A Nutritional and Lifestyle Approach to Fighting the Virus
In light of the lack of vaccine or cure for COVID-19, there has been a lot of focus on preventing the virus from getting a foot-hold, and on supporting your immune system to fight the virus.
The Post-Modern Diet is a nutritional and lifestyle approach to good health. So it is gratifying to me that there is ample research exploring several non-drug approaches to fighting COVID-19. What I’m sharing here are those things you can do to defend yourself right now.
I won’t be offering any whys for what’s on this list. But I will say there is some evidence supporting their effectiveness against COVID-19. I will talk about the whys in upcoming posts.
I see two complimentary non-drug approaches to fighting the virus:
- Interfering with (slowing down) the rate of infection, to give the immune system a chance to kick butt before the virus can get a foot-hold.
- Strengthening the immune system so it can do a more effective job of fighting the virus.
Indeed, the more ways we can slow down the infection rate and the more ways we can strengthen the immune system, the better that chances of avoiding a trip to the hospital. So I say let’s combine them all into a supplemental virus bomb or “cocktail”.
The Recipe
What follows is perhaps the five most important supplements, based on some good evidence. I present them to you here, with their suggested dosages in a COVID-19 context.
- Vitamin C – 500-1000 mg/day
- Vitamin D3 – 4000 IU/day
- Melatonin – 3 mg at bedtime (increase as tolerated to up to 10 mg)
- Quercetin – 250-500 mg/day
- Zinc – 30 mg/day (maximum 40 mg!)
Interestingly, zinc become as scarce as N95 masks and toilet paper, due to popular media coverage of it. Others are likely to follow.
Some More Ingredient Suggestions
The following items aren’t coronavirus headliners but are nonetheless known to have antiviral properties, support immune function or otherwise promote good health:
- Calcium – 1000 mg/day
- Vitamin E – 800 IU/day
- Fish oil – 4000 mg/day
- Probiotics & Prebiotics
With the exception of quercetin and zinc, all of the supplements mentioned here were already in my daily regimen prior to the pandemic. I have have since added them.
[ 2020-12-25 Update ] Somebody pointed out that N-Acetyl-L-Cystine (also known as NAC and Acetylcysteine) is in the above photo but not on my list. My bad! While going over the research for this list, I decided that this should not be considered a supplement. Yes, it is sold over the counter as a “free form amino acid”, but really should be classified as a drug considering the potential side effects. The bottle you see remained unopened until two weeks ago when I, myself, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and decided to add it to my own regimen.
Lifestyle Suggestions
This post would not be complete without mentioning other important immune system support:
- daily exercise
- regularly spending time in a forest or wooded area
- getting enough sleep
That about wraps it up for now, but do keep in mind that this post is little more than a “cheat sheet”. The rationale behind them will have to wait. I do plan to write about all of these in more detail.
Don’t Forget…
- keep your hands clean/sanitised
- don’t touch your face without first cleaning/sanitising
- practise physical distancing
- completely cover your coughs and sneezes
- and finally, wear mask!!!