Infectious organisms are only able to survive in hospitable environments. What that means for your health is that micro-organisms are NOT the primary causes of disease in most cases. Instead, it is a change in your body's internal environment which allows the micro-organisms to colonize your body and proliferate which is the most important factor. In some cases, these "pathogenic" organisms don't even need to colonize our bodies -- they live here already. One example of this is the organism Beta Strep. This bacteria is highly associated with Strep Throat, a painful inflammation of the throat. In more than half of healthy people, however, Beta Strep is a normal inhabitant of our throats and upper airways -- without causing illness! It is an alteration in our body's internal environment, usually becoming more acidic, that allows the Strep to proliferate.

This alternation in our internal environment, also called the Internal Terrain, is often accompanied by a suppression of the immune system. Various factors can cause a reduction in our body's ability to mount an immune defense. Both our internal environment and the strength of our immune system are most affected by the foods we eat and the stress in our life.

This concept of micro-organisms and the appropriate environment is important to understand, since according to Naturopathic principles, exposure to a pathogen does NOT equal disease! Another good analogy is this: throughout the world, where ever there is standing water, you will find mosquitoes living and reproducing in it. The key question is "Do the mosquitoes cause the stagnant water?"

Imagine a swift flowing clear mountain stream. Throw in mosquitoe eggs and larvae, and come back in a month. Will there be a pool of stagnant water and a thriving mosquitoe colony? Of course not!! A swift clear stream is an inhospitable environment for mosquitoes and even if they try, they can't live there. Rather than causing stagnant water, mosquitoes simple take advantage of and colonize it wherever they can find it. The same is true in our bodies with micro-organisms. They can only cause disease under the right environmental conditons.

Diet and Stress
The basic problems in our diet which suppress our immune system and alter the internal terrain into a more disease-promoting environment are the consumption of excess amounts of simple sugars and simple carbohydrates, along with the so-called Bad Fats - trans fatty acids and hydrogenated oils. Following consumption of sugar, for example, the levels of white blood cells circulating in our bodies will decrease for several hours. If you eat sugar every meal every day, your immune system will be constantly suppressed. It's no wonder, then, that Halloween, with its high sugar intake for at least a week following trick-or-treating, marks the beginning of cold and flu season.