PERSPECTIVE and a CALL TO HEALTH
I have been attempting to organize my multitude of thoughts about what is going on here and in the world at large.
Why are so many people vulnerable and sick? Why are many/most not sick, and even asymptomatic? How did we get to this place of immune system vulnerability? For the most part, we have been told, regarding COVID-19, that the people most at risk are the elderly and immune-compromised.
Let’s discuss what immune-compromised means and who falls into that category. Fundamentally immune-compromised means a person’s immune system is not functioning optimally. It’s either underactive (not strong enough) or overactive (as in autoimmunity, where the system overreacts and self-destructs). In either case, resistance is dysfunctional, thereby allowing foreign invaders like bacteria, toxins and viruses to wreak havoc, causing inflammation, illness and death. An overactive immune system can be just as harmful as an underactive one.
Most of us are born with a great potential for health. What makes us fulfill that potential, or significantly diminish it, is within our control. If you are or have been a patient of mine then you already know the control factors, but just in case, here they are:
DIET. We are what we eat. If we eat food laced with toxins like pesticides, herbicides, synthetic hormones, or GMOs, we are poisoning ourselves and compromising our immune system. If we eat processed foods with minuscule nutrient value then we are not nurturing our cells. If our cells go unnurtured, meaning not being nourished with the nutrients they need to function optimally, then their health, and thus ours, becomes compromised. In case you don’t already know, nourishing foods are: Organic vegetables & fruits, lean protein like wild fish, pasture-raised chicken and eggs, grass-fed, hormone-free beef and dairy, legumes, nuts and seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, whole grains. NOT white bread, pasta, sugar, fried food, fast food, factory-farmed meat and poultry.
EXERCISE. There are so many benefits to exercising. It turns on our mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, making each cell work better and more efficiently. It increases our metabolism, gets rid of toxins, relieves stress, enhances brain function (so makes us smarter ☺). It improves mood and is still the best treatment for depression. It also enhances our immune system!
ATTITUDE. Is the glass half empty or half full? So much in life is a matter of perspective, and in this we have a choice. How does attitude affect health? Well, it’s directly related to STRESS. Negative attitude = increased stress. There is much research out there on how stress is the number 1 killer. Too much stress compromises our immune system. So if you are worrying all the time, or always or too often seeing your glass half empty, then you are compromising your immune system. What’s the antidote? How do we change our attitude? Well, Gratitude is big right now ☺. It might be a good idea to write down at least one thing you are grateful for every morning. It could be anything; your cozy bed, hot water in your shower, loving someone, being loved, Dr. Anthony Fauci (just sayin’) -- anything that makes you smile.
OK, so those are some ideas of how to boost one’s immune system through diet and lifestyle. I have written before about supplements, so will not get too much into that here. But the basics for right now, in these particular times, are: Vitamin C 3-5 grams/day, Vitamin D (best to have levels checked) but 3000-5000 IUs/day is a good start, Zinc (30-90mgs/day), Quercetin, Astragalus & Andrographis, and probiotics. If one has autoimmunity then some good nutrients are Hops extracts (not from beer), Ashwagandha, Reishi mushrooms, Artemisia, Sarsaparilla. For more personalized dosing please call or schedule to discuss. Not everyone needs all of the above.
SO NOW I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HOW WE GOT HERE
I have written many times about the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” But, sadly, that is NOT how our healthcare system works. Ours is a wait-until-you-are-sick health care system; wait until your blood sugar gets so high that you need metformin, wait till your cholesterol gets too high and then take statins (which comes with its own set of problems), wait until you are doubled over in pain before you change your diet, wait till you need a knee or hip replacement. AS IF there is no such thing as prevention, nothing else to do but wait for deterioration and then treat. In my view, there is something very, very wrong with this way of thinking, and I believe it got us where we are right now.
Moreover, I am not only talking about our internal environment but what we are doing to our beautiful planet! Poisoning our oceans, rivers and lakes, heating up our atmosphere with fossil fuels, having cattle and chickens living in inhumane, unnatural, toxin-producing environments. This is the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and we can only be as healthy as our environment -- internally and externally. More on this environmental aspect is beautifully written by Kate Brown, from The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/the-pandemic-is-not-a-natural-disaster
And coincidentally, as I was writing this blog, it turns out that Jane Brody, the Personal Health columnist for New York Times for the past 44 years, was thinking and researching the same, and wrote this wonderfully informative, call to health article. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/well/eat/coronavirus-diet-metabolic-health.html?referringSource=articleShare
IS IT TOO LATE?
NO! At least I hope not! I believe it’s never too late to turn one’s health around. It’s not even that difficult. It just takes knowledge, commitment and perseverance. The knowledge part is only difficult because, sadly, healthy lifestyle choices are so rarely addressed in mainstream medicine. Even with this current crisis, barely anything is said about how to protect oneself aside from social distancing, wearing masks, and washing one’s hands. This, even though the most vulnerable are the IMMUNE COMPROMISED, such as those with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, which for the most part are all avoidable illnesses!!! How about building up our defenses, i.e. our immune system?! That way, if we are exposed, which many of us, I am all but certain, have been, we can fight it off. We can be among those asymptomatic people whose immune system is taking care of us as it was meant to do.
So much about this awful virus is unknown. That is why it is so frightening, and why we have to do all we can do to protect ourselves and each other. I am writing this blog to hopefully help empower you a bit. To say there are things you can do to increase your chances of not only surviving this, but of also preventing the other serious illnesses that have been with us a long time: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, autoimmunity. It is these diseases that make us more vulnerable to COVID-19 right now, and although we’ve grown used to them -- while clinging to the belief that pharmaceutical medications will save us -- they continue to kill countless more people than COVID-19. They just do so more slowly; taking more time, yet also taking many more lives.
All right, I will get off my soapbox. It’s just that I do feel very emotional about this. I’ve known since I was a little girl that whole grains were better than white bread, that sugar was not good for you, that vegetables were health-giving, that pollution was bad. That was 60 years ago. Why do so many not know this today? And now here we are, socially isolating, wearing masks, and waiting for some miracle drug.
I strongly believe there is another way. And taking care of our health, and the health of our environment, in my mind, is the best way!
Thank you for reading.
With Love.