Nutrition - The Lymph System

What most people know about the lymph system is that when someone is sick their lymph nodes are swollen and can be felt in the neck.

There is so much more to the lymph system – it is the keystone to nutrition and good health.

Here are some basics on how the lymph system works:

·       Protein, oxygen, water, vitamins and minerals all nourish the 50 trillion cells of the body through the lymph system.

·       There is about four times the amount of lymph in the human body as there is blood. There is no pump for the lymph system, unlike blood, which has the heart as a pump.

·       Every cell of the body is surrounded by lymph. The lymph not only carries nourishment to each cell; at the same time the lymph system carries away the waste products from the cells.

Imagine your lymph system is like a river. You live on that river. You drink from the river. You eat fish from that river and plants that grow from that river’s water. That arrangement sounds pretty good – right? Well it is until your neighbor bathes his cow in the river and the factory upstream dumps waste into your river. In addition, a beaver built a dam and your river isn’t flowing well. Now the river is not such a grand place to live, in fact it can make you sick… and does. When you are sick your cells have toxic waste materials which then pollute all neighboring cells making the sick too.

When an analogy works I will run with it. The good thing is that you do not have to be a victim of your lymph system – you can take charge. Over the next month I will present ways to pump fresh water, increase the flow, stock good fish and plant life, be on friendly terms with your neighbors and make sure the factory is under EPA guidelines.

Here is another example of the why it is important to have a healthy lymph system. A study was done with chicken cells that were kept alive for over 20 years (way longer than chickens live). They just kept the fluid surrounding the cells clean and well nourished. So the implications of a clean, well-nourished lymph system vs. a polluted and meager lymph system are drastically different. What can this mean for your 50 trillion cells?

Over the next few weeks I explain different things you can do to help keep your lymph system at its best! This will not only improve the quality of your life, but will also increase the longevity!