The Cure for COVID

There isn’t one. But you knew that. It is, however, an opportune time to emphasise that healthy living messages are even more important now than they ever were. Most COVID infected people overseas who didn’t do well had an underlying condition like heart disease, cancer or diabetes. While some cases of heart disease, cancer and diabetes are just bad luck, many are tied to decades of eating the wrong things and failing to exercise. OK, that insight won’t help you straightaway, but it brings home the consequences of poor choices. People who heeded health messages were better off when the crisis came.

Of more direct imprtance, however, is the health - right now- of your immune system. Coloured vegetables and fruit are key; their polyphenols beef up immune defences and give you the best chance of getting through the crisis intact. There are also a few specialised wrinkles: zinc is vital for robust immunity and the best sources are meat and nuts. Apparently healthy people can be deficient and not realise it, particularly vegans and the elderly. If steak isn’t your thing, make sure cashews are.

Vitamin D is also key and your skin makes it when exposed to sunlight - good luck with that at the moment! The alternative is to eat it, but the sources are animal based, like eggs and oily fish, which brings us back to vegans and the elderly. If that is you, consider supplementation. But don’t overdo it - vitamin D is fat soluble and can accumulate in your tissues. Vitamin C seems to be useful, but there is plently in plants, particularly citrus fruit.

As always, the key message is that long term health always has a lot to do with those small decisions you make everyday.