7 Natural Ways to Prepare for the FLU & COVID-19 Season
Published Sept 16th, 2020
Approx. 6 minute read
Get ready to boost your immune systems!
Disclaimer! Just like most things in health, prepping yourself for COVID19 and Flu- season is multifactorial. This blog is for educational purposes only. Although some of these methods are natural, every person’s body and health status including pregnancy and breastfeeding handles things differently. Make sure to consult your regular doctor regarding your own health.
What we already know
Like a broken record, we know that hand washing and social distancing are one of many remedies for this viral storm. As a matter of fact this is the case for many illnesses. However, what natural things can we do to stimulate the immune system? To date we do not have very well PROVEN information specific to prevention of COVID19, but we have learned from similar viruses in the past. Some of the tips are easier than you think! Let's not beat around the bush...
Starting with the lowest hanging fruit…
GENERAL HEALTH - Yes I know this sounds obvious, but general health is necessary for a good immune system to function, no matter what extra supplements or foods you choose to buy! For example, if you are known to be anemic and iron deficient, it would be silly not to prioritize working on that over something else. Or if you are struggling with high blood sugar, it may be in your best interest to focus on that rather than distract yourself with more information. In these examples, having a good iron level and having a good blood glucose balance are very key to having a healthy immune system. General health is not quite general though, everyone has their own individual needs. Keep in mind from nutrition, to fitness, to other mind body and soul elements - recommendations need to be individualized. Make sure to consult your regular doctor for medical advice.
7 Natural Ways
Now for more specifics - here 7 other ways to prepare for the season - in no particular order of importance.
1- SLEEP
Sleep is underrated! During sleep, the body is busy restoring. Without this restoration, well, our bodies may not be in the best defense mode! And besides, melatonin which is associated with sleep onset has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, protecting our lungs from the stress of infections
2- MELATONIN
This is a hormone we naturally produce as the sun exposure goes down for the day - or as you go from light into darkness. Cool, huh? (This is not to be mistaken for melanin) You may have heard about this supplement as a sleep aid over the counter, but it does more than just make you sleepy. It’s also been popular in “anti-aging” products. How does it help in “immune boosting”? Well, it has antioxidant properties. This can be considered to be taken as a supplement. But women wishing to conceive or are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid this supplement. Another way to get this naturally without a supplement is to balance your natural light exposure including the transitional periods of dawn and dusk. Limiting strong light exposure in the evening also makes sure to keep your melatonin in check. Ie - use that screen time feature on your phone!
3- VITAMIN D
Some of you may know, this is one of my favorite vitamins! But we need to make sure our Vitamin D is at a good level BEFORE getting sick. For a very long time, low levels of vitamin D in hospitalized and critically ill patients have been associated with higher mortality (death rate). Low levels in kids has been found to be associated with asthma. But we see that replacing this after getting sick is not beneficial. Key? Start early. Don’t start when you are sick, be at a good level before you get sick. Consult your doctor to see where you are with your Vitamin D level.
4- ELDERBERRY
Also called Sambucus Nigra, Elderberry is a berry known for its anti-oxidant effects and its ability to decrease respiratory secretions. Similarly to Vitamin D, in the case of COVID19, this MAY be beneficial BEFORE getting sick, but unlike in influenza, it can cause some unhelpful inflammation once infected with COVID. We are unsure how beneficial this is WHILE sick with COVID but can be before illness. This is a great influenza prevention and treatment adjunct.
5- VITAMIN C
An old wise tale? No, not at all! While some larger studies were not able to prove vitamin C was effective and preventing or treating the cold, a systematic review showed that persons under physical stress(which can deplete vitamin C) who took vitamin C had a lower risk of not only the common cold but lower risk for pneumonia! Which brings us to the next tip on what to consume to lower risk for infection or help the immune system…
Vitamin C self! This is a lime tree from my uncle’s backyard in San Fernando, Trinidad
Vitamin C can be most popularly found in citrus fruit. Make sure you are at least getting the recommended daily intake (without added sugar)!
Caution - some medications can interact specifically with grapefruit - if grapefruit is your go-to citrus, ask your doctor how it may affect your medication or not.
6- ZINC
Eat your peas! And cashews, chickpeas, baked beans….Zinc is well known to help us with preventing the common cold (sometimes due coronaviruses). Zinc deficiency is one of the most nutritional deficiencies worldwide due to things in our food that bind it and take it away from use and from limited dietary intake. Things that bind it include wheat bran and some raw veggies. Low zinc is linked to B-cell depletion (an important infection-fighting process) and in this same way, we are hoping this can help to prevent COVID19. Excessive zinc supplementation may also do the opposite and harm your immune function. It's like what they say...too much of anything is no good...consider the daily recommended intake according to your age group and consult your integrative medicine doctor.
7 - ANTI-INFLAMMATORY FOODS
Now this is a whole topic on its own and deserves its own blog that I’ll do one day - But most of the foods we know that are “bad” for us are obvious: your fried, battered, processed and many artificial product containing foods. Simply put, these foods are “inflammatory” due to them having heavily saturated fats and high omega-6 fat amount compared to omega-3’s and sometimes due to their carb or sugar content.
The AI diet heroes
However, let's turn to the good guys, the heroes in our diets! What are anti-inflammatory foods? Some are on offense and some are on defense. Some combat the damage from unnecessary inflammation, while others protect us before the damage happens. Many of these combat-foods have smaller parts called micronutrients and phytonutrients - there are many of these smaller nutrients that have anti-oxidant effects.
Dr. Weil is the founder of The Anti-Inflammatory (AI) Diet and you can find the AI food pyramid here.
Choose WILD caught instead of FARM Raised salmon: The farmed types do not have the right balance of healthy fats and the inflammation it causes can be harmful inflammatory rather than protective.
Where do anti-oxidants come from?
In short - think color-rich foods! Fruit and vegetables of course are great and major examples, but what else? Fruit and plant based oils (olive, avocado, algae oils), nuts, beans, whole grains and oily wild caught fish. This is also a good time to mention not all inflammation is bad. Some inflammation is an important part of healing! But we want to support the good inflammation and prevent or cancel out the bad!
I am sure we will learn more about what the evidence says about proven ways to boost your immune system specifically against COVID 19, but for now, consider the above general immune boosting, germ fighting methods!
Dr. Cyam is an integrative and board certified family physician, author and community advocate currently practicing in the Greater Atlanta area. You can find her at Bridge Direct Primary Care, BridgeDPC.com