You are not a sitting duck. The prevailing fear is hurting you and hurting society. The survival rate is over 99% for people ages 69 and younger but the fear driving our society is higher. We have been running from a boogie man.
B R E A T H E a deep sigh of relief.
Our media sources are soley focused on the loss of life, case statistics and behavior models which keep us separated from our loved ones and livelihoods.
Breaking News section of the Chicago Tribune, titled, “After their mom died from Covid19, her kids gave a final toast with a beloved, hard to find token of her youth: Tab diet soda.”
My heart goes out to this family who’s mother died. I would never diminish the loss of someone’s beloved family member; however we need to have a transparent, authentic, open conversation about Covid comorbidity risks and what we can do to improve immunity.
I like to look at articles like this and dig into the details so that I can understand where we are today. The article tells us that the mother had been a “voracious consumer of Tab since the 70s,” to support her weight loss program. Cans of Tab were found with her belongings in the care facility.
Tab, one of the first diet sodas, was sweetened with saccharine and marketed as the go-to weight loss tonic of the 70s and 80s. The FDA required warnings on labels for two decades due to concerns that it was a carcinogenic. Since then, the establishment “debunked” the warning however, according to leading cancer establishments like MD Anderson have continued to warn citizens about the health risks of diet sodas and linked them to obesity, a known comorbidity in Covid19 outcomes.
The Standard American Diet (SAD) seeded the globe with it’s dependence on trans fats, sugar, artifiicial and processed foods, the incidence of obesity and diabetes grew in countries where they were previously unknown or rare. Both are comorbidity factors of Covid19. The SAD is one of the culprits of a weakened immune system and is one of the root causes for record numbers of obese children, teens, adults and elderly. Our food chain is contaminated with these toxins and draining the vitality out of our populace.
The immune system needs healthy communities of microbes in the gut and mucosal linings for optimal functioning. What we eat has a direct impact of those microbial communities. You can improve the microbial community in your gut within 5 days of shifting food and mood choices.
Your immune system is designed to attack and dispose foreign substances (Covid19) that enter the body through the respiratory cavaties, vaginal cavity, skin and digestive system. For example saccharin, the artifical sweetener in Tab, is unrecognizable to the human body because it is not a natural substance and therefore the body, number one, doesn’t know how to digest it and, number two, would classify it as foreign which would ignite the immune system. If you consume substances that are not whole foods you may not feel a consequence immediately, however, habitual consumption will have an impact over time, compromising the integrity of the digestive system and immunity.
Lifestyle challenges that negatively impact your immune function:
- Inadequate sleep function
- Ineffective stress management
- Regular consumption of sugar, alcohol, processed or prepackaged foods
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Improper hygiene
- Exposure to environmental toxins (air, water, food, vaccines)
- Inadequate exposure to light, nature, and imbalance in the natural cirrcadian rhythm
- Inadequate daily elimination (poop: healthy poop is 2-3x per day, light brown to brown in color, smooth texture, elongated oblong in shape)
You can flip all of these challenges with the help of friends and family, a health coach, physician or DIY using self help books, podcasts, YouTube and Google. Your body craves healthy choices and will reward you by responding to incremental changes.
The first step is to calm everything down. This has been an electrified 8 months. We need to address the mental health crisis due to consequences of Covid19. Suicide rates are climbing. In Cook County where I live, the suicide and overdose rates are much higher than previous years. There are communities in the US that have a higher suicide rate than Covid death rate.
According to the CDC, in June 2020, 40% of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health concerns or substance abuse have risen in comparison to previous years.
- The prevelance of depressive symptoms was 4X that of the second quarter of 2019
- The prevelance of anxiety disorder was 3X that of the second quarter of 2019
- Suicide ideation was twice what it was during the same time frame in 2018
- 13% of responders reported they started or increased substance abuse
- 26% of responders reported symptoms of Traumatic Stress Related Disorder
You + Me are designed to live in community and to be productive. When we feel separated, alone, and lose our capacity to earn a living, our vitality shrinks. We need to weigh the risk of infection versus our mental well-being.
Join me in fortifying your immunity with these options.
- Create a sleep routine and ritual that includes less exposure to light and screen time before bed
- Spend time with a loved one
- Do one thing each day for stress management
- Clear offending foods from your diet. Start with a Whole 30 meal plan. Embrace fruits and vegetables as the bulk of food on your plate complimented with protein
- Commit to an exercise regimen that includes movement. Stand up and walk around regularly if you have a sedentary job
- Add in small amounts of fermented foods like sauerkraut,Greek yogurt,miso and kimchi
- Pay attention to your thoughts to mine information about why you might be feeling the way you’re feeling. Remember thoughts create feeling states which create the energy body which creates physiology
- Drink at least 80 ounces of pure H20 daily
- Track your food, mood and poop to learn more about what your body is doing with the food you’re using for fuel
- Washing your hands is the gold standard for protecting yourself when you are circulating in public
Your body is a magical earth machine that replaces it’s cells every 7-10 years.
We are not sitting ducks. We are empowered to positively protect and predict health outcomes with our lifestyle choices. Join me in the pursuit of feeling younger while growing older. It starts with believing you can.
If you need professional support to improve immunity and mental wellness, let’s set up a complimentary conversation to talk about how I can support you.
