We chat with Zach Bush MD about his dedication to demystifying the immune system and reimagining our relationship with the natural world around us.
Off the back of our newest release, The Immune Elixir, we consult CEO and founder of ION*, Zach Bush MD to get his perspective on one of the most widely misunderstood bodily systems: the immune system.
Dr. Zach is a physician specializing in internal medicine, endocrinology and hospice care, but you can be forgiven for associating him more closely with his ground-breaking work exploring the microbiome and its relationship to health, disease, and our food systems. There is no denying, Dr. Zach’s unifying message of connection with nature and our intrinsic ability to heal can be innately recognised by us all.
If you are willing to reconsider your body as an organic garden and are open to understanding that your immune system starts at your gut, we encourage you to read on, and perhaps leave forever changed.
What have you come to learn about the immune system?
“Historically, we have considered the human immune system to be a battleground for warding off the myriad of germs and external threats from the outside world. We believed a healthy human body was a sterile human body. As the last 10 years of science around the microbiome has emerged, we now understand the healthy human body more resembles an organic garden, with many different ecosystems of cooperative organisms working in and around us to optimize our regenerative capacity at the cellular level.
Diverse bacterial species in the gut serve a critical function and foundation for a healthy immune system, and we have even extended that understanding to internal organ systems including the liver, kidneys, prostate, and the brain. These organs that were once thought to be completely sterile in the healthy state are now understood to have unique ecosystems of flora that help reduce inflammation, improve cellular communication, deliver resources to those human cells, and even detox the organ systems they inhabit.
To fully adopt this science globally, we are going to have to redefine our immune system as a relationship with the world within and around us. We can take solace in knowing that human health is not a story of opposition to our natural ecosystem, but the result of our nature. We would not be here if not for the imagination and cooperative behaviour of the microbiome that predated human life by 4 billion years. If these microbes were against us, we would have never emerged as a species.
Our presence on this beautiful Earth is the highest evidence of a conscious and benevolent nature, fostering humanity not only into our existence, but perhaps into our highest expression. At the tipping point of the 6th great extinction, we are being invited back into relationship with this planet. We each showed up right now to be part of this radical revolution of human consciousness, in which we will find ourselves in a new humanity and see our own beauty within the context of nature.”
The Journey of Intrinsic Health is a revolutionary 8-week immersive community and learning experience with @zachbushmd. It’s designed for people ready to take responsibility for their health and embrace their own miraculous journey. Explore your own self-knowledge intimately , while gaining a deep comprehension of your body and its innate genius functionality.