John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

I recently spoke to someone with a form of autoimmune arthritis.

If that was not bad enough, she felt incredibly fatigued. About three months ago she made a commitment to improve her health and was prepared to make a number of changes, including some reasonably costly foods and supplements. Fortunately we are now through the intensive supplementation period and are now dropping doses towards a much lower maintenance level.

The result of her commitment has been a reduction in pain levels and a significant increase in her energy levels. Our goal with her was to reduce systemic inflammation and to improve mitochondrial function to improve energy. Mitochondria are tiny organelles within our cells that act as engines, extracting the energy in food to the form of energy our body needs, and are often severely affected by autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.

We built her programme on a highly nutritious diet based on regular protein, healthy anti-inflammatory fats like olive oils and omega 3, plus a high intake of a wide variety of plant foods. We then added a broad spectrum multi-antioxidant, multi-vitamin and multi-mineral with a solid dose of omega 3 fish oil. We ensured her vitamin D levels were in the high end of normal, as vitamin D is critical for immune function. As a side note, if you have a child with immune system problems such as asthma or allergies, go and get their vitamin D levels tested and if these are in the lower part of normal, get some advice about supplementation.

To this we added the primary therapeutic product which I formulated to improve mitochondrial function by reducing free radical damage, reducing inflammation and providing the nutritional building blocks for energy. The first thing she noticed was an improvement in energy. This is to be expected because we directly targeted energy systems. I have noticed over the years that if we can improve energy in people with autoimmune disease, we can usually expect improvements in the underlying disorder.

If you are unwell, it may be worth considering a specific nutritional programme targeting the underlying disease processes. Give me a call if you need some help. To join my weekly newsletter go to www.johnarts.co.nz and visit www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health. To contact John phone (local) 578 9051 or 0800 423 559.