Staying Healthy in COVIDlandia

Now more than ever, we are inspired to take more control over our own health and wellbeing and empower ourselves with more practices and routines that can bring more vitality and health – that is something most of us can agree upon!

Are you confused by the hailstorm of suggestions on how to stay healthy during COVID? Me too! The amount of conflicting information out there is dizzying and we can’t expect ourselves to become overnight experts in public health, virology, the pharmacological or herbal treatment of a novel virus, nor to be learned historians of pandemics and how best respond as a species. So give yourself a break – we don’t have to figure out who is right about every detail of contention out there.

What we can do is be as reasonable as we can with the information we have, and continue to build our vitality, creating a terrain that is nourished, replenished, and unwelcoming to opportunistic infection, because that will always serve us well. This means doing all of the core routines as best we can: ample sleep, regular exercise, eating a whole-foods diet rich in vegetables, managing stress, avoiding toxins, seeking daily laughter and joy. Master these and you have a health tonic more powerful than any herbal remedy can offer!

Sometimes we need more support, and here are some links from two of my favorite herbals sources to help build vitality and become the worst host possible.

Donnie Yance and the Mederi Center Blog has lots of great articles ranging from the role of adaptogens in cold and flu season, the importance of zinc in immunity, herbal anti-virals and much more.

Paul Bergner at the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism has a coronavirus page with many research-based resources in herbal approaches for COVID. If you haven’t already seen the research on Vitamin D and respiratory immunity, or the evidence that elderberry is NOT contraindicated for COVID, check out those links. He also shares a recently updated presentation on the prevention of acute viral respiratory infection, as well as natural therapeutics.