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The Best Offense is a Good Defense

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Loved the discussion with Dr. William Li on the Model Health Show podcast! Dr. Li lays out 5 key health defense systems that define optimal health. As always, Shawn Stevenson’s program is full of actionable items that we can take to improve our health right now. By the way, Dr. Li specifically mentions how shoring up our defense systems helps fight back against long COVID syndrome.

So here’s one tip to strengthen each health defense system as recommended by Dr. Li:

1)Angiogenesis: growth of new blood vessels to improve your circulation

  • Tip: Eat 2 fresh fruits and 3 vegetables daily. Optimize this practice by including fruit peel in your fruit intake. A great way to increase fruit peel is by consuming dried fruit if your system can handle the sugar.

2) Boost your Stem Cells

  • Tip: Dark chocolate (80% or higher) can double the number of stem cells in your blood stream

3) Healthy Microbiome

  • Tip: Kiwi’s high fiber content. Eating 1 kiwi per day will “quickly start to change the number of your healthy gut bacteria.”

4) DNA self-repair

  • Tip: Sunflower seeds slow down the degradation of DNA

5) Healthy immune system

  • Tip: consume broccoli sprouts which contain 100x the immune-supporting compound called sulforaphane found in mature broccoli

Always a wealth of great info on the Model Health Show. Dr. William Li’s book is called Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body can Heal Itself

Another COVID treatment your doctor may not know about

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Did you see 60 Minutes on Sunday (March 7, 2021)? Dr. Lenze discussed his study on a generic, cheap medicine that was shown to be effective as a treatment for COVID-19. The medicine is fluvoxamine, an antidepressant that may be useful as a repurposed medicine. The problem is, it got very little press and few doctors know about it.

The study involved 152 participants from April through August of 2020 who were randomly assigned to receive either 100 mg fluvoxamine or placebo 3 times daily for 15 days. Clinical deterioration (defined as shortness of breath, hospitalization for SOB, pneumonia or oxygen saturation of less than 92% on room air) occurred in 0 of the 80 patients in the fluvoxamine group, but in 6 of 72 patients in the placebo group. It’s a small study, but it did meet criteria for clinical significance. A larger study is currently underway and may be released as soon as April 2021.

Other treatments and preventive therapies also have mounting research studies behind them. Ivermectin, as used in the I-MASK protocol created by Dr. Paul Marik is an example. I-MASK also incorporates vitamin D. Vitamin D has numerous studies showing its effectiveness for prevention and newer studies finding it to be an effective treatment for COVID-19.

Your doctor may not know about these therapies to offer them to you. Therefore, links have been included here for you to find out more information and to share with your doctor.

References

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/fluvoxamine-antidepressant-drug-covid-treatment-60-minutes-2021-03-07/

Lenze, EJ, Mattar C, Zorumski CF, Stevens A, Schweiger J, Nicol GE, Miller JP, Yang L, Yingling M, Avidan MS, Reiersen AM. Fluvoxamine vs Placebo and Clinical Deterioration in Outpatients With Symptomatic COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2020 Dec 8;324(22):2292-2300. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.22760. PMID: 33180097; PMCID: PMC7662481.

A Parent Asked Me…

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“How do I get my child to eat more fruits & vegetables?”

Parents ask me this question all the time. Here are 7 ways to make it happen:

Always give vegetables with meals. Children sometimes need to be exposed to a food 15 to 20 times before they accept it, so don’t give up.

Make sure your child sees you eating the fruits and vegetables you want your child to eat.

Puree vegetables and hide them into foods they already like to eat. For example, pureed cauliflower in mashed potatoes or pureed squash in macaroni and cheese or pureed blueberries and spinach in brownies (I’ve done all these). For lots more of these ideas, get the book, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine

Make it playful. Cut the veggies into fun shapes or make “crazy fries” out of vegetables other than potatoes.

Don’t give substitutes. If your child refuses to eat the food you provided, put the food away and offer it again later. Don’t substitute something less healthy that you know they’ll eat instead.

Have fruits and vegetables conveniently ready when your child is hungry. Have bananas sitting out on the table or carrots cut up in small baggies ready to eat.

Don’t stress out. Your child will not starve. Keep the long term goal in mind to make your child a healthy eater.

Prioritizing the Importance of Nature for Our Children’s Health

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I’m so excited that one of the priorities for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2019 is connecting children and families with nature. In the Jan 2019 edition of AAP news, Dr. Yasuda, current AAP president, notes the research findings that benefits of exposure to green spaces for our kids include “greater physical activity, better mental health, reduced stress and increased resilience.” Further “nature helps improve their executive function, their ability to learn and their relationships with their families and other children.”
Richard Louv has been highlighting these findings for at least a decade, starting with his best-selling book “Last Child in the Woods” which outlines the many research proven benefits of time spent in nature. In fact, in a recent inspiring article on this topic, Dr. Louv invites us to imagine a world “….where antidepressants and pharmaceuticals are needed less and nature prescribed more. Where obesity – of children and adults – is reduced through nature play.” Read the full article, and get inspired to enjoy some family time in your local park or playground or even your own backyard.


References


Yasuda, Kyle, M.D, AAP News, Vol 40, No. 1, January 2019. P. 6


Louv, Richard, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008