Human Nature

The food and drink you consume, regular exercise, and awareness practices are the most important activities you can do for building your immunity and preventing viral infections and colds, including H1N1.  It is important to be mindful of your choices everyday to prevent the chronic conditions that place you at a higher risk for complications from a virus like H1N1. Here are some holistic, food-based tips to help you stay healthy:

-Vitamin D. Eat foods high in Vitamin D and get plenty of sun. As a hormone in your body, Vitamin D attacks the proteins of the virus.  Foods such as wild salmon, mackerel, and herring are the highest in Vit D. Soy (I only suggest it in the form of tempeh) and eggs (have with hot sauce or chilies to prevent congesting the liver/gall-bladder) are also high in Vitamin D.

- Oregano. Cook with oregano or use essential oregano oil in your cooking. No pathogen ever tested against oregano oil has survived.

-Garlic. Cut up raw garlic and include in your food daily. High in zinc and enzymes, garlic will kill pathogens.

-No sugar, not any. Do not eat sugar.  Even in the form of dried fruits, raw honey, and maple syrup. Sugar will feed an infection. The safest sugar we know of today is green stevia. The amount sugar equivalent to a soda will reduce your immunity 40% within 30 minutes of ingesting. Breads and pastas, especially in the refined form, easily break down to sugars in your system and feed infections.

-Sleep! Get plenty of sleep; 8 hours or more. Studies tell us that when you get less than 7 hours per night you are 40% more likely to develop a cold.

-Zinc. Eat foods high in Zinc: all raw foods have zinc. Roasted pumpkin seeds are especially high. Eat a little everyday.

-Vitamin C. Eat foods high in Vitamin C: such as raw sauerkraut, berries, and sprouts.

-Probiotics. Eat foods high in probiotics and enzymes such as fermented foods like raw sauerkraut, kimchee, and kombucha.

-Polysaccharides. Polysaccharides help repair and keep the gut wall healthy so that you fight pathogens and assimilation your food. Seaweeds (try strips in your soup!), aloe (drink int he form of gel), and mushrooms (shitaki, reishi, many others) are some of the foods with highest levels of polysaccharides.

-Antioxidants. Eat antioxidant-rich foods. You don't have to eat expensive foods like acai and blueberries all the time to get the antioxidants you need. Whole foods like brown rice and black beans are 99% higher than all other foods in antioxidants.  Eat legumes and whole grains (about 20% of your daily foods) daily for good nutrition.

-Follow simple proper food combining to prevent digestive issues that lead to poor immunity. Eat your fruits separately and do not combine animal proteins with starchy foods.