How do you define healthy?  After hearing this week about Judy Trunnell, I began to realize not everyone defines it the same way.

Judy, who was 33, died after developing a case of the swine flu.  She was also 8 months pregnant, and doctors delivered a healthy baby girl while Judy was in a coma.  Tragic.

Following her death, conflicting reports emerged in the media about whether or not she had a preexisting illness which would have weakened her health, therefore making her more susceptible to developing swine flu.  The husband says no.  But, the doctors say yes.

In fact, her medical records indicate prior to coming down with the swine flu Judy had asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis.  Which leads me to wonder: does the husband think that’s healthy?

Had Judy lived with these conditions for so long, that she and her husband considered them part of her regular state of health?

In Ayurveda, Asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis are all reversible by diet.   In fact, according to Ayurveda everything is reversible but death.  Which means if Judy had defined healthy by Ayurveda’s standards, she would still be here, her baby daughter would have a mother, and her husband would not be left to raise his daughter alone.

Yep.  I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.  Each one of these conditions is inflammatory in nature, and is an immune response by the body to try to eliminate toxins because the body is not strong enough to do it on its own.

Here are the three reasons people get asthma, arthritis and psoriasis:

1. No Breast Milk as a Baby.

Studies show overwhelmingly that breast milk contains probacteria that help build immunity from day one.  Not only does it colonize in the small intestine (where the majority of the lymph glands in our bodies are located), but it also helps make the body alkaline by helping it digest food later on.  Without it, formula fed-babies suffer higher rates of allergies, ear infections, ADHD and general lower resistance to other toxins.

If you didn’t get breast milk (like I didn’t), then you must supplement with probiotics.  The best one I’ve found, and I’ve studied them all, is Metagenics’ Ultra flora plus Dairy Free Capsules. Take two capsules 2x daily between meals for 3-6 months.  You will start to see an improvement in digestion, overall energy (since your body will be better able to digest and absorb your nutrients), as well as an increase in immune function.

2. Extensive use of Antibiotics.

This is a toughie, because we are a society addicted to our antibiotics.  Not physically, of course.  Mentally and emotionally.  I know, because I used to be an AB junkie.  At the first sign of a sniffle or a sneeze, we go running to the doc for our AB prescript.  My doc used to just call it in over the phone.  Whether it helped or not, I felt like at least I was doing something about my cold or flu (which I used to get every three months like clockwork).

What I now know is every time we take antibiotics we are weakening our immune system.  Not only do we kill any bad bugs in our gut, but we also kill the good ones.  So bye-bye lactobacillus, adios bifidus infantis — all of which came from our mother’s milk and can only be replaced by supplements.

For every 10 days you are on antibiotics, it takes 2 months for the gut to recover.  That’s right.  So in order to replace what you lost in good bacteria, you have to supplement for 2 months.

Only take an antibiotic if you are in jeopardy of a life-threatening illness.

For women, overuse of antibiotics usually starts to show up in their 20s and 30s as chronic yeast infections — that is one of the first chronic signs of immune weakness due to lack of probacteria.  Men, unfortunately, can carry candida infection as well.  But because of their external anatomy candida infection will usually show up as smelly feet, excess gas and bloating after eating, and/or distended gut.  In men, it is much harder to detect.

Either way, get a good probiotic if you want to bring it into balance now before it becomes something worse.

3. Consuming large amounts of wheat and dairy products.

This is the biggie.  I know, because I used to be THE Dairy Queen.  I consumed anywhere from 1-2 gallons of whole milk a week.  And BTW, skim or 1% milk is worse, because ALL the digestive enzymes are stripped out of it making it IMPOSSIBLE to digest.

Here’s the deal: man was not meant to drink commercial dairy.  Period.  We are supposed drink our mother’s milk when we are born, and IF we choose to drink milk, raw milk cultured with keifer grains so that it contains high levels of probacteria is the best choice.  Or goat’s milk, which is closer to human milk anyway.

Commercial cow’s milk is one of the most CONGESTIVE foods you can put in the body.  IF YOU SUFFER FROM ASTHMA, STOP DRINKING COMMERCIAL COWS MILK TODAY!  It takes 3-6 months for the body to detox from dairy, so be patient.  It may get worse before it get’s better, BUT IT WILL GET BETTER.

Wheat is also a highly indigestible food source because we have mutated it to the point where it has 0 digestive enzymes left.  Did you know wheat has 69 chromosomes?  But spelt, the original form of wheat, has only 9?

Yes, we have mutated wheat for agricultural purposes to the point where it turns to complete mucous in the gut.

Wheat and dairy cause the immune system to elicit a cascade once they enter the body.  The immune system says, “I can’t break down these substances, there are no enzymes.  What am I supposed to do with this?”  So instead, it floods the alimentary canal (mouth to anus) with mucous as a way of preventing the absorption of a potentially harmful substance.  The mucous then acts like a sheet of Saran wrap on the intestines, preventing absorption.  Read Dr. Davis’ book Wheat Belly.  It will blow your mind.

And now you have a compromised immune system. Because instead of it doing its job to fight invaders, it’s busy trying to deal with the garbage that it can’t process.

If Judy Trunnell had made changes before she GOT pregnant, she could have reversed these conditions, had a much more pleasant pregnancy, had a stronger constitution and immune system, and avoided getting the swine flu to begin with.

Strength of immunity starts in the gut.  And the stronger your immune system, the less likely you are to fall victim to the swine flu or any other bug.

Namasté.

The CDC said Wednesday that 41 states have confirmed cases of the virus. Illinois has the most confirmed cases, with 122, followed by New York with 97, the CDC said. California has 67, Texas has 61, and Massachusetts has 45, it said.

A full list of states with confirmed cases is the CDC Web site, www.cdc.gov.