Taking Care of Yourself in this Crazy Time

healthy food

I thought it was important to talk a bit about keeping healthy during this global pandemic.

When the news came out about who was at risk for this COVID-19: older people, smokers and people with preexisting conditions, I immediately thought of toxicity and inflammation being contributing factors.

I was also immediately worried about what that would mean for the United States. The average American diet is filled with inflammatory foods and toxic ingredients, preservatives and chemicals. These foods and toxins lead to inflammation.

As we have seen it is not just our elderly that are being hospitalized in this country. Almost 40% of the COVID-19 hospitalizations have been people age 18-54, and some have died.

We know that this virus attacks the lungs, and is primarily respiratory in nature. The body will then respond with inflammation. Inflammation prevents the lungs from being able to oxygenate the blood and remove carbon dioxide, therefor making one need to breath deeper, and inhale more air to achieve necessary results. This is something that becomes difficult when you have the COVID-19. If inflammation is already widespread in your body, the ability to oxygenate the blood and remove CO2 is already hindered. A ventilator will help the lungs, but another machine will be needed to circulate and oxygenate the blood, and this may still not be enough.

What can you do?

1. Start cutting out all inflammatory foods ASAP, and continue until this threat has passed. Everyone’s body is a little bit different, but the main foods that cause inflammation are:

  • dairy

  • sugar

  • wheat (this includes, bread, many vegetarian meats, tortillas, and most baked goods)

  • corn

  • corn syrup

  • soy

  • alcohol

  • fried foods

  • preservatives

  • vegetable oils: corn oil, vegetable oil, margarine, canola oil, palm oil (olive and coconut are fine)

  • chemicals

  • processed meats

  • anything that is highly processed

    Read your labels, there is sugar in almost everything that is pre-packaged.

2. Increase anti-inflammatory herbs and foods:

  • turmeric

  • broccoli

  • berries

  • nuts

  • green tea

  • green leafy vegetables

  • nuts

  • fatty fish

  • olive oil

  • ginger

Things to watch out for when switching to an anti-inflammatory diet. DETOX. You might not feel good in the first week or so. As your body detoxes off of sugar and refined carbs you may feel tired or have a headache. If this happens, make sure that you are adding healthy fat (olive oil, avocado, coconut oil to EVERY meal! Make sure you are getting enough complex carbs….sweet potatoes are my favorite, but you can also do rice, basmati, wild, or brown, or quinoa.

Added benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet

  • you may lose weight

  • joint pain may lessen

  • you might sleep better

  • more energy

  • clear head and thinking

  • blood pressure may normalize

  • it boosts your immune system

  • regular normal bowel movements

  • happier mood

Shoot me a message if you have questions and I will do my best to answer them.