Episode 154: Mitochondria and Your Health

Have you ever heard of mitochondria? What about mitochondrial health? Think real hard, maybe back to middle school science (coulda been highschool the first time I heard about them).

If you were able to vaguely scratch from your memory that they are the powerhouse of your cells - you are correct. Our cells are made up of “parts” called organelles. Think of them as tiny organs inside each cell that have specialized functions (kind of like a smaller version of you).

There are approximately 10 million billion (yeah that is a number) in the human body and they cycle through life and death fairly rapidly. Mitochondria are like tiny factories that take what we eat and the oxygen we breathe and turn it into energy that powers our organs.

Today we are talking about these little powerhouses of the cells, these mitochondria, and what impact they have on your health. With this little glimpse into what mitochondria do - you can bet they are important for your health. In fact, mitochondrial health is one of the first things that must be addressed BEFORE jumping into any healing protocol. I like to address it right alongside drainage. Let’s dig in.

Have you ever been talked to about your Mitochondrial Health?

Has anyone in your entire medical history talked to you about those little mitochondria? We know that mitochondria have a huge role in things that have an effect on your daily life - like aging, disease, immunity, cancer, and fatigue. They are part of your stress signaling pathway, mitochondria are part of your energy production and metabolism too.

It has been determined that mitochondria play a huge role in tumor suppression and oncogenes with studies indicating that altered cellular metabolism via mitochondria is both contributory and causative in cancer.

Mitochondria also play a role in viral immunity - the condition, formation, and function of these billions of cells are both critical to maintaining your health.

And lastly, in 2011, studies confirmed that a defect in mitochondrial function in one single tissue in the body has consequences for the whole body. This study was done in mice and confirmed in humans. So rather than thinking of them as powerhouses for the cell - think of them as powerhouses for your entire body, that not only produce energy but also help to detoxify, fight infections, regulate immunity, repair DNA, store calcium, and generate heat! Usually, when I spill all of this info - people want to know - why haven’t I heard about this before?!

So what does all this mean for you? Mitochondria power nearly everything we do, I have only mentioned a few things here so far - this would be far to long to list them all. And mitochondrial health is critical - absolutely critical for your expression of wellness. And it is one of the first things (alongside your drainage pathways - to work on to balance your health).

Mini-Case Study

Recently I had a client, early 40s, previously super active, had some immune system insults in the form of a virus (ya know THE virus), and even though they had officially been recovered for months - they just didn’t have the oomph to start working out again, in fact, they didn’t have the endurance for much of anything.

One of the first things we looked at was their energy and drainage - are all the drainage pathways functioning as they should AND let's look at these spectacular little powerhouses!

We found through routine bloodwork (a CBC and CMP) that her mitochondria were not healthy - specifically because the virus had likely wiped them out. This is a typical post-viral syndrome that is occurring with THIS virus.

Once we started nursing those cells back to health and ensure that the drainage pathways were functioning again we were able to get her from zapped to moving again in about 6 weeks!

Why healthy mitochondria?

Having healthy mitochondrial function helps your body to:

• Produce and metabolize oxygen and energy
• Prevent disease
• Regulate immunity
• Detoxify properly (including EBV, heavy metals, lyme, mold, HPV, parasites just to name a few)

These things damage our mitochondria:

• Oxidative stress
• Mental/Emotional Stress
• EMF Stress
• Chemical/toxin stress
• Prescription and over-the-counter medications and illicit drugs such as acetaminophen, antibiotics, aspirin, NSAIDs, Statins, Cocaine, Methamphetamine (including ADHD meds), and many other commonly used medications.

This shows up in our human suits as fatigue, sleeplessness, catching many viruses, infertility, hormones out of whack, inability to lose weight, premature hair graying, overactive appetite, lack of motivation, exercise intolerance just to name a few.

7 Steps to Healing Your Mitochondria

1. Sunshine. You are solar powered by the sun. Just like the plants. You need sunshine every day and when you can’t get sunshine every day - you must supplement with sunshine in a bottle (Vitamin D3 - make sure it has k2).
2. Magnesium. Your mitochondria need magnesium. Did you try magnesium and it didn’t help with your other symptoms? Doesn’t matter because you need it for your mitochondria.
3. Sleep is critical. You can find my 2 sleep episodes: sleep hygiene here and when you need extra sleep help here. Restorative sleep allows the brain to clear the waste and maintain healthy mitochondria.
4. Avoid toxins. Easier said than done - but you must do what you can, there are simple changes that go a LONG way such as swapping out those toxic household cleaners, detergents, and cosmetics and avoiding plastics as much as possible.
5. Grounding or Earthing. This can be combined with getting your sunshine! Grounding or earthing is the practice of applying bare skin to the Earth. This allows the body to draw in electrons to neutralize free radicals and enhance positive physiological responses. Sounds crazy but there is reliable scientific data behind this practice. Aside from all of the benefits for your body and there are a ton - grounding impacts the health of your mitochondria by allowing them to do less work to get rid of accumulated waste.
6. Work on your polarity. When the polarity is off in your body - just like when you put the battery in the remote upside-down - things just don’t work right. I will be sharing in the Wellness Circle this week about some simple energy tricks to fix your body’s polarity in a flash!
7. Get Help. Sometimes you need more than just the above to recover from a mitochondrial deficit. Don’t suffer, ask for help with your mitochondria and energy levels.

More questions?

If you have more questions about mitochondrial health and how this might be affecting your ability to heal from chronic illness and heal from the root causes of your troubles, I would love to have join us in the Wellness Circle, my exclusive and free community to help women pursuing holistic wellness, body, mind, and spirit and discussions around the Root Cause Revolution Podcast and even some free office hours on Fridays to get your private questions answered - friends chronic disease is a preventable and autoimmune disease is capable of being healed or put in remission (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise you deserve to feel good!) You can get the direct link on the show notes page or at audreychristie.com/facebook

To wrap this up - your mitochondrial health is one of the keys to your health and vitality (and maintaining your natural hair color). I encourage you to tune in and notice if your mitochondria need support - might this be your missing link?

Remember that I am always rooting for you, friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,