Boost Your Immune System During Coronavirus Pandemic and Beyond

Following these recommendations will help to boost your immune system and your general health over time, although they won’t necessarily make you immune to coronavirus.

However, boosting your immune system and keeping it strong will likely result in you having milder symptoms and for a shorter duration if you do happen to catch the virus. Or your immune system may even deal with it fast enough to not notice any symptoms at all.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the first line of protection is social distancing, thorough and regular hand-washing, sterilizing surfaces (including counters, door handles, light switches and cell phones) and avoiding touching the face, including the eye area. Regular, proper hand-washing is a highly effective way of reducing the spread. Also, watch out for some of these most germ-ridden surfaces: restaurant menus, supermarket trolley handles, door handles, petrol pumps, magazines in waiting rooms, and gym equipment.

Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and running water. Or when out and about, use a hand sanitizer containing at least 60–70% alcohol, but remember that regular, long term use of anti-septic soap and sanitizers is damaging to your skin and kills your good bacteria.

Strengthening your immunity will not only help to protect you against coronaviruses and other acute infections, but it will also reduce your susceptibility to chronic illnesses. Your overall health will improve, making you less prone to common chronic ailments like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. And you will probably feel and perform better and be able to think more clearly.

Our bodies are actually quite resilient and are designed to thrive if we make these healthy lifestyle choices.

The most important keys to boost your immune system are:

• Getting enough quality sleep is absolutely crucial.
• Regular, moderate exercise is a key contributor to a healthy immune system and body.
• A healthy, balanced, mostly plant based diet, avoiding processed and junk food.
• A few supplements can be very beneficial, especially vitamins C and D, zinc and magnesium.
• Minimizing stress is central to long term health.

1. Sleep

Sleep is probably the single most important factor required to boost your immune system so that it does its job well. Research shows that people who are sleep deprived, or who get consistently poor quality sleep, are not only more likely to get sick when exposed to a virus, but they also take longer to recover from illness.

Studies also show that individuals getting 6 or less hours of sleep a night are more than 4 times more likely to catch a cold compared to those getting 7 or more hours of sleep.

When you sleep you recover from illness and from exercise, curb inflammation, boost cognitive function and memory, improve your metabolism, boost your immune system, and lower blood pressure. Studies even show that melatonin, produced during quality sleep, down-regulates cancer genes.

Your immune system requires a lot of energy to fully perform. It ramps up its activity during sleep, when it has more energy available compared to daytime when the muscles, brain, digestion and other activities are going on. This is why symptoms such as fever, sore throat, body aches and chest congestion are often worse at night while the immune system is working harder to fight the infection.

Cytokines, the primary messengers controlling immune system responses, are produced and released during sleep. Cytokines are also used to signal sleep phases when fighting an illness; staying longer in the deep sleep phase where the focus is body repair and maintaining a fever. Also, T-cells, which recognize and attack invaders, are more effective during sleep.

Most adults need 7–9 hours of sleep each night, but if you are fighting an illness you might need 10 hours or more. It turns out that most people who say they can function on 5–6 hours of sleep are chronically sleep deprived, though a very small minority are genetically predisposed to be able to, along with some monks and others who meditate deeply for long periods each day.

If your body is fighting an infection such as coronavirus, listen to it and take extra rest during the day if needed. Don’t try to push through your fatigue if you can avoid it. A short power-nap of 15–30 minutes can work wonders. Longer than 30 minutes may affect your night-time sleep, but probably not if your body really needs it.

Ways to Improve Your Sleep

For optimal sleep you should keep to a regular sleep time and wake-up schedule 7 days a week, have a completely dark (use block-out blinds/curtains), cool bedroom and take time to unwind at the end of the day. Keep your bedroom clean and tidy; make it a peaceful sleep sanctuary.

Your sleep routine really begins with a good morning routine. As soon as you get up drink plenty of water, herbal tea or fresh vegetable juice (2–3 glasses), get some sunlight, and take a few deep breaths. If its not too cold, grounding your bare feet on the Earth for at least 5–10 minutes is very healing.

Expose your eyes to natural daylight as much as possible, especially first thing in the morning. And get bare skin exposure for 15 minutes (depending on the season and your latitude) in the middle of the day, without sunscreen for vitamin D and good hormonal health.

Rebounding, doing the ‘health bounce’ on a rebounder is the best way to get your lymphatic system moving in the morning. This is important for keeping the immune system functioning well. If you can, make time to do some yoga, stretching, or tai chi, or go for a brisk walk. Getting some exercise every day is very helpful for getting quality sleep.

Avoid or reduce artificial light exposure after sundown or for at least 1 hour before bedtime. That includes cellphones, TV, and computer screens. Most computers and mobile phones now have night light settings to reduce blue light output, or you can use software or an app such as flux or CF.lumen. Use low lighting, like amber light bulbs rather than bright fluorescent or LED bulbs, especially for the last 2–3 hours before bedtime. You could also wear red glasses to completely block the effect of artificial light in the evening (TrueDark). If you need to get up during the night, don’t switch on any bright lights.

Wear blue-blocking glasses to reduce the effect of blue light, which blocks the production of melatonin in the evening. It is advisable to also use blue-blocking glasses to protect your eyes from computer screens and artificial indoor lighting during the day (TrueDark).

Keep all electronics, including cordless phones and electronic alarm clocks out of your bedroom, put your cellphone on airplane mode and switch off the WiFi (Electricsense.com).

To transition into the parasympathetic, ‘rest and digest’ phase, you can do deep diaphragmatic breathing (the yoga breath), gentle singing or humming, meditation, massage and spending time in nature.

Avoid caffeine, especially after midday or 2pm at the latest. Don’t eat or exercise too close to bedtime. Have dinner at least 2–3 hours before bed. Avoid alcohol in the evening as it affects your sleep cycles and reduces deep healing sleep.

Many sources of toxicity can interfere with your sleep, so detoxify your life as much as you can by using the most natural and organic products. Sources of toxicity include chemicals in non-organic produce, food additives such as coloring and preservatives, toxic indoor air from paints, carpets, glues etc, heavy metals, mold toxicity, toxic skin care and beauty products, toxic emotions and unresolved trauma, gut infections, parasites, and watching too much TV / news especially at night. Conditions like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and digestive disorders can also affect sleep.

Try taking magnesium or use a topical magnesium gel 1–2 hours before bed to help your body relax. Use calming essential oils like lavender, vetiver, rose, bergamot, chamomile, frankincense and ylang ylang in a diffuser before bed. Practicing gratitude and forgiveness before sleeping can also help you to relax and sleep more soundly.

Chronotype, TrueDark (vs Swannies), Oura Ring, Dream Essentials Sleep Mask, Earplanes Ear Plugs

2. Healthy Diet

A nutritious diet is essential for staying healthy. Our immune system relies on a constant supply of nutrients to do its job well. Choose foods first as your primary source of nutrition over vitamins and other supplements.

It is usually also necessary to supplement with a few key nutrients that are lacking in our food these days, even in a good balanced diet. Or your body may need an initial or intermittent nutrient boost, which can then be maintained with a healthy balanced diet.

While vitamins and supplements can help fill in a few gaps in your diet, the best way to load up on most essential nutrients is to get them straight from food. However, building a strong immune system requires maintaining healthy eating habits over time. It’s not enough just to eat healthily for a few days or to eat a whole lot of oranges one day and hope that that does the trick.

Eat whole foods, rather than packaged, processed foods. At least half of your diet should consist of vegetables and fruits, organic wherever possible. Also include protein-rich legumes, beans, and healthy fats like avocados, nuts, coconut oil, and olive oil.

Eat the rainbow diet. Colorful fruits and vegetables are full of beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants. The more colorful they are, the greater the range of health and immune boosting vitamins and nutrients you are getting. Phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their color and flavor. They support the immune system, protect cells against damage from free radicals (oxidizing agents), and help in the creation of healthy cells and the death (apoptosis) of unhealthy cells such as cancer cells.

The old saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” has a lot of truth to it. Apples contain many beneficial phytonutrients, including the immune boosting compound quercitin.

In addition, the ‘New Biology’ has discovered that plant foods contain exosomes that hold genetic information essential for a healthy functioning body. It is as if we have outsourced part of our genome to plants (Greenmedinfo).

Some of the healthiest foods include broccoli, leafy greens, carrots, sprouts and micro-greens, oranges, apples, berries, pomegranate, papaya, kiwifruit, watermelon, nuts and seeds. Sulfurophane is a potent detoxifying and anti-cancer compound found in broccoli and is particularly concentrated in broccoli sprouts and fermented broccoli sprouts.

If possible eat organic fruits and vegetables so that your body doesn’t have to deal with the toxic pesticides. (internal link to organic food article). If you can’t afford to eat organics, at least avoid the dirty dozen conventionally grown

Remember the acronym SOL (Spanish for sun) – eat Seasonal, Organic, Locally-grown produce as much as possible. This is better for you, better for the environment and better for your community.

Buy natural foods, basically that are not canned or packaged, and avoid junk food! Wheat and dairy-based foods are generally aggravating for the body and immune system, while also being addictive. They actually create opiates that can leak through the gut wall and affect the brain just like morphine.

Eat small, frequent meals throughout the day to stay energized and to ensure your body is getting enough calories, proteins and nutrients.

Your immune system needs fuel, so make sure you are getting enough complex carbohydrates, proteins and healthy fats to keep it running well, but minimize or stay away from high glycemic index and highly processed carbohydrates like white bread, pastries, white rice and potatoes, which quickly turn to sugar and deplete your immune system and your mood.

Eat smaller meals and snacks regularly throughout the day (every 3–6 hours) to keep up the nutrition and calories required for the immune system. This is particularly necessary for people who a going through illness such as cancer or fighting an infection.

Eating regularly (every 3–4 hours) and getting around 60 grams of protein per day, is also the way to keep your adrenal glands healthy and balanced.

Your two adrenals, located on top of each kidney, are responsible for producing and controlling stress hormones. Keeping stress hormones in check is one of the most important ways to protect your immune system since chronic stress is one of the hardest blows to your immune system.

Avoid or reduce sources of inflammation as much as possible. Inflammation in moderation is a healthy response of the immune system, but excessive and chronic inflammation is potentially damaging to the body and it depletes the immune system, which is in a perpetual state of high alert.

Inflammation-inducing and allergy-causing foods include highly processed foods (most packaged foods), refined sugars and carbohydrates including high fructose corn syrup, fatty red meats, trans fats, food coloring, preservatives, and alcohol. Also, for many if not most people, gluten and dairy products can damage the gut lining, causing leaky gut, inflammation and subsequent toxicity and weakening of the immune system.

Best Ways to Cook Veges for Maximum Nutrition

As a general rule, keep cooking time, the amount of liquid and temperature to a minimum. Steaming is usually the best way to preserve the nutrition in veges, especially for broccoli. Never boil veges unless you are keeping the liquid for a broth/soup or to drink. Boiling leaches nutrients out of vegetables into the water.

Lightly sauteing in a healthy oil such as extra virgin olive oil is better than frying. Olive oil also helps in the absorption of healthy phytonutrients, such as carotenes and phenols, from the vegetables.

Roasting and baking at low temperatures is also a healthy way to cook, and the addition of fats like olive oil or coconut oil helps in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins and nutrients from vegetables.

Griddle in a pan with raised edges and a tiny bit of olive oil rather than grilling. This method works well for green beans, broccoli, Swiss chard, celery and onions.

Avoid soaking veges and only wash them right before cutting. If possible, cook veges whole. If that’s not possible, cut into large, even-sized pieces.

How To Determine the Perfect Diet For You Right Now

One reason there isn’t one ideal diet that is perfect for everyone is because we each have a gut microbiome that is incredibly unique and interacts differently with the food that we eat. It is our individual gut microbiome that dictates our personal dietary needs, which diets will work for us and which ones won’t. In addition, our microbiome constantly changes and foods that may be good for us right now could change over time based on what’s going on inside the gut microbiome community.

Fortunately, you don’t have to try to guess or experiment with your diet any longer. Viome’s gut microbiome test gives you clear insights into what you should and shouldn’t be eating.

Your gut health, and in turn your immune and general health, depends on what is happening in the gut microbiome, not just on what microbes are there. Microbial activities can indicate whether your gut’s environment is nurturing or hostile, and give information about your digestion such as whether or not you are digesting your proteins or fats properly, or if your microbiome is making enough beneficial nutrients like butyrate.

Viome sequences the microbial RNA from your stool sample using a technique called metatranscriptomics. Knowing which biological pathways are turned on or even overactive in your gut microbiome, you can take biologically well-informed action through appropriate diet and key supplements that optimally support your gut and overall health.

This specific, targeted nutritional advice gives you the power to tailor your diet and supplements to boost beneficial microbes and starve the harmful, overactive ones, bringing your gut microbiome back into balance.

According to Naveen Jain, the founder and CEO of Viome, even though we all share 99% of the same DNA, our guts are so diverse that we only share about 5% of the same microbiome communities.

So what this essentially means is that what is healthy food for one person may not be so healthy for someone else. So called ‘Healthy’ foods are not necessarily good for everyone.

“There’s no such thing as universal healthy food,” Naveen says, “and the food that’s good for you today may not be good for you three months from now, because our gut microbiome is constantly changing.”

For example, if you find yourself constantly hungry even after you have eaten, you may need more inulin-based foods that contain a prebiotic fiber that helps with satiety. Foods that contain inulin fiber include oats, artichokes, garlic, leeks, onions, and white beans.

However, for some people eating inulin-based foods can cause health issues because they contain oxalates, which are naturally occurring compounds found in many healthy foods like spinach, almonds, and chickpeas. More than a third of people who have been tested by Viome are unable to properly metabolize oxalates, and so they can accumulate in the body.

There is a big misconception that we need a super high protein diet, often with the belief that we must eat animal protein every day. If you eat too much protein, the gut microbiome can struggle to digest it which can create harmful byproducts that can affect your cardiovascular health and overall well-being.

Some diets like the Atkins and ketogenic diet tout the benefits of low carbohydrate intake, while diets like ‘The Zone’ are proponents of high carbohydrate consumption. To confuse matters further, research often offers conflicting data, which is probably because no single diet fits all.

The body has an amazing ability known as ‘metabolic flexibility’ that allows it to switch back and forward from burning glucose (from carbohydrates and sugars) to burning ketones (from fats) for fuel. Being able to transition smoothly and easily between these two fuel sources is key for a healthy response to carbohydrates in the diet.

An amazing fact is that your microbiome can convert carbohydrates into amino acids that are the precursors to proteins. Your microbiome makes 20% of your branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), and it will adapt, creating different BCAAs depending on what you eat and the environment it’s in.

A Viome microbiome test can not only show you what you should and shouldn’t be eating, it can also tell you whether or not your microbiome is metabolizing some of the starches from your food and converting them into amino acids. You can get a $10 discount off your first Viome test using the coupon code HEALWELL.

Newer research is also discovering connections between chronic inflammation, caused by imbalances in the gut microbiome, and mental illnesses like depression, anxiety and even Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. There’s a fundamental connection between the brain and the gut, which is often referred to as the second brain. The vagus nerve extends all the way to the colon and sends vital information about our intestinal health to our brains. Also, the gut produces about 90% of your serotonin and 50% of your dopamine, the feel-good, happy hormones.

Vegetable Juicing

Juicing vegetables is excellent for healing the gut, healthy looking skin, reducing weight, improving your mood, and many many other things.

Juicing removes the fiber so you can absorb the nutrients from a lot more vegetables than you could normally eat. You can drink the juice of 10–30 lbs of vegetables in a day, but you could never eat that amount of raw vegetables. Juicing is the easiest way to get a high intake of raw vegetable food and a very healthy form of water.

A certain amount of fiber is good for your digestive tract and microbiome, but it fills you up fast and it doesn’t contain nutrients. Juice is full of concentrated vitamins, minerals, beneficial phytochemicals, complex carbohydrates and even some proteins and healthy fats. Vegetable juice is absorbed quickly and easily.

Cabbage juice is the best way to heal the entire gastrointestinal tract. Cabbage juice can heal peptic ulcers and many other gastrointestinal disorders better and faster than any medicine. However, you should drink a quart a day!

You may also substitute broccoli, kale, cauliflower, watercress, mustard greens, turnip green, and Brussels sprouts. All these are cruciferous family vegetables. However, it is extremely important to use only organically grown produce, as any pesticides and other chemicals will also be concentrated by juicing many vegetables.

These juices aren’t necessarily tasty, though some people don’t mind cabbage juice. Mix it with carrots, beets, apples, grapes or other sweet fruit to improve the taste. You can juice any vegetable that you can eat raw, but try to make the juices tasty or you won’t want to keep making and drinking them! Note that if you do add other fruits and vegetables, then you are diluting the cabbage juice, so instead of 4 glasses, you might need 6 or 7 glasses a day.

You can scrub carrots instead of peeling them, but the skin of beets doesn’t taste very good, so peel them to improve the taste. A helpful tip for juicing leaves such as cabbage or broccoli leaves is to wrap them around a carrot to push them more easily into the juicer.

Juice fasting gives your alimentary canal a rest and a chance to heal. It’s a good idea to do a few days of juice fasting every month.

Charlotte Gerson, the daughter of Max Gerson who created ‘Gerson Therapy’ says, your body doesn’t heal part way, but entirely, so healing your gastrointestinal tract allows the whole body to heal.

The basis of Gerson Therapy [website] is drinking 6–10 glasses of organic vegetable juice every day and detoxifying the liver by doing coffee enemas. A healthy liver is the secret to the regeneration of the entire body. If you have a healthy liver, your body is able to fight cancer. Other key elements of Gerson Therapy are an organic plant-based diet, supplementation with extra vitamin C, niacin, B12 and iodine.

Gerson Therapy and IV vitamin C are two cancer therapies that have shown great success for many people. The liver can rebuild every 18 months, so give Gerson therapy more or less that amount of time to work. It requires commitment and determination to stick to the program, but the rewards are great.

[The best juicers for Gerson Therapy, if you can afford them are Pure, Norwalk and the Champion Juicer, or the Omega for lower budget, but avoid cheap centrifugal juicers]

Before you detoxify your liver you should make sure that your gastrointestinal tract is functioning efficiently in order to excrete toxins from the liver [see The Toxin Solution detox protocol book].

Juicing and high doses of certain vitamins can even reverse multiple sclerosis and autoimmune diseases (Klenner protocol). A sick body needs much more nutrients than a healthy body, and that is especially the case for healing the nervous system.

Intermittent Fasting

When are in a healthy condition and you don’t need to eat regularly to fuel your immune system during an illness, intermittent fasting is a great way to improve your health.

Intermittent fasting boosts the immune system, stimulates the clearing and recycling of old and damaged cells, promotes DNA repair, and improves insulin sensitivity. Thus fasting has an overall healing effect and it can help to protect you against many different diseases.

Research shows that intermittent fasting can boost your metabolism as it promotes an efficient metabolic pathway called ketosis and increases growth hormone levels. During fasting, you use up significantly less nutrients and you are able to retain them in the body better.

A recent study showed that fasting on alternate days for several weeks stimulates significant fat loss with no significant loss in muscle mass. Fasting can be very therapeutic for your body, but you should do it under guidance.

3. Hydration

It is very important to stay hydrated with plenty of pure, clean water. Our bodies are about 70% water. Along with nearly all biochemical functions in the body, water helps to produce lymph fluid, which carries white blood cells and flushes out toxins.

Dehydration is a physical stressor to the body. Ideally we should get 8–10 glasses of fluids per day including vegetable juices, soups, herbal teas and clean water. When you first get up in the morning, drink two to three glasses of water, fresh vegetable juice or herbal tea.

There are many different opinions about what is the best water. The best is probably pure spring water from its natural source (findaspring). In most places tap water is far from ideal.

Avoid bottled water, as plastic pollution is a huge problem, and the quality of bottled water often isn’t nearly as good as claimed, or is even questionable.

The next best alternative to natural spring water is a filter. There are also sorts of filters from reverse osmosis, to distillation, to ionizing filters. I use and recommend ProPur filters. The filters are highly effective, last a long time and don’t require electricity to run.

Also, eat hydrating foods like cucumbers, celery and watermelon; in fact a plant-based diet of vegetables and fruits is much more hydrating than a diet of predominantly processed, packaged foods and animal products. Reduce your intake of dehydrating beverages like coffee and alcohol.

4. Exercise

Exercise is a simple and powerful way to rev up your immune system and reduce stress, anxiety and depression. You just need 30 to 60 minutes a day of low to moderate intensity exercise, which could include walking, running, cycling, yoga, tai chi, swimming, or your favorite sport.

Multiple studies in humans and animals have demonstrated the profound impact that exercise can have on the immune system. There is a general consensus that regular bouts of short-lasting (i.e. up to 45 minutes) moderate intensity exercise is beneficial for boosting immune defense, particularly in older adults and people with chronic diseases.

If you sit all day at a desk, it’s very important to get up regularly and move. As they say, “Sitting is the new smoking.” You could try a Pomodoro timer (Focus-To-Do or Pomodone App) to increase work efficiency and in the 5 minute breaks you could walk around, do some stretches, jump on a rebounder, or go outside for some fresh air.

Like in all things, balance and moderation is the key. Some stress is needed and is a good thing – for example, without the stress of gravity your body would weaken and atrophy as happens to astronauts. However, it is important not to go overboard on exercise.

A recent study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32139352?mod=article_inline) found that high-performance athletes have an increased risk of infection. Elizabeth Bradley, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine, says “Exercise helps boost the immune system, but we have to be careful not to overexercise because it can weaken your immune system,” Heavy exercise can deplete the body of the energy that is needed for keeping the immune system running properly and for general maintenance and repair.

5. Relaxing and Calming the Mind and Body

The more you stress out about catching coronavirus or anything else, the more it can suppress your immunity. So it is important to minimize stress by avoiding stress inducers as much as you can and doing calming practices such as meditation, yoga and deep breathing.

You can also lower stress levels by taking the time to do things that you enjoy such as spending time outdoors, in nature, with family, reading, listening to relaxing music, playing a musical instrument, or doing art or creative writing.

The media typically hypes things up to make them seem more dramatic and scary, so go on a news-watching diet. Preferably look at the news earlier in the day and not close to bedtime when its time to wind down and relax to prepare for a deep, healing sleep.

We have been conditioned into believing that in order to be a responsible member of society we should keep up-to-date with the news. But really, it is mostly just infotainment in the end, a source of conversation with others and revenue for the mass media. And most of it is negative, so why not feed your mind and soul more uplifting, positive things?

Bruce Lipton says that stress is a primary causal factor of 90% of chronic disease in America. Dr Joe Mercola says “Chronic stress, even at low levels, may damage your heart, impair your immune system, hinder your digestion and raise your risk of chronic disease.”

Stress raises cortisol, which switches off the activity of your body’s immune system cells. When you are running from a lion your body puts all of its energy into the cardiovascular system and muscles so you can run fast. The immune system is not important in that moment. But these days, the stress in people’s minds makes their body’s believe that they are constantly running from a lion.

When you think positive, happy thoughts, your body’s immune system functions much better than when you think negative, angry or fearful thoughts. Look for the silver lining even in the tough times. Life is not all wine and roses, but we can learn from all experiences and to be grateful for what we have.

There’s a lot of truth in the saying “Laughter is the best medicine.” Charlie Chaplin said “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” To boost your immune system and wellbeing watch or listen to comedy, laugh with friends or do laughter yoga (https://laughteryoga.org/).

In fact, laughter has been used by many people to help heal themselves of serious terminal illnesses. The most famous case was that of Norman Cousins who healed himself of ankylosing spondylitis by watching comedy all day and taking high doses of vitamin C, after having been given just a few months to live (https://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/norman-cousins-anatomy-of-an-illness/).

One of the most powerful ways to fully relax and up-regulate the body’s healing parasympathetic nervous system is to practice guided yoga nidra relaxation for 30 minutes or more.

The HeartMath Institute (https://www.heartmath.org/) teaches simple breath and focus techniques based around the heart, which can relieve stress in just 3 minutes by harmonizing the heart and the brain.

If you are particularly stressed or anxious and you find that these relaxation methods aren’t helping, you could try taking medicinal cannabinoids if they are legal in your area.

CBD (cannabidiol) can help you calm down and give you a sense of peace while the world around you is going crazy, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. CBD has been shown to have a profoundly positive effect on the immune system. It does this primarily by reducing the overall level of inflammation in the body, which can in turn reduce the load on the immune system. Not surprisingly, CBD has also been shown to help with sleep.

Two recently discovered cannabinoids, CBC and CBG, which like CBD are non-psychoactive, have also been shown to have incredible healing properties.

CBG stands for cannabigerol and is the precursor to many other cannabinoids. It is a powerful neuroprotectant, helping with brain and nervous system conditions, it’s a powerful pain reliever, treats bowel and digestive conditions and has antibiotic and antibacterial properties. CBG has also been shown to boost the body’s production of anandamide, the body’s ‘bliss molecule’.

A recent study showed that CBC, also known as cannabichromene, has 10x the effect of CBD on relieving depressed moods. It is also an effective relaxant and pain reliever, it enhances neurogenesis (growth of brain and nerve cells), and it is anti-viral.

Dozens of studies now show that CBC, CBG and CBD are most powerful when they are combined – this is called the ‘entourage effect’. One study showed that CBD was up to 3x more powerful when taken with CBC, CBG, and other natural cannabinoids. One reputable, high quality full-spectrum CBD supplement is Prosper CBD’s 1000mg Full Spectrum Oil (https://prospercbd.com).

Mindplace, Brainwave Love, Zen12, iAwake

Full yogic breath, Presence process, Transformational breath

KEY NUTRIENTS TO SUPPLEMENT

Your body generally absorbs and uses vitamins and nutrients better when they come from a natural food source. It’s often questionable how much benefit you’re actually getting when you take supplements.

Therefore, it is important to choose high quality, well-researched supplements, as cheap supplements might even do more harm than good, as well as wasting your money.

For many nutrients, especially vitamin C, B complex, niacin, niacinamide and magnesium, you get the greatest efficacy by dividing the doses throughout day. This is the key.

6. Vitamin C

Vitamin C is one of the most effective immune system boosters of all. In fact, a deficiency of vitamin C is likely to you more prone to becoming sick. The good news is that vitamin C is in so many foods that people who eat a healthy rainbow diet may not need to take a vitamin C supplement most of the time. However, modern cultivation practices mean that much of our supermarket produce is much less nutrient dense than it used to be.

Daily intake of vitamin C is essential for good health because your body doesn’t produce or store it, although most other mammals can (a few species that don’t make vitamin C include bats, guinea pigs and primates). That points to our interdependent relationship with fruit, which supplies what we need to be healthy, while we in exchange, disperse its seeds.

Vitamin C improves immune system function by helping to increase the amount of antibodies circulating in the blood and helping to produce lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system to identify what kind of attack is needed.

Vitamin C is essential to any detoxification program, because it is used by the body for energy to process and eliminate toxins. It may also help to decrease some of the side effects of detox, such as headache or nausea. Vitamin C is water soluble, so it is stored close to the skin, where it helps remove toxins and flush them out with the sweat, as well as urine and bowel movements. It is also very effective in removing heavy metals from our system. Vitamin C also neutralizes free radicals that form during the first phase of detoxification in the liver.

More and more studies are showing the multiple benefits of extra vitamin C for disease prevention and treatment.

Researchers report that Vitamin C, in high doses is an antitoxin, an antihistamine, an antiviral, an antipyretic (lowers fever), an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory, and it’s even an antidepressant. Vitamin C treats depression through helping the formation of epinephrine from protein. And the body needs vitamin C to build collagen and thus to repair tissues. High dose vitamin C has even been used to get people off narcotics in a couple of weeks without withdrawal symptoms.

High doses of vitamin C can be used to treat allergies, such as asthma, even bee stings, since it is an anithistamine. It has been known for over 80 years that high dose vitamin C strengthens the immune system against viruses and is an anti-viral that can successfully treat severe viral illness, including pneumonia, hepatitus and polio. IV vitamin C has even been used to stop the symptoms of AIDS.

In addition, studies are starting to find that Vitamin C could help to modulate levels of cortisol levels, the stress hormone. Cortisol plays an important role in your body, but when it’s out of whack it can contribute to unwanted stress responses such as a suppressed immune system and weight gain.

Generally, it is best to get the daily vitamin C you need from vitamin C rich fruits and vegetables like kiwifruit, strawberries, blackcurrents, guavas, broccoli, red and green capsicum, oranges, mandarins, tangerines, grapefruit (careful, because grapefruit interferes with many medications and with detoxification), acerola berries, camu camu (the highest concentration natural food source), spinach, kale, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.

However, to boost your immunity more quickly and to help treat illnesses such as coronavirus infections, colds and even some cancers you should supplement with extra vitamin C. For serious illnesses like cancer and viral pneumonia, IV is best as it can achieve levels well in excess of the required 1000 umol/L in the blood, although at least one study demonstrated vitamin toxicity to cancer cells at the 400 umol/L level achievable using liposomal vitamin C.

Vitamin C powders and tablets can help, especially a good quality balanced supplement such as BePure. The problem is that to get the required dosage for treating acute illness you need to take near bowel tolerance levels, which means as much as you can without causing stomach upset or diarrhea. Most people don’t do this. Even then, it’s still not highly assimilated into the blood stream – you end up excreting a lot of it out. Ascorbate (2000–3000 mg per day) is better tolerated by the gut than ascorbic acid or rosehips. The body converts ascorbate into vitamin C.

“Take enough C to be symptom free, whatever the amount might be”, says Andrew Saul. The amount varies depending on the individual and the disease. If you get to the point where you are having a lot of flatulence, tummy rumbling, soft or loose stool, that is your bowel tolerance level for oral vitamin C.

Taking divided smaller doses throughout the day, rather than one big dose is a good way to avoid bowel symptoms as well as being more effective. Avoid taking time release tablets, as they may not break down properly in your stomach, especially for older people. It is better and cheaper to take regular divided doses of ascorbic acid and take enough to be effective.

Sodium ascorbate is non-acidic, so its easier to take for some people and less tart for children. But be careful if you are on a low sodium diet. If you go off junk food, then the sodium in sodium ascorbate is way less anyway. Also reduce your salt intake. Taking 50/50 ascorbic acid and ascorbate is a good option if you want to reduce bowel symptoms without getting too much sodium.

Watch out for expensive vitamin C supplements of camu camu, acerola berry and so on, which are often fortified with cheap ascorbic acid to get the vitamin C dosage high enough, but have an inflated price because of the fancy ingredients.

A genuine, natural supplement without artificial additives is a good option for long term supplementation, but the amount of vitamin C is generally too low to be effective for curing diseases like pneumonia. Look carefully at the labels.

However, studies have shown that the body will absorb close to 100% of the vitamin C that is consumed as part of a whole food, whereas barely 10% of the stripped down, artificially manufactured ascorbic acid is absorbed. Mother Nature has created foods that are complex and exactly designed to work in a synergistic way with the design of our bodies.

The natural form of vitamin C is L-ascorbic acid, while the synthetic form, usually extracted from GMO high fructose corn syrup, is ascorbic acid.

Vitamin C for Covid–19

Dr. Andrew W. Saul, an international expert on vitamin therapy, says, “The coronavirus can be dramatically slowed or stopped completely with the immediate widespread use of high doses of vitamin C. Bowel tolerance levels of C, taken in divided doses throughout the day, is a clinically proven antiviral without equal.” (http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/)

In the 40s, 50s and 60s, Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner gave massive doses, as high as 50,000 to 60,000 mg a day, of Vitamin C to critically ill patients. Dr. Klenner reported curing viral pneumonia in 48 to 72 hours (Klenner FR. Virus pneumonia and its treatment with vitamin C. Southern Medicine and Surgery, 1948, February. Vol 110, No 2, p 36–38, 46.)

IV vitamin C can cure coronavirus, while high dose oral vitamin can greatly reduce the duration and severity, which is very important. One study showed that supplementing with only 200mg of vitamin C per day reduces the death rate by viral pneumonia in the elderly by 80% (doctoryourself.com).

For coronavirus prevention Andrew Saul recommends 1000mg with every meal and between meals. You could even take double that. When you are sick your body needs more. Take to bowel tolerance levels – in other words take as much as you need to feel better without causing diarrhea. At least 2000 mg of oral vitamin C per dose plus 7–15g IV vitamin C in combination with zinc can be used to combat the virus. In fact, intravenous vitamin C, even at relatively low IV doses of 4–8 grams, has been effectively used to treat Covid–19 patients.

Hospitals in Wuhan, China are using vitamin C to treat and cure people with Covid–19. Even the Chinese Government have advised their citizens to use vitamin C to treat this virus. Seriously sick coronavirus patients in New York state hospitals are being given massive doses of vitamin C, based on the promising reports that it’s helped people in China.

Vitamin C for Cancer

Vitamin C has been shown to be selectively toxic to cancer cells, which readily absorb vitamin C like sugar. It acts as a pro-oxidant inside the cancer cell and kills it. According to Andrew Saul, IV vitamin C can be used as an effective adjunctive cancer therapy, and it does not interfere with chemotherapy. 4000mg given every 30 minutes to advanced lung cancer patients greatly improved length and quality of life.

See the Riordon IV vitamin C protocol for cancer at doctoryourself.com or Riordon clinic website. The protocol prescribes 30–50g, even up to 100g of IV vitamin C every second day or 2–3 times a week. Then have a break from IV and take large oral doses of vitamin C in between. This may need to go on for a long time to achieve improved quality of life or remission.

Chemotherapy is only effective for long term survival in only 3% of cases, mostly for a few cancers like Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and leukaemia and some rare cancers. When in doubt you should use nutrition and a healing lifestyle first, including IV vitamin C; but doctors resort to it last. Chemo is ‘heroic medicine’ because doctors don’t know what else to do. Two books co-authored by the double Noble Prize winner, Linus Pauling, are “Vitamin C and Cancer”, and “Cancer and Vitamin C”. Also see “I have Cancer, What Should I do” by Andrew Saul and Gonzalez.

Liposomal Vitamin C

The solution to getting high daily doses of vitamin C into your bloodstream where it’s needed is either expensive IV vitamin C treatment from a doctor, if you can find one in your area who does it, or the next best thing is taking liposomal vitamin C.

Research shows that Liposomal vitamin C is absorbed much faster than conventional vitamin C and can raise blood concentrations to double the amount achieved from supplements and foods.

A liposome is a small round globule with a phopholipid membrane similar to the membrane around cells. The body naturally uses liposomes to transport various substances around the body. Molecules contained within liposomes are easily absorbed by cells as the liposomes simply fuse with the cell membrane and release their transported load into the cell.

Similar to IV vitamin C, high blood concentrations of liposomal vitamin C are probably only maintained for a couple of hours or so, whereas the retention time for conventional vitamin C supplements is up to 12 hours or more. This is primarily due to slower absorption via the digestive system.

You could therefore combine liposomal vitamin C with conventional oral vitamin C in order to achieve therapeutic spikes in blood vitamin C concentration while also sustaining moderately high vitamin C levels throughout the day. Alternatively, just take liposomal vitamin C every 2–4 hours throughout the day, although this could be very costly.

The cost of liposomal vitamin C can be prohibitive for a lot of people, and so they may not then take enough to be fully effective. So taking regular doses of cheap ascorbic acid could be better for them when dealing with an acute infection.

There is one advantage of combining liposomal vitamin C with conventional vitamin C. Liposomal vitamin C supplements only contain ascorbic acid, whereas the better conventional supplements contain other forms of vitamin C and co-factors that help with absorption including ethyl-esters, bio-flavionoids and zinc.

For general maintenance of long term good health, obtaining your vitamin C from food is best, but through the winter when fruits are out of season and you are more susceptible to colds and flus, it can be very beneficial to take natural vitamin C supplements.

Then, at the first sign of any cold or flu symptoms or when others around you are sick, take high doses of oral vitamin C at regular intervals throughout the day, or if oral vitamin C upsets your stomach and you can afford it then take liposomal vitamin C for a stronger therapeutic effect.

Liposomal Vitamin C is the most potent form of oral Vitamin C available. It’s very efficient, with an absorption rate second only to Vitamin C delivered directly into your bloodstream by IV. The best of all for the most powerful therapeutic effect is to combine IV vitamin C infusions with liposomal vitamin C.

Micelle Liposomal Vitamin C from PuraTHRIVE is one of the highest-potency vitamin C supplements on the market. It’s also non-GMO, follows Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP certified), and unlike some other liposomal products, it actually tastes good.

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Purathrive, iHerb

7. Vitamin D and Sunshine

Vitamin D is an essential, often neglected, nutrient with many functions in the body. Vitamin D deficiency is very common.

Low vitamin D levels have been associated with increased risks for respiratory diseases like asthma and tuberculosis, along with viral and bacterial respiratory infections. Low vitamin D levels promotes viral reactivations. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to decreased lung function, and supplementing with vitamin D can reduce the risk of acute respiratory infections.

Vitamin D has anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory properties. One important immune boosting role of vitamin D is in the regulation of a protein that selectively destroys infectious bacteria and viruses. Vitamin D also influences the number and activity of immune cells including T2 killer lymphocytes and macrophages, which can control the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses. Over 100000 immune system reactions depend on vitamin D, the most vital hormone in our body.

Even your risk of serious diseases like cancers and multiple sclerosis can be reduced by maintaining healthy vitamin D levels. 30% of tumours wouldn’t occur if vitamin D levels were sufficient. Multiple Sclerosis is less common in sunny tropical countries, but much more common at higher latitudes where people get less less vitamin D.

The healthiest way to get your daily vitamin D is by getting sunshine on your skin without sunblock, but be careful not to burn. Exposing larger areas of skin for shorter periods is best. You can actually get huge amounts of 10000–30000 units of vitamin D in a day just being out in the sun with legs and arms or more of the body exposed. Your body knows how to deal with this in a healthy natural way, but ingesting such large amounts in supplement form can be toxic.

In winter time, particularly at higher latitudes, and especially if you are dark-skinned, you will need to supplement with extra vitamin D, because your body cannot make enough from the sun. It is formed from cholesterol, but the process needs light. Vitamin D deficiency in winter due to a lack of sun-induced vitamin D production by the skin, can weaken the immune system and make you more susceptible to upper respiratory tract infections from bacteria and viruses.

You can get a blood test for vitamin D, but if you haven’t been getting much sun, or eating a lot vitamin D containing foods, you can probably assume that your level is below par. Vitamin D supplementation may then help protect against infections, including coronavirus. In general, depending on how deficient you are, you should take between 1000–5000 IU of vitamin D a day.

You can also get a small amount of vitamin D from foods. Some of the best food sources of vitamin D include fatty fish like salmon (wild caught – avoid unhealthy farmed salmon) and sardines, eggs, organic non-GMO tofu and tempeh, mushrooms, and dark leafy greens.

Purathrive, iHerb, BePure

8. Zinc and Magnesium

Zinc is important for immune function and it improves the effectiveness of vitamin C. However, supplementing with zinc is generally only useful if you are deficient in it. Unlike, with vitamin C, you can easily get too much of a good thing with zinc. You can test for zinc deficiency using a zinc taste test.

Zinc helps in the replication and differentiation of your immune system cells. As for vitamin C, studies have shown that zinc may shorten the duration and severity of the common cold and flu.

The best forms of zinc, according to vitamin expert Andrew Saul, are zinc acetate (releases 100% ionic zinc), zinc gluconate (releases 72% as ionic zinc), and zinc gluconate-glycine (<57% ionic zinc).

Dietary sources of zinc include chickpeas, beans, lentils, organic non-GMO tofu and tempeh, nuts, seeds, wheat germ and yoghurt (make sure you get real cultured yoghurt, not the artificial stuff that is mostly sold in supermarkets).

Magnesium is required for an incredible number of functions in the body, including the immune system and most people are deficient. Magnesium may be regarded as a miraculous mineral, given that it is an essential cofactor in over three hundred enzymatic reactions. The biological effects of magnesium are widespread.

Magnesium works as a cofactor for many hormones and neurotransmitters. It is calming and relaxing, reducing anxiety and helping you to sleep soundly. Remember, sleep and reducing stress, along with a healthy balanced diet and exercise, are two of the most important factors for keeping your immune system strong.

Magnesium is fundamentally involved in cell growth and division, protein production, synthesis of nucleic acids, and maintenance of the delicate electrolyte composition of our cells. It also imparts stability to the membranes of mitochondria, the energy factories of our cells. Magnesium deficiency is correlated with systemic inflammation and leads to a host of other problems.

Magnesium is one of the most common deficiences, also good for relaxation/anxiety.

Good food sources of magnesium include pumpkin and squash seed kernels, Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, peanuts, pine nuts, quinoa, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, cavolo nero, beet greens, potatoes, artichoke hearts, dates, bananas, coconut milk, prickly pear, black beans, lima beans, soybeans, and seafood sources including halibut and anchovy.

However, industrial agriculture and food processing, including monoculture cropping practices and the use of fertilizers devoid of magnesium, have led to severe soil erosion and the depletion of magnesium in our food. Also, note that magnesium can be leeched from vegetables when they are boiled, and that fiber in excess can decrease magnesium absorption by increasing gastrointestinal motility.

When choosing an oral magnesium supplement, remember that organic salts of magnesium, including the acetate, ascorbate, aspartate, bicitrate, gluconate, and lactate forms are more soluble and biologically active compared with mineral salts such as magnesium oxide, magnesium carbonate, magnesium chloride, and magnesium sulfate.

Take magnesium in divided doses – too much at once can have a laxative effect. An efficient way to get more magnesium into your body without the laxative effect is to apply magnesium salts oils, such as “Ancient Minerals” on you skin.

It is also beneficial to take electrolytes and other minerals, including trace minerals.

9. Other Vitamins

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is important for a strong immune system. It helps antibodies to respond to foreign substances, such as viruses and toxins.

The body converts beta carotene from food into vitamin A. Some of the best sources of beta carotene are carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, broccoli, spinach, squash, cantaloupe, apricots and mangoes.

Be careful taking large doses of vitamin A in supplemental form, as studies have shown that supplementary sources of vitamin A can be harmful.

Vitamin B6 and B Complex

Vitamin B6 is a vital component of many biochemical reactions involved in immune system functioning. Vitamin B6 is found in green vegetables, chickpeas, chicken and salmon.

B12 is a water-soluble vitamin involved in a wide range of bodily processes. B12 can help to support healthy cognitive function and energy levels. If you typically feel sluggish in the afternoons, are often light-headed, or suffer from brain fog or fatigue you may be suffering from a vitamin B12 deficiency. This affects at least 40% of Americans, and can be a significant causal factor in depression.

B vitamins, being water soluble, are more effective and better absorbed if taken in divided doses throughout the day rather than a single big dose in the morning. B vitamins help to control blood sugar (especially niacin) along with chromium, by evening out fluctuations in blood sugar/insulin levels, and in turn this helps to control depression.

According to vitamin expert, Andrew Saul, high dose niacin cures depression in two thirds of people. Niacin also works for anxiety and niacinamide works even better. Andrew Saul suggests taking 250mg 8 times a day. Niacin can also halt and reverse Alzheimer’s disease.

Be careful when taking niacin as it can give you a scary, but usually harmless red hot flush. Take it with food and in smaller doses to start with. Nuts, sunflower seeds, peas, cheese, beans, and wheatgerm are also good for depression because they are high in niacin and the amino acid L-Tryptophan, which is converted to seratonin, the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter.

You can get prescription amounts of seratonin activity from two handfuls of cashews a day. Lightly roasting cashews with olive oil makes them more digestible than raw, and use little or no salt.

B complex vitamins are important in protecting the body against neurological damage. B6 and magnesium together can reduce the symptoms of autism. A deficiency in any B vitamin gives a person neurological symptoms, but especially in B–12. A deficiency in B12 can lead to exhibiting symptoms exactly like Alzheimer’s.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that supports that body’s immune system. Vitamin E rich foods include seeds, nuts and spinach, but the richest source of complete vitamin E is red palm oil. Make sure you choose an organic sustainably-sourced red palm oil product like Nutiva (iherb). Avoid vitamin E supplements, which haven’t been proven to be beneficial and may even be harmful in some cases.

10. Herbal Therapies

Various herbs and spices can help to boost the immune system or to relieve the symptoms of respiratory illness.

Elderberry

Elderberry, especially black elderberry (approximately 160mg twice daily) stimulates the immune system, as shown by peer-reviewed literature. One study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30670267) found that elderberry supplementation substantially reduced the upper respiratory symptoms associated with viral infections, and so it could provide a safer alternative to prescription drugs used for the common cold and influenza.

Olive Leaf Extract

Olive Leaf extract.

Echinacea

Echinacea for a short term boost.

Propolis and Honey

Natural, unprocessed raw honey is one of nature’s immunity boosting wonder foods. Bee propolis also has powerful immune boosting properties (see later under the treatment recommendations below).

Garlic

Garlic.

Cloves

Cloves.

Olive Oil

Olive oil.

Thyme

Thymol and carvacrol are two of the active compounds in thyme that confer its pleasant and pungent aroma. Thyme can help to relieve a tight and congested chest, soothe a dry tickly throat and help to clear mucous.

Ginger

Ginger contains zingerone and gingerol that support the lungs and bronchial system. The warming, spicy taste of ginger is comforting for chills and for an upset stomach.

Horseradish

Horseradish helps to maintain relaxed, comfortable breathing and open airways by supporting the body’s natural response to chest and sinus congestion, thinning and clearing mucous.

Cayenne

Cayenne can bring warmth to the outer areas of the body, supporting healthy tissue perfusion, circulation and delivery of other herbs to target areas.

Lavender

Lavender is renowned for its relaxing effects, and is especially comforting for unsettled and restless children. Lavender can help to maintain feelings of calmness leading to a restful sleep.

Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Seasame seed oil in nose, cloves, basil

Modern Ayurveda course

11. Mushrooms

As well as being a good dietary source of vitamin D, there are several varieties of medicinal mushrooms with special healing and immune boosting properties.

Mushrooms have antiviral effects due to the immunostimulating activity of polysaccharides and other complex molecules like beta glucans. Several plants also contain particular polysaccharides that can blunt and reduce the effectiveness of the coronavirus spikes in attaching to cell receptors.

A lot of cutting edge research has been done on beta glucans within the field of immunology over the last 50 years. They’ve been used as an anti-cancer and anti-tumor treatment for more than 30 years in Japan and there are currently over 160,000 published peer-reviewed studies on betan glucans on the Pubmed.website

Beta Glucans are said by some to be the world’s most powerful immunomodulators, meaning that they help to activate, enhance and regulate immune system functions. This helps your immune system become more primed and effective to destroy foreign invaders or mutations such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and cancer cells.

Apparently, beta glucans boost immune system activity primarily by stimulating the production and release of macrophages, which are large white blood cells that target, engulf and destroy threatening invaders and infected cells. In addition, beta glucans stimulate other immunological processes including the production of natural killer cells and cytokines, enhancing communication among immune system cells so that they can work together synergistically.

Make sure that you choose a quality beta glucan supplement that has high purity and potency and uses an extraction process that ensures high bioavailability. The best product I have found is Glucan Elite by Pro Formulations (https://www.glucanelite.com/), then the most popular and well-researched Beta–1,3D Glucan by Transfer Point (https://www.betterwayhealth.com/products/beta-glucan, https://transferpoint.com/products/beta–1–3d-glucan–500mg–60-capsules), with Beta 1,3/1,6 D-Glucan by Now Foods in third place with much lower potency.

Reishi, shiitake, and maitake mushrooms contain beta glucans, which help build up a strong immune system. Reishi mushroom components directly bind to viruses, interfering with their ability to attach and enter healthy body cells. Agarikon mushrooms contain strong anti-inflammatory as well as antibacterial and antiviral agents.

Many traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) remedies also have antiviral properties as well as activating immune responses.

12. Turmeric / Curcumin

Turmeric is probably the most researched natural medicinal substance on the planet and it has a huge range of beneficial effects. Two important effects of turmeric are its strong anti-inflammatory activity and helping to balance hormones. It is great for supporting the immune system, shaking off aches and pains, improving digestion and boosting heart and brain health.

So, eat as healthy as you can, exercise, drink plenty of fluids, and ensure you’re getting enough sleep, but under very stressful circumstances your body can use a little extra help.

Chronic inflammation triggers many problems in the body, overworks the immune system, and can lead to anxiety and depression. As well as the powerful anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric, it can help increase dopamine and serotonin levels, making you feel better, which in turn improves your immune system function.

PuraTHRIVE’s Curcumin Gold is one of the best and most potent curcumin supplements on the market. Research has demonstrated that Micelle Liposomal delivery, such as in PuraTHRIVE Curcumin Gold, boosts absorption 185x compared to standard curcumin. Two other excellent curcumin products are Life Extension Advanced Curcumin Elite and EuroPharma.

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13. Collagen

Collagen, the single most abundant protein in your body, is like the glue that holds your body together. There are 16 different types (90% or more is of type 1) of this fibrous protein found in your muscles, skin, hair, nails, bones, teeth, joints, cartilage, organs, blood vessels, and digestive system.

Collagen makes up the majority of your gut-lining, where 70–80% of your immune system cells live. Essentially, the collagen gut lining forms the “wall of defense” between what you eat and the rest of your body. Many people have a leaky gut, which is the starting point for many chronic illnesses. A leaky gut allows toxins, food particles and microbes to pass through the intestinal wall into your bloodstream, leading to inflammation, and putting constant strain on the immune system, often leading to automimmune diseases.

Starting in your 30s, collagen production naturally begins to slow down and by age 40 collagen begins to deplete faster than your body can produce it. By age 60, over half of your body’s collagen has been depleted and this has many negative effects in your body.

Good sources of collagen in the diet include spinach, kale and other leafy greens, beets, tomatoes, garlic, eggs, and fish and bone broth. The only way to replenish your body’s collagen shortage is to supplement with it, and probably the best and safest supplementary source of extra collagen is organic bone broth.

Protein is a primary building block of our bodies, including our vital immune system cells and antibodies. Protein is required to build and repair tissues, and to create the hormones and enzymes required for most of the body’s functions. Most people get more than adequate protein in their diets, but vegans need to make sure that they are getting enough. In fact, most people in developed countries eat far too much protein, with the average American eating almost double the daily requirement.

Plant based sources of protein include nuts, seeds, beans, chickpeas, lentils and dark leafy green vegetables. I prefer to avoid protein and amino acid supplements, which may even feed cancer (especially methionine and glutamine).

14. Probiotics, Prebiotics and Fiber

A healthy, balanced microbiome comprising ‘good’ bacteria, helps to fight off the ‘bad’ opportunistic bacteria and viruses. Avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary as they deplete your microbiome, making you more vulnerable to other infections. Probiotics and Prebiotics boost the health of your immune system, 70–80% of which is based in our gut.

Eat plenty of fermented probiotic foods that support the microbiome, including sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, miso, sourdough bread, kombucha, kefir, aged cheese and natural probiotic yoghurt, (coconut yoghurt is better since dairy products can cause inflammation and suppress the immune system).

Also eat prebiotic-containing foods to feed your gut microbiome, including onions, leeks, garlic, artichokes, asparagus, ginger, beans, bananas, and whole grains (avoid or minimize gluten-containing grains). Bone broth is also helpful for gut health.

Take a fiber supplement like psyllium husks, and inulin prebiotic fibers, which help immune function and well as gut motility.

15. Detoxify Your Home and Body

Your liver is another key component of your immune system. One of its many roles is to detect pathogens entering the bloodstream via your gut, and then capture and remove bacteria, viruses, and toxic macromolecules. The liver contains the largest collection of phagocytic (immune-protecting) cells in the body, so the health of your liver is critical for your immune system.

The problem is that your liver is severely overburdened, fighting over 100,000 toxins daily, including heavy metals such as aluminium, which suppresses the immune system and blocks temperature regulation. Herbicides, which are sprayed prolifically on our food crops, destroy the very foundation of life (Silent Spring – Rachael Carson).

All these toxins make the liver sluggish or even lead to fatty liver disease, which suffocates its ability to clean your blood and protect against pathogens.

Therefore, to stay healthy you should do everything you can to minimize toxins in your environment. Eat organic food, use toxin free body and home cleaning products, minimize exposure to EMFs, avoid or minimize alcohol (two standard drinks per day for men and one for women), quit smoking/vaping and avoid second hand smoke as much as possible.

EMFs – electrosmog

Researchers have shown that Wifi causes high oxidative stress to white blood cells and can even cause them to stop working. Sugar metabolism is disrupted, the blood brain barrier is opened and our autonomic nervous system no longer responds in an adaptive way. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for producing white blood cells, regulating energy and activity in the body, producing hormones, and maintaining homeostasis.

So spend less unnecessary time on your mobile phone, browsing the Internet on your computer and reduce the amount of time you spend watching TV, especially movies streamed over WiFi. Use an ethernet cable connection for your laptop or computer at home and work instead of WiFi.

Do not allow 5G to be installed in your area and don’t buy a 5G phone or device. We must protest and do everything we can to stop it. (Stop 5G on Earth and in Space). Watch the German documentary “Thank You for Calling”.

16. Infrared Sauna, PEMF and Photobiomodulation

SaunaSpace Luminati Sauna (see my review here), Curatron PEMF, Vielight Photobiomodulation (use coupon code HEALWELL for a 10% discount, see my review here)..

17. Community

The support of friends, family and community groups can be highly beneficial for your immune system and overall health and well-being.

Studies show that people with healthy relationships stay more healthy and outlive those who lack a good social network. If you find yourself lonely or you want to improve your social ties, you could take classes, join an interest or hobby group, do volunteer work, and nurture the friendships that you already have.

Dogs and other pets not only give you more reason to exercise daily, but also give you unconditional love and boost your immunity and health. Research has shown that pet owners tend to have healthier hearts, and lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Dogs can also help children’s immune response and make them less likely to have allergies.

18. Pychoneuroimmunology

The new scientific discipline of psychoneuroimmunology has only been around since the 1990s. It looks at the intimate connection between the immune system, thoughts and emotions, and the brain and nervous system. Dr. Candace Pert was one of the first to prove that emotions are actually encoded in the body and subsequently expressed as illness or wellness. This notion is quite revolutionary compared to the ‘body as a machine’ model that has dominated medicine for the past 300 years.

Psychoneuroimmunology goes a long way towards explaining why emotional releases and inexplicable ‘spontaneous’ healing can occur through techniques such as kriya and kundalini yoga, qigong and the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) that involve repetitive stimulation of certain areas of the body and unblocking areas where energy flow is stuck.

Dr Kelly Brogan is a strong advocate of orienting yourself around the story that speaks your own truth. If you sincerely believe that challenges and adversity contain a meaning or message, and that the body has the innate wisdom to clearly show you messages that you hadn’t previously noticed on more subtle levels, then you are more likely to respond in an appropriate healing way.

So stop fighting the war on your condition, whether it’s a germ, cancer or depression, and start to bend and go with the flow, trusting the elegant design of the universe. Relinquish your conditioned belief that you are a helpless victim, dependent on a health system that holds all the answers that you in fact have within yourself. And reunite with your symptoms as messengers, not the enemy, as the smoke alarm, not the fire.

According to Dr. Hamer’s German New Medicine, the body develops a condition like cancer as a part of a highly meaningful biological process that limits itself once the original root cause psychic conflict is resolved. In this view, so-called disease is actually adaptive and it is evidence of a healing process that is already underway.

Dr. Hamer believed that a psychological conflict, particularly a shocking conflict that is perceived as distressing or traumatic, gives rise to a corresponding physiological process such as alteration in cellular growth and proliferation in certain organs or parts of the body. This physiological process spontaneously resolves itself, with the help of our microbiome, once the causative psychic conflict is addressed and integrated. This notion helps to explain why repressed anger, for example, is a top cancer risk and it reaffirms the important idea that our perception of reality and our cultural context are at the core of most, if not all disease.

Sayer Ji (https://greenmedinfo.com) and others state that what we think of as cancer is simply the body’s secondary process of resolving the original trauma and the psychic impact of the cancer diagnosis itself. Even conventional medicine agrees that some early stage cancers, like DCIS breast cancer, thyroid cancer, and prostate cancer, should be left alone, as the harsh ‘treatments’ do not prolong life and are most likely detrimental.

In fact, ‘treatments’ with chemotherapy and radiation disrupt a complex process that we actually need to support, and they induce secondary harm, both psychically and physiologically. When we forcefully interfere with delicate physiological processes and wage war against the body, we keep the fight alive as it were, and in this manner we can’t ultimately win the battle against ourself.

The dis-ease is happening to you because it is a part of you. The experience of illness is deeply meaningful and purposeful; it is literally revealing yourself to you. Embrace your current condition with love, because “everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”

Dr Franz Kuber believes that illness is a symptom of a lost life, adrift from its true purpose. It slows the pace of wrong movements, because only a slowed down life finds its way back. The body refuses superficiality and forces our life back into the deep, back towards its source.

The body is an amazing thing of such complexity that we still barely understand it. Each cell in our body performs about 30000 enzymatic reactions per second. Viruses have been around throughout all of human history, and we actually need them to keep our immune system strong and healthy. In fact 10% of our body’s microbiome is viral. When we are truly healthy, harmful viruses are no match for our immune system.

Today 70% of all disease is chronic, degenerative illness and yet we simply do not question this totally unnatural situation. It is blindly accepted as normal without realizing the tragedy of it. We have become dependent on the medical system to save us like the net at the bottom of the cliff, while our toxic environment, diet and lifestyles have lead to weakened immune systems and poor health.

We humans must become stronger. We must take responsibility for ourselves, for what we do, for what we buy and what we don’t buy, for how often we want to travel around the world on planes and cruise ships. We need to become more humble and compassionate in order to protect our health and well-being and that of others and our environment.

Dr Petra Wiechel, director of the Swiss Mountain Clinic, says that every patient is never a victim, but is the master of his or her condition and must take it into their own hands, because it is their disease. Everything has a cause, and our body microcosm is no different from the macrocosm out there around us.

We need a paradigm shift in medicine towards holistic and functional medicine. Doctors don’t heal us, but the body can heal if we help it to do so. Human bodies have been incredibly burdened with toxins and stresses for over 70 years now, so we need to reduce the amount of toxins that we expose our bodies to and to detoxify the toxins that we already have.

Books – Tapping, mBraining

What to Do If You Have COVID–19 Symptoms?

This section is taken from an interview with Dr Dietrich Klinghardt on treating Coronavirus.

The natural way to treat coronavirus is using a propolis inhaler/spray, propolis drops (biopure US) and high doses of vitamin C. You can gargle propolis and inhale the spray. Just test with a small amount to begin with as some people are allergic to propolis. HoCl spray for nose, eyes and throat. The herbs Calendula (marigold), Artemesia annua, andrografis, and dandelion are also helpful and protective.

Increase your intake of potassium and other electrolytes from fresh vegetable juices (you excrete a lot of potassium during a Covid infection). Doing liver flushes is also a hugely important part of the treatment as this virus clears out through that pathway, not via the kidneys.

Dr Klinghardt says that this virus is really responsive to these natural treatments and IV vitamin C. In fact, Coronavirus is much more responsive to these treatments than influenza is. It often starts with low grade fever, sore throat, and then a cough comes after about a week, then you have about 5 days to treat it topically with propolis and HOcell before it goes into lungs.

There are only two things known to silence the ‘inflammazone’, which is that part of our proteome responsible for creating the dangerous ‘cytokine storm’ associated with severe cases of Covid–19 disease. These are vitamin C and melatonin. Treatment with 7.5g of IV vitamin C for three days in a row, especially at the first onset of symptoms can cure coronavirus.

CBD oil from cannabis is a fantastic immune modulator and it can help, while low doses of THC from cannabis reduces anxiety and fear, which will in turn greatly benefit your immune system. Dr Klinghardt recommends a ratio of 10:1 CBD:THC, and 5:1 at night for deep sleep. Good quality sleep also improves your immune system tremendously. Many people are suffering from exaggerated fear responses and should so psychotherapy/counseling can help them to cope and thus to keep their immune systems strong.

Homeopathy is the most elegant way to modulate the immune system. The ‘cytokine storm’ is a deviation of the immune system that most likely can be prevented with homeopathy. An Indian study showed that a few pellets of Arsenicum album at 30C dilution twice a day for 3–5 days once a month could be an effective prevention. Homeopathic camphor at 30C dilution is excellent once lung complications start. Homeopathic Ipikak breaks down the mucous and makes it more liquid.

However, homeopathic remedies are highly specific – if you are slightly off in composition and dilution then they won’t work, but when just right the results can be miraculous. Many homeopaths don’t always get it right, so you need to find a skilled and experienced one. Otherwise, follow the other suggestions above.

Most viral illnesses cause relative lymphocyte count to go up, but in Covid–19 it goes down. The normal range is 5500–6000, so if a blood count shows that it has dropped to 4000 or below, it is likely to be Covid–19.

If you prefer to follow the conventional medical drug route, the following has been successful, but it is a question of whether your doctor or hospital will be willing and able to get these drugs for you. A French/Colombian research team, sanctioned by Stanford University, has shown that six days of treatments with two drugs leads to complete clearance of virus from the human body. The two drugs are hydroxychloroquine (an old malaria drug) and Zithromax.

The treatment regime is 500mg hydroxychloroquine twice daily and Zithromax 250mg per day for 10 days. Alinia is another effective drug – take 500mg twice a day. Artesunate, 2–3 vials daily for 10 days is also a fantastic treatment. There are possible side effects of chloroquine, but some people with rheumatoid arthritis or Lyme disease take it for years, so 10 days is a very short period in terms of the likelihood of developing side effects.

Hydroxylchloroquine, used for over 70 years, suddenly became unavailable overnight in affluent developed countries awaiting the release of a lucrative vaccine. Also, the fact that the virus genome was known and a diagnostic test was already developed after only 10 days in China, is suspicious.

Do not use Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors (ACE Inhibitors) or selenium, because SARS-Cov–2 infects cells by binding with ACE–2 receptors. Don’t take selenium supplements, and if there is selenium in your multivitamin, don’t use it if you have Covid–19 symptoms. Selenium can be a very beneficial supplement for the immune system and cancer prevention, but it is an effective ACE inhibitor, so avoid it if you have a high risk of catching the virus or if you have symptoms.

ACE inhibitors inhibit the activity of angiotensin converting enzyme, thus decreasing the formation of angiotensin II. This stimulates the expression of more ACE–2 receptors, and therefore increases the virulence of the virus. Instead, use angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs, e.g. losartan, candesartan, telmisartan, Valsartan, fimasartan) instead to stop the uptake of virus in the gastrointestinal system and the aeolii in the lungs.

Dr Klinghardt and many others are suggesting that 5G increases the virulence and severity of Coronavirus. The highest pollution areas in Wuhan and Italy have highest Coronavirus death rate. These areas correspondingly have the highest levels of WiFi radiation. They say that Wuhan was the first city in China to roll out the 5G network, along with Lombardy in northern Italy and New York.

A New Normal

After the Covid–19 pandemic is over we will move into a new normal. We cannot go back to the world we had before the pandemic. We will now need and see major shifts in economies, society, and lifestyles. There will be a shift towards more local economies, local food and energy sources and local business. The global economy is fragile, and supply chains for essentials, raw materials and manufactured goods are so global right now and easily cut.