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If somebody told us six months ago that we will be approached by incredibly transmissible and deadly virus that will affect the most population targeting to kill the elderly, we would have been more prepared or at least had time to get semi-ready for it.
As a matter of fact, It has attacked us aggressively spreading alone like a storm swamping masses to death and despair. We were not ready for the virus that has the intensity of affecting human’s body in a more severe manner than other respiratory viruses would, mainly overwhelming the lungs and hindering airways which may lead to breathing inability. 
From what we have acquired, COVID-19 is hard to detect as it stays in the body with no symptoms ranging from 3 to 5 days. It has extremely strong survival span, it showed that it is detectable in the air for up to 4 hours, on the cardboard up to 24 hours while on stainless steel it stays for 2 days and plastic for 3 days. Those simple facts lead us to the conclusion that COVID-19 is a very resilient virus with great stamina to survival on objects, thus we must as a community use serious hygiene precautions and do everything, we can to avoid getting infected with it. I will run through a few aspects which will help to go through these tough times unravelling what’s involved and how to manage it practising safety and precautions while strengthening our bodies.

1. Hands Hygiene

1.1 Washing hands with Soap & Water

Wash your hands with a hard bar of soap saying three times happy birthday, then wipe your hands with a Paper Towel. Please note, do not use a normal towel for wiping your hands as the virus remains in the fabric after 10 washes unless you bleached it or washed it  in 95 degrees Celsius hot water.
Washing your hands with normal soap and water is always the most effective way and we will unfold the reasoning of it in a few simple steps:
 a)  The soap contains both water- and fat-soluble aspects to its molecular structure.
 b)  Soap can chemically bond with both fat and water.
 c)  Soap is soluble in water which together creates foam and then attaches to the oil (sebum) on our skin.
 d)  Contaminants such as viruses and other bacteria bind to our skin sebum or oil.
 e)  Oil in Contaminants and oil on human’s skin that renews every hour attaches to each other because of the chemical attraction to one another.
 f)  Soap removes the skin sebum oil as well as the contaminant oil from the virus when water washes the skin.

Soap has a fat-soluble aspect of its molecular structure. Microbes, including viruses, have cells surrounded by a Phospholipid Bilayer-based membrane this implies that their membrane is fat-soluble on its outside surface. Soap chemically pulls the fats out of the membrane structure to bond with it, dissolving the cell membrane entirely. No cellular membrane means death for the microbes, so the soap will dissolve cellular membranes and chemically destroy microbes’ structures.

1.2 When to wash your hands:

  • After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
  • After visiting a public space, including public transportation, markets and places of worship
  • After touching surfaces outside of the home, including money
  • Before, during and after caring for a sick person
  • Before and after eating
  • After using the toilet
  • After handling garbage
  • After touching animals and pets
  • After changing babies’ diapers or helping children use the toilet
  • When your hands are visibly dirty

1.3 If hand washing is not an option:

  • Have hand sanitizer always available in your car, work desk and your handbag and sanitize your hands every hour if you are out and about.
  • Always travel with hand sanitizer no matter what. Please note, hand sanitizers have to be 60 % and greater of alcohol content in order to destroy the virus.
  • How does Hand sanitizer work? Alcohol content greater than 60% breaks apart the lipid-based coatings of some bacteria and some viruses destroying them.

1.4 What kind of Hand Sanitizer to Use?

There are a lot of hand sanitizers out there, please aim at hand sanitizers greater than 60% of alcohol content. The most reliable brands that usually produce those listed below.

  • Purell (70% alcohol content)
  • Dettol (65% alcohol content)
  • Equate (62% alcohol content)
  • Zoono (nanotechnology BCA 0.13%, works for 24 hours)
  • Germfree24® Hand Sanitizing Foam (nanotechnology BCA 0.13%, works for 24 hours)

1.5 If you have no hand sanitizers available:

  • You can use sanitizing wipes for cleaning to wipe your hands
    Try to keep one pack of wipes handy, at your workplace, your car your handbag.
    Usually, wipes are coated with quaternary ammonium compounds which are as effective as the alcohol-based sanitizers. In fact, recent studies have shown that it is even more effective than alcohol sanitizers.  
  • The active ingredient in those wipes is either Benzalkonium Chloride 0.35% which is very strong or Didecyldymethylammonium chloride (DDAC) 0.35%. Both of those quaternary ammonium compounds are used for disinfecting hospital’s equipment, beds and floors, so it works very well on enveloped viruses (viruses with an outer layer, membrane) fungi and bacteria. Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is a cationic surfactant (that means it can dissolve the lipid in bacterial cell-wall) hence making it more effective in its action in comparison with alcohol-based sanitizer which has a different mechanism of action.
  • BCA’s mechanism of bactericidal/microbicidal action happens due to disruption of intermolecular interactions, thus it leads to dissociation of lipid bilayer’s cellular membrane, which compromises cellular permeability structure and causes lysis which is leakage of cellular contents or cellular demise.

1.6 How to make Alcohol sanitizer at home 70% strength

  • You will need  99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol, or Ethyl Alcohol
  • Aloe vera Gel 

  1. Combine in a bowl: 
    2/3 cups rubbing alcohol (99.9% isopropyl alcohol)
    1/3 cup aloe vera gel
  2. Stir. Decant into a pump bottle
  3. Give it a good shake every now and then.
  4. Aloe vera is a moisturiser that will stop your skin from drying out. That’s useful since cracks in the skin can increase the risk of bacterial infection. The main active ingredient in this sanitiser is isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol). Most commercial hand sanitisers contain either ethanol, isopropanol, n-propanol or a combination of any two.

2. Face Hygiene

2.1 Face Touching

Our face has three susceptible areas through which any type of foreign organisms such as microbes and viruses can snick in. Those are Our Eyes, Nose and Mouth.
Please make sure your hands go nowhere near your face, as it is a straight exposure of easy intake of any nasties.

2.2 Face Masks for our own good?

In these vulnerable times when we are surrounded by highly contagious virus COVID-19 please wear masks when you are going into crowded places. We will look into a few types of masks which may assist in avoiding getting infected with COVID-19. 

Let’s focus on two types of masks which may help in prevention of getting exposed to COVID-19:

  • the N95/ KN95 respirator
  • the surgical mask
  1. N95/ Masks
    The N95 mask, also known as a respirator, is a fitted face mask. This allows protection against splashes, sprays, and large droplets. Furthermore, this mask can filter out 95% of much smaller particles associated with viruses, bacteria and pollutants. This mask is usually of an oval or circular shape, The objective is to have a tight fit and therefore seal to your face. This mask uses elastic straps to hold firmly in place and maintain the seal. To assist with reducing the build-up of humidity and heat some of these N95  products have a small valve for exhalation. N95 masks must be fit-tested before you use it for protection as they simply do not fit each person without the fit adjustment test. If mask not correctly fitted its effectiveness will be dramatically reduced. This process must be done each time mask is fitted however one may not provide adequate fit testing for Children and persons with beards.
  2. Surgical masks. Surgical masks are provided as a disposable option which are loose-fitting face masks which simply cover to the nose, mouth, and chin. The object of this mask is that it will assist you in being protected from splashes, sprays and larger-particle droplets. It may also prevent an infected person from passing on of its own potentially infectious respiratory fluids to others.
    Surgical masks have different shapes and sizes typically it is often a rectangular and a flat profile with pleats and folds to make it more mailable. On the top of the mask, you will often find a small metal strip to allow better closure around our nose. To hold the mask in place they use elastic stretch bands or long ties in order to hold the surgical mask in position while you are wearing it.
  3. Do face masks protect you against COVID-19? 
    From evidence to date the COVID-19 spreads small respiratory droplets from person to person. The droplets are propelled by a person when they exhale, cough, or sneeze. If you inhale these infested exhaled droplets you may contract the virus.
    Thus respiratory droplets exhaled can then contaminate various objects or surfaces. When someone then touches an object or surface that has been
    contaminated and they go on to touch their eyes, nose, or mouth this can also expose one to the infection

To summarise, surgical masks alone cannot solely protect against infection from COVID 19,  It does not provide the sufficient filter rate through the material of the mask for the smaller particles of respiration but it also does not prevent air passing through the sides of the mask as you inhale.

On the contrary, N95 masks do provide protection against the smaller respiratory droplets that contain viruses such as COVID19. However, as discussed before there are associated risks which were clearly highlighted by CDC, i.e. proper mask fitting plus appropriate handling of it after each use. If  N95 mask is not correctly fitted and tested and is used in an inappropriate manner they can be frustrating to wear for extended periods of time due to discomfort. 

It is important to remember the limitations of a surgical mask. Namely, they do not protect against infection but they do provide some ability to capture infectious respiratory fluids. This can be very important with assisting prevent the spread of the COVID-19 to others around you.

How to use the disposable mask:

1. Ensure you have cleaned your hands with Soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer using sanitizers with more than 60% Alcohol content.
2. Make sure the integrity of mask is in tack  i.e. no holes etc 
3. The metal strip on the mask is at the top
4. Check if the correct side of the mask is facing out so the inward side is against the face.
5. Compress the metal strip to mould to your nose
6. Place the elastic straps behind your ears or tie back behind your head if with ties.
7. Make sure the mask now covers your nose, mouth, and chin.
8. Remember do not touch the mask after placing it. If you do then proceed to re-washing your hands immediately.

9. To remove the mask do so by the straps and do not touch the face of the mask where you have effectively been inhaling through
10. Then dispose of the mask in an appropriate manner cleaning hands afterwards.
11. Surgical masks are disposable do not reuse them
12. Replace if they become damp and or any damage occurs to the mask

2.3 Use of a mask caring for a patient with COVID-19?

In the event if you must care for a person in your home that has COVID-19, do the following :

  1. Try to isolate person constructed COVID-19 in the home or area away from other persons. If possible assign a bathroom for their solo use.
  2. Have a supply of masks that they can wear most importantly when they are going to be around family associates.
  3. If a patient with COVID -19 is struggling to use a mask due to the breathing difficulties and or feeling claustrophobic, then try to use one source of support person within their room who can be trusted to maintain strict care procedures.
  4. Look to use disposable gloves disposing of these after the use and immediate hand washing after the disposal.
  5. Constant hand washing is a must, please avoid touching your face areas such as mouth, eyes and nose.
  6. Keep the room surfaces as sterile as possible with constant wiping using disinfectant wipes.
    Do not exclude such areas as bench-tops, or other flat surfaces, door handles, and various devices or associated keyboards.

2.4 Type of masks

The Masks to look for, KN95 or N95, those masks are explained to be protecting you from contaminant’s particles with its filtration strength of 95%. Those codes of identification KN95 and N95 stand for the country various regulatory standards code assigned to the different countries. KN95 standard is assigned to China, while N-95 designated to the USA. There are also standards such as FFP2 for Europe;
P2 for Australia/New Zealand; Korea 1st class for Korea; DS for Japan.
Please note there are two types of reusable masks available, reusable plain and with the breathing valve. The disposable masks are surgical masks.

3. Household Hygiene

3.1 Surfaces Sanitizing

  • Make sure once a day you wipe surfaces around the most visited areas of your house or office. Those surfaces in your kitchen might be a kitchen bench, the table, the sinks, the desks, shelving and printers.
  • For disinfecting the surfaces please use Dettol disinfectant, or Dettol floor cleaner, it is the same disinfectant with the same active ingredient BCA (benzalkonium chloride) 1.6% both with pleasant but different fragrance.
  • Take an empty spray bottle, fill half with plain water and another half with Dettol disinfectant, close sprayer lid on and shake it. Now you can go along with disinfecting the surfaces, always remember, it is better to be safe than sorry, after all we are trying to help people around us which are most vulnerable and prone in having life-threatening problems with this virus.

3.2 Household garments washing

Try to wash your bath towels more frequently than usual, perhaps once in three days would be perfect.
The cloths for wiping that you use at your kitchen and tea towels must be washed every day.

3.3 Floors Hygiene

Please make sure you vacuum your floors frequently. If you have no carpets, mop your floors with Dettol or other disinfectants twice a week. If someone is sick at your household with the virus, you will have to mope your floors every day.

4. The Mind State

Little note. We never know how long the lockdown during COVID-19 will last for, all we know is that we are houses bind until it ends. We have to remember and understand one thing, in doing so we are helping each other to stay safe and our medical system to keep up without major losses to the communities.

4.1 We are here in the thick of it, please stay Positive

For the past three months we sighted mortifying events of broken people, family’s cities and countries, the world was filled with multiple deaths, all kind of losses accompanied by emotional and financial despair. We have seen the places around the world getting swamped with lockdown regimens implemented in countries to just flatten the curve of this monstrous COVID-19 coronation which hogged people’s lives physically and mentally. The brutality of it is written away upon countries, cities, streets and people’s faces and tattooed in their hearts. No one has expected this Armageddon of 2020 on the edge of scientific and technological nirvana to come and destroy people’s dreams, lives and places so fearlessly so briefly…We simply were not ready for this, not now….. The whole entire world has been overflown with fear and panic, all we are trying to do now is survive with less damage to society and humanity. So far we have been doing the best we know-how, learning from one another as we go forwards winning this battle with COVID-19 with plus or minus lives saved. As you probably have experienced already, people went crazy in causing chaos in the supermarkets, pharmacies preparing themselves for the worst time to come. No one to blame that is just human’s nature being genetically encrypted in us, our habitual manner of how to race to survive or live it to the fullest if tomorrow never comes. Either or we are doing it the best we can and know-how! 

Here we are right now in New Zealand with borders shut, in level 4 of emergency, over 200 cases of COVID-19 infestation, with dozens already passed critical states and recovered, maybe dozen in critical care but under control. We are all doing what we can to help one another and others, at least that’s what we were told we are doing for this to work to get out of it with no major damage. Millions of dollars losses later we are on the curve of conquering this viral animal no matter what. We are New Zealanders on the lockdown for weeks starting 26th of March 2020, with ability to go to the nearby supermarkets, beaches and parks using social distancing precautions of 2 metres apart, the farther the better! Might as well getting our positivity up working and studying from home beautiful people! Keep your chins up, be creative and ’Eat pray love’!

4.2 How to stay positive:

You may doubt but our minds are designed to work as a success-oriented serve mechanism that only knows how to succeed. It will always make the best possible decision with the information available in hand, we were born this way, to find the way to win, so let’s do it the best we can.

  1.  Take a notebook and turn it into your Planning Diary. Start with the 21-day plan labelling each page with Day 1 & date, Day 2 & date, Day 3 & date and so on. Set 21 realistic goals clearly which you will be ticking off every day, 1 goal a day. Write it into your Diary: 1 goal starting each day you have just labelled with the day counts. This 21-day plan was invented and practised by QUEEN Elizabeth II, in fact, it is named ‘Queen Elizabeth 21-day plan’
  2. Get organised and plan each day the night before, keep it simple so it is easy to follow. This plan has to include 1 goal a day and it has to be first on the day’s list. Apart from that ‘one goal’ you are going to write other things that you have to complete at this day, like your work, you study tasks your chores. Keep in mind your Goal which is always a Header of your list for each day is your priority, it must be completed that very day no questions asked.
  3. By the end of each day tick off your goal and all your other tasks for the day, if something has been left not done, transfer it to the next day as a second priority after your goal.
  4. At the end of your 21 days plan review your plan, make an acknowledgement of your successes and remember one thing, there is never a failure in life there is simply feedback. Reward yourself for every success you have achieved, and what you could not complete for some reason, write little notes of what could help you to achieve it in the next run.
  5. Get ready for your next 21 days plan and watch yourself grow! Not only this societal isolation be busy and fun for you, but it will also develop you into a better person you are today

4.3 Use the Lockdown time and have some fun 

The advantages of being in lockdown: As funny as it may sound you wouldn’t even notice how you’ve been working on self-development graduating into a better more skilful person. You have also had a brilliant opportunity to get to know one another better while locked in with your family.

  1.  At the end of each day Cook dinner together as a family. After cooking you can also help each other to clean up. You can split the family into two groups and make a roster of two shifts taking on the kitchen organising meal preparations.
  2. Every night spend some time together in the house gathering area, you can watch movies together and then have quizzes with questions and answers about that movie.
  3. You can read the same book as a family and then get together as a book club discussing your opinions about that book.
  4. You can play table games such as cards, monopoly, twister, chest, domino etc, use your imagination!
  5. You can do some recreational work for your household, like fixing things, painting, loan mowing, gardening and so on!
  6. You can do some art like painting, sketching, assembling puzzles, doing Lego with your kids.
  7. You can go to the park and play a ball with your family if you want, use your creativity. Just make sure you are not involved with other groups of people, it is not being antisocial we all know how social KIWIS are, it is being safe and taking care of each other!.

5. Your Immune System Is the Number one Solution

There were and will be all sorts of viruses, fungi infections and other illnesses or health dis-balances at all times surrounding us left and right. The only way to get through it all is to ensure we are looking after our immune system. In order of having our immune system at its pick, we have to make sure we work for it not against it. Here are some insides of how to maximise your immune system.

5.1 Exercise is crucial!

In order for your immune system to function at its pick, we must exercise! The fundamental truth to the exercise necessity holds the simple ground which I will explain in two steps.

1. Exercise for Lymphatic system. Our lymphatic system is a housing for our immune cells which are responsible for dealing with abnormal cells growth of any nature and other foreign and harmful substances. When we exercise we perform body movement which generates muscle construction what makes lymphatic fluids flow. This process simply serves our lymphatic system with a ‘Pump mechanism’ to help lymphatic fluids circulating through the body ridding our organs of the toxins and corrupted cells. After exercise, our lymphatic fluid recycles pumping back into the bloodstream which then filters through the kidneys where waste is sent to be passed out through our urine. The efficiently circulated lymphatic fluid makes your lymphatic system strong which in exchange serves our bodies in a perfect manner   

  • It cleanses out the toxins and cellular waste
  • It produces cells to fight disease and correct disbalances
  • It helps you to burn fat and regulate a healthy weight

2. Exercise for healthy Blood circulation. Blood circulation is a flow of blood through our veins which delivers oxygen throughout the body in order to eliminate toxins. Originally the blood circulation is inept it cannot merely flow with an optimal velocity without external help therefore it needs to be boosted. The easiest way to do it is to move your body in a vigorous manner and that’s where exercise comes into the place. We must exercise or move our bodies every day to increase our blood flow which will reward us with the following:

  • Great Energy drive
  • Good mood
  • Good memory
  • Sharp Mind
  • Strong Immune system
  • Strong Cardiovascular Health
  • Weight Loss
  • Beautiful Skin, Hair and Nails
  • Great Health Condition

To take away, you have to exercise or be active every day no matter what we did touch base in paragraph 5.1 what is the necessity of it and what does it actually mean to our health. So all we have to do now is to plan for it and allow it to come into our life. 

  • Plan your fitness week in advance
  • Buy some weights so you have no more excuses for escaping this responsibility.
  • Make your fitness plan for a week full of fitness and conditioning varieties that will deploy loading different body parts with different intensity each time. This way you will utilize all your muscles evenly and get fit without hitting a plateau.
  • Make it fun and treat yourself, buy some nice sports gear, training shoes, training clothes, and hey… get excited, because not only it is going to improve your health it’s also going to transform your body giving you a better and more toned shape
  • Make a weekly fitness schedule, print it off and stick it up on the wall where you can see it and tick it off as you go. At the end of every week reward yourself, make it special!
  • Remember one thing, you do it for you, for your body and your health, so might as well show up and allow some time for it!

Here is an approximate fitness plan you can acquire:

Monday: 35 minutes of HIIT: 3 min Warm-Up; Upper body, Abs, Lower body & cardio plus 3 minutes Cool down. Make each circuit made out of 3:2:1 intervals: 3-minutes Strength; 2-minutes cardio; 1-minute abs repeated twice.  

Tuesday: You can do 30 minutes of Abs workout, 3 minutes warm-up make 3 circuits finishing each of them with the cardio and round up your workout with 3 minutes of cool-down

Wednesday: By day 3 you will be probably a bit stiff, so take it easy and unload doing 30 minutes cardio or go for a 9 km walk. It should take you about 1 hour walking 9 km at a fast pace. 

Thursday: Make it your 30 minutes lower body workout. Same style 3 minutes Warm-up Lower body loading 3 circuits with 2 minutes cardio in between and finish it off with nice 3 minutes cool-down. Or you could do Abs workout again, just do a different one. Last time I’ve looked abs were never enough because our core is the hardest one to exhaust you can deploy it harder!

Friday: Make it Heavy weight lifting day. 30 minutes of 3 circuits of slowly lifting exercises with 5 minutes warm-up and 5 minutes cool-down. Heavyweight lifting will never make your body baulky on the contrary, It will make it leaner and stronger and improve your hormonal system increasing your longevity. 

Saturday: Finish off your week with nice 30 minutes cardio at your home, or go for 30 minutes run. If you run for 30 minutes you would most probably cover 6 km or something like that depending on your speed. You can also interval run: 5-minutes run 1-minute walk and so on until you exhaust 30 minutes.

Sunday: is your rest day!

5.2 Stay Lean saves lives and increases longevity

There is no brainer that if we are lean on the outside we are lean on the inside too. However what if we were overweight and it was showing on the exterior of our body what happens in the interior of it? Let’s dig a little bit deeper into that.

There are three types of fat that we carry as humans: Essential Fat; Subcutaneous Fat and Visceral Fat.

1. Essential fat: Is the fat that can be found in the tiny amounts in our muscles, organs nervous system and bone marrow. It is names Essential because without that we cannot function in an optimal way, we need it for our regulatory processes, hormonal system and our structural strength. It is estimated to be healthy ranging in men 3-5% and in women 11-14%. 

2. Subcutaneous fat: is located under our skin, body stores it there for the energy to be used later in extreme situations when food is not available. The body also uses it for the muscle and bone as a connecting tissue and also as a padding or protective layer from injuries and hits. Subcutaneous fat also required for body for temperature regulation serving us with essential insolation in other to keep warm. It is certainly good to know that subcutaneous fat is used by the body for good purposes but how much is enough? It is estimated that by measuring your body mass index (BMI), which provides us with the weight to our height ratio drawing the following standards:

  • normal weight: BMI of 18.5 to 24.9
  • overweight: BMI of 25 to 29.9
  • obesity: BMI of 30 or higher

3. Visceral Fat: is a very dangerous fat for our body, it is absolutely nasty and it grows over our abdominal area jeopardizing our major organs namely liver, kidneys intestines pancreas and our heart. So if we look at ourselves and see a bit floppy arms, love handles, a bit bigger thighs, a tiny bit wider buttox and little muffin top tummy it rings the bell: “yeah baby.. here it is lurking inside of you like an evil thing which is after our beautiful organs”. So now when we know we have it we have to kick it because if we don’t not only we compromise our immune system we also in risk to develop one tp few of the following: 

  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Stroke
  • Cancer
  • High blood pressure
  • Sleep apnea
  • Depression
  • Hormonal disbalances
  • Early ageing
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Fatty liver disease
  • Kidney disease

To sum up, to put our body into the weight loss mode we have to consume lesser calories than we burn. To prevent gaining weight altogether we have to consume the same amount of calories as we burn. Just remember one thing though, we can never consume more calories than we burn at any circumstance – period, it does not only overload our digestive organs it also slows down our metabolism, makes us tired and reduces our body’s ability to fight viruses, germ and infections. Staying Lean also means to eat wholesome foods, those are wholegrain and wholemeal carbohydrates, fibres, vegetables, a little bit of fruit, berries, seeds and organic proteins. Under no circumstances, simple or processed carbohydrates and SUGAR contribute to the method of staying lean, if consuming those will put your body into a chemical loading mode which triggers hormonal disbalances which again compromises your immune system and leads to the degenerative diseases.  

5.3 Listen to your body

  1. Follow your hygiene no matter what. If you feel a bit unwell please stay calm and act promptly to the situation: isolate yourself from the other members of your family, wear a mask when you have to be in contact with each other, wash your hands constantly please refer to the hygiene chapters 1,2 and 3 following them like ABCs.
  2. During these time with COVID-10 roaming around, Gargle once a day with NZEALTH Gargle ‘Sore Throat Combat’  Even though your throat is fine, it will supper charge immunity of your mucous lining in the mouth assisting in guarding it against the nasties.
  3. If you feel your throat is a bit scratchy or fluid dripping on the back of your throat – start gargling. Gargle at least Once to Twice a day with NZEALTH Sore Throat Combat Gargle, or with Solution that you can make at home, 1 tsp of salt/soda. While it is not as effective as NZEALTH gargle it is better something than nothing.
  4. Start enhancing your immune system today: eat good nutrition, stay hydrated, allow good 8 hours sleep, stay calm and positive, exercise, go for little walks on fresh air, enjoy sunlight at least 30 minutes a day which is our vitamin D, treat each other with respect and love, there is always a possibility that the one next to you may be the most vulnerable one at this tough times.

5.4 Cleanse your body on an everyday basis ‘ A little bit every day, goes a long way!’

We have to make sure we gently cleanse our bodies every day on the noninvasive way. We have to reboot our digestive system by unclogging vital organs in charge of it- just like you reboot your smartphone in order for it to refresh and function like new again. Thus will free up some space in our bodies from unnecessary debris and food waste and allow the immune system to run itself on the optimal level recharging with new nutrition coming in to feed our cells to rebuild, recycle. Subsequently, it will benefit our bodies with vigorous energy and clear mind fueling us with a powerful drive to thrive.

1. First thing in the morning, have your Lemon water. Take a Glass of water and fresh lemon, cut it into two halve squeezing it into the water. In order for it to work, please stay away from food for 30 to 40 minutes after that. The benefits of lemon water as follow:

  • It flushes your liver from toxins on the noninvasive way
  • It has powerful antibacterial properties
  • It aids with weight loss, promotes digestion and increases your metabolism
  • It regulates bowel movement and assists in maintaining digestive health
 

2. Take 2-3 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar in the glass of water straight after your lemon water to emphasise the power of detoxification. 

  • Apple cider vinegar has plenty of healthful properties which induce the anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiparasite and antioxidant effect.

  • Apple cider vinegar helping in weight loss, curbing your appetite, reducing cholesterol and lowering your blood sugar by improving insulin sensitivity.

  3. Drink 2 to 3 Litters of water a day to flush out your toxins. That amount excludes teas and coffees as those are diuretics and curb your hydration.  

5.5 Strong Immunity Nutritional SAGA

  1. Stay away from sugar or any processed sugary foods: table sugar, sugary soft drinks, excess of dry fruit, mainstream baking, simple carbs, chocolate or flavoured milk, candies and sweets, chocolates sweetened with sugar, even 85% dark chocolate will carry at least 50% of sugar hands down.
    Always remember that in just 30 minutes, after you consume sugar, you will decrease your immune system capacity to deal with germs by 50% or more and in immune-compromised people, immunity capacity is insufficient already and they cannot simply afford for they immune system to weaken.
  2. Eat chillies, ginger, garlic and turmeric root, those foods are abundant in bioactive compounds that fight fearlessly bacteria and inflammation by supercharging your immune system. These spices have huge antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties which have to be an essential part of your diet. Please note, when you cook with those spices or add them to your teas or smoothies, wash it properly and leave the skin on, except garlic, you have to peel garlic as its skin can not be digested. 
  3. Eat plenty of vegetables, capsicums, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, eggplants courgettes, red onions, potatoes, kumara, carrots, butternuts, beetroots all skin on. In the skin of those vegies you have got not only essential flavonoids but also plenty of fibre, just wash it well and way you go!
  4. Make sure you eat at least one fruit a day or berries if it is your preference. The fruit such as grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, berries, pomegranate those are just golden for our immune system devices. There is never too much of vitamin C, squeeze lemons or limes into your water, put a slice of lemon into your tea or even black coffee, treat yourself.
  5. Cook and eat your food with virgin olive oil, you can infuse your olive oil with garlic, ginger, chilly, herbs and varies spices, refer to the condiments section in NZEALTH sugarfree recipes, it has prep tutorial of how to make it at your kitchen. It takes only one day for your oils to be cured with infusions, so might as well do it!
  6. Eat quality proteins such as eggs, chicken. turkey, fish, seafood, red meats once to twice a week lean pork if you ‘d like. Boil, grill, slow cook or roast them, there are lots of recipes out there.
  7. Always cook with spices and herbs such as: turmeric, fenugreek, peppers ( black, white, green, pink), coriander, chillies, mustered (yellow & black) oregano, rosemary, thyme, mint, parsley, basil, coriander, chives. Those are not only filled with immune-strengthening properties they are also very delicious in any kind of meal.
  8. Eat those mushrooms reishi, chaga, cordyceps, shiitake, buttons, brown mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, not only they are delicious with any vegetables and meats, their healing properties are incredible too.

5.6 Supplemental nutrients, For the optimal body functioning and immune defence.

  1. Vitamin D is a must: It is crucial for the immune system! Studies have demonstrated that you should have 100-150 nmol/l of vitamin D in your bloodstream (it is advisable that you test yourself). If you are not supplementing vitamin D, it is a high probability that you are deficient. Take 5,000- 10,000 IU of Vitamin D each day. Please note if you are older than 40 add Vitamin K2 to your Vitamin D3, you will need 150 mcg a day. Try to get out on the sunlight, the best absorption of vitamin D comes through our skin, 30 minutes a day is what everyone has to consider!
  2. Probiotic 100 billion at least 11 strains strength, take 1 in the morning on an empty stomach and one before bedtime. If you have no possession of 100 billion probiotics, you can take in 50 billion form, 2 in the morning 2 at night.
  3. Vitamin C: use 2000 mg in the morning on empty stomach and 1000mg at night before bed( the best is Vitamin C with Quercetin and Bromelain blend QBC Plex or liposomal)
  4. Turmeric 600 mg with Bioperine, take 2 in the morning on an empty stomach
  5. Zinc 30mg if you are sick take double or even triple it if you are older or heavy weight wise
  6. Selenium 250 mcg
  7. Vitamin A for epithelial barrier 5,000- 10,000 IU per day  (do no take big doses of Vitamin A if pregnant
  8. Electrolyte, drink it every day with your water 1-2 doses minimum. If no electrolyte powders are available to you, consider drinking Italian mineral water such as Santa Vittoria and San Pellegrino

5.7 Supplementation that may assist you in fighting respiratory infections If you become sick, you can take below higher doses for three days.

  1. Probiotic 400 Billion twice a day on an empty stomach
  2. Turmeric with Bioperine 4800 mg a day 2400mg at once on an empty stomach
  3. Vitamin C 1000 mg up to 6000-8000 a day
  4. Quercetin 2000-4000 mg a day
  5. Bromelain 200-400 a day
  6. Vitamin D 10,000 IU
  7. Vitamin A 10,000 to 20,000 IU (high doses only for three days!) Please do not take more than 1000 if you are pregnant or lactating, contact your doctor for the advice.
  8. Zinc up to 120 mg a day
  9. Drink electrolyte 3-5 doses a day, throughout the day to hydrate your body to a maximum cellular level

At the times when you are down with viral or respiratory illness please rest a lot, as your immune system needs to fight ailment along with rebuilding itself to its optimal level. In order to do that your body requires a lot of energy as it battles foreign microorganisms and repairing the cellular damages on the optimum level. To achieve that you need to be still and relax so you can deploy all the energy towards your body’s recovery. Drink a lot of water to flush your body properly purging your body of toxic waste.

Recent events showed that many of patients who have COVID-19 virus may develop cytokine storm or inflammatory overwhelming. The ugliness of that COVID-19 virus is that it causes cytokine wave in the bodies that are immune-compromised. What it does is it activates too many cytokine cells surged into the lungs at once with an extensive flow which may cause airways blockage and damage to the lungs, thus might subsequently lead to sepsis which is very hard to treat in weakened bodies. This Virus acts like influenza on steroids which makes it twice as contagious and resilient to all known treatments.

Some of the articles pointed out that for critically ill patients with pneumonia that led to sepsis in some countries, The Vitamin C Intravenous cocktails in conjunction with thiamine were used. The IV the protocol was followed of 1,500 mg of vitamin C 200 mg of thiamine administered every 6h (in total 6g of ascorbic acid daily) had a huge impact in battling sepsis, In some cases, hydrocortisone IV was used too. In natural Treatment of post pneumonia sepsis also showed benefit in using supplementation such as Vitamin D, Curcumin, Quercetin, Bromelain, Frankincense, Myrrh and Naringin. Those patients treated with the vitamin C/Thiamine protocol shown to have 8.5% death rate while those non-treated had a death rate of 40.4%.

Please listen to your body, if you are feeling unwell and developed very high fever or should you have any problem with breathing, you should call the hospital.
Please refer to new updates about Covid – 19 https://covid19.govt.nz/
For COVID19 health advice and information, contact the Healthline team (for free) on 0800 358 5453 or +64 9 358 5453 for international SIMS.

 

Disclaimer

The content published in NZEALTH website is the result of learning clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations. NZEALTH is not responsible for the scientific accuracy or reliability of data or conclusions published herein. All content published within NZEALTH is intended only for educational, research and reference purposes. Additionally, articles published within NZEALTH should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within NZEALTH

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88911/pdf/cm000147.pdfhttp://www.formatex.info/microbiology4/vol1/598-607.pdfhttps://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Antiseptic_efficacy_of_benzalkonium_chloridehttp://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/pdf/antimicrobial-spectrum-of-disinfectantshttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5996765/https://www.twincraft.com/twincraft-skincare-blog/using-soap-water-to-protect-yourself-from-getting-sickhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200320192755.htmhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180118142611.htmhttps://www.msdmanuals.com/en-nz/home/infections/biology-of-infectious-disease/defenses-against-infectionhttps://www.britannica.com/science/immune-systemhttps://www.healthline.com/nutrition/immune-boosting-supplements#The-bottom-line

https://www.healthline.com/health/coronavirus-mask

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254618301005

https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/exercise-and-the-lymphatic-system.h20-1592991.html https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319236#strategies-for-shedding-subcutaneous-fat

https://www.nih.gov/health-information/coronavirus

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6716767/

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