the Eight secrets to keeping COVID-19 away

20 April 2020

Day 24 of COVID-19 Lockdown

By Chantal Du Chenne, Founder

“8 Secrets to keeping COVID-19 away

What you won’t hear from your doctor”

Who is most at risk

40-70% of the global population will be exposed to the COVID-19 Virus.

The virus has a mean incubation period of 5.1 days.

Most common symptoms include:

Sore throat
Runny nose
Cough
Fatigue
Occasionally gastro-intestinal symptons

Fever only develops with extreme infection and only in people with an initial compromised immune system dt underlying conditions eg. Food sensitivities, mould in the house, toxic exposure and/or underlying illnesses or disease.
High blood pressure, overweight/obese, excess abdominal fat and vitamin D deficiency are understood to be amongst the biggest risk factors for contracting COVID-19.
Fever is a good thing as it kills the virus. It’s important to understand though that a fever is the body’s second line of defence when the first immune system defence, the white blood cells, have not been effective.

20% of those infected with COVID-19 require hospitalisation.
- It has been shown that all those requiring hospitalisation have compromised immune systems prior to being infected with COVID-19
- Compromised Immunity increase the risk of contracting COVID_19

30% of those hospitalized move to critical care
- 50% of those in critical care die.
- No treatment is available once in critical care.
- Ventilators don’t appear to be as effective as originally thought.
- Once Shortness of breath occurs (SOB) occurs, next 24 hours is crucial as the ‘cytokine storm’ causing the SOB can lead to death.
For those that have symptoms but aren’t hospitalized as well as those that leave hospital, the following is strongly advised:

Self isolation, ideally with access to telemedicine

Anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle:
- No gluten
- No sugar
- No animal products
- Remove mold
- Reduce metal exposure
- Reduce toxins in household eg cleaners and grooming products
Stress management:
- Community support (telephonic, Zoom etc)
- Meditation

Building immunity is fundamental in preventing COVID-19 & other viral infections.

Every disease has inflammation at its root.

One of the biggest causes of inflammation: whats on the end of your fork!

DONT JUST STAY AT HOME

STAY AT HOME AND BUILD IMMUNITY

What you won’t hear from your doctor

The foods we eat at every meal

Organic food and veg
- Traces of organic soil are essential to gut microbiome
- 30 different organic fruit & veg/week are critical to healthy gut

Polyphenols (deep colours of the rainbow)
The more polyphenols the better
They enhance the immune system
They prevent the virus from binding onto cells
Every meal should be a POLYmeal

GBOMBS
Greens
Beans
Onions
Mushrooms
Berries
Seeds
High fibre diet > 70-80g/day
- Pre-biotics feed the healthy gut bacteria
- When broken down in the gut, they produce natural anti-inflammatories (SCFA)

Herbs teas
- Many beneficial health properties

Fermented foods eg Kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchee
- Natural probiotics that increase healthy and diversity of gut microbiome

Foods to avoid:
- Gluten
- Alcohol 🙂 (organic in moderation preceded by green leafy veg
- Unfiltered tap water (glyphosate)
- Unsoaked non-organic fruit and veg (pesticides)
- Animal products (hormones and anti-biotics)
- Dairy (hormones)
- Refined Sugar
- Boil rather than Steam
- Raw where possible
- No microwave except to nuke your kitchen sponge 🙂
  - Destroys polyphenols and bioflavanoids

Polyphenols/Deep coloured Fruit and Veg build immunity

2. Vitamin C
are the only mammals that don’t make our own Vitamin C
Must get through food and supplements
Vitamin C has been found to reduce the ‘cytokine storm’
Release of macrophages (one of the white blood cells) is the first response of the immune system to anything foreign or harmful that comes into the body
Usually the release of white blood cells, especially macrophages, is in the right proportion to the foreign invader
In some cases of COVID-19 infection, the release of macrophages by the lung cells is an overkill. Its been compared to a machine gun whose trigger cant be released. It keeps firing and firing, leading to hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and even death.
Supplement 4000-8000mg/day in three doses
If you take liposomal Vitamin C, be sure to brush your teeth and clean your mouth properly first as there is a high uptake in the very absorptive lining of the oral cavity
High dose IV vitamin C is used in the critical care environment

3. Vitamin D

Not a vitamin but a steroid hormone
Fat soluble
Used in prevention and treatment
Blocks the COVID-19 virus from attaching to the ACE2 receptors on the cell wall.
This prevents the virus from entering the cell
Vitamin D also reduces the ‘cytokine storm’… understood to release ‘the trigger on the machine gun’
People of colour have overall lower levels of Vitamin D (related to higher levels of melanin)
Italy as a population has lower levels of Vitamin D. (don’t fortify their foods)

Mushrooms are immune boosters and a great sources of Vitamin D

4. Zinc

Beneficial in both prevention and treatment
Prevention: Blocks ACE 2 receptors on the cell wall to COVID-19
Treatment: Works by the same mechanism as hydroxycloraquine which has been used in the treatment of COVID-19 as it inhibits vital replication

Zinc blocks the COVID-19 virus from attaching to the ACE2 receptors on the cell water

5. Tonic water/dry lemon (Quinine)

Quinine comes from the fever tree
Was previously used to treat malaria
Used to make tonic water and dry lemon
Quinine increases the absorption of Zinc into the cell
Take your Zinc supplement with sugar free Tonic Water 🙂

Quinine in Tonic water increases absorption of Zinc

6. Selenium

Selenium is a mineral that’s essential for immune health and has been shown to have anti-viral defence properties

Two-four brazil nuts./day provide adequate selenium intake

Why do we need to supplement:

Poor soil quality
Non-irganic Chemical farming
Sympathetic Dominance (stressful lifestyles) increases our bodies demand for micronutrients
Equivalent to driving a car on the highway at 120km/hr in first gear
Should only be in SD 1-3% of the time

7. Microbiome

70-80% of our immunity is in our gut
Dysbiotic (imbalanced microbiome) and Leaky Gut compromises immunity
‘Leaking’ / hyper-permeability can occur in gut, the lungs and the brain

Leaky Gut?

8. Sleep
Enables a Parasympathetic Dominant state
Enables rest and repair
Body releases the hormone Melatonin during sleep.
Benefits of Melatonin:
- Reduces oxidative lung injury
- Protects the respiratory system
- Enhances immunity
- Inhibits viral infections
In the presence of Melatonin, L-Glutamine heals leaky gut
‘Why we sleep’ Dr Matthew Walker
Improve sleep: Magnesium supplement just before bed three days in a row

Sleep and meditation reduce Sympathetic Dominance which reduces the body’s immunity

“For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”

An African proverb

From the Global Citizen Concert

Team Bio

Chantal Du Chenne is the owner/ founder of the DripBar which offers vitamin and mineral drip therapy as well as gut health education in improving micronutrient deficiencies , thus preventing and reducing illness and disease. Over her 25 year career, Chantal has held various positions within the health and wellness industry – including 10 years as the Executive Head of Vodacom’s Corporate Wellness program. Chantal is a B.Sc.Hons Physiotherapy, a renowned professional Golf fitness and conditioning expert, a Sport and Lifestyle Nutritionist and a Health Coach specialising in Gut Health and the Gut Microbiome. Her specific areas of interest include auto-immune diseases, cancer, anxiety and depression.

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