COVID & FREE DONUTS

The thought occurred to me that a pandemic could be on the cards a few years back. (I wrote a blog: Man Vs Microbe, mentioning it in 2018).

This pandemic was always coming, many people knew it & we need to look for the lesson it’s serving to us now (because it’s almost certainly gonna be followed by more ‘pandemics’ if we don’t make some changes)! As a population, as a species - we’re collectively in pretty poor shape.

The Other Pandemic

Covid is just the top layer of a ‘foundational pandemic’, a bit like icing on a cake or…glaze on a donut. It’s the puss-filled head of a giant boil that’s been building, under the surface for at least 3 decades, finally coming to a head.
Humans (especially wealthy westernised populations with our processed food culture & easy & heavily subsidised access to medical treatment & pharmaceuticals) have become totally reliant upon a ‘health care’ system that is fundamentally flawed & failing in many ways to support health.

We know this - we all have some level of awareness that more & more people are suffering from completely preventable diseases (from younger & younger ages) & we’ve grown up using drugs & surgery to ‘fix’ health issues that arise from our diet & lifestyle choices. Hint: drugs & surgery don’t actually ‘fix’ a lot if the diet & lifestyle remains the same!

What’s The Lesson?

Covid is a wake-up call, a lesson we’re learning the hard way because we’ve not been listening to the whispers of mother nature - this is simply her cranky-mum raised voice. ‘I told you to look after your body, didn’t I? They don’t just grow on trees!’

It’s like when you feel tired & maybe have a few mild symptoms coming up…but you just keep pushing through / don’t listen to your body’s quiet request for a rest & some focus on your health. YOU EVENTUALLY GET SMASHED WITH SOME ILLNESS. Because you didn’t listen to the whispers, you NEEDED TO GET SHOUTED AT. You rest now only because you literally can’t get up, you are forced to seek medical treatment because you didn’t pay attention & look after yourself early.

Covid is just like that, only large scale. This is an illness that should barely have been noticed, yet it’s tearing through weakened, susceptible bodies & leaving a trail of destruction far out of proportion to its actual severity. Like a storm passing through a village made of straw homes - it’s doing damage - damage that could have been far less if the homes had been built strong. Covid is the big bad wolf, & we’ve been carelessly building our ‘health homes’ from straw for generations.

Covid, Obesity & Metabolic Dysfunction:

Check out the stats on Covid mortality as it relates to population obesity: Covid-19: Highest death rates seen in countries with most overweight populations (Australia we’re in there, so far so good, but could be our turn anytime)!
Covid-19: Highest death rates seen in countries with most overweight populations:
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n623

Metabolic health: a priority for the post-pandemic era:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(21)00058-9/fulltext

70 percent of Americans are overweight & 40 percent are obese with Aussie stats almost identical. Why? We eat crap food, we don’t look after ourselves & we expect the medical system to pick up the pieces. The underlying, foundational pandemic here is general poor health, driven by diet & lifestyle choices (creating widespread nutrient deficiencies, metabolic & immune dysfunction). Population obesity is the most obvious measurable symptoms of this.

And yet…even in the midst of a global pandemic…with this kind of data now achingly clear…we still don’t seem to be doing much about it, we’re still not listening…This recent donut promotion pretty much sums it up!

Krispy Kreme will offer free doughnuts—all year long—to people with COVID-19 vaccination cards:
https://fortune.com/2021/03/22/krispy-kreme-free-doughnut-covid-vaccine-card-free-donuts-what-to-know/?fbclid=IwAR0x5hpac3X33_1j94thof5hynQqbBwR0yxy0XEf3-J-bEM6MbQ4hZXUrDU

Let’s keep eating lots of yummy donuts, living obesogenic lifestyles (& make sure our health care leaders are modelling this behaviour too), whilst seeking protection behind locked doors, sanitiser, masks, medications & vaccines!

WHERE ARE THE REMINDERS TO EXERCISE? TO CHOOSE HEALTHY FOOD & MINIMISE JUNK? TO PRIORITISE SLEEP? TO GET SUN EXPOSURE? TO CONNECT WITH NATURE? TO ACTIVELY MANAGE STRESS?…nowhere. All you can see & hear is mask on, sanitise your hands, vaccinate everyone, another lockdown…how about…um…getting healthy? It will save us not only from Covid, but will also decrease rates of most chronic disease!

Anti-Vaccine? Anti-mask? Anti-donut? I’m not against masks, vaccines, sanitiser or lockdowns - these are useful & necessary tools right now, & there are people who are legitimately more vulnerable to serious infection due to reasons other than poor self care. These are a minority though, the vast majority of high-riskers can change categories - & free donuts ain’t gonna help!

What Do We Do? Do we just keep sending more & more ambulances to the bottom of the cliff…or maybe put a solid effort into building a robust fence at the top?
Yes, we need the ambulances for now as a fence will take some time to build. But the fence is a much better long term solution, & we can progress very quickly with a concerted effort & some education. That fence has to be priority now - we failed to listen to the ‘ooh looks like we’re all getting a wee bit fat & sick’ whisper, this is the shout! ‘Get healthy now...or get dead more quickly than you planned’!

We’ve been so disconnected from nature & our bodies, so out of touch with what health actually is - we’re sicker, fatter, more depressed & more anxious than ever. We’re sleeping less, working more, moving less, sitting more, staring at screens & connecting with each other less…. we’re all becoming aware of this. We know we’re not well, we don’t like the way we’ve become or the thought of where we may be headed. We feel like a giant ‘reset’ is needed. This is it. Time to take some action & get healthy!
THANK YOU COVID - tough lesson…but we totally asked for it.

*Re Krispy Kreme Donuts: I’m not anti-donut, I would potentially eat a quality fresh organic gluten free refined sugar free low carb donut if the chance presented itself one day! But food like this, with ingredients lists like this, I am against - especially when it’s being promoted & given out for free (daily) to clueless people trying to minimise their risk of getting sick, & to the very people who need to be in great health & modelling great health choices to their patients!
Read what’s in the promo donut - interestingly the website states that the recipe is from the 1930’s…I think it’s changed just a little since then folks! (And so have a lot of other factors that mean free donuts is a really bad idea)!

Ingredients: Doughnut (Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Palm Oil, Soybean Oil, Sugar. Contains 2% or Less of Each of the Following: Yeast, Soy Lecithin, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate, BHT, Dried Milk Powder, Egg Yolks, Cellulose Gum, Calcium Propionate (To Maintain Freshness), Ammonium Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sorbitan Monostearate, Tocopherols, Tricalcium Phosphate, Diammonium Phosphate); Glaze (Sugar, Water, Corn Starch, Palm Oil, Calcium Sulfate And/Or Calcium Carbonate, Agar, Dextrose, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Salt, Disodium Phosphate, Locust Bean Gum And/Or Mono and Diglycerides). (From USA Krispy Kreme site).

**NOTE: If you’re overweight / obese, & therefore at a higher risk of Covid complications, it’s not entirely your fault, it’s the time & place you’ve been born into, your parents, your grandparents, general lack of education & awareness….so don’t beat yourself up. But if you keep hiding behind these reasons & choose to do nothing now / to not seek help & take action for yourself & your family…& keep eating the daily donuts…then, that IS your fault.
In the vast majority of cases, it’s possible to remove yourself from the COVID high risk category within a few months to a couple of years. Whatever your current metabolic state, you can improve it.

So put down the donut, switch off the device, & start prioritising your health today! BONUS - it’s not just your Covid risk that goes down…it’s almost EVERY OTHER DISEASE RISK too, plus there will be sooooo many amazing side benefits that you won’t even miss the donuts!

***NOTE: I can’t offer free healthfood (my company is no Krispy Kreme, & it costs real money to make real food), but here’s a discount code to help you get started with a healthy low carb breakfast blend & the greens + aloe powder! DISCOUNT CODE: EATLESSDONUTS

****NOTE: If you are worried about what you can do to help get yourself healthier quickly, here’s my easy COVID COCKTAIL RECIPE. It’s designed to support healthy metabolic function (ie make you better at building muscle & less inclined to store abdominal & visceral fat, as well as support general nutrition relevant to Covid / immunity & give you more stable energy).

COVID COCKTAIL RECIPE:

This is a recipe that’s easy to shake up & swallow 2x daily, great supps to assist with covid prevention / minimising severity & also can be used for cold & flu prevention & long term helping to improve blood sugar regulation & body composition (improving insulin sensitivity).

• 1 scoop of plant protein powder (or buy from healthfood store or pharmacy)
• 1 scoop of Greens + Aloe
• 600mg of NAC (n-acetyl-cysteine) (buy from healthfood store or pharmacy)
• 1/2 a scoop of magnesium powder (equiv to a 150mg serve) (buy from healthfood store or pharmacy)

Shake it all up with ice & a little pomegranate juice, or blend with frozen berries, or just use a flavoured protein or magnesium powder to make it taste ok to get it down! You’ll feel amazing & notice a difference quickly! USE THIS COCKTAIL TO WASH DOWN SOME…Vitamin D (10,000 iu daily)

IF YOU FEEL ANY SYMPTOMS OF INFECTION (COLD, FLU, COVID - WHATEVER), ADD IN…

• Zinc lozenges
• Vitamin C (1000mg per hour is fine, just back off if you get diarrhoea / loose stools).
• An extra dose or 2 of Vit D
• gargle several times daily with salt water or Betadine gargle
• andrographis immune herbal tabs (ask in your health store)

And you want to be exercising moderately every day (or as often as you can). Not smashing yourself (that actually leaves your immune system more open to infection). Just be consistent with moderate exercise (must include weight bearing / muscle building as a focus - muscles improve your metabolism).

It seems that regular exercise is a lot more important in lowering your Covid risk than previously given credit for! Here’s a quote from this recent paper: Physical inactivity is associated with a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes: a study in 48 440 adult patients:

“In fact, physical inactivity was the strongest risk factor across all outcomes, compared with the commonly cited modifiable risk factors, including smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer.”

And prioritise sleep, relaxation / meditation, time in nature & sunshine :)

Here’s some previous blogs that might be helpful in your metabolic health journey:
https://www.goodmix.com.au/improve-insulin-sensitivity-lose-belly-fat/
https://www.goodmix.com.au/23-things-that-could-be-keeping-you-fat/
https://www.goodmix.com.au/fat-kids-why-so-many-and-how-we-can-help/