COVID-19 Update: New Resources Looking at Prevention & Boosting Resilience

RVAchironeuro • April 13, 2020

Hello again everyone:

While it is important to realize that no human trials exist validating the efficacy of natural therapeutic approaches for COVID-19, there is substantial thought and interest in these approaches to the support of public health in general. There is a large amount of evidence informed data that would be reasonable to consider in efforts to build resilience and resistance to disease (including viral pathogens), and people are seriously interested in learning about such possible strategies. In other words, there are two approaches to this pandemic that are possible and we need both:

1. Direct medical care, which because there is no effective vaccine yet or specific medical treatment other than the acute disease management, medical care currently is deemed to be primarily supportive. If you become sick with COVID-19 then you will absolutely need medical care and management…which includes prevention.

2. Supportive care, usually outside of medical care but not always: this type of care complements traditional medical care and seeks to advantage you by increasing health and the ability to fight back and/or prevent or lessen an infection.

As a member of the  Institute for Functional Medicine , I recently became aware (thank you Jan!) of a link that I feel is important to share. Make sure that you scroll down to the downloadable documents under the Patient Education banner as well as the other resources lower on the page.

The introduction states:

“During this time of an unprecedented global pandemic, IFM is dedicated to providing both patients and practitioners with reliable resources for dealing with the spread of COVID-19. We will continually update this page with the latest news, resources, and links representing the Functional Medicine perspective on prevention, testing, treatment, and recovery from COVID-19.”

Let me know your thoughts after you view the material.

All the best,

Dr. Smith and Staff

PS : I personally do not take Elderberry as it is shown to increase an immune chemical called IL-6 that can be a part of the disease process that may lead to a cytokine storm and organ failure.

Can Diet Lower Inflammation Markers?

By Mark Smith • October 29, 2025
New Title

Your Brain on Food

By Mark Smith • October 13, 2025
Your Brain on Food

What is Good for the Heart is Good for Everything

By Mark Smith • October 6, 2025
New Title

Go Green Mediterranean to Lose Fat, Gain Health

By Mark Smith • September 29, 2025
New Title

: Modern Food Losing its Mojo

By Mark Smith • September 22, 2025
New Title

Do You Know Where 80 to 90% of Your Health Comes From?

By Mark Smith • September 15, 2025
New Title

What You Eat Can Save Your Life…or Not

By Mark Smith • September 8, 2025
New Title

To Avoid Chronic Disease, Watch What You Eat

By Mark Smith • September 1, 2025
To Avoid Chronic Disease, Watch What You Eat

Health News Update: Inflammaging is Bad News

By Mark Smith • August 25, 2025
Hello everyone: I think I have mentioned inflammaging before but never really focused on it. So, let’s dig into this interesting topic. Inflammaging is when chronic, low-grade inflammation develops with age as dietary and environmental stress accumulates, contributing to the development of all of the various age-related diseases and health issues. It results from a loss of control over systemic inflammation, which tends to come from an unbalanced and dysregulated immune system. One of the key drivers of inflammaging is diet…which means that one of the key tools to slow and reduce aging is our what we eat as well as what we don’t eat. In this paper, the authors reveal that the typical Western Diet (what science calls the Standard American Diet or S.A.D.) is the best example of a pro-inflammatory diet pattern. “ Conclusion: Inflammation is a key physiological process in immunity and tissue repair. However, during aging it becomes increasingly more chronic. In addition, we found that certain foods such as saturated fats have pro-inflammatory activity. Taking this into account, in this review we have proposed some dietary guidelines as well as a list of compounds present in foods with anti-inflammatory activity. It must be taken into account that the amounts used in the studies that detect anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds are very high, and the intake of a single food to achieve its anti-inflammatory power is not feasible. (My Comment: what this means is that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most.) However, the combination of foods rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could exert beneficial effects during aging and in pathologies associated with inflammation and in reducing the detrimental effects of foods with pro-inflammatory activity. Therefore, we can conclude that the compounds in our diet with anti-inflammatory activity could help alleviate the inflammatory processes derived from diseases and unhealthy diets and thereby promote healthy aging. Thus, we can use diet not only for nourishment, but also as medicine.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389628/ anti-inflammatory diet and health aging https://www.healthline.com/health/5-minute-guide-to-inflamm-aging Bottom Line: We all must age, and how we do so is largely under our own control. To create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is not that difficult, especially if you put it all together in stages. Start with a clean, whole-food, unprocessed plant-based food plan. And to begin, first focus on what you can add into your menus and use those additions to sort of crowd out the things that are more inflammatory…sugar, refined grains, processed and pre-packaged things. Set realistic goals such as going plant based one or two days a week, or even one meal…just start and gradually work up. It has to be doable so don’t stress. Next, start moving and doing regular exercise at least three times a week…and find what you enjoy doing and focus on that. Then add activities that de-stress you, whether that is socializing, church, meditation, prayer, yoga, etc. Overall, shift your attention to giving love to things that love you back. Sugar, drive-thru and processed food like thingies do not love you back but apples or kiwis or berries or veggies do. Sitting around does not love you back but going for a short walk after a meal does love you back. Hang out and give love to the people you really like to be with, they will most always love you back. Create a love you back lifestyle and see how you feel.

Health News Update: Blocking Internet on Smartphones Improves Mental Health

By Mark Smith • August 18, 2025
Hello everyone: I frequently hear about mental health issues with the people in our practice. They could be experiencing depression, or anxiety, feel flat, can’t focus or sustain attention, or may not feel well in general. These comments can come from anyone of any age…I can hear from parents about their kids, or it may be themselves experiencing these feeling. So, when I read this paper, it felt important to share it because we all seem to have mobile phones. Here is how the paper is summarized: “Concern about how smartphones affect users is widespread: half of American smartphone users—and 80% of those under age 30—worry that they use their device too much, and correlational research suggests that smartphone use is negatively related to mental health and cognitive functioning. However, few large-scale experiments have tested for causal effects. We report such an experiment, finding that blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks reduces smartphone use and improves subjective well-being (SWB) (including life satisfaction and positive affect), mental health (more than antidepressants), and sustained attention (as much as being 10 years younger). Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects.” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=randomized%20controlled%20trial&utm_content=randomized%20controlled%20trial&_kx=fARhTo_gi8X3B_2-MaeO_RyzUl9tvT3tr4re-Dy7cNQ.my75y6 Bottom Line: It seems like a smartphone ‘timeout’ can be very beneficial for mental, emotional, physical health and can be an important part of stress reduction. The world today, with nearly instant communications, the almost constant bad and anxiety promoting news, and the fast pace of data consumption can add up to significantly stress us out and pull us down…or just simple keep us distracted. From what I can see, a ‘timeout’ may be just what the doctor ordered.
More Posts