Covid-19 Update: Food and Immune Health

RVAchironeuro • May 17, 2021

Hello again everyone:

Sadly, the predominant narrative that is being broadcast everywhere seems to almost completely ignore what we can do to protect ourselves against any type of infection both now and for the future. This is sad because we know that the vast majority of those getting severe Covid related illness and/or death have at least 1 to 5 co-morbidities. It is also known that about 80% of those co-morbidities are diet related and can be improved with simple and direct lifestyle upgrades. Furthermore, this is not a secret and is well documented in the research literature.

What surprises me every day is that I meet people who are not optimally well and have multiple co-morbidities (the simultaneous presence of 1 or more chronic conditions or diseases) and over the past year, no one has mentioned to them that it might be an absolutely fabulous idea if we all used this pandemic as an urgent reason to upgrade our lifestyle…especially our food choices.

Bottom Line:

  It may be a great idea to use this pandemic as a strong and motivating reason to launch yourself into a healthier orbit by upgrading your food, exercise and sleep patterns. There is even data to suggest that better weight and blood sugar controls may assist the vaccine in creating better immune cell memory. Why wait for the government to help us…start now to become optimally healthy. Recent statistics revealed that 73% of the U.S. is overweight or obese and only about 1 in 10 are metabolically healthy and resilient.

“To go the extra mile in ensuring you do have a strong immune system, research suggests that eating garlic and foods high in vitamin C helps ward off infection,” says Dr. Blackmon. “The next time you reach for junk food, realize that you not only are affecting your weight, but you may be letting down your resistance to bacteria, viruses, and parasites.” (1)

“In addition, as obesity and diabetes mellitus have been found to impair the development of immunological memory (for example, after influenza vaccination), it cannot be excluded that obesity and hyperglycemia might also negatively affect the efficiency of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. These relationships, as well as the knowledge that metabolic processes largely determine the course of COVID-19, suggest that treating obesity and cardiometabolic complications might be very effective in overcoming acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, and also in reducing the risk of post-COVID-19 cardiometabolic diseases and obesity. Weight loss and improvement of metabolic health in people with obesity and/or those who are metabolically unhealthy might help them to better cope with COVID-19.” (2)

 

By Mark Smith December 22, 2025
Health News Update: Tending Your Temple 12.22.25 Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas to you! Health Update: Predictable Crisis Hello everyone: As we celebrate this Holy time and the start of a new year, I want to just speak to you heart to heart. Most of us know that our physical body has been deemed to be the Temple for us to experience this worldly life. Additionally, we are meant to be stewards and caretakers of this awesomely wrought and magnificent Temple. While this may mean different things to each of us, most of us agree that taking care of the Temple involves a health promoting lifestyle. From interviewing thousands of patients, I have seen that deep within each of us there is a feeling or a knowingness of how well we are tending our Temple. And what emerges from these discussions is that most of us have never been taught or shown or educated on the concept of the need to be good stewards and how to do that. For me as a healthcare practitioner, science allows me to peer into God’s creation and be filled with awe and wonder. And yet as great as science has gotten at treating the leading causes of death and disability, it seems to have forgotten that recovery depends upon our innate healing abilities which in turn depends upon our food choices. Chronic unhealthy food choices really do affect your quality of life as well as what diseases or disabilities you may get, along with your ability to recover from them or to even prevent them. On top of that, science now recognizes how food choices have shifted over time and how this is leading to environmental destruction and contributing to climate change. The old saying “Let Food Be Thy Medicine” now applies to each of us as well as the planet. We Have Created a Predictable Crisis Nowhere can this be as easily seen as with the mismatch we are creating between what our body needs and what we are feeding it. Poor food choices, lack of physical activity, and stress drive the leading causes of death and disability. These facts are undeniable, and science has verified this many times over. What do we think will happen when we put diesel fuel into the gas tank? What are we thinking when we put drive-through into a Holy Temple? Each of us can do better and we all should try every day. Poor nutrition is now known to be the leading cause of death and chronic illness…and thus massive and needless suffering. Today, 8 out of 10 of the causes of death and disability are chronic inflammatory degenerative illnesses that are caused, perpetuated, aggravated, and sustained by food choices. Our societies current reactive approach to health care, without improving the underlying health of the patient, is expensive and has led us to the era of predictable yet unnecessary chronic illness, death, and disability. I am truly fortunate to have witnessed people recover their health through simple dietary upgrades. These people were patient, committed, and took one small step at a time until they had transformed their health, their kitchen, and in many cases, they assisted in the transformation of their entire family to better health and wellbeing. This transformation is available to you, too. If you have a chronic health condition, or want to avoid one, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by going predominantly plant based. Go into this upgrade with a 100% commitment for 6 months and see how it goes. Don’t you owe it to yourself to live a life congruent with your true nature? Shouldn’t we have the self-respect to make the best choices as to how we tend our Temple? Simply by making your food choices compatible with your nature, it is possible for you to massively improve your health and simultaneously feel better about your stewardship of the Temple and the planet that sustains it. Consider for a moment, how good it will feel to live in alignment with your true Nature. If you can imagine that, then you can achieve it! All of us here at Richmond Chiropractic Neurology wish everyone a healthy, safe, happy, and loving Holy Day and Blessed New Year!
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