COVID-19 Prevention
Besides washing your hands thoroughly and often, avoiding crowds and staying in, here is how you can prevent contracting the coronavirus. They all involve boosting up your immune system.
· Eat well! That means more fruits and vegetables. They are rich in Vitamin C, which will boost your immune system. Supplementing with 1,000mg or more daily might be considered.
· Avoid refined sugar and flour, sodium from highly processed foods and vegetable oils. They are empty in nutrients and inflammatory, which will decrease your immune system over time.
· Kiss the sun! Spend 10 minutes outdoors in the early hours of the day. I understand the importance and recommendation to stay in. However it is healthy to get some sunshine so utilize an outdoor area, such as your backyard, the beach or a park where you can be at a distance from others.
· Take a Vitamin D supplement, especially if living in a colder climate. A dose of 2,000 to 5,000 IU daily for couple months is generally safe.
· Get your snooze! Go to bed at a reasonable time. During sleep we activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PSN), the one responsible for resting, digesting and healing. When the PSN is activated we boost up our immunity.
· Hydrate! Drink plenty of fluids. Take your weight in pounds, divide the number by two and the resultant number is the minimum amount of fluids in ounces to drink daily. Keeping yourself hydrated is important for few reasons:
o When your mouth and throat are dry the virus may enter your trachea and lungs easing infection. When your mouth and throat remains moist by drinking water or herbal teas, every 15 minutes, even when in contact with the virus the liquid will wash the virus to the stomach through your esophagus. Once there, gastric juices will kill the virus due to its acidic pH.
o It boosts your immunity. Enjoy the power of herbs: Tulsi, ginger or lemon tea will enhance your immune system. Star anise has a naturally occurring compound called, Shikimic acid, that is synthesized to produce an antiviral drug used to treat and prevent influenza A and B. We do not know if its effective against coronavirus but it will certainly keep you hydrated.
· Breathe deeply! Ah… this one is also so important for few reasons:
o It relaxes you! It activates the PSN, so again, it boosts your immune system and your healing properties are activated. Stressing over getting sick with COVID-19 is counterproductive as it decreases your immunity.
o It also helps you to assess your lung function. Inhale deeply and hold it for 10 seconds. If you are able to accomplish that without any discomfort, feeling dizzy, chest tightness or coughing it means that there is no fibrosis in your lungs, which means no coronavirus infection. With this new strain of the virus you might not show signs of infection for up to 20 days. By the time you present with fever and cough your lungs may be already 50% compromised with fibrosis.
Staying healthy may be your best prevention tool.
Wishing you great health,
Anamaria Pontes, MS, RD, CDN