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Hello and welcome back to The Own Your Health podcast, I'm Cyndi Lynne and I can't wait to help you step into your health power. Today we're going to talk about germ theory versus terrain theory. And these terms might or may not be, familiar to you.
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You might be more familiar with the question, why do, given the same circumstances, some people get sick and some people don't. You've probably been there, traveled with a group of girlfriends or your family, and one person, one person catches terrible cold or the flu, everybody else was fine.
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Or the opposite happens, everyone in the family gets sick down in bed and you're absolutely fine. Why is it when we have recalls, like we've had in the news lately, for vegetables, lettuces, meats, that some people get sick and some people eat it and are perfectly fine?
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So a little bit of background. When we became aware as a civilization of these tiny little things called germs, typically bacteria, viruses, were a little bit longer and coming along, fungus, we were aware that there were these little critters out in the world that could cause us harm.
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And it's a very popular theory to cling to because it gives us something to blame when we get sick. But I will caution you that that connection, that cause and the effect are much less direct than we're led to believe by most healthcare professionals.
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Just because you're exposed to a thing, a virus, a bacteria, does not mean that you are going to get the illness from that virus or that bacteria. Just because someone who's sick, sneezes around you doesn't mean that you are going to get sick as well.
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And the reason for that variance, the reason for that variability, person to person, is the terrain theory. So your terrain basically means how hospitable, how inviting am I as a host to those bacteria or those viruses?
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Am I a willing host that's going to take them in, let them move, grow, multiply and make me sick? Or is my body in such a state that it's not going to, it's going to see this tiny particles come in through this sneeze, recognize what they are, and say, you're not staying here, and shut them down?
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That basically is the terrain theory. We want to have the strongest constitution, the strongest immune system, the strongest terrain within our body in order to prevent these germs that really are everywhere all of the time from causing us illness.
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Now, I'd also argue that we need all of those germs out there, and there's been, a tremendous effort in the world to get rid of all germs, to sterilize, to disinfect, to clean to the nth degree.
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But in fact, our body needs those, our terrain needs those germs for exercise. It needs them to cause tiny little stresses, just like weightlifting does in order to make us stronger against a whole variety of illnesses.
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How do we keep our body strong? How do we make ourselves inhospitable? How do we put up the no vacancy sign, if you will, for germs? Well, the first thing we can do is to keep our digestion working well.
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And that can be tricky for some people. There's a lot of folks who are on medications that lower stomach acid, whether it's over the counter antacids or prescription drugs, but a lower stomach acid means that any of the bacteria, things that we consume, say in those recalled foods or in any food, doesn't get killed in the stomach.
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And our stomach is our first line of defense for fighting germs, fighting bacteria especially, but even viruses. Our stomach is our first line of defense. So we want a good, strong stomach. We want good, strong stomach acid.
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So if you are on antacids, if you are taking acid reducing medications, I would encourage you to find your way off of them, to work with your doctor and getting off of them, or work with your own diet or a, nutritionist or a health coach to get off of those, because your stomach is your first line of protection.
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It's a very inhospitable environment and that's exactly the way we want it. Because our stomach acid does a couple of things. One, it kills a lot of germs and bacteria to make our food safe for our body, but it also triggers the enzymes needed for digestion of protein.
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So the acid itself doesn't digest protein, and I think we've talked about this before, but the acid level needs to get strong enough, strong enough acid to trip the switch for the enzymes to be produced so that our body can digest protein.
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And we need protein for all kinds of things. So number one, keep your digestion working well. Number two, decrease stress. Now I know this is a go to for everything, right?
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But stress has such a physical impact on us. It's more than just a nervous mind or thoughts that we can't stop. When it comes to our stomach stress or fight and flight is exact opposite of the rest and digest.
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So when we're in a constant state of stress, we don't digest food appropriately. Our body is not going to use resources to digest food if it thinks it's being chased by that saber toothed tiger. So if we are in that fight or flight state for much of the time, we're not going to have very effective digestion.
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And so we essentially negate number one as well, keeping our digestion working. Well. Stress also consumes a tremendous amount of raw materials in our body in producing the hormones that it takes to keep our body ready to fight or flee.
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So it uses up resources, kills our digestion. So reducing stress is really important. And if you need to find someone to help you to do that, to help you to get a start, to even figure out how to do that, what that means, by all means do so.
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Invest in a couple of classes or meet with someone, talk with someone to get a handle on how you can perceive your stress so you know what's going on, how you recognize it. Because for some people it becomes such a baseline, we don't even recognize it anymore and then reduce, manage that stress.
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The third is don't become a germaphobe. And what do I mean by that? Don't be the one running around with, all those disgusting Clorox wipes, wiping everything down, washing your vegetables in bleach.
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I mean, I've seen it all. Soaking vegetables and dish detergent. You're, you're taking good food and making it toxic. We've been taught to fear these germs for so long and so pervasively in all of the messaging, that we've become germ phobes without even realizing it.
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Washing your hands, plain soap and water. Unless you work in a high risk healthcare or other high risk kind of area. Soap and water to wash your hands. Don't disinfect, don't strip all the bacteria away because you strip the good with the bad.
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Long gone, it seems, are the days where you pick a nice warm tomato out of the garden, give it a brush on the side of your shirt and eat it. And it's so good and it tastes wonderfully and it doesn't need to be soaked in bleacher soap water. Or picking an apple off of a tree and polishing it up a little bit on, on your jeans and taking a bite and feeling how crunchy and fresh and good it is.
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Okay, it doesn't need to be soaked in vinegar and baking soda and dish soap. If you get your food from good sources, then there's a lot less concern about washing the toxin, toxic pesticides off of them.
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But even if you are going to wash, don't use something that's more damaging than what's on there in the first place. We don't want to wash off pesticides, only to reapply detergents, which can be just as toxic.
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We want to let the immune system work. We don't want to live in a bubble. We don't want to wrap our kids in Saran Wrap. We had, an expression that we used to talk about. There was kids who would come to school with my son with the wipes and the disinfectant and the hand gels, and they were like hot house children, you know, not very resilient outside in the world because they would catch everything that came along.
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And truly what these kids needed was some time playing in the dirt. And, that's where as a society, we've kind of gone overboard with the clean, clean, clean. And we can be too clean. We can wash too much and make our skin too clean so that we don't have the natural bacteria and oils to protect it, to fight off invaders so that you can get rashes and you can develop conditions from, from your skin being quote, unquot too clean because you've stripped away the protective natural surfaces.
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And the same is actually true for the inside of our body as well. What we consume can either support that healthy terrain, that healthy no vacancy sign, or it can erode it and make us very hospitable hosts for every germ that comes along.
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So I hope this has given you some food for thought, and maybe we'll reshape, or you can rethink how you consider the world around you and how you feel as you get exposed to potential germs or illness.
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Your choice to be a host, a willing host, or to put up a no vacancy sign is absolutely within your power. It is a piece of your health that you can work to own every day. I hope this has been helpful for you.
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If you have any questions. Absolutely reach out. And until next week, let's go out and own it.
