Autoimmune disease is a rather vague term. In essence, it means that something is going on in your body that’s causing your immune system to react. Really, the only stipulation is that whatever this cause might be, it’s not a pathogen.

Naturally, when a bacteria, virus, fungus, parasite, etc. enters your body and your immune system ramps up activity, that’s a good thing—that’s what you want. White blood cell production and activity increases, inflammation rushes to affected areas, maybe you get a fever or a runny nose.

Autoimmune disease, however, is an immune response to something other than a pathogen or injury. And it can be very dangerous. If your immune system is in high gear for an extended period of time, it can lead to tissue damage, organ malfunction and failure and weakened overall immunity.

More than 80 diseases emerge from autoimmune disorders. Some of the more recognizable suspects include:

• Celiac disease
• Hashimoto’s
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Anemia
• Arthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Lupus
• Type I diabetes

At this point, you’re probably thinking: How do I avoid autoimmune disease? The causes are varied, but a big one is how and what you eat. And that’s what we’re going to focus on today.

The Vitamin D connection

It seems that a major contributor to autoimmune disease is a lack of Vitamin D. For example, autoimmune disease is more common among populations further from the equator, where there is less sunlight and the sun’s rays are weakened by the sharper angles through which they must penetrate the atmosphere.

Furthermore, development of diseases that are linked to autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis are more common in people with a Vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D is known to suppress the immune system. It slows the production of white blood cells and reduces inflammatory agents known as cytokines. If you don’t get your Vitamin D from the sun, particularly during the winter months, you’ve got to get it somewhere else. You can take a supplement (7,000 – 10,000 units per day recommended) or you can eat animal protein, particularly liver, which is high in Vitamin D.

The gluten connection

Several studies link Celiac disease with a wide range of other autoimmune disorders. One study from 2009 and published in a prominent Polish medical journal showed a 40% overlap between gluten sensitivity and autoimmune diseases like thyroiditis, vitiligo, Sjogren syndrome, ulcerative colitis, lupus and more.

A New England Journal of Medicine paper published in 2009 found that gluten contributes to a whopping 55 diseases, many of them autoimmune in nature—and interestingly—many of them psychological.

The reason for this is that we’re simply allergic to it. 30 percent of people of European descent are gluten intolerant. What happens when they eat it? An immune response.

Foods linked to autoimmune disease

 Starting with broad brush strokes, it’s fairly easy to understand how toxins (e.g., things that don’t belong in the body) like pesticides, added coloring, preservatives, etc. would cause an autoimmune disease. It’s simple logic: if it doesn’t belong in your body, your body will try to fight it.

Unfortunately, it’s quite difficult to eat anything in today’s highly automated and corporatized society without getting heavy doses of this stuff at the same time. If you’re not eating organic fruits and vegetables, you’re eating pesticides. If you’re not eating organic, grass-fed beef, you’re eating pesticides, hormones and antibiotics. If you’re eating almost anything that comes in a box, you’re consuming countless unpronounceable, foreign chemicals not limited to natural and artificial sweeteners, preservatives, coloring and fillers.

Your body tries to fight those things.

Beyond that, sugar—just sugar in all it’s forms—is considered by your body to be a foreign invader! Even if you’re eating agave nectar or organic cane sugar, your body is fighting it. Chocolate—even dark, unsweetened chocolate—has been linked to autoimmune disease.

Dairy is another one. The vast majority of human beings are on a sliding scale of being allergic to dairy products. Europeans and their descendants are less likely to be allergic to dairy, but some cultures (particularly Africans and their descendants and East Asians) are almost universally lactose intolerant. And what did we learn from the gluten section? Allergens in your body produce an immune response.

The ketogenic diet is a great way to avoid autoimmune disorders. Not only does it absolutely require that one eats only clean meats and vegetables, you cut out sugar and gluten while you’re at it.