For the people that suffer with chronic illness or conditions and have been told it’s their body turning on itself, it’s just not true. It’s not their fault and it never was. Conventional medicine has no answers for most of these people and if you look up the cause of autoimmune, the answer is unknown. Same for chronic conditions such as eczema. The treatments offered are temporary and sometimes at a cost with side effects. Sometimes the treatments can actually make people sicker, including too much blood taken for multiple blood draws. 

The truth is our bodies are homeostatic; in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the yin yang symbol represents this concept. This means that we have a self-regulating system that is always striving for balance, healing and to stay alive. Therefore it cannot simultaneously have a system that is taking itself down. In TCM, inflammation is due to two factors—direct trauma or a pathogen. The body doesn’t just inflame itself.

According to Medical Medium Anthony William, a chronic illness expert, originator of the global celery juice movement, host of the Medical Medium Podcast and a New York Times bestselling author, the underlying causes of all chronic illnesses come from the “Unforgiving Four”—viruses, heavy metals, radiation and DDT/chemicals. Usually, it’s a combination of these four causes. The liver, which is our immune system, becomes overburdened and sluggish. The liver is also where most viruses live. Viruses put off a waste product which is a neurotoxin that inflames nerves.

Viruses also invade the thyroid, other organs and central nervous system, causing the body to try to protect itself. Fatty livers are a common diagnosis these days, in our toxic times. We are exposed to toxins daily. Women often have a higher toxic load due to regular use of beauty products. Women also have a higher rate of autoimmune and chronic illnesses, due to their menstrual cycle and pregnancy. They lose 80 percent of their immune system monthly with their cycle or pregnancy. Viruses grow when the immune system is down and when there is food they enjoy. Food for viruses include eggs, dairy, gluten, soy, and corn.

William advises using food as medicine. Through this, people can lower their viral loads, build their immune system and clean the liver, organs and brain of toxins. When the liver is able to properly function again, the healing begins. The conventional diet wisdom is focused on protein consumption, which is very taxing on the liver and causes adrenaline to be released to thin the blood. Fat/protein also blocks the absorption of glucose causing insulin resistance, thus the diabetes epidemic. The liver can either be in the healing mode, or the break fat and protein down with bile mode. Producing bile and constantly breaking fat down stresses the liver and causes a fatty liver and eventually gallstones. Good fat or bad fat still requires bile. By going low fat to no fat, the liver gets to take a break and actually do some healing for the body. Thus the immune system starts to come back and viral loads go down.

Because the body runs on glucose and mineral salts, by focusing and bringing in the “Holy Four” daily, in certain combinations—fruits, vegetables, herbs/spices and wild foods—the body can begin to heal. After all, the body doesn’t get low blood protein, it gets low blood glucose/sugar. A big part of this is drinking at least 16 ounces of celery juice first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, to help clean the liver. Also consuming the Medical Medium heavy metal detox smoothie can help bring our toxic load down and reduce neurological symptoms.

The chronically ill have been told by conventional medicine that it’s their own bodies fault and that they have to live with this sentence for the rest of their lives. Conventional medicine is limited to approved tests and drugs, with the premise that the body is broken and needs to be fixed. That model only works in the emergency room with trauma and when life saving measures are required. William suggests, “The body can heal and wants to, if you give it the chance. It just needs to cleanse to heal.”