Prevention is Better Than a Cure- How You Can Fight COVID-19 Through What You Eat.
Today, I ran into a friend – we’ll call him Victor – who works in sales in the IT industry. “You won’t believe what happened,” he began. What? I wondered. He travels often to Asia and recently returned from a trip to Singapore and Indonesia. Three weeks after he returned to the United States, he got sick.
This is a problem.
The sickness started as bad congestion, the kind that often turns, he mentioned, into a once-a-year really bad sinus infection. He called his primary doctor, a MD, for an appointment. Normally, and before he met me, he would go to his MD who would treat his sinus congestion with a steroid shot (which works by depressing the immune system), merely treating the symptoms. (As a note, steroid shots may have dangerous side effects, such as increased incidence of cancer and osteoporosis, in contrast to alternative natural treatments. But back to Victor’s story).
This year was different for Victor, however. His doctor refused to see him. He was not allowed in the office.
His doctor was concerned that, because of his recent travel history, he might have the COVID-19 virus. Because of this concern, his doctor would not see him. In actuality, the COVID-19 was very unlikely to be the cause. Victor was in Singapore and Indonesia in late January, not Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the disease. Also, COVID-19 has a two-week incubation period, but Victor’s symptoms came three weeks after his return to the US. Finally, Victor’s symptom was a sinus infection rather than the characteristic COVID-19 symptoms of fever, shortness of breath, cough and overall malaise.
Still, his doctor refused to see him.
Even worse, Victor’s doctor didn’t even offer him testing to see if he had the COVID-19 virus. Instead, the doctor flatly refused to see him, giving him no advice and no hope.
Even more amazing – and even more frightening – it might not have mattered if Victor’s doctor did see him: Traditional medicine has no effective treatment for the virus. There is no effective drug and the vaccine is currently not available to the general public. In fact, today’s doctors have about as much to offer as they did in the 1800s. They recommend things like washing hands, staying away from public places and wearing face masks. These methods, however, are close to ineffective in protecting you if you are healthy. In reality, they are only effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19 to others in the case that you are already sick. They can only offer prevention. They offer no treatments.
Luckily, even though modern medicine has no effective treatments for the virus, there is a lot you can do naturally. Where modern medicine is powerless, the healing power of food and the body shines. Below is a list of six recommendations for boosting your overall immune system as well as a list of three recommendations that specifically help strengthen your body against the COVID-19 virus.
Overall Immune Health
Decrease consumption of refined sugars and carbohydrates- Sugar and refined carbohydrates raise your blood sugar. Elevated blood sugar lowers your immune system up to 75% for 4-6 hours. It also feeds pathogens like bacteria, parasites and fungi.
Make sure you are getting enough rest- Go to bed at a consistent hour. Getting enough sleep optimizes immune function.
Stay hydrated- Drink half your body weight in ounces of clean water, preferably natural spring water.
Optimize Vitamin D- You can do this in two ways: The first way is through sun exposure (10-40 minutes per day when the sun is strongest). Stay in the sun until your skin begins to show the first bit of color – but never stay out long enough to burn. The second way to get vitamin D is through the diet, either from foods like egg yolks, salmon, liver, mushrooms and spinach or from supplements.
Optimize Stress levels- High levels of stress increase cortisol. Cortisol suppresses immune function.
Consume more Zinc and Vitamin C rich foods- Both are vital for immune health.
Specific Treatments for COVID-19
Raw garlic 1-2 cloves per day. The garlic must be raw, crushed, exposed to air for 10 minutes, then consumed.
Dr. Andrew Weil’s story on The Kevin Rose Show (a podcast) sheds light on the healing power of garlic:
In one Chinese county of the Shandong province – a county where most of the garlic in China is produced and in which there is very high garlic consumption – not a single person of the 1.3 million people who live there or the 30,000 who worked in Wuhan have been infected with coronavirus.
Herb Astragalus. This Chinese herb is a strong anti-viral. Its long-term use is okay, and it has been well-researched.
Healing foods. These would include bone broth, lemons, limes, onions, Apple Cider Vinegar and ginger as well as healing mushrooms like shiitake, maitake, oyster and reishi.
For further information
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