Our global news is dominated with conversations about viruses. Well, one virus in particular. We are hearing about how many positive cases there are, how many people are dying and how overwhelmed our medical services are with all of these ill people. What we are not hearing is how to support our bodies, naturally, in order to improve our immune balance and increase our ability to fight this pathogen.
Our bodies are incredible healing machines. We have mechanisms in our bodies to recognise pathogens or cells invaded with pathogens and to destroy those pathogens and infected tissues. It is intricate and highly complex but astounding and beautiful. I am constantly in awe of the human body.
Today I want to share with you just one way in which you can support your immune system to help your incredible human body fight off viruses.
A virus enters your body and then, once inside, enters your cells. Different viruses use different mechanisms for infiltrating your cells so I won’t go into detail about that step. What is important, for the sake of this blog post, is that the viruses get inside your cells. Once inside they highjack your body’s own cellular replication machinery to promote their own proliferation. The viruses need our cellular replication mechanisms to replicate. Without it they would not successfully proliferate and you would not have enough of a viral load to pass the virus on to someone else. So, without us, the virus would die off.
Here is the key bit of information — this replication of the viruses is dependant on NFkB. Remember NFkB from last week’s blog post? Remember this diagram?
Can you see how ‘viruses’ are listed, in the box on the top left of the diagram, as a potential instigator of the NFkB inflammatory loop?
So, we know NFkB is triggered by viruses and that they need NFkB for replication. What if we used what we know to reduce NFkB?
Yes, you guessed it. Reducing NFkB is antiviral. If we can reduce NFkB we can interfere with viral replication and therefore proliferation.
So, how can we reduce NFkB?
There are a few natural substances that will do it for you:
Curcumin
Curcumin is a phytochemical and is the active ingredient in turmeric you may have heard that turmeric is anti-inflammatory? This is part of the curcumin story, it inhibits NFkB.
Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a phytochemical found in the skin of dark grapes, blueberries and cranberries and in cacao, among other things. It also inhibits NFkB.
This is just one of many mechanisms that the body uses to attack and clear pathogens. The more we know the better we can support our bodies so that when we are exposed to the virus (whether organically or via the vaccine) our immune systems have the best support possible to mount an appropriate response, kill the virus and let you get on with your one incredible life.
I am not recommending that you use grapes and turmeric to recover from COVID-19, or any virus for that matter. I am, however, recommending that you include these things in your diet, be mindful of how well you cook your beans and possibly see a qualified practitioner who can advise you on whether supplementing with these phytonutrients is right for you.
If you would like a personalised plan for prevention, or recovery from a viral infection. Do get in touch for a free 15 minute chat.
To wellness!
April
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