Vitamin C, Coronavirus & Censorship
CV-19 has turned all of our lives upside down. It’s been a surreal, disorienting, and for many an extremely frightening experience. But feeling fear can make us feel overwhelmed and powerless, resulting in volatile behaviour that’s not useful to anyone.
So right now, it’s especially important to take steps and implement strategies of self-care. In a later (but not too much later) blog, I’ll be sharing exactly how I organise my daily self-care routine. Self-care has always been key to my daily survival as a self-employed mum of three children, and productivity. With years of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Benign Fasciculation Syndrome in my background, I sometimes wonder how I made it so far! Keep an eye out for this blog, as it is my routine and commitment to self that still gets me through the days and weeks.
CFS/ME and BFS aside, the importance of self-care is especially true right now when we’re dealing with a global crisis and realities that are changing day to day, hour to hour.
My encouragement for you in this uncertain time is to stay focused on those things that you can be certain about and can control.
One of these things is to limit how much news I choose to consume each day. There’s a balance between staying informed, and freaking out due to news overwhelming us. It has the potential to break you down!!
Instead, commit to seaking for clarity, calm, and peace of mind especially at the beginning and end of each day.
If you have children at home, like I do, that’s a whole other set of challenges. Committing to good positive habitual rhythms each and every day is what positions us for the rest of the day. It sets us on a trajectory to either succeed in homeschooling; completing and handing in tasks, and staying sane as a parent with kids being home-schooled. If you don’t set these positive habitual rhythms the alternative is antsy kids and cabin fever.
So can we do to support our health at this time?
There is so much we can do to get to know our health pre-dispositions, decrease toxicity and support our immune system. Below I have listed the most important nutritional supplements that you can buy and use within your home.
Recommended supplementation from a wide variety of resources
Liposomal Vitamin C

Specifically, Vitamin C does need to be taken in conjunction with the recent viral pandemic.
According to Andrew Saul (his video can be found at the bottom of this page), editor of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service (OMNS) on January 26, 2020, “the coronavirus pandemic can be dramatically slowed, or stopped, with the immediate widespread use of high doses of vitamin C. Physicians have demonstrated the powerful antiviral action of vitamin C for decades. There has been a lack of media coverage of this effective and successful approach against viruses in general, and coronavirus in particular.
It is very important to maximise the body’s anti-oxidative capacity and natural immunity to prevent and minimise symptoms when a virus attacks the human body. The host environment is crucial. Preventing is obviously easier than treating severe illness. But treat serious illness seriously. Do not hesitate to seek medical attention. It is not an either-or choice. Vitamin C can be used right along with medicines when they are indicated.”
“The basis for using high doses of vitamin C to prevent and combat virus-caused illness may be traced back to vitamin C’s early success against polio, first reported in the late 1940s. (Klenner FR, 1949). Many people are unaware, even surprised, to learn this. Further clinical evidence built up over the decades, leading to an anti-virus protocol published in 1980. (Cathcart RF, 1980)
It is important to remember that preventing and treating respiratory infections with large amounts of vitamin C is well established. Those who believe that vitamin C generally has merit, but massive doses are ineffective or somehow harmful, will do well to read the original papers for themselves. To dismiss the work of these doctors simply because they had success so long ago sidesteps a more important question: Why has the benefit of their clinical experience not been presented to the public by responsible governmental authorities, especially in the face of a viral pandemic?” In China, a study is underway to see if high doses of vitamin C can help fight off CV-19. Scientists at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University are testing its effects on 120 patients who have the virus, giving them daily infusions of 24g of vitamin C for seven days. Results have not yet been published.
By Antony Haynes, Nutri-Link
Download a comprehensive explanation on the science behind this within Patric Holford’s latest book Flu Fighters. Downloadable the relevant chapter for FREE here:
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a micronutrient that is crucial for maintaining vision, promoting growth and development, and protecting epithelium and mucus integrity in the body. It possesses anti-inflammatory effects because of its critical role in enhancing immune function. Vitamin A is involved in the development of the immune system and plays regulatory roles in cellular immune responses and humoral immune processes. It has demonstrated a therapeutic effect in the treatment of various infectious diseases.
Consistent with the role of retinoic acid in cell growth and differentiation, viral growth is also regulated in part by vitamin A; viral activity in general is regulated by retinoids. Vitamin A and its active metabolites are likewise importantly involved in the growth and differentiation of mucosa-associated airway epithelia.
While vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is thought to be a disease of the developing world, studies suggest that subclinical VAD may be quite prevalent.
By Antony Haynes, Nutri-Link
Vitamin D3
The studies clearly show that Vitamin D helps prevent respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D is a key prohormone/nutrient which affects the immune response and has been shown in multiple studies to possess or stimulate anti-viral properties.
However, although it has been linked to promoting immune strength, some studies show that Vitamin D increases ACE2 expression, which is the protein that COVID-19 uses to infiltrate and gain entry into your cells.
Because of this type of conflicting information, this is where the science of Nutritgenomics is key to understanding your unique genetic fitness versus susceptibility when it comes to protecting yourself from a virus such as COVID-19
Assessing vitamin D status and maintaining optimal serum levels should be considered in all but particularly ageing adults and children.
Vit D supplementation is recommended to achieve normal levels along with vitamin A. This should be regarded as one of the essential factors to support our fight against infectious diseases. Almost 50% of the world does not get enough Vitamin D, a deficiency of which can weaken the immune system and increase the body’s susceptibility to contracting viruses.
Zinc Citrate, Chloride, Picolinate
Zinc is known to play a central role in the immune system, and zinc-deficient persons experience increased susceptibility to a variety of pathogens. Zinc is crucial for normal development and function of cells mediating nonspecific immunity such as neutrophils and natural killer cells.
Even a small depletion of zinc will impair your immune system and dramatically increase the risk of viral, parasitic and bacterial infections. Zinc deficiency results in a widespread loss of immunity. People with weakened immune systems are at an increased risk of infectious diseases, and coronavirus is no exception.
Broadly, zinc exerts its antiviral effect by interfering with four stages of the viral life cycle, which includes loss of infectivity of the virus, inhibition of virus entry into the host, inhibition of viral polypeptide processing, and inhibition of the activity of viral protease and/or virally-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp).
Ensuring optimal zinc status with zinc supplementation is one contributory factor for strengthening immunity against viral infections.
In clinical states associated with immunodeficiency (e.g., sickle cell disease, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection) and in the elderly, zinc supplementation can restore NK cell activity, lymphocyte production, and resistance to infections
Specific Anti-viral herbs, that block viral replication
Humic Monolaurin
Monolaurin is an antiviral that supports in breaking-up biofilms where infections can hide from the immune system.
Humic Acid
Sourced from specific soil in certain locations in the world, Humic acid inhibits all viruses. The Humic Acid with the most effective anti-viral activity is derived from fresh-water plants that is essentially ancient compost that is thousands of years old. Humic acid contains many kinds of “functional groups” (specific groups of atoms) that can bind to a multitude of viruses. Research has shown certain humic acids to be effective in vitro against all known viruses including influenza, HSV & HIV.
By Antony Haynes, Nutri-Link
Chinese Skullcap
An article written for Rio Health, on Chinese Skullcap. By Anna Haynes Chinese Skullcap case
Cistus Incanus
Cistus Incanus is an antiviral that supports in breaking-up biofilms where infections can hide from the immune system.
Houttuynia
Houttuynia cordata can be used for preparing traditional medicines that are used for treating diuresis. 1. Detoxification Ability Houttuynia cordata can be used for detoxifying the body systems due to its antibacterial and antiviral properties. 2. Pneumonia treatment Houttuynia cordata can be used for treating pneumonia, abnormal lung symptoms and SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome). 3. Treatment of infectious diseases It can be used for treating infectious diseases due to its anti-viral and antibacterial properties. 4. Herpes treatment Houttuynia cordata can be given to patients suffering from herpes virus since the plant contains properties that are capable of inhibiting pseudorabies herpes virus. 5. Antipoison Properties Houttuynia cordata is also known as a poison-blocking plant due to its ability to neutralize poisonous substances.
Lugol’s Solution 12-15% Iodine
Immune modulating compounds
Organic Bee Pollen /
Laktoferrin with Colustrum /
Reishi mushroom
Lung regeneration / formulated for asthmatics
Phytocort /
Pneuma-zyme /
Lung Glandular from Allergy Research
Breaks up mucous in the lungs
Mucolyxir
Organic Bee Pollen /
Dr Sarah Myhill’s Protocols for Viral Protection
Further holistic protection against Covid-19 infection
Allopathic Protocols that have proved to save lives
1. Richard Bartlette
https://budesonideworks.com/got-covid/
2. Similar results were found in study by Dr Zelenko in New York. Dr Zelenco has treated over 1,450 with remarkable results. The protocol is as follows:
Hydroxychloroquine – 200 mg twice daily
Azithromycin – 500 mg daily
Zinc sulphate – 200 mg daily
3. Hydroxychloroquine: Dangerous drug or innocent victim?
https://www.medicineuncensored.com/
4. America’s frontline Drs
Digging Deeper – Why are we not allowed to talk about contravertial or conspiracy material?
Keep an open mind and do your research
Is the 2019 Coronavirus Really a Pandemic?
Are the ventilators killing people in the hospitals?
The Medical Freedom Alliance – complete report
Cease and desist papers served on Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten by Dr. Reiner Füllmich
Psychological Attack on the UK
BRAVE REPORTER GOES OFF SCRIPT ON AIR
The Mirror Project – a team of journalists committed to exposing the truth
America’s_Frontline_Doctors_Position_Paper_On_COVID_19_Experimental
The Wake Up Call 20201224 10.59
The-Contagion-Myth-Notes-Synopsis-1
Doctor Reveals the Corona Effect – Claims COVID is Blood Coagulation
Proof that the pandemic was planned with a purpose
Proof That the Pandemic Was Planned & With Purpose 2
COVID “Mutation” Stories Show That The Lockdowns Are Designed To Last Forever
What Can We Do To Strengthen Our Immune System Against All Viruses?
There has been so much panic around CV-19, from panic buying leading to food and supply shortages, media updates every 5 minutes and faulty PCR testing for the coronavirus giving false negatives. There are now strict regulations about who can be tested, with some confusing mis-information broadcast through mainstream media. There are reliable test-kits offered through some private laboratories, but, with an unwillingness from the government to seek help from the private sectors. Resulting in weeks of delay when implementing significant testing for this virus.
This will depend upon three factors: your genetic predispositions, your toxicity loading, and your the robustness of your immune system.
Qu: What Can We Do To Protect Ourselves In Our Own Home, To Strengthen Our Immune System Against All Viruses?
The people most at risk
- If you’re over 50
- If you don’t get enough sleep
- If you don’t drink enough water
- If you have diabetes
- If you have a heart condition
- If you are overweight
- If you have bad allergies
- If you have a compromised immune system or if you are going through, or have recently been through chemotherapy
- If you are a smoker
If your immune system can’t fight off the infection, the danger is that when your temperature rises above 101F it quickly turns to pneumonia and CV-19 can be fatal. So with the virulence of this virus spreading like wild-fire, it’s no wonder people all over the world are obsessed with immunity more now than ever before. Quite rightly so.
comorbidities
Even without CV-19, we’re exposed to countless pathogens such as quiescent viruses, parasites, toxic moulds etc, each and every day.
Even without CV-19 I am working with a client population who have chronic health issues caused or exacerbated by these pathogens; viruses, retroviral reactivation, pathogens, parasites, toxic moulds etc. Since this has been a large part of my practice for over 10 years. Working with clients who are at their wit’s end, due to the complexities of their health condition seems to be what I do best, and where I am able to help most.
So why aren’t we asking my questions? Because the truth is that if you were to swab the walls anywhere, in any given location, 1000’s viruses would be identified. So why then is it, when two people can be exposed to the same viral invaders, only one gets sick?
The difference? Lies within the strength of their immune system. And, the robustness of your immune system may also dictate whether or not you are immune to CV-19 after you catch it.
If you fall into one or more of the categories above, then right now, right now is the very best time for you to start taking control of your own health. This means bolstering your immune system.
Now is not the time to sit back, bury your head in the sand and wait for a vaccine – but if that’s your way, then God Bless You. Maybe you will still find a few ‘take-aways’ from this post.
Here are some ways to reduce your risk
- Exercise
- Get PLENTY of sleep and eat as healthy as you can
- Supplement with vitamins
- Lower alcohol intake
- Drink plenty of water
Simply put, the very BEST way to protect yourself is to get to know your epigenetic pre-dispositions to coronaviruses, and immunological consequences. And then to make sure your immune system is in tip-top shape. This type of knowledge may prevent you from contracting CV-19 in the first place, but more certainly, if or when you do catch the virus, by getting informed and strengthening your immune system you can prevent the inflammatory cascade. This is the turning-point between CV-19 flu turning to pneumonia and becoming fatal.
What Strengthens Your Immune System
1. Stress-reduction with meditation, EFT, PSYCH-K ® and counselling
This collective Coronavirus fear has jacked our collective anxiety levels up to an all-time high. If I’m honest, this is not helpful. Since fear diametrically opposes health, un-hinging our sense of safety and depleting the immune system. Fear keeps us gripped in the fight-flight-freeze response.
I believe in focusing on health, boosting your immune system, and living a healthful lifestyle. Because these are the only things that allow us to take back our power. And let’s face it right now we have the time during Lockdown.
Whether it’s waking early to greet the sunrise with meditation or yoga, or reducing our anxiety with daily ‘Tapping’ otherwise known as EFT. Or aligning our sub-conscious with a sense of greater possibilities and purpose using PSYCH-K whole-brain strategies. Or just getting out into our gardens and grounding ourselves by hugging a tree and walk barefoot on the soil. All of these practices contribute to a stronger, more robust immune defence system.
You see, the ‘stress response’ we experience as biological being is designed to be short and acute, not prolonged and sustained. The body kicks into survival mode. Hormones like adrenaline are released making our heart beat faster, our blood pressure and respiratory rates increase to transport nutrients and oxygen to the cells faster, our pupils dilate so we can see more clearly and our blood pumps to external muscles so we can flee faster.
But when we are out of danger, we are supposed to drop back into balance, often called homeostasis. It is in the balanced parasympathetic ‘rest, digest and heal’ state where we can repair.
This cycle of ‘fight or flight’ is manageable, but prolonged stress does a great deal of harm, shifting our biology out of homeostasis, and shuts down our immune system response mechanisms.
So stressing all of the time actually has the potential to lower your immune system too, which is the very last thing any of us can afford at this time.
You can refer back to one of my previous post on ‘stress reduction’ where you will learn about the tools that I use and recommend within my clinical practice. If you take a little time to learn about these powerful tools now, you will have strategies in place. So that if there ever comes a time in the future when you do need to take care of your anxiety or mental health you will have powerful tools to turn to.
2. Clean you liver
When wishing to support our immune health we may first think about herbs such as echinacea or B-vitamins, and vitamin C and probiotics. All of these would be correct. But there is one organ in particular that most people do not realise plays a leading role in your ability to fight off infection, and that’s my favourite organ of all, YOUR LIVER.
According to the ANNUAL REVIEW OF IMMUNOLOGY1
“Your liver is a key, frontline immune tissue.”
It’s well understood that all complex health conditions and chronic illnesses have a broken immune system at their core. Which also means that all chronic illnesses feature compromised liver function too.
So, from a Functional Nutritional perspective, when we are trying to hit this virus pandemic head-on here’s something you may not know:
Doctors are now saying the bug behind this current pandemic clears completely through the liver and GI tract.
So keeping your liver clear from toxins is more important now than ever.
What is innate immunity?
Innate immunity involves a range of defence strategies in the form of mucous, tears, saliva, body temperature, PH of the blood, breathing, excretion of waste products through digestion and bile. These mucosal secretions all play their vital and unique roles in your health.
What are the liver’s mechanistic roles in innate immunity?
- There are channels in the liver that contain macrophage cells called Kupffer cells. Kupffer cells break down used red blood cells so that new ones can deliver oxygen to our tissues, this. They also act to help deter the presence of pathogens.
- The liver produces NK (natural killer) cells NK cells are lymphocytes (ILCs) and respond quickly to a wide variety of pathological challenges. NK cells are best known for killing virally infected cells and detecting and controlling early signs of cancer. They induce apoptosis (cell death) to cells that have outlived their function.
Both of these functions help as front line defence mechanisms.
The liver’s role in adaptive immunity
- The liver detects pathogens in the form of bacteria, viruses, and macromolecules when entering the body via the gut.
- The liver manufactures antigen-presenting cells! Antigen cells hold up antigens and wave them at your immune system for some face recognition. The liver helps your immune system to register these bad-guys, effectively stopping them from getting through next time.
- Specific plasma channels in the liver then help transport the antigen-presenting cells and present them to the T cells to make copies for recognition through the whole body. Clever eh! Never underestimate the sophistication of your beautiful liver.
- And finally, liver T cells have the job of taking out these targeted cells.
The liver has long been my favourite organ but now runs ‘neck and neck’ with the lymphatic/glymphatic system in my home-maintenance disease prevention arsenal.
It’s my budding hope that the more you learn about your liver and its dedication toward your health, the more you’ll want to take better care of it.
Learn how to you cleanse your liver cyclically here.
So it’s obvious that when you’re healthy, your liver is protecting you from viruses and bacteria, keeping you from getting sick. The liver is central in processing viruses and must be focused on within every well-ness programme, especially if you’re concerned about immunity.
But if you’re not one for consistently detoxifying your body, which by definition means preventing the accumulation of heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxins that will overwhelm your liver. Then you have to be realistic. You cannot expect your liver to safeguard you. As it will be already maxed out by the heavy metals that come in through food, water, air, PCs, makeup, sprays, vaccines etc. And you become susceptible to disease.
So it makes sense to keep the front line of your immune system as clean as it feasibly possible. Clean the liver regularly, take out all rancid fats, re-stack your lipid membrane with healthy fats, because by actively doing so, you are also upgrading your immunity.
Your liver is involved in over 500 vital biological processes
Enrollment for the Level 1 Online Detoxification Course will be live end of July 2020
2b. Support optimal detoxification in an increasingly toxic world
The Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 100,000 chemicals are used commercially, with more than 84,000 chemicals used in household products, cosmetics, food and food packaging. And most of these have never been tested for safety.
These are alarming figures, and the reason why I believe that toxicants are the biggest problem that we face on the planet today.
There is no sense of balance within these figures. We are living within extreme times, where an extreme measure to counter this over-whelm has now become a necessity.
Even our grandparents born into the industrial revolution didn’t have 80% or more of the toxins that we have now saturated into our biology. Back then our cows were grass-fed and organic and pasture-raised, but now dairy products must present a special label saying ‘organic’! which is then sold for extra £’s.
In any given day you may encounter a noxious mix of benzene from petrol files, bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), all found in food cans and plastic packaging, chemical-laden paints, Scotchguard-treated clothing, carpets and furniture, wood-floor finishes, cosmetics and toiletries, household cleaning products, printing ink, heavy metals in food-water-air-and many of the above, the list goes on and on (and on).
Compound these facts with a quadrupling of the total number of vaccines added to children’s vaccine schedules containing heavy metals, preservatives and human-albumin contaminated with viruses HHV6 and EBV. Compound that with glyphosate where there is 300 plus million pounds of it being added to the soil every year. Compound that with aerosol sprays, and glyphosate being dumped into our atmosphere each day, compound that with geo-engineering and weather modification from the planes.
Well guess what, we all share the same contaminated planet, and there is simply no escape, nowhere to go, we are all chock full with this stuff.
So our bodies have a natural affiliation with heavy metals, that’s why our body draws them in. Heavy metals are structurally the same as minerals, only heavier. Therefore when a mineral is lacking, our body will go looking for an alternative, and make use of the structurally similar heavy metal, when available. Using the structurally similar heavy metal to bridge the metabolic pathway, and fulfilling its task in the short term. In the longer term, the heavy metal disrupts metabolic functions whilst blocking the minerals from entering the receptor sites once again.
With the overwhelming number as well as the dose of toxicants that we are exposed to daily, it’s easy to understand that we are now up against a herculean task. Expecting your body to keep up, is in my view a very unreasonable expectation.
This is why I take a stand for: ‘Detoxification Not Just For a Weekend, But a Way Of Life.
I like to do period weekly liver cleanses with a once a year intensive detox. But this is On-Top of the intensive oral chelation work I did for 18 months. Because THAT is what it takes.
How do you know that you have a build-up of Toxins?
Well, I heard someone once say, ‘Let me tell you, but first let me feel your pulse? ‘ ‘Yep, you’re alive – which by definition means you have a build-up of toxins!’
Symptomatically
When you experience toxicants building-up in your system you can feel perpetually run down. As if you have the flu – the flu that never breaks into a fever. In short, this is your liver, chocking on toxins and hampering your immune system. Feeling perpetually run down in this way is depressing and soul-destroying and something I put up with for over a decade. Never having quite enough energy. Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning, and in my case also dragging my body up a hill three times a week in an attempt to do some exercise.
When you wake up in the morning more tired than you do before you go to bed, that is also another clue.
The aetiology of known health conditions associated with toxin exposure:
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
- Fibromyalgia
- Artherosclerosis Myalgias
- Arthralgias
- Cognitive dysfunction
- Gulf War Syndrome, now widely believed to be the result of massive expose to organophosphate pesticides couples with the effects of nerve gas protection tablets.
In the early days of my clinical practice, one of my dear clients passed away after falling over, in his flat. He was an ex-veteran with a huge heart, gravely disabled from Gulf War Syndrom. He always wore a huge smile, but suffered greatly every day, trapped and condemned within his body.
His death affected me for years, and to this day.
I am more passionate than ever, about exposing the biological weapons we seem to accept as normal within every day produce, within our farming industries, within our government agendas, when these poisons are not acceptable, not on any level.
The fact is clear, heavy metals and chemicals will always negatively impact your immune system. So it makes sense that when you remove them you’re removing the toxic load which hampers your immune system, off from your immune system too.
But sadly, the layers go far deeper than just toxicants in our systems.
Viruses & Heavy Metals
Viruses are dependent on metals in order to exist within our biological terrain. Our nerves are the electrical wires within our system, which require a high content of conductive metals such as iron, copper, aluminium in order to conduct electric impulses.
When a neuron doesn’t have enough minerals such as copper, iron or zinc, for instance, it will draw in heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead to substitute, because of the neuron functions better with toxic metals than with no metals at all. Viruses attach themselves to free-floating heavy metals that are floating in our serum. These heavy metals then become the transport system for the viruses as they are drawn up into the nervous system. This is where neurotropic viruses all end up!
If we stop to consider for one moment these co-morbidities: Viruses that we already know that we are dealing with HSV1 and other herpes strains, HHV6, Coxsackie, EBV and many more, contributing to the plague of 21st-century auto-immune conditions, and then add in a COVID-19 pandemic, together with WIFI and 5G to suppress the immune system and therefore perpetuate viral virulence. With so much interconnectedness, it’s easier than ever for bacteria and viruses to spread across the world. And we have a Perfect Storm!
So what do we do about it?
If you don’t keep up with the constant flood of toxins, they’ll overwhelm your system and accumulate in your cells, gradually sapping your energy, mental clarity, and immune health.
That’s why you need a long-term strategy, to build detoxification into your routine daily. That way you get to reduce all the symptoms from fatigue to hormone disruption issue, to fibromyalgia and cancer, and keep your immune system strong in the middle of a viral pandemic.
2c. Heavy Metals, Mitochondria, and Energy Production
In addition to damaging specific cell lines, heavy metals also take a toll on our energy production, with the optimal mitochondrial function being central to the powering your immune system.
It’s no coincidence that heavy metal toxicity and immune system challenges both results in fatigue. Once the heavy metals embed within our mitochondria, we are no longer able to create clean energy from the source. Therefore heavy metal toxicity is one contributing factor in dysfunctional mitochondria.
Let’s now learn a bit about mitochondria
Your mitochondria are the powerhouse of your cells. That’s were creating energy is at! They’re the cell part that produces the energy your body uses to power it’s myriad of functions — and they’re particularly vital for a strong immune system.
In fact, your mitochondria are intimately tied to immune activity — regulating the activation, movement, and survival of your immune cells.
Issues occur when heavy metals attack the membranes of your mitochondria, resulting in dysfunction of these essential cell parts and a decrease in energy production.
Arsenic and mercury have a significant impact on the structure and function of mitochondria. They impact something called mitophagy, which is the mitochondria’s ability to remove damaged cell parts and pathogens. With an impairment in mitophagy, the mitochondria are unable to carry out their role in energy production.
Other metals such as cadmium and copper can damage mitochondria and initiate cell death by causing injury to the cell membranes and directly interfering with the process of energy production.
The Top 4 Heavy Metals Sabotaging Your Immunity
There are a number of heavy metals that can damage your immune system, but the top four that we should focus on reducing or removing from our system include:
1 Mercury
Mercury toxicity contributes to a wide range of chronic health conditions including, brain fog, chronic fatigue, acne, hair loss, weight gain, autoimmune disease, and cancer. Some of the most common sources of mercury include amalgam fillings, fish, coal-burning, vaccines, and cosmetics.
2 Arsenic
Toxic levels of arsenic can cause havoc to your mitochondria — the energy powerhouse of your cells. Symptoms of arsenic toxicity include fatigue, aches and pains, brittle nails, burning feeling in the digestive tract, diarrhoea, oedema, weakness, dizziness, and more.
Arsenic can be found in non-organic chicken, cosmetics, drinking water, paints, insecticides, rice, and seafood (shrimp and oysters).
3 Lead
Lead toxicity causes damage to the nervous, reproductive, and renal system, and often results in fatigue and potential liver damage. One of the most common symptoms of lead toxicity is high blood pressure due to high levels of lead depositing in the kidneys.
Lead is everywhere in our environment but can be found in the following places in particular: auto exhaust, candle wicks, ceramics, cigarette smoke, gasoline, pipes, milk, paint, pencils, and toothpaste.
4 Cadmium
Cadmium is a known carcinogen and is involved in many chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritic conditions, heart disease, kidney disease, depression, and adrenal fatigue.
The primary sources of cadmium in the environment include air pollution, paint, automobile exhaust fumes, coffee, cigarettes, contaminated soil, hydrogenated oils, plastics, and rubber.
These four metals inhibit the function of three vital components of your immune system
1 Macrophage
Arsenic and lead, in particular, can inhibit the function of macrophages.
Macrophages are specialised cells of the immune system that are involved in the detection and destruction of harmful bacteria. Through a process called phagocytosis, macrophages essentially consume harmful bacteria and dead cells to remove them from your system.
In addition, macrophages can elicit an inflammatory response by releasing chemicals called cytokines that activate other immune-related cells. These immune cells can be found throughout your body in different tissues acting on a wide range of various pathogens to clear them from your system.
When macrophages come into contact with arsenic and lead, their structure becomes altered — rendering them unable to carry out the process of phagocytosis. Without the proper clearing of pathogens via phagocytosis, they may accumulate in your system and cause further toxicity.
2 Neutrophils
Neutrophils are your body’s first line of defence against foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. They are the primary cell type involved in inflammatory responses — both acute and chronic.
These essential immune cells make up more than 50% of your white blood cells, and during infection can increase to 80% or more.
You can think of neutrophils as the security guards of your immune system — sweeping through your bloodstream scanning for infections or other potential sources of inflammation.
Metals such as lead, copper, mercury, and cadmium have all been shown to impact the immune-protective activity of neutrophils.
One of the crucial roles that neutrophils play in immunity is called cell signalling. Cell Signaling is a process that alerts other components of the immune system to become active in an effort to fight foreign substances.
Research shows that when cells are exposed to mercury, the receptors on the surface of neutrophils that send and receive signals become damaged — rendering their signalling capabilities ineffective.
When exposed to lead, the ability of neutrophils to follow chemical signals and travel to areas of infection is impaired, along with their phagocytic ability.
3 Natural Killer Cells (NK cells)
Natural killer cells are vital to your immune system’s response, especially when it comes to viral infections and tumours. As the name suggests, these cells not only help to contain viruses, but they destroy the entire cell, extinguishing the virus completely.
These cells respond rapidly to a wide range of pathological challenges in your body. They survey the environment around them, and depending on molecules expressed on the membranes of the cells that they come into contact with, they either attack or leave them alone.
The heavy metal cadmium is of particular concern for the health of natural killer cells. Research shows that when NK cells are exposed to cadmium, it inhibits their immune activity.
But immune inhibition isn’t the only detrimental effect that heavy metals have on NK cells. In pregnant women, high levels of NK cells have been correlated with miscarriage, which is likely due to the impact of heavy metals on ovarian, pituitary, as well as immune health.
3. Restore & Diversify your gut microbiome
What type of diet should we all be eating right now?
- Organic, of course – or with as least pesticides as possible.
- Foods that provide our bodies with nourishment and strength, which includes nutrient density.
- Remember that what you eat today will directly alter your immune system within your gut microbiome tomorrow.
Gifts to get you started
I am including right here Donna Gates Gut Recovery Recipe Guide right here. With over 36 recipes for fermented foods, this e-resource is enough to get you really excited about making your own healthy ferments. Of course, there are many clinicians and health gurus who we should be grateful to when it comes to home fermented foods, but, Donna Gates really has been around longer than most. I see her as the originator because she was talking about this subject when no one else was, more than 40 years ago.
I am also including a transcript for an interview between Donna Gates and Kiran Krishnan taken from Donna’s Body Ecology Programme. Kiran Kristen is the founder of Microbiome Labs and Megaspore. When I discovered his work a couple of years ago, his flagship product changed everything about how I considered probiotic brands, even those backed by science. Here’s the full transcript– all about Donna’s work on gut diversity and Keiran flagship product.
MegaSporeBiotic
Kiran Krishnan is a microbiologist and who co-founded Microbiome Labs a decade ago. Their flagship product is called MegaSporeBiotic.
MegaSporeBiotic is a unique product, one that I would like to bring to everyone’s attention because unlike many of the probiotics sold today, this product has science rather than marketing to back up its claim. Most people are unaware that the strains of probiotic presented within the most popular brands, were popularised in our health industry, health magazines and the internet, because they became interested in the earliest studies, back in the 1960s. What is under-reported, is that these studies from the 1960s were embarrassingly poor studies, with zero scientific backings.
So, Lactobacillus Acidophilus is in the fourth percentile of bacteria in the gut. Meaning 96% of the bacteria in the gut is more important and more abundant than Lactobacillus Acidophilus! But, it’s in virtually every probiotic product you can find.
And then we find claims behind products that 10 billion or 50 billion, 100 billion, 200 billion is better than those with lower numbers. But guess what, there is not a single study to back this up! It’s all marketing with zero substantiation, which is what happens when you have marketing running science.
It was Kiran’s background as a microbiologist that made his flagship product MegaSporeBiotic so unique.
With only 5 strains, when combined with spores, within only three weeks it diversifies the gut up to 50%. Literally doubling the diversity! Meaning there is an increase in both the number and the uniformity of bacteria was by 50%. Uniformity being just as important as the number.
This has never been done before. No probiotic product has ever before been shown to increase the diversity of the rest of the microbiome.
14 Foods to support your immune system
4. Autophagy for Immune health
When I discovered autophagy, I must have looked like a Christmas tree, so many lightbulbs went on all at once.
Autophagy is viewed by many as the holy grail because it is our body’s initiate self-healing mechanism.
Originating from Greek mythology, and many other mythologies of the world, there is a creature called Ouroboros that represents the entire idea of autophagy, so perfectly. It’s the image of the snake biting its own tail – eating itself as to leave behind the old Paradoxically, the serpent moves in a cyclical manner that entails constant death and rebirth.
Autophagy actually means self-eating. Describing when a part of the cell devours the other part of the cell. When certain genetic pathways are triggered, organelles (the cell’s organs) will be selectively broken down. I say selectively because it is always the older mitochondria that is targetted. Broken down and re-used to rebuild new, healthier, stronger, more stress-resilient mitochondria. Trading in the old for the new! It could not be a more perfect design.
The prospect of our biology has an innate way of healing and regenerating-itself fascinated me instantly. I have since used intermittent fasting daily harnessing a 6-hour feeding window alongside 30-40 second sprints/ red-light therapy, FIR sauna therapy and Wim Hoff breathing as hormetic stressors, to play around with the benefits of autophagy.
Going back the subject of our immune system, as we know this is the most important line of defence against the outside world helping us to deal with foreign intruders, infections and other environmental stressors. A healthy strong immune system, means we are ready to combat what comes our way. Fasts that last for longer than 48 hours enhance cellular resistance to toxins and reset the immune system. This happens as the white blood cell count goes down after this number of hours and beyond. Then, when you re-feed, the WBC count goes back up again.
So we have autophagy at one end of the spectrum when it comes to cellular demise and cellular apoptosis at the other. Cellular apoptosis is when an abnormal functioning cell is dividing out of control, such as with cancer. Apoptosis is governed by a set of security genes, one being P53, which, when triggered it signals to the body to destroy certain cells. The macrophage part of our immune system goes and destroys them,
Autophagy does not, on the other hand, destroy the cell, rather it deconstructs it and recycles the defunct components. So the cell regenerates and makes itself new and more resilient.
But there’s a caveat if you already have cancer, some cancers feed off ketones. So autophagy and ketones will not alone help you to live a healthier more robust life. The balance and alchemy comes with regulating your own metabolic pathways; between mTor which is muscle growth and autophagy.
Going back to Ouroboros, metaphorically, the Ouroboros represents not only autophagy but any other form of personal transformation. It’s my firm belief that when we work on our vehicle we a forced to face the emotional components that hither-to were locked in entrusted to our biology. In order to grow and become a new person, you have to leave behind the old, both biologically and metaphysically. To promote the functioning of healthy cells, you need to eliminate the dysfunctional ones. Inside your mitochondria, bacteria, cells, and physiological states. And in your own personal life, you have to be the one to bite your own tail and assimilate weaker parts of yourself so you could become stronger and reborn into the greater version of yourself.
5. Hormesis and Hormetic Lifestyle Practices
Hormesis is the process by which a mild or acute stressor increases resistance to other stressors and increases the health, resilience, and vitality of the organism.
It can increase resistance to a variety of stresses, not only the one to which you are exposed. This is how exercise works. Exercise is not intrinsically healthy. This is because it is actually a stressor to your body. Exercise becomes health to us because it stimulates adaptogens, like increase heart strength, or blood vessel formation to deliver blood more efficiently, or stronger muscles, or stronger mitochondria in our cells. And these adaptations in our bodies are what create health benefits and disease prevention benefits.
More and more, hormesis is being researched and the research is pointing to it being the key to longer life, disease prevention, and higher levels of energy.
I have used hormesis combined with autophagy to mitigate a viral infection in my hip. Which was with me, causing either discomfort or pain for 2.5 years. When fasting for 16 hours I would then jog up a long steep hill, then down a track utililisng the nerve endings in my feet to work over uneven ground, before sprinting on a flat ground; 4 times, for 20-40 seconds each, on the painful hip. Within 1 week the pain had gone. Within one month, after 2.5 years of discomfort and pain, I could start to do yoga postures that I had not been able to do since the pain started.
We need ample exposure to hormetic stressors to be optimally healthy and energetic. By exposing your body to forms of hormesis, your body makes adaptations that make it more energy, more resilient, and healthier.
We are wired to need certain amounts of exposure to hormetic stressors in order to be healthy, and when we are deprived of these stressors we become weak, diseased and fatigued.
Sadly, we now seem to live in an age of anti-hormesis! Where exercise is no longer a requirement in order to feed ourselves.
Gone, is the age of Hunter-gathering. Instead, food is available whenever we want it, along with extraordinary exposure to packaged and processed produce. This is the reason behind our inability to repair from cellular damage, caused by environmental toxicity. Food is no longer our medicine, but another form of toxicity layering into our already burdened biology.
Other forms of hormesis:
- Heat – FIR Sauna Therapy
- Red Light Therapy
- Interval Sprint Training – oxygen bankruptcy
- Wim Hoff Breathing – oxygen bankruptcy
- Intermittent fasting
- Intermittent nutrient cycling
- Cold showers
- Xenobiotics
- Phytochemicals
- Enemas
All of these have between 12-1000s studies showing proven health benefits. But know-how and when to use hormetic stressors is key to efficacy. Having multiple layers of hormesis in your life will factor into your longterm health and energy.
I have used combinations of all of these methods to support my own energy levels. Starting from a place of years of struggling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, back to high energy, flexibility and fitness.
Today, I like to teach clients how to use these tools, combining them effectively for the bioindividualtiy of each person’s unique health story. Helping clients get back to a life that is pain free, and full of high energy.
Wim Hoff’s Breathing technique for cellular and lung regeneration
I have always done some form of exercise in the morning, whether it is dynamic sequencing yoga, jogging up hills, sprint training on flat land, and now for the last three months I have found a new way to exercise my lungs with Wim Hoff’s breath bubble technique.
Wim Hoff is a legend. He is great, there is no doubt about this. Just look him up to see exactly the incredible challenges he has risen to. My 16-year-old son has been nagging me to practice Wim Hoff breathing for over a year, just as I nag him to take supplements to support his health, daily. Did I listen? Not until recently, but I am now so grateful to him that I finally did, with my breath hold up to 3.5 minutes comfortably and 5 minutes on my best days. We are clearly both good for each other.
I urge you – try this out for 30 days, and feel the improvements in your health: Wim Hoff Breathing Technique on YouTube
A word from Wim Hoff …
The 2014 Radboud study showed that WHM practice upregulates your immunity by increasing the production of white blood cells and B-lymphocytes. These are the little critters that protect you from foreign marauders such as viruses. WHM practice won’t keep COVID-19 from invading your body, but a strengthened immune system means a bigger arsenal to combat the infection, and therefore fewer and less severe symptoms.
Now, if you’re not feeling too well, and you’re looking to use the Wim Hof Method to fight off the infection: do not do the cold training parts of the method. When you’re sick, your immune system has its hands full just fighting off the virus. If you then expose yourself to the cold, you add another stressor, forcing the immune system to divide its capacity and fight a war on two fronts. We all know how that worked out in the past.