Fighting COVID-19 By Addressing Junk Food

Even from the very beginning, I instinctively knew that diet played a big part in fighting COVID-19. I was and have been super-diligent about what I put in my body and I feel it has paid off.  I feel healthy and lucky that I did not succumb to this horrible illness.  It’s all about keeping your immune system strong and functioning at a very high level.  Junk food is really “bottled poison” but, unfortunately, many of us are addicted to it.  Cutting back on junk food consumption can really help us avoid the risk of COVID-19 and other health issues. 

Underlying health conditions such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes have been linked as key factors in COVID-19 fatalities. On one study, more than 99% of people who died from COVID-19-related complications had underlying medical conditions. Among those fatalities, 76.1% had high blood pressure, 35.5% had diabetes and 33% had heart disease. Processed foods, junk foods and soft drinks are key culprits in the development of these chronic diseases, and therefore have a key role to play in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. If you suffer from obesity, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, your risk of mortality from COVID-19 is greatly increased. Eating nutritious foods for even one month could help you lose weight, put Type 2 diabetes into remission and improve your health considerably, thereby improving your chance of survival should you contract COVID-19.

To optimize your chances of surviving COVID-19 and minimizing its symptoms, here are both dietary guidelines and good food practices to minimize the risk of food contaminants:

·         Eat four servings of fruit such as guava, apple, banana, strawberry, melon,    grapefruit, pineapple, papaya, orange and blackcurrant daily 

·         Eat five servings of fresh vegetables daily and avoid overcooking them            to prevent loss of nutrients

·         Include nuts and coconut in your diet

·         Include animal foods such as red meat, poultry, fish, eggs and milk

·         Avoid soda and other sweetened beverages and drink pure water instead

Unfortunately, the guidelines include the recommendation to avoid healthy saturated fats such as butter, coconut oil, cheese, ghee and cream, and to use unsaturated fats only. While some unsaturated fat sources are perfectly healthy, such as avocados, fish and nuts, others really should be avoided. I try to eat an avocado a day and I swear that my skin is glowing because of it!  On the other hand, processed seed oils should be diligently avoided and this includes oils soybean, canola and corn oils.

So, this is really a good time to look at how we can improve our health in general, and avoid insulin resistance in particular. A healthy population simply isn’t going to be as vulnerable to infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Restrict your eating window to six to eight hours each day, making sure to eat your last meal at least three hours before bedtime. This is known as time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting, and is a powerful intervention to reduce insulin resistance and restore metabolic flexibility.

Additionally, get regular exercise each week and increase physical movement throughout your waking hours, with the goal of sitting less than three hours a day. This is really hard if you are working remotely from home.  So make a habit of getting up for 10 minutes every hour and taking a movement break.  Make sure you’re getting sufficient sleep (typically eight hours for most adults) and tend to your emotional health.  This may mean checking out for 30 minutes a day meditating, doing breathing exercises, Tapping or another form of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). These are important factors that can influence your weight, general health, immune function and mental well being😊