The Best Way to Survive the Coronavirus Epidemic

Is not necessarily to lock yourself up in your home.

You can run to the stores for gloves, masks and chemical disinfectants, and spend your days worrying about whether you should avoid all human contact, or you can take charge of your health by changing the way you eat, sleep, and treat your body. Because what determines whether the coronavirus affects you severely, comes and goes with no more ill effects than the common cold, or even gains enough ground to infect you in the first place, is how strong you maintain your immune system. To acquire a strong immune system, the level of which is necessary for such results, requires some commitment. But, the benefits are well worth the sacrifices. Being free of the stress caused by the worry of getting fatally sick, should be reason enough to want to change your lifestyle.

The best thing about concentrating on strengthening your immune system and improving your general health, is that when this latest health scare is over, you come out of it healthier, most likely a few pounds lighter, and with more energy and vitality than ever before; and that's something you're not going to get from a mask and a pair of gloves.

So, you might ask, how does one go about improving one's own immune system? First you have to make a choice. How healthy do you want to be? How long do you want to live without the pain and suffering, or the debilitating conditions, that come from the many illnesses plaguing our society? What are you willing to do, to live a long, healthy and active life? Because to supercharge you immune system and rid yourself of the need for drugs, doctors, and hospitalization, you need to be willing to make changes. If you’re constantly getting sick, or feeling low on energy, if it takes you more than three or four days to recover from a common cold, then you have to make some pretty drastic changes.

Is your life worth it to you? Forget the coronavirus, in an age when one out of three people are diagnosed with cancer sometime in their life, does improving your odds of not falling prey to any of these diseases have any value to you? If your answer is yes, then read on and I will map out ways in which you can begin your journey towards perfect health.

The Path to Being Disease Free

Achieving better health is a multi-faceted approach. There are four main fronts that you must plan your attack through. Listed in the order that you should address them, they are: bad things going into your body that shouldn’t, Good things that need to go into your body, Energizing and moving your body, and allowing your body sufficient time to rest and repair. Changing any one of these aspects on a consistent basis will significantly improve your health. Making significant improvements to all of them, will have miraculous effects.

Out with the Bad

The first step is to get rid of most of the toxins you are allowing into your bodies. Some you can address, some are beyond your control, so concentrate on those you have control over.

The following is a breakdown of the worst toxic substances people allow into their bodies through bad habits and poor decisions, and why. Beginning with the worst they are:

• Cigarettes and tobacco - Contain very harmful addictive chemicals including carcinogens.
• Processed sugar - #1 factor in tumor growth. It is the food that fuels cancer cells. A major contributor to diabetes and obesity. Plays havoc on your body's energy levels, and brain functioning.
• Most drugs (both recreational and pharmaceutical) – Don’t even get me started on this one. Just read the disclaimer on any pharmaceutical.
• Alcohol – Kills the good bacteria in your gut, dehydrates your body and substantially lowers the immune system. The hangover in the morning should be a dead giveaway.
• Soda drinks – Extremely high in processed sugar, molasses, or chemical substitutes (equally bad). See Processed sugar above for dangers. Consuming Soda also reduces the amount of water a person drinks.
• Coffee – Contains carcinogens, the excessively high dose of caffeine effects your hormones, and unbalances your energy levels. Increases the amount of sugar or sugar substitutes consumed by most people who drink it.
• Cheese and other dairy products – A major contributor to clogged arteries, and heart diseases. Contains and /or is easily converted to fat in your body.
• Toxins from burnt foods – Extremely high in carcinogens.

If you want to be healthy enough where you don’t have to worry about the coronavirus, you need to stop consuming all of these substances. The best way of doing that is to replace them with better alternatives.

In with the Good

So now that your putting less crap in your body, let's begin to give it what it it truly wants.

Dieting is not about losing weight, it’s about eating nutritious healthy meals. Weight loss then comes naturally because you are consuming better foods that the body can use, and not consuming the bad things that slow your metabolism, and clog your body's mechanisms. Switching several of those things listed above for healthy choices will have a profound effect. A couple of the best trades you can do is to drink green tea instead of coffee and alcohol, and plain water for any type of soda.

You should be careful when making food choices because some products can be misleading. An example of this is Arizona Green Tea which, with the amount and type of sugar added to each can, resembles a soda more than a tea. Similarly, juices that come in cartons, plastic or otherwise, are mostly water and sugar. Labels are purposely worded to mislead you. For example, "cage free" is not the same thing as "free range", "pasture raised" does not guarantee 100% grass fed, and "sugar-free" does not usually mean it's better for you. Even guidelines issued by many "health" organizations may not be entirely in your best interest. The dietary pyramid you’re used to seeing is not your best guide for meal planning. These are the quantities I suggest.

Taking It from the Top of the Tree

Fruits and vegetables are essential for supercharging your immune system and beating the coronavirus. They contain most of the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that your body needs. These are essential components for a strong immune system, and getting them naturally from food ensures the best absorption and use by the body. The key is to understand which fruits and vegetables contain the greatest quantities of the most important elements, and which parts of the plant contain those elements. For a very complete and comprehensive guide, I invite you to get a copy of the book by Jeff Primack “Conquering Any Disease”.

Here, I can only list some of the most important ones that I consume regularly, with a short summary on their benefits. As a side note: to get the most benefit from some of these foods, you will want to purchase a three-horse power blender. A smoothie is the quickest and easiest way to consume the best that these foods have to offer. It is also the only way to consume the most important parts of some of these foods.

My Number 1 Though 12 Top Picks of Super Fruits and Vegetables

For snacking and smoothies

• Beets - An immune boosting champion, rich in vitamin c and just about every other good thing.
• Red pepper
• Oranges or grapefruit
• Apples
• Cucumbers
• Lemons or limes
• Carrots
• Strawberries – Make sure they are organic. I do not recommend non-organic strawberries
• Broccoli

With the exception of the outer peel on the citrus fruits, the stalk of the beet plant, and the top green part of the red pepper and strawberries, in all of the above, you should consume the whole fruit or vegetable. In many cases the most important, nutrient rich part of the plant, is what most people throw away. This is one reason why it's a good idea to invest in a good blender.

For Salads

• Watercress – By far my #1 choice of greens for supercharging the immune system.
• The leaves of the beet plant – Contain many of the same nutrients as the beet root.
• Swiss Chard
• Spinach

For Meals

Fish - I usually stick to salmon, rainbow trout, and herring, but I am not a seafood expert.
Poultry & eggs – as with any meat, the healthier and happier the animal is raised, the better it’s meat will be for you. I prefer to choose poultry as well as eggs that are labelled as free range. They can cost up to three times as much, but it's much better for the animals and much better for your body.

This raises a very important topic, which is that of cost. Organic foods, especially those labeled free range cost more, but the contribution to your health, not to mention the humane treatment of the animals that give their life for you, far out way the extra expense. In a strictly economic comparison, the cost of one hospital visit that you could avoid by being healthier, more than makes up for any amount of extra spending you will incur at the grocery store throughout your entire life. Think about all the costs associated with a hospital visit including the time lost. You can avoid all that by not having to go to the hospital in the first place.

Red meat - The important thing with beef is that it be 100% grass fed. The meat will be healthier, and contain much more CLA, a substance that helps to combat tumors.

When it comes to meats, as well as vegetables, the method of cooking you use must not allow the meat to burn. For this reason I mainly use a combination of baking and broiling for my meats.

Beans - Lentils, red beans, black beans...can't say enough good things about them.

The Spice of Life: Important Herbs and Spices

The virus bacteria and cancer killers

• Garlic
• Ginger – also helps with body aches
• Turmeric

Other important spices and herbs

• Green Tea -Not the kind that comes in bottles or cans. If you can’t brew it, don’t do it.
• Mint
• Basil
• Cinnamon

Water Water Everywhere

The easiest ingredient to find is often the one we forget the most. The average person needs to drink one full glass of water every two hours from the moment they get up in the morning, to just before they go to bed. This quantity changes depending on body weight and amount of rigorous exercise performed. Some signs that you are not getting sufficient water include, red dry eyes, a fuzzy mind, being tired even though you’ve had enough sleep, and being hungry when you should not be.

Sun, Shine Down on Me

No discussion on nutrition is complete without stating the important role that the sun plays in your body’s ability to absorb the nutrients it needs. The ability to absorb many of the vitamins and minerals you consume is greatly influenced by the amount of sunlight you give it, or more specifically the amount of vitamin D that you get. Vitamin D is found in varying small quantities in some foods, mainly fish and eggs. However, to get the large doses your body requires, you really have two primary choices: you can purchase it in pill form, or go outside and enjoy nature.

Consequently, it is healthier to go out in the sun with very little clothing on your body. This requires only about ½ hour (15 minutes on each side to minimize the negative effect of UV radiation), as opposed to going out wearing pants and a long-sleeve shirt, or a long dress, which will then require much longer time to gather the same amount of exposure.

Move It or Lose It

Maintaining a regular exercise routine is another essential element for maintaining a healthy body and increasing your resistance to disease. I recommend exercising at least 3 times a week, or every other day, for about an hour to an hour and a half. A combination of aerobics, stretching and weight training gives you a well balanced workout. Going to a gym, playing tennis or basketball at the park, swimming and taking dance or martial arts classes, are all good activities that you can do. During these few months, going to the gym, or group classes is no longer an option. However, there are still many exercises you can do at home. The Internet is filled with suggestions for home workouts.

Just Snooze It

Finally, getting plenty of sleep is a must for both improving your mind and body’s performance, and defeating the coronavirus. In fact, it is so important, that nature has seen fit to do everything in its power to see that we dedicate one third of our day to it. Getting enough sleep is especially important if you are working out regularly. Your needs might be different from someone else's, but at least 7 hours a day is a must. Try to plan out eight or more hours of sleep regularly.

Other Soothing Suggestions

Stress is a healthy immune system’s enemy. For this and many other reasons, controlling it, say, by getting a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly massage, is a great way to keep your immune system stress free. Massage also helps eliminate toxins by loosening up tightness throughout the body, thus improving fluid circulation and the efficiency of the lymphatic system, which is an important part the body's waste removal mechanisms. MassageChoices.com is a great place to find the perfect massage.

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This article is modeled after what I learned through my own journey towards a healthy lifestyle, and is based on the teachings of Jeff Primack, author of "Conquering Any Disease", as well as, many years researching and reading up on the topics discussed throughout. The advice given here is what I believe to be the most effective way of surviving the coronavirus epidemic.

In the coming months, I will be publishing other articles, as well as videos for healthy recipes that I make to stay in shape, both physically and mentally. Feel free to check back on the Massagechoices YouTube channel or at the website. Stay healthy and thanks for reading!

Last update: 05-23-2020
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