Maria Emmerich, author of several cookbooks, including: The Ketogenic Cookbook: Nutritious low-carb, high-fat Paleo meals to heal your body - which is one of my favorites, contributes her thoughts on how to bolster our immune system’s functioning amid the coronavirus concerns.
When it comes to COVID-19, or any virus, there is an important distinction that needs to be made. There are things you can do to prevent getting the virus. These are primarily action you take, not food, vitamins, etc. Then there are things you can do to help boost your immune function once you have a virus. None of these things will kill the virus. That is up to your immune system to fight it. Let me repeat, once you have it, your immune system has to fight it. No food, supplement or herb is going to kill it once you have it in your system.
Our immune system is our bodies defense system. It is a complex system that can either be supported, or depressed by what we eat, our lifestyles and certain vitamins and minerals. A strong immune system can be the difference between becoming very sick from a virus or having mild symptoms. Here are our tips for helping fight viruses and keeping your immune system strong.
Foods, Supplements & Lifestyle for Immune Health by Maria Emmerich:
In Brief:
Consume a low inflammation, whole foods (no label foods) diet, i.e., low carb, keto, carnivore, which cuts or reduces all sugar and carbohydrates, especially processed carbohydrates (remember, all carbohydrates digest as sugar and are stored as fat).
Drink bone broth. Bone broth is so medicinal that if made into a pill, the pharmaceutical companies would be broke.
Salt & electrolytes are key for immune function. Several studies have shown immune benefits like THIS one that showed salt can enhance pro-inflammatory response which can enhance the clearing of invasive pathogens. It also showed that salt can affect immune cells because of its effects on the gut microbiome.
Vitamins C, D, zinc, probiotics, niacin, getting adequate sleep, exercise, don’t smoke, & reduce stress.
Stay healthy!