I have been chatting to quite a few people about their concerns about the current virus scene and many of them don’t understand what a virus is and how it works in the body. So, this article will give some simple information and may help you to know more about protecting yourself from any harmful virus.
We think of germs as tiny living things that can cause illness. Did you ever hear your Mom tell you not to touch something because it had germs? Germs are microorganisms, which means they are very small. How small? A grain of sand harbors from 10,000 to 100,000 microorganisms!
Most microorganisms are harmless to humans, and some are vital to us because they are helpful and assist digestion and our immune system. Some cause illness. It is the job of our immune systems to sort out which are good for us and which need to be eliminated.
Viruses are a special class and different from bacteria. Bacteria cells divide and replicate, creating more bacteria. Bacteria need a food source to survive. Antibiotics can kill them because they are “alive”. Some bacteria are killed by viruses, so not all viruses are bad for us. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/05/friendly-viruses-protect-us-against-bacteria
Viruses do not divide and reproduce, so are not alive in the same sense. When a virus invades a host body it has to hijack the machinery of a cell to make new viruses. So the cell, instead of reproduce copies of itself, is forced to make new viruses which causes the cell to burst open and release more new invading viruses. https://eol.org/docs/discover/viruses
Viruses are probably the most abundant type of biological entity on earth. About 5000 different ones have been noted but probably a million types exist. We breathe in about 100,000,000 viruses any normal day! There are many different types. For example, viruses called bacteriophages attack bacteria, and this has some promise for treating bacterial infections and is being investigated as a cancer treatment in Eastern Europe.
There are several types of Coronavirus. They are called that because they have crown-like spikes when viewed under a microscope. Corona means crown. Other Coronaviruses include SARS, MERS, and the common cold
So, now that you know a bit more about viruses, and you know that you cannot avoid them, let’s consider how to let them make you sick.
Medical doctors are trying to figure out why some people get sick and others don’t, when exposed to the same virus. This seems fairly easy to understand from a natural medicine point of view. Each person has unique strengths and weaknesses in their body and immune system.
Understanding that pathogenic viruses are sneaky devils, offers an opportunity to prevent them. You know all about the advice being blasted by the news media. Some of it is commons sense and some of it is designed to scare the living crap out of us, which only makes us more susceptible to getting sick.
All viruses are opportunistic. Their survival depends on “opportunities” to hijack living cells just like a car hijacker steals someone’s car. Since they cannot survive by themselves, they must use a cell in a live body to reproduce. And once they invade a living body they must take hold quickly before the host immune system mounts an attack. Click here to see a video about how viruses invade cells and how the immune system stops them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpj0emEGShQ
So, there are two ways to evade a virus. Since there are millions in the air on any given day, it does make sense to avoid people who are sneezing and coughing. Of course, many of those people have seasonal allergies, so it is hard to know who is sick and expelling cold and flu viruses, and who isn’t.
But, even better is to help your cells to resist the attack. One way to do that is to be sure you have plenty of minerals in your diet. And you need strong digestion to absorb minerals. Calcium and magnesium and zinc are some of the most important minerals, but that does not mean you should chew rocks. Vegetables are good sources of minerals. A low dose supplement may help. Make sure your stomach acid is strong. Apple cider vinegar, diluted in water, with a little raw honey added, is an old remedy during cold and flu season. Fresh squeezed lemon juice with some honey, diluted in water, is another good choice. If you are sugar sensitive you can use stevia or monk fruit instead.
The other way to ward off viruses is to make sure that your immune system is alert. Generally speaking, refined sugar suppresses the immune system. White blood cells become less active for five hours after we eat sugar. But there is some evidence that the sugar in fruit is helpful to the gut microbes that make up part of the immune system. https://blog.bioticsresearch.com/does-sugar-weaken-the-immune-system
Common sense in nutrition prevails. Eat clean and healthy, and support your immune system so that it is ready and alert when needed.
See my next blog for specific ideas you can implement now.