10 Ways To Stay Safe From the Coronuvirus

You’d have to have been living in a cave to have escaped the media hype about the Coronavirus in recent weeks. Heck, I don’t even own a TV, and I feel like news of this disease is bombarding me from all sides.

It seems like every year or two, there’s a new outbreak that we are warned will kill us–in 2003, it was going to be SARS, and in 2005, Bird Flu. 2009 saw everyone taking cover from the Swine Flu outbreak, and in 2014, it was the Ebola Virus. The Zika Virus had the media in a frenzy in 2016, yet if you’re reading this, you’re still alive, and, presumably, have survived all of these events.

So is the Coronavirus just another Ebola or Zika? Is it a case of ‘The Boy who Cried Wolf”, or should we actually be as scared as the media is leading us to believe?

The Good News…and the Bad News…

According to the World Health Organisation, the bad news about the Coronavirus is that it is more deadly than the seasonal flu. In fact, 3.4% of those who contract the virus die from it, compared to fewer than 1% of those infected with the flu.

However, the good news is that it is more difficult to transmit from person to person.

Signs to Look Out For:

According to the Australian Government, the symptoms of Coronavirus can range from a mild illness, to severe pneumonia. Some recover fast from it, while others have died from it.

Some symptoms include fever; flu-like symptoms, such as coughing, sore throat and fatigue; and shortness of breath.

Since these are rather broad symptoms, you could be forgiven for panicking at the first sign of a scratchy throat. Yet, it is reassuring to know that, in Australia, those who are most at risk of contracting the virus are those who have recently been to mainland China and Iran, and those who have been in contact with other infected persons.

Fortunately, this means our chances of contracting the virus, at this stage, at least, are extremely remote.

The ways in which the virus is spread are essentially the same as a common cold or the seasonal flu. They include close contact with an infected person, or direct contact with droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze. Lastly, the virus can be contracted through touching objects or surfaces–think door handles or shopping trolleys–that have an infected person’s cough or sneeze droplets on them, and then touching your mouth or face.

How Do I Stay Healthy?

Considering that our philosophy is that there is no such thing as an incurable disease, I have been telling my clients to remain calm in the face of all the media sensationalism. Don’t bother rushing down to the shops to snap up roll upon roll of toilet paper (unless you are running out of loo paper, that is…) or stocking up on surgical masks.

The good news is that there are some simple things we can do that make a big difference.

Regular hand washing with soap and water, covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing, and avoiding unnecessary close contact with others, all go a long way in preventing the spread of any disease. The Coronavirus is no exception.

Our approach is simple: we believe that the best way is to treat the Coronavirus just like any other illness. That is, to build up the immune system before the illness hits.

To do this, we should eat well, exercise and supplement our diet with plant-based nutrition, to ensure we are meeting our daily nutritional needs, and fueling our body with the best we have.

10 Steps to Stay Safe from the Coronavirus:

Step one: Eating Raw

We should be aiming to include as many raw plant-based foods as possible: fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds—foods that have their vitamin, mineral and enzymes in-tact, as opposed to most processed foods that contain very little of these elements. This is necessary to feed our cells and keep them doing what they are designed to do, from pumping blood around the body to keeping our immune system in peak form. We should try to vary the range of food that we consume, as this helps us to vary our vitamin and mineral intake. Try and eat a rainbow of colours!

Step two: Exercise

Exercise helps to get the blood moving around our body. The more blood moving around, the more oxygen being transported, the more nutrients get to more cells, and the more healing can be done. Sweating when we exercise has the added benefit of removing toxins and poisons from our body, helping to cleanse and detoxify.

There are numerous plant-based supplements that we can take to assist our immune system.

This puts us in the best position to fight against any disease we are exposed to.

In some cases, this means avoiding the illness completely, while in others it may mean we experience a mild form of it, and recover far more quickly than those around us. Plant-based supplements are like an insurance policy, ensuring that we meet our nutrient requirements when we don’t always do so with food alone.

Step Three: Take a Powerful Organic Supplement

Taking a green drink daily can ensure we are getting a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals to nourish our body.

A good green drink will consist of at least a few of the main superfoods: spirulina, kelp, algae, dulse, alfalfa, and wheatgrass. Mix together and drink in a cup of freshly-prepared juice.

Step Four: Immune Boosting

Echinacea is a wonderful herb to take on a regular basis, particularly when those around you are sick and you can’t afford to join them. This is a herb we do not want to be cheap on.

When you are in the midst of people possibly infected with Coronavirus (or any other illness!), take a minimum of 4-6 droppers-full, 3- 4 times daily of a good quality Echinacea.

To know if you have a good quality Echinacea you should be able to drop two droppers straight in your mouth under the tongue and have a tingling sensation for at least 10 minutes, but preferably even for 20 minutes.

If you do not have any tingling sensation at all, your Echinacea is worthless, and not strong enough to be helping your immune system get into gear. (Spoiler alert: the majority of Echinacea supplements on sale at your local health food shop will fall into the latter category).

This brand really packs a punch.

Step Five: Destroy Pathogens Naturally

It is also good to get into the habit of consuming garlic. This herb has antibacterial and antiviral properties. While cooked garlic is still beneficial, it in no way compares to raw garlic. If you are among a Coronavirus outbreak, take upwards to 6 cloves of garlic a day. It may sound a lot, but if it means avoiding illness, it is well worth it. (It probably also means that nobody will want to come anywhere near you, thus ensuring you escape illness-free!)

All jokes aside, garlic helped people through the ancient plagues and will also help us through modern day ones as well.

Step Six: Double the Immune Boosting with an Anti-Plague Formula

A good quality Anti-Plague or Super Tonic formula can also be very effective–particularly when taken alongside Echinacea Plus. There are some recipes on the internet as well on how to make a good homemade one such as this one.

Step Seven: Triple Dose of Vitamin C

Make sure you eat plenty of fruits high in Vitamin C such as oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes. The peels of the oranges and lemons are even a higher content. Add in some rosehip tea or a few droppers-full this vitamin C complex formula. Vitamin C is crucial in helping the immune system to function at its peak. Using a plant-based formula ensures you get the full vitamin, not just one small isolate, which is the case with Ascorbic Acid supplements.

Step Eight: Help Your Body Do its Thing

When a fever develops do not make the crucial mistake of 99.9% of doctors or naturopaths make. DO NOT STOP THE FEVER!

There is only one thing in this entire planet that can kill the virus and that is our immune system. It is no coincidence that it works the way it does…it works that way because nature knows best how to heal us.

When your body temperature begins to rise, it means that there is an infection that the body is fighting against. Scientifically-speaking, fevers occurs through chemicals known as pyrogens being released into the bloodstream.

These chemicals enter the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for regulating body temperature. The pyrogens then bind to receptor sites in the hypothalamus, thus causing a rise in body temperature.

One particular pyrogen is Interleukin-1 (IL-1), which is produced when macrophages, or as they are commonly-known, white blood cells, come into contact with particular viruses and bacteria. One of the many purposes IL-1 serves is to call to action other white blood cells, known as helper T cells, in order to assist with fighting off the particular virus or bacteria that the body has been exposed to.

When under a fever, this process can work up to as much as 64 times faster.

This is how your body manages these invaders. By reducing the fever through pain killers and other medications, you are stopping the body’s natural means of killing off the infection. Fevers are harmless if you work with it and the body correctly, so unless the fever gets above 40-41 degrees celsius, keep hydrated and let nature take its course.

Step Nine: The Key is Plenty of Hydration

Drink plenty of water. If the body temperature rises above around 37 degrees Celsius, then at least 4 litres a day of pure clean water should be consumed, preferably distilled then reverse osmosis or the best filtered water you can find.

However, drinking diaphoretic teas (teas that cause the body temperature to rise and result in perspiration) are perhaps of the most benefit. One such example is a tea made of hot water, honey, lemon and ginger, or, even better, the flowering tops of Yarrow as a tea. For a faster recovery, drink 3-5 cups of such a tea while sitting in a tub of hot water, as hot as the person can tolerate it.

After about 20 minutes or more of this, the person can stand up, and with the shower head turned on, as cold as the water will go, drench the entire body. The contrast in water temperature assists with blood circulation around the body: hot water brings the blood to the body’s surface (hence, why our skin turns red when we get out of a hot bath or shower), while cold water forces the blood back deep into the core of the body.

This assists with transporting macrophages around the body, to kill and ‘gobble up’ the infection.

Step Ten: Sweat it Out

Put the person to bed covered with a sheet made of natural fibres such as cotton or wool, so the skin can breathe. Repeat this once a day until the person fully recovers. This is a powerful remedy that has a profound effect on serious viruses and infections. However, it can also be used by those in a situation where there is a possibility of being infected, in order to take preventative action to boost the immune system.

Keep it Natural and Keep Calm!

Let us all hope that we can stay safe from the Coronavirus. However, in the event that it does, it is comforting to know that, while mainstream medicine cannot offer a cure, there are natural means of fortifying our body’s defences, and standing the best chance possible of maintaining our health. It is important to remember, too, that the hints and tips in this article can be applied to any other illness.