bones regenerate every 10 years. Once a certain part of the body is damaged, stem cells will go there for reconstruction. Including organ transplantation now, all rely on stem cell regeneration.

Fifth, DNA protection. I thought it was strange when I first saw it. Isn't DNA related to heredity? This is inherited from parents. What does it have to do with the body's self-healing ability? But this book tells us that DNA actually has a self-protection mechanism, which is not only related to the self-healing of the body, but also the most basic link. We know that DNA often makes mistakes during replication, but only a few of these mistakes will become permanent mutations, and most of them will be repaired by specific enzymes. Fixing errors is the first protection for DNA. The second protection of DNA is called epigenetic change, but its expression will change. Various environmental signals will affect epigenetic changes. For example, staying up all night will interfere with more than 200 genes and prevent them from making protein. The last protection of DNA is telomere. Telomeres are protective caps at both ends of DNA. You may have heard that the length of telomeres is related to longevity, and naturally it is related to health.

Therefore, our body naturally has a complex self-protection system and strong self-healing ability, and can handle most risks without outside help.