Go Get ’em Tiger!

One of the coolest things I have ever seen was a white blood cell chasing down a pathogen in my blood supply. I actually cheered it on when it was pointed out to me what was happening. It was quite the education in hematology.

This took place before I knew I had Epstein Barr. In fact, it was the very reason I was at the doctor’s office looking at a drop, a single drop, of my blood on a slide. I had no idea what was going wrong in my system and I was there for answers.

The drop of blood was magnified a gazillion times and through the magic of technology, my single drop of blood was now visible to see up close and personal on the computer screen in front of me. It delivered a grand show. I saw a tiny fraction of a world inside of me that is constantly moving in the effort to keep me healthy.

I also checked out red blood cells through their different stages. Some cells were brand new blood cells and moved freely, while others were older and sluggish, and some blood cells had already died. I watched, fascinated as white blood cells went to work cleaning up the damage and debris, while the dead cells were corralled together to be swept out of my body; their lifetime of work completed.

At the end of the show, my blood work was considered good and nothing of concern existed. That’s because the destruction of virus central had yet to begin. I wonder what my blood work looks like today. A massive reconstruction of moving cells, each doing their designated task with the primary goal of cleaning up Christine. What a task. I would hate to be on that crew. Oh, wait, I run that crew.

It’s true, I am head of construction. I give the orders that put the motion in place. How do I do that to tiny, microscopic cells? I eat right, exercise and try to get a good night’s sleep. I also take my supplements, but the most important thing I do is never second-guess myself by giving the orders and then not supplying the correct tools for my workers to do their job.

I don’t tell my workers (my immune system) to dissect the virus and then refuse to give them crowbars to pry them apart. The workers cannot do their jobs when we continue to eat foods that do not support our primary goal of the project – to kill the virus.  Consuming processed foods, and too many fats and unhealthy sugars are the incorrect tools to take down a virus. The proper tools are more fruits and vegetables.

Eat your fruits and vegetables people. I sound like your mother, but she was right. Come to find out, the very things we tried to avoid growing up, are right back on our plates staring us in the face. The difference is we are in charge this time. We can bring those vegetables into our lives in any number of ways: steamed, roasted, sautéed, or raw. We can dip them in hummus or throw in a pinch or two of spices to…well, spice them up.

It’s that simple to start taking down the virus. Don’t tell me you hate all vegetables. I don’t want to hear that. It is impossible to hate every single vegetable. Go get ‘em tiger! Your cells will thank you. Vegetable up, people!

Christine

P.S. Stay tuned! Next week I am biting the bullet and finally going for it. What am I going for? You will find out in one week in my next blog post. This is serious stuff!