“A significant percentage of young people may be at increased risk because Americans have such a high baseline rate of pre-existing diseases such as diabetes”. -By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Unfortunately only 12% of Americans are considered to be metabolically healthy. Being metabolically healthy means having optimal levels of five factors: blood glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure and waist circumference, without the need for medications. Source. These are lifestyle diseases that can be reversed with good nutrition and therapeutic lifestyle interventions.
Being metabolically healthy is very important for optimizing immune function. Being healthy is our most effective shield against Covid-19! We are increasing seeing people of all ages being admitted to hospitals and ICUs in America primarily because of poor metabolic health which is putting a huge strain on our healthcare system and placing our nation at greater risk for higher hospitalizations and mortality rates during this pandemic.
According to data from the CDC (see the graph below), just 7% of the population who have already tested positive for Covid-19 and are healthy (have no underlying health conditions) have required hospitalization and only 2% of those with no underlying health conditions have been admitted to an ICU. In other words, it’s unusual for healthy people to be hospitalized and extremely rare for healthy people to be admitted to an ICU or require treatment with a ventilator.
We are also learning that only a small percentage of people who are put on ventilators survive Covid-19. So if our one hope for saving lives, ventilators, only has a small success rate, we are in trouble! Because it’s so rare for healthy people to need a ventilator we should be all the more engaged in getting healthy and encouraging our loved ones to do the same. Source
Immunologists tell us there is no virus stronger than a healthy human! So cultivate your immune system which is the defense system your body deploys to destroy this pathogen. A powerful, balanced immune system will take Covid-19 out. Our strategy must be to improve our health! But even if you haven’t been taking good care of yourself it’s not too late to start!
Inflammatory foods, environmental toxins and stress levels are big players in inflammation and disease. Emotional stress and nutritional toxicity weaken our immune system. The less stressed you are and the more nutrient dense your diet is, the better your chances are. We know that vitamins including A, D and C along with minerals like potassium, zinc, selenium and magnesium are critical for a healthy immune response to infections. Most Americans are depleted in many of these critical nutrients.
So while it’s important to carefully avoid exposure to Covid-19, especially if your body is inflamed, you can’t hide from this virus forever. Work hard to get healthy now! A virus is a predator and it’s looking for prey. Covid-19 predicates on inflammatory tissue (sick, inflamed, stressed, exhausted, dehydrated, depleted people). So work to keep your inflammation levels low and do everything you can to optimize your health!
For years we Americans have outsourced our health to big Pharma, relying on drugs to maintain disease states rather than doing the hard work of getting healthy by making better lifestyle choices. We live in a high stress, toxic food culture. This pandemic is a wake up call to take back our health!!
Take this short test to rate your inflammation levels.
Read this list of important lifestyle strategies that will improve your health. Then set some goals for improvement.
So here’s a few suggestions on how to improve your health starting tomorrow morning:
During the 1st hour of the day charge your body up by drinking a large glass of filtered water with a squeeze of lemon. Then take time to pray/meditate, get some exercise and some sunshine, take 500-1000 mg of vitamin C, 25 mg of zinc and when you’re ready to eat make sure it’s a nutrient dense breakfast! Skip the cereal, bread, bagels, pop tarts, donuts, pop tarts and cinnamon rolls and instead, eat a super food protein shake with fruit & leafy greens or cook some eggs and serve with vegetables and fruit. It’s also a great idea to take a high quality multi vitamin/mineral.
Reducing stress, exercising, staying hydrated and eating 8-10 servings of vegetables a day as part of a mediterranean diet will drastically improve overall health and renew a damaged immune system.
Remember to get sunshine early in the day to boost night time melatonin levels. And get plenty of sleep at night. And don’t forget to stay connected with the people you love especially during quarantine.
If you have any chronic health conditions and would like to work towards getting healthy to reverse these conditions check out First Line Therapy. This is the program that I use to help my clients get well and optimize their health for life.
So here’s to your health! Let’s do our part to get healthy in order to flatten the Covid-19 curve. More healthy people equals less stress on the health care system and our economy!
