Lymph & Immune System
Autoimmune Diseases
A class of diseases in which the immune system attacks the body's own tissues — caused by junk food, pollutants, and nutritional deficiencies — improved by a low-fat plant diet, GLA-rich oils, blueberries, pineapple enzymes, and ginkgo biloba.
Also known as: autoimmunity, immune dysregulation, autoimmune disorder
📝 At a glance
Likely root causes: Inadequate nutrition and junk food eating.; Environmental and workplace pollutants.; Mercury amalgam dental fillings..
First thing to try: Eat only nutritious whole food.
See a doctor if: See a doctor if symptoms are severe, persistent, or worsening, or if you are unsure — natural supports are meant to complement, not replace, professional care.
🔎 Start with the cause
Lasting relief rarely comes from covering a symptom. First find what is feeding the problem, change what you can, and then help the body do what it was designed to do — heal.
Likely root causes
- Inadequate nutrition and junk food eating.
- Environmental and workplace pollutants.
- Mercury amalgam dental fillings.
- High saturated fat diet (per Roy Swank, M.D.).
- Poor immune systemYour body's built-in defense team that fights off germs and helps you heal. More → condition from lifestyle factors including tobacco, alcohol, and excess animal products.
Change what you can
- Eat only nutritious whole food.
- Take a full vitaminA natural substance your body needs in small amounts to stay healthy, like vitamin C or D. More →-mineralA natural building block your body needs in small amounts, like calcium or magnesium. More → supplement.
- Avoid meat, saturated fat, caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco.
- Take 2 Tbsp. daily of raw flaxseed oil (no other oils).
- Take magnesium (375 mg daily) — purslane is the richest plant source.
- Black currant oil (or borage or evening primrose oil) — for gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), helpful in all autoimmune disorders and especially MS.
- Blueberries contain oligomeric procyanidins (OPCs) — help prevent autoimmune destruction and reduce inflammationThe body's natural response to injury — like redness, swelling, or heat around a sore spot. More →.
- Pineapple enzymes (pancreatin and bromelain) break down circulating immune complexes that activate the immune attack.
- Ginkgo biloba contains ginkgolides — reduce inflammatory and allergic processes.
- Coenzyme Q10 (90 mg daily) improves circulation and tissue oxygenation.
- Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) with vitamin C keeps cell walls permeable and aids detoxification.
🌿 Then assist nature: remedies & protocols
With the cause being addressed, these are the actual things people do for this — ranked by the community. Vote ▲ on what helped you and ▼ on what didn't, and open How to do it for the steps. Each shows two quick signals: Evidence (how much science backs it) and Gentleness (how safe and in keeping with whole, natural health).
★ Start here — our first-line pick, pinned for safety
A supportive dietary foundation to use alongside medical care — never a substitute for your prescribed treatment plan.
How to do it ▾
Why it works: Diets lower in saturated fat and higher in plant fiber and antioxidants are associated with less systemic inflammation, which may ease the burden on an already overactive immune system.
- Build meals around vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.
- Limit red meat, fried foods, and full-fat dairy.
- Add a source of omega-3 fats such as ground flaxseed or walnuts daily.
- Continue this pattern steadily over months, alongside prescribed treatment.
Ongoing, at least 8-12 weeks to notice a difference · Daily
Caution: Autoimmune diseases require ongoing medical supervision — this diet supports but does not replace prescribed treatment. Discuss any major diet change with your doctor, especially if you take medications affected by vitamin K or protein intake. Do not stop or reduce prescribed immune-modulating medication because of diet changes.
When to get help: Seek prompt medical care for new or worsening severe symptoms such as difficulty breathing, chest pain, sudden severe weakness, or high fever.
Source: RemedyRank editorial review
Comments & experiences ▾
Also helps — ranked by the community (vote to reorder)
A simple, low-risk addition to a supportive whole-food diet.
How to do it ▾
Why it works: Berries and colorful produce are rich in polyphenols and antioxidant compounds that help neutralize the oxidative stress associated with chronic inflammation.
- Add a half-cup of berries to breakfast or a snack most days.
- Include a variety of colorful vegetables at lunch and dinner.
- Choose fresh or frozen unsweetened berries over sugary processed versions.
- Continue consistently as part of an overall healthy eating pattern.
Ongoing dietary habit · Daily
Caution: This is a supportive dietary habit, not a treatment for autoimmune disease activity. People on blood thinners should discuss any significant increase in vitamin-K-rich vegetables with their doctor.
When to get help: Seek prompt medical care for sudden severe symptoms, high fever, or difficulty breathing.
Source: RemedyRank editorial review
Comments & experiences ▾
A gentle way to manage fatigue and flares alongside medical treatment.
How to do it ▾
Why it works: Adequate rest reduces physical stress on the body, which can otherwise aggravate immune flare-ups, while gentle movement maintains circulation and joint mobility.
- Plan for 7-9 hours of sleep nightly and short daytime rest breaks if needed.
- Add 10-20 minutes of gentle activity like walking on good-energy days.
- Scale back activity during flares rather than pushing through.
- Track energy patterns to find your sustainable pace.
Ongoing daily rhythm · Daily
Caution: Overexertion during a flare can worsen symptoms — listen to your body's signals. This does not replace prescribed medication for controlling disease activity.
When to get help: Seek prompt medical care for sudden severe joint swelling, chest pain, difficulty breathing, or high fever.
Source: RemedyRank editorial review
Comments & experiences ▾
How the numbers work: a weighted voting system — trusted published sources cast endorsement votes for each protocol, and your ▲/▼ adds to them. Not medical advice.
🩺 When to see a doctor
- See a doctor if symptoms are severe, persistent, or worsening, or if you are unsure — natural supports are meant to complement, not replace, professional care.
🌿 The seven pathways to health
Seven pathways for your autoimmune diseases — tap the circle to check one off (saved on your device), or ask Remy for help.
“Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health... In case of sickness 1cause should be ascertained, 2go to work intelligently to remove the disease. 3Unhealthful conditions should be changed, 4wrong habits corrected. 5Then nature is to be assisted in her effort 6to expel impurities and 7to re-establish right conditions in the system.”
🌿 Overview
Autoimmune diseases occur when the body's immune systemYour body's built-in defense team that fights off germs and helps you heal. More → turns against part of itself. Conditions in this class include multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and many others. The underlying cause is generally inadequate nutrition, junk-food eating, environmental pollutants, mercury fillings, and other immune-disrupting factors. Dr. Roy Swank, M.D., spent 20 years studying the problem and found that high saturated fat in the diet consistently makes autoimmune diseases worse. A low-fat, unsaturated-fat diet consistently helped patients. Natural compounds from specific foods and plants have shown promise in managing many autoimmune conditions.
Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which the immune systemYour body's built-in defense team that fights off germs and helps you heal. More →, which normally defends against germs, mistakenly attacks the body's own tissues. There are many — including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and thyroid conditions — and they arise from a complex interplay of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors that is still being understood, rather than from any single cause.
These are genuine medical conditions that generally require diagnosis and ongoing treatment by doctors, often specialists, to control the immune attack and protect the affected organs — natural remedies cannot replace this care. However, supportive lifestyle measures can genuinely help wellbeing and may ease symptoms alongside treatment: an anti-inflammatoryA food or habit that helps calm swelling and redness in the body. More →, whole-food, plant-forward diet, regular gentle activity, good sleep, managing stress, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight. Because autoimmune conditions vary so widely and can affect many organs, persistent unexplained symptoms — fatigue, joint pain, rashes, or others — deserve medical evaluation to reach an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.
Common signs
- Highly varied, depending on which tissues the immune system is attacking.
- May include: fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes, muscle weakness, nerve damage, digestive problems, recurring infections, inflammation, and organ dysfunction.
🍃 Supporting foods & habits
The gentle, everyday foods and supports that help in the background — secondary to the active remedies above. Vote on what helped you.
An anti-inflammatory, whole-food diet may help calm symptoms — a support alongside the specialist care autoimmune conditions need.930
How the numbers work: this is a weighted voting system — every published book or article recommending a remedy counts as an endorsement vote, and your ▲/▼ counts too. Not medical advice. *Ties are broken by our editor score (sources, safety, simplicity, cost, lifestyle fit, eight-laws alignment).
🍽️ Eating to help
Food is one of the gentlest medicines — small, steady changes help most.
Low-fat, whole-food plant diet. Raw flaxseed oil (2 Tbsp. daily — the only oil used). Blueberries, pineapple, magnesium-rich foods (purslane, poppy seeds). No meat, saturated fat, caffeine, alcohol, or tobacco.
⚖️ Good to know
- Natural remedies support but do not replace medical care. Stop anything that causes a reaction and check with a professional if unsure.
⚕️ What a doctor may offerConventional treatments for this condition — for your information.Show ▾
RemedyRank's heart is natural healing — and honest information. Here is what conventional medical care commonly involves for this condition, listed to inform, never to promote. Decisions about treatment belong with you and your own physician.
Autoimmune diseases are managed by specialists with medications that calm the overactive immune system.
Commonly offered
- Accurate diagnosis of the specific disease–
- Anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating medications–
- Disease-specific treatments and biologics–
- Monitoring and managing flares–
Worth knowing
- Persistent unexplained symptoms (fatigue, joint pain, rashes) deserve evaluation.
- These need specialist (e.g., rheumatology) management.
- Be cautious of 'cure' claims and unproven protocols.
👍/👎 shares whether a treatment helped you — community experience, not medical advice. For full professional details, see the sources under “Learn more” below.
📚 Learn more
Sources for further reading. These open in a new tab.
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