How to cure COVID-19? Tried staying healthy lately?
What a crazy preposterous idea! The idea I apparently should be ashamed of!
The idea, that food can help us manage our COVID-19 status? That food can change our emotional and mental state? Our physical health? How well and long we live?
There’s this book and the whole movement documented by National Geographic and other well-established publications and accepted by the whole anti-aging/longevity community of researchers, there’s this concept of Blue Zones, “hot spots” of centenarians, people who live to 100 healthy and well. Sort of. As aging is accumulated damage.
One of the foundational defining pillars of centenarian health in Blue Zones is food. Nobody questions it. We aren’t talking about some superfoods but the overall quality of the diet.
And yet when it comes to COVID-19 some medical authorities, actually almost all of them, deny the importance of a healthy diet.
One of the distinct features of all centenarians — well functioning immune system, that keeps them safe and thriving. Immune system — that’s the result of a good diet and a healthy lifestyle.
A healthy body can’t exist without a healthy, nutritionally adequate diet of good quality natural foods.
Immune system, the one that has been protecting us for centuries, evolving, getting better, our immune system too can’t exist and function without a proper diet.
So yes, a healthy diet will not cure you of COVID-19 but a healthy immune system might, immune system that needs healthy food to function, immune system that needs very specific nutrients that many people in today’s world are documented to be deficient in — vitamin A, D, Zinc.
Do you see the connection as clearly as I do?
You know why I’m personally not afraid to get COVID-19? I trust my immune system to do its job because I take care of it daily — sleep, a healthy nutritionally-adequate diet, exercise, stress management.
I don’t hope. I do.
I’m not bulletproof but I make sure I give myself the best chances. Do you?
When I approached one of the restaurants with an idea of designing a few menu items to deliver immune-supporting nutrients in a delicious way — vitamin A and D, Zinc, Copper, Selenium, Iron etc — the owner told me I should be ashamed of myself trying to prey on our common tragedy, on people’s vulnerability in a distress situation of this pandemic.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!
When did providing nutritionally balanced meals to support our immune system with the nutrients it needs to function instead of feeding people “comfort food” that very often compromises our immune system, our immune response, when did it become a tool to take advantage of people, the tool I should be ashamed of?!
I believe it’s just ignorance. So I never took it personally. It showed me how screwed up our nutritional knowledge and food/health wisdom are. You ask most people on the street where they get their vitamin A and D in foods and most don’t have a clue. But they for sure will tell you what’s on the menu of their favorite “comfort” food takeout restaurant. Isn’t that what we should be ashamed of as a society?
Only blind at this point won’t see that the most severe cases of disease are present in people with either A) nutrient deficiencies B) metabolic disorders — diabetes and heart disease, increased inflammation C) people with compromised immune function because of other reasons.
We designed a food system that provides a lot of products and very little health.
So, Instead of being afraid, feeling like everything is out of control and chaotic — join me and cook some cod liver today instead. Or at the very list start taking cod liver oil on a regular basis.
Instead, make sure you eat all the nutrients essential for a healthy immune system. Here is a great short article from a nutrition researcher Matt Wright I recommend — “Why we need to eat well during a pandemic”. And a FREE e-book Matt and his team made for all of us to help us feed our strong immune system — “Boost your immune system. Fight Covid-19”.
Instead, sleep 8 hours a night. Every night. Early.
Instead, exercise every day. Get outside. Get some Sun. Breathe some fresh air.
Instead, connect with people you cherish in your life. Support each other. Virtually, if you have to.
What a crazy idea to even consider, that it can actually help us all better than any vaccine ever could!
You know why vaccines and pills are always more popular than lifestyle and diet changes?
Not because they are not as effective but because they allow us to stay lazy, eat all the comfort crap we want and sit on our asses checking Twitter for the latest news updates instead of the good old exercise, that has been proven to reduce all-cause mortality. They allow governors to blame each other, and researchers for not being fast enough instead of re-designing our food supply, helping people to eat for health VS food giants’ profits.
What a preposterous crazy idea indeed!
The silver lining?
Dear reader, you still have a choice to build your personal health and support your immune system. The information is out there. Use it.
