 | COVID-19 has many people feeling anxious, but knowing that things within our own power may improve our odds of having a mild case can be very calming. So here are my top ten ideas for simple things -- most of which are completely within our power to do, that will likely reduce our risk of being harmed by the COVID-19 virus. |
Most people know about Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory, but not as many realize that by the end of his life, Pasteur is said to have also embraced the competing theory of his day -- the Terrain Theory advanced by Antoine Bechamp – which suggested that the “terrain” (meaning the health of the host) played an important role in determining if/when diseases might take hold in our body. We may be most likely to increase our odds of having a good outcome after encountering COVID-19 by combining both of these theories. Here are things you probably have the power to implement right now -- that do just that.
| 1. Reduce your exposure to COVID: |
Or at least to reduce what is called the “viral load” if you are exposed.
There is some evidence (from other viral diseases) that the number of virus particles in an initial exposure may impact the level of severity of symptoms that develop if one does come down with the disease. This may explain why some first responders, with no obvious co-morbities -- but who may be exposed to large amounts of the virus have gotten so sick. Hand washing or hand sanitizing is probably THE most important thing to do to prevent getting and spreading coronavirus.
Keep a sanitizer or even hydrogen peroxide spray in your car too – and every time you get back in the car, first thing spray or wipe down your hands, steering wheel, door locks and anything else you touch. Carry sanitizer with you when you shop too and every time you touch anything – sanitize your hands again. Even if you don’t inactivate every single virus particle, getting most of them will still lower your risk.
There is some evidence (from other viral diseases) that the number of virus particles in an initial exposure may impact the level of severity of symptoms that develop if one does come down with the disease. This may explain why some first responders, with no obvious co-morbities -- but who may be exposed to large amounts of the virus have gotten so sick. Hand washing or hand sanitizing is probably THE most important thing to do to prevent getting and spreading coronavirus.
Keep a sanitizer or even hydrogen peroxide spray in your car too – and every time you get back in the car, first thing spray or wipe down your hands, steering wheel, door locks and anything else you touch. Carry sanitizer with you when you shop too and every time you touch anything – sanitize your hands again. Even if you don’t inactivate every single virus particle, getting most of them will still lower your risk.
| 2. Drink plenty of pure water all day long |
Staying adequately hydrated improves resistance to disease and helps all or organs to function optimally including those that allow us to detox and remove waste products.
| 3. Eat a heart disease reversing diet |
Heart disease has been our number one killer since long before we heard of COVID-19 and is now considered one of the major factors putting people at risk of death from the virus.
Only one diet has ever been shown (in the published scientific literature) to arrest and even REVERSE established heart disease and it is a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet. That is a diet that excludes meat, dairy,eggs, fish, oil, sugar and refined flour.) Data suggests that in as quickly as two weeks of eating only beans, vegetables, fresh fruit, and whole grains, plus small amounts of nuts and seeds, people can drop their blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and dramatically cut the level of inflammation in their body – quickly reducing their risk of heart disease.
So this is a great time to adopt the WFPB Diet. Not only is it likely to help you weather the pandemic better, but once we are through this crisis, you will have lowered your risk of the diseases that actually cause far more premature death than the 1-4% mortality associated with COVID-19
Only one diet has ever been shown (in the published scientific literature) to arrest and even REVERSE established heart disease and it is a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet. That is a diet that excludes meat, dairy,eggs, fish, oil, sugar and refined flour.) Data suggests that in as quickly as two weeks of eating only beans, vegetables, fresh fruit, and whole grains, plus small amounts of nuts and seeds, people can drop their blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and dramatically cut the level of inflammation in their body – quickly reducing their risk of heart disease.
So this is a great time to adopt the WFPB Diet. Not only is it likely to help you weather the pandemic better, but once we are through this crisis, you will have lowered your risk of the diseases that actually cause far more premature death than the 1-4% mortality associated with COVID-19
| 4) Eat legumes (beans) every day: |
In addition to heart disease, having diabetes or high blood sugars makes COVID a more dangerous disease, and eating legumes (especially if eaten in place of meat) are one of the best things you can do to improve blood sugar control. If eating beans gives you gas – try eating lentils or start with just a spoonful of beans a day and increase this amount gradually over several weeks – once your gut bacteria adjust, gas usually goes away.
| 5) Eat leafy greens at least once each day: |
Even better -- eat them with every single meal!
One of the mechanisms that appears to contribute to COVID mortality is having a high level of chronic inflammation in the body. Did you know…every time you consume a romaine salad, or cooked spinach, kale or chard, for a few hours after doing so, there is a measurable decrease in your level of inflammation? How many times a day would you like to dampen down inflammation? That’s how many times you should eat greens.
Eating greens at the beginning of a meal also flattens the curve of your blood sugar response to whatever you eat after it as well, helping to prevent diabetes -- another of the major comorbidities associated with COVID mortality.
One of the mechanisms that appears to contribute to COVID mortality is having a high level of chronic inflammation in the body. Did you know…every time you consume a romaine salad, or cooked spinach, kale or chard, for a few hours after doing so, there is a measurable decrease in your level of inflammation? How many times a day would you like to dampen down inflammation? That’s how many times you should eat greens.
Eating greens at the beginning of a meal also flattens the curve of your blood sugar response to whatever you eat after it as well, helping to prevent diabetes -- another of the major comorbidities associated with COVID mortality.
| 6. Optimize your gut microbiome: |
The bacteria in our gut play a critical role in the function of our immune system. Eating a high fiber diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables encourages the growth of good gut bacteria. A healthy microbiome facilitates a healthy immune system and helps to reduce inflammation throughout the body. People with high levels of chronic inflammation may be at increased risk of harm from COVID -19 infections. Studies suggest that after just two weeks of replacing meat, dairy and eggs with whole unprocessed plant foods changes the microbial population in our gut to favor those that have been shown to down-regulate the level of inflammation in our body.
| 7. Build your blood's oxygen carrying capacity: |
Drink beet juice. Growing evidence suggests that COVID-19 kills not so much from pneumonia, but rather by reducing a victim’s blood of it’s oxygen carrying capacity. Did you know that beet root juice is so effective at increasing the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, that professional athletes have used it as legal form of, “doping” before a competition?
| 8. Protect your glutathione levels: |
Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that can help protect your major organs during an infection. The drug Tylenol can reduce glutathione levels and may be a factor contributing to some people getting seriously ill. While the nutritional supplement, N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) can actually increase your glutathione levels, and NAC appears to offer special protection to lung tissue too. Some doctors recommend taking 500 mg of NAC twice a day as a preventative and then if COVID symptoms develop take NAC 5 times a day.
| 9. Consider taking vitamins C, D3 and Zinc |
All of these nutrients play a role in boosting immunity and even sub-clinical deficiencies of any of these, may contribute to being more vulnerable to infectious diseases.
This recently published paper (screen shot below) suggests that vitamin D status may be an important predictor of severity of COVID-19 disease.
This recently published paper (screen shot below) suggests that vitamin D status may be an important predictor of severity of COVID-19 disease.
But what If in spite of doing all of these you do become seriously sick?
| 10. If you do become seriously sick: |
One of the most promising (and safest) treatments being discussed is very high dose intravenous vitamin C. Though getting access to this treatment may be difficult. THIS PAGE has information related to this. In addition -- those seriously ill with COVID disease appear to need oxygen (hence the ventilators) however front line ER doctors have come forward suggesting that COVID patients do NOT benefit from that oxygen being delivered with pressure -- and that because of this, ventilators may actually be killing people when they are used with too high of pressure settings...but that simply giving them oxygen (and C-pap machines can do this) might be life-saving in such cases without the risks that ventiliator inadvertantly contribute.
Take your health in your own hands – and you just may end up feeling the best you ever have – once this pandemic passes.
