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Hello everyone and welcome. This is Dr. Alison DiBarto Goggin with Little Black bag Medicine. And today I wanted to share with you a little bit about your risk for having severe complications with COVID-19.
So just so you know, we’re all at risk of getting the virus that it’s in the air. We know that as very, very different of a Corona virus than we’ve seen before. I was able to get to a really awesome online seminar because they had to move it online since we couldn’t do it in person this year. And talking to a geneticist who specializes in epidemiology as well, and he was sharing a lot of information about this type of virus. So it was really interesting and I really wanted to be able to share that with you today.
And what really caught my attention is that we know right now that this virus is a thousand times more capable of replicating and shutting than any other Corona virus that we’ve seen before.
So this means that we’re all at risk at getting it. We know that it can survive in the air for three to six hours depending on airflow and humidity, heat, things like that. We know that washing our hands is actually very important. And that wearing masks is generally a good idea. More so that you’d think from the perspective of if I have this, which is very possible, I don’t want to give it to other people. It may not protect you from breathing in, but it’s going to protect you from sharing it in your environment, which is also really important.
And the other route that we don’t talk a lot about because it’s not very sexy, is the fecal oral route where we are shedding this virus and research shows right now, it’s lasting for anywhere from 24 to 27 days that once your body has it, it’s replicating and which means it’s growing and it’s shedding, meaning your body’s getting rid of it for 27 days.
So you might not have symptoms, right? We’re talking about a lot of people who are asymptomatic and you might actually have some symptoms and then on the far end, it could be extremely severe.
What that means is how does your body get rid of things? You’re going to breathe it out, right? You’re going to cough it out, your nose is going to run, your sinuses are going to get rid of it. You’re going to use your kidneys to excrete it. But the kidneys don’t like to do that because they are very sensitive and it’s very work heavy for them to do. So the other way we get it out is through our intestines, the fecal route. So washing your hands after you go to the bathroom, making sure that you have good hygiene, taking good showers, not touching your face because you don’t know if other people have good hygiene.
To move forward, what makes you more likely to have serious complications? When we take away age as a factor, because we know that the elderly population and really not the elderly population but 65, 60 or depending on where you are, they’re being told to stay home to be extremely careful.
But the most common issue when you take away age, why 30 40 year old, 50 year old people are really struggling with this issue is metabolic disease and which means diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure. Those are the big three, the underlying issues that we need to make sure that we take care of now. And I think it’s a really big wake up call where we have this movement of everybody is okay, body type is great, so what you have diabetes, like let’s celebrate. And really this is a wake up call to say, Hey, if you’re taking in my opinion a ton of medications and it’s not being managed and you can’t take care of your heart problems and your high blood pressure and your blood sugar, we need to wake up because you are at higher risks.
This is very serious and this is why so many people are getting sick. So what we’re going to go through next is some things that you can do right now to take care of yourself. We talked a lot about, the first thing that people, especially over the past few weeks on our podcast, and I’m sure you’ve been hearing about it a lot in the health world, is people are running for toilet paper and junk food because it’s easy. It’s cheaper, which I absolutely understand. And when we have to make ends meet with the money that we have right now, canned food, junk food is the way to go because we’re not sure what’s going to happen.
So when we can set that aside, we really have to focus on eating whole food right now when we can still get it right and right. I have faith that we’re always going to be able to get it. We might be out of toilet paper, but you can get vegetables. Absolutely.
So let’s talk about the blood sugar issue. So that’s the pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, all the ways into Type two diabetes, where Type one is a genetic issue. It’s not something that you can control necessarily with lifestyle. You need your medication.
And number one, you should always stay on your medications. Those podcasts, these videos are not meant for you to just quit all of your meds and ignoring, no, please stay on your medications, work with your doctor, work with the people who are with you to support you, create a team, call me, let’s get you on the path to a healthy lifestyle, healthy body with your medications and do your best.
Okay, so with the blood sugar, what we need to be able to do is really focus on eating protein consistently throughout the day. We need to make sure that you’re getting a lot more fresh vegetables. If you can’t do fresh vegetables, do frozen or canned, they’re not as great, but at least it’s going to be a better option for your blood sugar. With the canned, we have to watch the sodium because are also worried about high blood pressure. So be aware of that.
You might want to start even tracking just because it’s going to help you start to understand what you’re eating right now. So it might be helpful to track sodium. It might be helpful to track maybe calories, but definitely proteins and fats to make sure you are eating. This is not a time to starve yourself. This is not a time to start a new diet.
This is a time to eat food, make good choices, be aware of what you’re eating. Okay. And when it comes to blood sugar there’s quite a few things that you can do. Eating consistently is number one. Adding in more protein is number two, and managing your snacks. So eating a morning snack, an afternoon snack might be helpful for you and it might not be helpful for you. This is why I love tracking. I usually have my patients get out an Excel sheet or even just a piece of paper. Start a Google doc or put it in an email so that we, you know what your blood sugar is doing.
If you feel sleepy after you eat, if you are tired at four o’clock, if you are hungry right after you eat if you need chocolate or sugar to digest your food to feel good, again, these are some big warning signs that you might have, some insulin resistance issues that we need to really take a look at and be careful with.
Okay. I will post a blood sugar essential oil blend that I use. It’s usually balance, frankincense and slim and sassy are my go-to to put on your feet at night to help calm your bloodstream and really just do your best right now. Okay?
And know that the more sugar you eat, the more it puts you at risk for your body to not be able to control the inflammation. If you do contract this virus and your immune system flares up. So that’s a really big key. So limit yourself. You don’t have to go cold turkey, you don’t have to swear off everything, but it might be time to reevaluate exactly what you’re eating, what you’re buying, when you’re buying it.
And this is also a great time to really go inward and think about your food choices, why you’re making those few choices. How are you making them, how is it affecting you? What are you making them for emotionally, physically, spiritually. So we’ll move on.
So let’s talk about hypertension and blood sugar or blood pressure. The reason that this is an issue is because the virus gets into the cells through the ACE two receptor. And what that ACE two is on is our blood vessels, our lungs, our GI tract. So when our blood vessels are taking in a virus, because it has that right key and lock, which is what a receptor is, it replicates and it starts to shut down the cells so that can cause these blood vessels to dilate and constrict and network correctly. So we can’t manage our blood pressure, we can’t manage our heart rate as well, and it can take us down that path of cardiovascular issues, like heart attacks and things like that.
Stress management after blood sugar is going to be very helpful. So what I like to do is have my patients do at least 10 minutes of meditation every day. Get on YouTube, type in 10 minute free guided meditation and get after it if you can. Right now the more often you meditate, the better set timer so you don’t feel like you have to do this for an hour or two. You can if you want to, but at least get 10 minutes.
Research shows that 20 minutes is a great amount of time to meditate, the right amount of time for your neurotransmitter, your Vegas nerves to calm down your body, to relax and get the immune support, neurotransmitter support, chemical support and hormone support. So if you can aim for 20, that would be great. See what you can do throughout your day. Meditate multiple times a day in the morning when you wake up, if you can, definitely before you go to sleep.
And the hardest part right now, meditate when you are the most stressed because you’re going to be able to change your chemistry, calm everything down, reduce that high blood pressure to reduce your risk. You’re going to also affect your blood sugar when you are calm because it won’t be spiking and lowering because your stress hormones are changing and they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing when you’re calm. Easier said than done right now. I don’t know about you. So focus on what you can control and the only thing maybe you can control right now is yourself, your mood and what you can do about it. And that’s a great place to start. So calming exercises is going to be the most important for you.
Now, when we get into cardiovascular disease and heart issues and heart complications, number one, stay on your medication.
Number two, follow your doctor’s orders. This is not a time to go off. If you need help with medication, checkout goodrx.com call your insurance carrier. Many local pharmacies will deliver to you if you’re struggling getting medication cause it’s out or you can’t leave the house, ask a neighbor to go get it for you. Whatever you can do to take care of yourself, exercise is going to be the next biggest support factor for you. Slow, easy, continue with it.
Again, I’m going to say continue with your doctor’s recommendations. If you’re told to just walk, just go for a walk because we want to improve not only your heart and your cardiovascular health, but walking exercise is going to strengthen your blood vessels so those receptors will not be as available essentially to the virus and you can calm down and your blood vessels will be stronger so we can work on that.
Hypertension, high blood pressure, work on your blood sugar. Of course it’s to help with stress so your cortisol and your neurotransmitters can stay stable and healthy, which will then again unpacked your blood sugar, your blood pressure and boost your immune system. Support your immune system and then exercise is going to help your lungs. So walking is great if you can, even if you’re just walking up and around your house, you can go up and down your stairs as much as you can or as as really to the point where you know that you are still going to be healthy, safe and alive. Don’t, don’t overdo yourself. Don’t overtrain right now cause that’s the other negative side of that over-training working, doing doubles or triples a day is actually going to really suppress your immune system. It’s too much. So the inflammation rises really quickly. We need to manage inflammation for cardiovascular disease, which of course we go back to blood sugar, blood pressure.
But on a supplement side, what you can do really love tumeric, really love resveratrol, really love copaiba essential oils for managing and controlling inflammation. There’s many, many different things that you can do for your inflammation. Getting really good sleep. And I know that our circadian rhythms are really off right now because one, we just had daylight savings time, so you might still feel messed up from that too. We’re watching a lot more TV. We’re on our phones probably a lot more. And that means that you’re getting a lot of blue light in your eyes. So get a blue light glasses from Amazon that can be really cheap. So if you’re staring at a screen all day, make sure that you’re doing that. Try to keep a normal schedule. Don’t stay up till two or three o’clock in the morning on Netflix or on your computer working as something like that because we need to maintain a normal circadian rhythm to help support your immune system, your hormones, your heart health, your lungs, all of it, right?
This is what you see, this why these are the three biggest ones and they’re all tied in together when it comes to metabolic health. Now, I’ll close with this. I think I already said it. This is not a time that you have to change your diet. You don’t need to start a new program. Don’t worry about losing weight, don’t, I don’t want you to put up a bathing suit on the fridge so you feel bad about yourself. No, do not do that. This is not the time for that. This is a time for you to develop an awesome relationship with your body, with food to really just find a way to relax and connect in with yourself and take that pressure off. And that’s why I create all of my programs online, like healing through the heart, healing the woman within, because we really can sit here all day long and say, eat this, don’t eat that, take this, don’t take that and really rack up some really good lists.
But in the end, you’re not going to do it if you don’t have a good relationship with yourself, your life, your mission, your passion, your food, your body, your hormones, right? So start journaling, dig and what’s going on with you, what’s going on in your, how do you have his relationship to food? Check out some of my programs. I’ll post a link to them in the comments below here. So that way you’re not just restricting your food or you’re not bingeing. We’re really just allowing yourself to take care of you while you can’t take care of your family, take care of your loved ones, do your best and enjoy the time that we have together while we are here in quarantine. So thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.
If you have any questions, you can find me on Facebook at little black bag medicine.
You can shoot me an email@youroildockatgmail.com and let me know what’s going on with you. Always schedule a free introductory consultation if you want to chat about how to improve your blood sugar issues, your hypertension, your heart disease, how you can really put yourself in a good place right now so the rest of your life. You don’t have to sit there and be worried and be concerned that something might happen again and you might be hit. You know you’re healthy, safe, and you can take care of yourself. All right. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next time.