From my family to yours, we hope you are doing well.

As a quick recap, this blog will be a daily update about the emerging pandemic. I’ll share some information, a recipe with foods you can make with supplies on hand, and some personal insights. I’ll keep this up as long as it is helpful.

In case you missed it, I gave a list of pantry staples. FIND THE FOOD LIST HERE. All of the daily recipes will be healthy, thyroid-friendly, easy, inexpensive, tasty, and will only use foods from this list.

Daily Insights

Name

After several name iterations, the World Health Organization has settled on SARS Covid 2 as the official name of the virus behind our pandemic. COVID-19 is the severe disease that some develop from the virus, SARS Covid 2 is the virus that causes it.

Prevention

If you are not sick, how do you stay well?

Voluntary Isolation

Nothing else will do as much. We have CDC workers taking all medical precautions who have still fallen ill. People can be contagious days before they have any symptoms at all. If you have any possible options for staying away from all others, please do so.

China is reporting the news that as of today they have no new cases. Some have thought that we can interpret their experience to mean that the whole thing will blow over in a month or two. Yet they only reached this point almost exactly 2 months after a government-enforced shut down of the entire society.

We have no reason to expect that we will reach zero new cases that soon because we have not taken the measures they have.

Kirin, Ryan, and I are home. It is already boring. Our son’s spring break is a different kind of “break” than we expected. His school will start online classes after this week.

At Integrative Health, we have gone to 100% telemedicine. Our shipping team is working overtime. We are flooded with orders for thyroid medications, supplements, and shakes. We prepared our inventory in time to care for our customers and people are being courteous about not hoarding. Especially with shipping items to you, our team is wearing gloves and masks, and sanitizing every surface they contact. We are taking all steps to be sure that our team is safe, and all of your products are as well.

Yet in the big scheme of historical disasters, it is a small price to pay. In order to protect ourselves and others, we need to act decisively.

My top goal is to be able to look back at the situation in 6 months and say – wow, I overreacted.

That would be wonderful. The last thing I want to do is look back and think that I should have done more to protect my team and my family.

Micronutrient Sufficiency

When it comes to your micronutrients, it is not about more. It is about enough. A healthy immune response depends on the combined effects of nearly every vitamin and mineral. Some of the big stars include Vitamin D, Zinc, Selenium, Molybdenum, B-6 and more. The mistake is the mentality that more is better. All of these nutrients can hurt your immune system when you have even a little too much. They are also not helpful if they are in the wrong chemical form or in poor proportions. Please avoid megadoses of any individual vitamin, especially Vitamin D.

Too often there is a false choice made between supplements and healthy foods. No one was ever forced to choose. Both are important. Foods contain many things we can never get in supplements, yet foods alone cannot meet all of our needs for micronutrients.

What should you take and how much? Here is a list of each ingredient, form, and amount I recommend for adults. For example, for vitamin B6 I recommend pyridoxal 5 phosphate, the more common form pyridoxine hydrochloride is cheaper, but neurotoxic. For a dose I recommend 6.7 mg. You can see this detail for each nutrient. You don’t have to get these from my pack, but these are what you should look for. LINK TO INGREDIENT LIST

Protein

The hardest macronutrient to get enough of when food becomes scarce is protein. The danger is that your immune system needs essential amino acids to function. You can have enough dietary protein to be far from protein deficient but still be well below the amounts that give you an optimal immune response.

Aim for 1 gram of complete protein per pound of lean body mass per person per day. If a woman is 140 pounds and 25% body fat, she has 35 pounds of fat and 105 pounds of lean body mass. She should consume about 105 grams of protein spread throughout the day.

Without some thought and planning, that may not happen. She can do this with 4 meals each with 26 grams of protein, or 5 meals each with 21 grams. If it sounds like a lot of food, please know that protein boosts metabolism and lowers appetite more than any other food type. Those who get optimal protein end up trimmer than those who do not. Take a look at my recommended shopping list for protein sources to use. We are offering our Daily Reset Shake(Click Here) at prices near wholesale so that people can have a non-perishable complete meal on hand.

Produce

Is it the novel fibers like resistant starch? Is it the high amounts of potassium? Is it the pH lowering effects? As best we can tell, the active ingredient in fruits and vegetables seems to be fruits and vegetables. There is no good substitute for lots of produce in the diet. During times of food scarcity, this is one of the other food categories that takes planning.

As of right now, the stores still have lots of fresh produce. Most of it is at bargain prices because no one is buying it. You can freeze almost any type of fresh produce.

Prep it first. After thawing, don’t expect it to make a good salad, but it can make a perfect soup. Produce that comes frozen is also great. Dried and freeze-dried versions of produce are also great options.

If you do suspect COVID-19 what should you do?

The first step is testing. At the time of this writing, all testing in the US varies from state to state but it always requires a physician’s order.

Of course, you do not want to go to a clinic, urgent care center, or hospital due to wait times and risks of exposure. CALL first.

The doctors at Integrative Health can see you for an acute care telemedicine visit. If your situation does warrant COVID-19 testing, they can provide you an order and coordinate the testing based on the options in your state.

What to avoid if you are sick

If your symptoms are suspicious for COVID-19 per the algorithm, do not ignore them. Young people, healthy people, and even children have developed complications from this illness. Follow up for testing and in-patient treatment if needed.

Do not use anti-inflammatory medications. The concern is they may raise the risk of COVID-19 complications. This concern may prove to be not valid, but for now, there is a plausible risk. Over the counter anti-inflammatory medications include:

  • Aspirin
  • Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil)

When you are bored

Take 10 minutes and journal today. Just write what comes to mind – no planning, grammar or judgment. See where it takes you.

Closing thoughts

We will get through this. Health comes first, economic needs are a close second. Thankfully we are all in this together.

Daily Recipe

The habit we are settling into is oatmeal and shakes for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, frozen fruit, nuts, and protein powder for snacks, and a new dish for each dinner with enough for leftovers the following day.

Here is today’s dinner recipe: Better Than “Cream of Mushroom Soup” Chicken & Rice Click Here

Here is yesterday’s dinner recipe: Peas and Meat – Irish Comfort Food Click Here

P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:

1. Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
2. Download and use my Favorite Recipes Cookbook Here
3. Check out my podcast Medical Myths, Legends, and Fairytales Here

Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a Naturopathic Endocrinologist and the author of The NY Times bestselling Adrenal Reset Diet, The Metabolism Reset Diet and The Thyroid Reset Diet.

Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what really works has helped hundreds of thousands of people reverse thyroid disease, lose weight, diabetes, and regain energy. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.