ARP: Week 54

Focus: Relaxing into our journey, knowing we are travelling the right way and are exactly where we need to be.
Repetition: I am healing this miraculous body that has been generationally and environmentally wounded. I was born for such a time as this. I am here, now, for this purpose.

Why Cytokines Get Out of Balance

We will talk about cytokines this week. The links below can be used to go in depth if you want to learn more. As always, keep in mind that research can be dysregulating for some of us and is not actually necessary. We know what our bodies need to heal!

I have shared an overview of how ARP brings cytokines back into balance, the same way it brings the whole body back into balance. The information is always there if it makes you feel better to research and know the nerdy details :-D If you find it makes you fearful or pulls you into an endless cycle of needing all the answers, you will benefit more from trusting the process and knowing you are doing what your body needs to feel safe and regenerate.

Reference reading:

The Whole Network

Cytokines are the messengers your immune system uses to talk to the rest of your body. When they are out of balance in chronic illness, it is almost never one broken pathway. It is the whole network: your metabolism, your mitochondria, your immune system, your microbes, your nervous system and hormones, and your body’s ability to repair.

The things that push cytokines out of balance are the things we have been working on all along. Chronic immune activation, low energy in the cells, toxins and endotoxins signalling “danger,” missing nutrients and not enough protein, a nervous system stuck in sympathetic mode, a broken daily rhythm and too little light, reactive mast cells, a leaky gut lining, and a stressed microbiome all play a part.

Together these tip the body toward too many inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) and not enough of the ones that calm and resolve inflammation (IL-10, and TGF-β in balance). The immune system loses its natural rhythm, and repair goes sideways into fibrosis, pain, inflammation in the brain, and fatigue.

Everything we do in ARP helps the immune system calibrate and resolve the way it was designed to.

Animal Fat and Complete Protein

Animal protein and fat give the body what it needs to rebuild. Essential amino acids make glutathione, collagen, and immune proteins. Cholesterol repairs cell membranes and makes our hormones. The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2 regulate the immune system and keep our linings strong. Carnitine, carnosine, and taurine support the mitochondria and protect the cells. Enough protein moves the body out of stress and breakdown mode and into repair mode.

A stronger gut lining lets less endotoxin (LPS) through, vitamins A and D help the different immune cells stay in balance, and glycine and collagen help the body resolve inflammation.

Mary Ruddick and Jen Donovan both teach this so well: when we are nourished, the immune system no longer has to stay on high alert because of scarcity.

Low Anti-Nutrient, Gentle Plant Foods

In sensitive bodies, plant defence compounds like lectins, oxalates, and high histamine or high FODMAP foods can irritate the gut lining, set off mast cells, and raise IL-1β and TNF-α after every meal. When we lower that irritation, the gut immune system calms down, mast cells release less, and the body can relearn tolerance.

This is not about cutting out plants forever. It is about choosing the safest, least reactive foods while the nervous system and immune system recover.

Ketosis and Metabolic Flexibility

Ketosis helps cytokines in several ways. Beta-hydroxybutyrate, the main ketone, calms the NLRP3 inflammasome, one of the body’s big inflammation switches. The mitochondria make energy more efficiently, so the cells send fewer danger signals. Steadier blood sugar means fewer spikes in IL-6. Autophagy increases, clearing out damaged cells and proteins. The brain’s immune cells settle down too. The body moves out of constant watchfulness over blood sugar and into a calmer, energy secure state, where chronic inflammation trends down and the immune system still works when you need it.

Natural Detox and Drainage

Too many inflammatory cytokines often means the body keeps sensing something it needs to get rid of: biotoxins and environmental toxins, heavy metals, mould, toxins we inherited from our childhood and our ancestors, and waste from microbes. When we support sweat, lymph movement, bile flow, hydration, and gentle binders where needed, the immune system has fewer alarms to answer and less oxidative stress to deal with.

The goal is never aggressive detox. The goal is restoring the body’s natural rhythm of elimination so the alarm signals quiet down on their own.

Sunshine and Your Daily Rhythm

Sunlight gives us so much more than vitamin D. It sets our circadian genes, our melatonin (which works in the mitochondria and calms inflammation), and our cortisol rhythm, with a proper morning rise and evening wind down. Better sleep boosts IL-10 and the pathways that resolve inflammation. Vitamin D guides our T-cells. A steady rhythm keeps the body from being inflamed around the clock, helps collagen and tissue repair, and is a powerful detox. Our immune systems run on rhythm, and when our days have no rhythm, neither do our cytokines.

Grounding and a Calmer Electrical Environment

Touching the earth and lowering artificial electromagnetic exposure may help balance the body’s electrical charge, improve blood flow and circulation, raise vagal tone, and support nitric oxide. Some newer research has shown lower CRP and IL-6, better oxygen to the tissues, and less sympathetic “danger” signalling with grounding. Grounding does not treat a disease; it turns down the background noise that keeps the immune system on alert.

Nervous System Regulation and Trauma Healing

This is the master lever. Being stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn is one of the strongest drivers of cytokine imbalance. Cortisol swings make the immune system unstable, low vagal tone keeps inflammation from resolving, the brain’s immune cells get primed for inflammation and fatigue, and mast cells become more sensitive.

Trauma, generational stress, and long seasons of hardship can keep the body in threat mode, where cytokines act like early warning messengers. Breathwork, slowing down, safe connection with people, prayer, somatic work, and cold and heat where appropriate all bring the body back to parasympathetic mode. The vagus nerve then quiets inflammatory cytokines, the gut moves and seals better, and the immune system comes back into balance.

Feeling safe in your nervous system comes first, and the biochemistry follows.

Putting It All Together

All of these work together because they move the body from scarcity and threat, where the immune system stays vigilant, mast cells react, and repair stalls, to nourishment and safety, where immune signals are balanced, inflammation resolves, and tissue is restored.

We are not turning cytokines off. We are teaching the body that it is safe to stop signalling danger.

You are getting so good at this! Look at all the beautiful work you are doing, and relax into your present space and time.