Building Innate Immunity with Diana Leahy
what can i do to support you?
hey fam.
it's been a while.
i did not imagine that the next time i would reach out to my community that we would be in an historical moment of uncertainty, but here we are.
i am reminded at this time that -contrary to what you were led to believe - sharing your gifts is not about you!
we wait to be ready, to be confident, to dissuade the temptation of imposter syndrome by taking one more course, getting one more day job to make us too busy, or finding one more wound we haven't healed completely before we show up as who we are.
i've been getting in my own way for various reasons throughout my lifetime - but mostly because the reason i wanted to share my gifts in the past was to prove to myself and my loved ones that i was valuable, that i was doing something, that i had some sort of skill that would allow them to stop worrying about me and my livelihood.
but now is the time that i am tired of my ego telling me that story because it paints me as this almighty being. i am not. and yet i have great power over myself and my own reality and how that vibrational pattern affects all of those who come into contact with me in the flesh or in the digital or the ethereal space. i choose to share for others and not for validation. i choose to take my power back and with it, humility.
we are all interrelated, but we are also all just one small part of something gigantic. i normally find that our ego has 2 ways of "getting in the way."
1. feeling completely irresponsible for anything outside of yourself.
2. feeling ONLY responsible for others and forgetting to be responsible for yourself.
these are grossly over simplified, but you can pretty much lean one way or the other when your ego wants you to be smaller than you are.
so I am writing today to share something i feel i have a deep ability to help with:
giving you a calm vibration during times of uncertainty
connecting you with community
discerning information we can trust
LISTEN!
there's no wrong way to take care of yourself at this time. some of us need to raise our self discipline. others of us need to give ourselves a fucking break. no one knows but YOU and if you really tune in, you are completely capable of knowing what is right for you. If something causes you to doubt yourself, take a pause before giving it authority over your own judgment and intuition.
there's a way to be responsible by staying inside and washing your hands without giving in to panic + fear which both block our innate ability to navigate difficult times with creativity and awareness.
one thing that empowers us is carefully vetted information!
so i present to you diana leahy - functional wellness coach + herbalist's tips for immunity building. she gave a *free* lecture on ig live with me, and gathered so much info we decided to create an email so you could all have this as a resource!
And if you would rather watch than read, check out this igtv!
BUILDING INNATE IMMUNITY
By Diana Leahy
The messages being broadcast with this virus are heavy with fear which is disempowering.
The predominant paradigm is that there is nothing you can do about a virus and you just have to ride it out. While it’s true that doing nothing, and just truly resting, is powerful medicine, there is a lot you can do for both prevention and treatment.
Today I want to talk about how you can strengthen your immune system. Our bodies have an innate intelligence called which in my school of herbalism is called the vital force.
This vital force is what the body uses to regulate and heal itself to overcome a virus. And we can help it with the proper support.
The foundation of our immune system is nutrition, so I wanted to share some vitamins/minerals that are helpful at this time.
Just want to point out that the best way to get nutrients is through whole foods because they are in a form that our body recognizes and can be utilized more efficiently, so a lower dose from food can be just as effective as a higher dose from a supplement.
However, for some people, for example those of us with compromised immune systems (autoimmune, chronic illness, gut issues) it may be helpful to get megadoses right now.
So I’ll give you both the supplement name/dosage and some good food sources and will leave it up to you to choose the best option for yourself.
VITAMIN C
WHY: has been shown to stimulate the production of immune cells as well as their function. It also protects the immune system from oxidative damage. I’ve seen the articles hating on vitamin c, but there are studies showing very promising results with high dose vitamin c with this virus and other coronaviruses.
Dose
prevention - 500 mg 4x/day (if you can get powdered vitamin c that makes it easy, or just break apart a capsule.
if you develop symptoms take vitamin C to bowel tolerance – this means you take 500 – 1000 mg every hour or so until you have loose stools. Then you back off for a bit and take more when your stomach has settled.
Magnesium:
Why: Responsible for over 300 biochemical processes in the body, including immune cell synthesis and adherence, lowering inflammation, regulating our hormones, stabilizing blood sugar, and is one of the most important minerals for calming us, and being in a calm or parasympathetic nervous state is crucial for healing
Dosage 400 mg/day – as high as 2 grams: I recommend magnesium chloride (liquid mag) for highest absorption and antiviral activity. If you can't get that or pills are more convenient for you, mag glycinate is the next best option. I make my own magnesium bicarbonate but that's too much to go into here!
Food source: dark chocolate, spinach has 160 mg in a single cup and pumpkin seeds contain 185 mg of magnesium in just ¼ cup. beet greens, some others - Swiss chard, black beans
Another source, perfect for quarantine time, is epsom salt or magnesium chloride baths. If no bathtub a foot soak is extremely effective.
Vitamin A
So important for immunity – enhances immune function by protecting the integrity of mucous membranes
Dosage: if you have symptoms you can get your levels up really quickly by taking high dose for 4 days: 100k IU, then back down to maintenance dose of 5000-2000 IU. We don't want beta carotene bc it's difficult for most of us to convert that to the usable form of vitamin A, so check to make sure it's palmitate
Food Source: liver, grass fed butter or ghee, cod liver oil
Vitamin D:
Dosage: This works synergistically with vitamin A. Unless you’ve been supplementing for a long time along with K2 which is necessary for absorption, it’s safe to assume you are deficient.
So like with the Vit A, if you start noticing symptoms you can get your levels up really quickly by taking high dose for 4 days: 50k IU, then back down to maintenance dose of 4000-10,000 IU
Food source: sardines, cod liver oil (still a supplement but food based), mushrooms!
SUNSHINE
SELENIUM
Why: enhances cellular response to RNA viruses, like corona, HIV, and others
Dosage: generally, 400 mcg/day but you can go up to 1000 mcg to build up levels. Food based supplements here are my favorite – such as Megafood or tung oil
Food Source: a few brazil nuts/day, blue corn chips//meal/tortillas
B VITAMINS
why: help with digestion and metabolism; convert carbohydrates, fats, and protein into energy; maintain a healthy nervous system,
dosage isn't super important here, but what I would focus on is getting a b complex so that you get all of the b's and don't throw any out of balance by taking only b12, or only folate.
food source: raw honey and bee pollen are the most concentrated foods. you can also get it from eggs, beef, chickpeas, nutritional yeast, carrots, avocado
PROBIOTIC
Why: the gut microbiome makes up 75% of the immune system and plays a large role in maintaining the gut barrier which prevents any orally ingested pathogens from getting into the bloodstream
Dosage: 1-2 caps a day of megaspore, just thrive, any soil based organism
kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, beet kvass, good quality yogurt
Iodine:
Why: of all antimicrobials safe for human consumption only iodine is capable of killing all classes of pathogens: gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, mycobacteria, fungi, yeasts, viruses and protozoa. It is also an essential nutrient for thyroid function, as well as pretty much every other organ and hormonal receptor in the body.
Dosage: Lugol’s or iodoral - check out Dr. David Brownstein’s work on this. The dosage ranges from 3 mg – 150 mg. But it’s important to start low and build up slowly, especially with any thyroid issues
Food source: kelp (highly recommend bc it has all the cofactors we need to properly assimilate the iodine so that it doesn’t become toxic). If you use the Lugols or iodoral, all the necessary cofactors are listed here, and in addition make sure to get plenty of a high quality salt.