To understand the fundamental reasons why we become weak, age, or ill, we must first understand the purpose and activities of the digestive system. The digestive system represents not only the physical ‘engine’ of the body but also the centre of emotions and the seat of the subconscious mind. If we want to comprehend and deal with any physical illness, we have to include its mental and emotional aspects.

Although the body and mind appear to be separate entities, each with a completely different purpose, they are intrinsically one, and they function as one unit. All events on the physical level, like eating food, cell metabolism, removal of waste, or exercising, occur at the same time on the mental and emotional levels as well. Accordingly, you cannot keep an emotional or mental experience secret from the body.

If you are diagnosed, for example, a chronic disease, and you happen to take the diagnosis seriously, the biochemical impact of this sudden threat against your life (diagnosis) can cause you to die. This gripping fear of survival is enough to stop the secretions of the body’s natural drugs instantly, -interleukin 2, and interferon- (cytokines that help signal the immune system). This dramatically reduces the production of its healing hormones, including endorphins and growth hormones. At the same time, the fear induces a strong stress response (causing the release of stress hormones), that can last as long as the conflict or threat does (which can be years). Both of these changes in the body’s biochemistry practically prevent the body from healing itself. In other words, while being obsessed with the fear of any chronic illness or disease that threatens health and happiness, the diagnosis becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What most people don’t know is, that the diagnosis of disease is often more harmful than the disease itself.

What applies to the diagnosis of disease also applies to other conflict situations such as the loss of a loved one or the painful end of a relationship. It is important to understand the true reasons behind emotional trauma and illness. Once you know that disease is actually the body’s attempt to end these underlying issues of conflict and imbalance, the fear of the unknown (of what disease really is) disappears and you can start supporting the healing process, instead of sabotaging it.

The mechanisms behind the disease process are obscure to most and very little is known about the true origins of chronic diseases today. You may be aware of the risks that can contribute to an illness from which you are suffering, but how diseases manifest -from cause to effect (symptom)- remains unknown unless you begin to see the body and mind from a more holistic viewpoint. Understanding how the digestive system works, and in what ways it can lead to disease in the body and mind, can be of tremendous help on our journey of healing. Whenever I refer to disease or illness, I actually mean ‘toxicity crisis’, which is the body’s natural healing response to an unnatural situation.

Ayurvedic Medicine, which is the most ancient and complete system of natural health care, can provide you with a clearer and more comprehensive picture of the disease process.

According to Ayurveda, the disease process can be summarised simply. The bodily intelligence (doshas) increases by aggravating factors (diet, climate, seasons, lifestyle, emotions, etc.) This causes the weakening of the digestive fire (metabolism), which in turn allows an indigested food mass (called Ama in Sanskrit) to arise. This with increased aggravation of the bodily intelligence can cause Ama (toxins) to accumulate in the various channels of the body, from which it can cause irritation, congestion, and/or inflammation in any weakened site in the body, which the disease then manifests.

It is not far-fetched to say that if we can successfully figure out the root causes of disease, we can use that wisdom to keep it from developing in the first place. And we can imagine that those simple, natural, time-tested methods of preventing disease can also offer hope to those already suffering. With a little common sense, some helpful hints, and diligence, you can protect yourself from developing the disease and even reduce and possibly even reverse its symptoms, if they already exist. Always remember that the power to improve your health lies with you, and you alone. The key here is to support your body to function as it was meant to and use natural remedies to help it self-heal when necessary. The truly amazing thing is that we were born out of nature and nature provides us with everything we need for a healthy disease-free life. We are self-regulating and self-healing.

We have stopped listening to the body’s innate intelligence and instead assault our minds and bodies with lifestyles, chemicals, and foods that have put us on an unnatural path, this is true for the genesis of all diseases.

The response of the body to clear the toxins in several different and usually unpleasant ways. These ways are known as SYMPTOMS.

Where Most Disease Begins.

The Basic Disease Process.

Each day cellular enzymes face the task of breaking down 30 billion old, worn-out cells that can no longer properly absorb and utilise oxygen and other nutrients. This results in the generation of large amounts of cell debris. More than that, each of the 60-100 trillion cells making up the body generates metabolic waste that needs to be disposed of without delay. These excretions are substances leftover from metabolic processes, which cannot be used by the organism. These include the nitrogen compounds urea, uric acid, ammonia, lactic acid, CO2, phosphates, sulfates, indoles, food additives, and the like.

Under normal conditions, the lymph and blood swiftly remove these waste materials from the fluid that surrounds the living cells (connective tissue). In addition to these excretions (by-products of cell metabolism), the blood dumps blood plasma proteins (including albumins, globulins, fibrinogens, and regulatory proteins) into the connective tissue. If these naturally occurring wastes and blood proteins are not removed promptly, they begin to accumulate in areas of the body that are not suited for such a purpose.

Eventually, congestion occurs and the body needs to employ more drastic measures of self-preservation.

Once stored waste has reached a certain limit or threshold, it seriously impairs the function of the affected parts of the body - the intestines, liver bile ducts, gallbladder, appendix, tonsils, reproductive organs, and kidneys, to name some major ones.

To avoid the danger of damage to healthy cells, or organ and system failure, the body begins to employ oxygen-free radicals, enzymes, and destructive bacteria (putrefaction-causing) and fungi to help break down the mixture of dead cells and metabolic waste. Toxins are unavoidable byproducts of this healing attempt by the body. At this stage of the healing process (called disease), the immune system becomes engaged, trying to remove both waste matter and toxins, as well as any weak and damaged cells.

This response is commonly known as ‘inflammatory disease’. Inflammation is now increasingly recognised as the common most immediate cause of every acute and chronic disease process. But, as described above, inflammation and infection are not diseases, but basic survival attempts initiated by the body. Various organs and systems in the body are designed to deal efficiently with the daily generated waste products.

• The Liver breaks down cellular components and detoxifies drugs, alcohol, and noxious substances.

• The Lungs remove the highly acidic metabolic waste product, carbon dioxide, and other toxic gases.

• The Kidneys and Bladder remove excessive blood plasma, as well as uric acid, urea, ammonia, and other waste matter delivered by the liver.

• The Colon excretes fecal matter, mucous, dead bacteria, and parasites.

• The Hair and nails remove proteins, excessive mineral salts, pigments, and oil.

• The Skin, being the second largest organ of elimination, eliminates sweat, and yes 40-60% of all the waste in the body.

• The Lymphatic system, which has to continuously circulate and purify the 18 litres of waste-loaded lymph fluid contained in the body, plays a major role in the detoxification process and the immune system.

Of course, all of this activity requires a lot of water. When the body becomes dehydrated, the blood becomes overly concentrated (thicker) and subsequently draws water from nearby cells. Although the blood is made thinner through this process, the connective tissue surrounding the cells themselves loses the precious water required to excrete and remove metabolic waste. The result is congestion, which hinders the waste from leaving the body.

In contrast, a well-hydrated body is capable of both nourishing itself and detoxifying its tissues, this ensures that the body’s equilibrium, or balance, is maintained at all times. In a well-hydrated state, the various activities in the body can function in a balanced state because there is no congestion or obstruction anywhere.

In their naturally occurring amounts, the body wastes have a slightly stimulating effect. This helps to maintain the functions of elimination. However, if the body’s energy is depleted and immunity is subdued due to an excessively stimulating diet and lifestyle or insufficient water intake, the continuously necessary process of detoxification and waste removal becomes disrupted.

Ayurveda lists diseases according to the bodily systems and intelligence of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, and different illnesses and diseases of various types and intensities of the toxicity crisis (AMA), can result from aggravation, accumulation, and congestion in the body.

For example, an obstruction in the liver is most likely due to gallstones in the bile ducts (intrahepatic gallstones). It affects the nutrient supply, metabolism, and energy distribution throughout the body. A constipated colon can cause the backwashing of waste, thereby flooding the body with AMA (toxins). A kidney stone can lead to the retention of urine and raise the pressure of the blood against the arteries, hypertension is the result. Lymphatic congestion and blockage leads to lymph edema, heart congestion, cancer, obesity, arthritis, and almost every chronic illness.

In truth though, if one part of the body is sick, the entire body is sick, as each system influences one another in an immediate and profound way. The severity of the disease is largely determined by the amount of AMA, toxins, intrahepatic gallstones, kidney stones, fecal matter, and metabolic and cellular waste the body has accumulated in various channels and systems of the body.