How Can You Help Long COVID?

Long COVID is a new, debilitating condition, that can follow a COVID-19 infection. However, post-viral illness is nothing new. In fact, it’s a very common thing I have been treating in my practice over the last 25 years.

The main symptoms I see include, tiredness, weakness, brain fog, heart palpitations, mental health issues, dizziness, gut issues, body aches and pains, and sometimes sinus or breathing issues. There is a long history of natural medicine being used for post-viral illness.

Long COVID

There are two main ways Long COVID appears to affect people:

• Respiratory symptoms, such as a prolonged cough and shortness of breath, as well as symptoms of chronic fatigue and headaches.
• A more complex picture affecting many parts of the body, including the brain, gut and heart.

The Cause of Ongoing Post Viral Symptoms

If you have had a virus, like COVID, and feel you never properly recovered, you may be wondering why so many people have managed to fully recover with relative ease. Afterall, it’s the same virus.

The difference is in the environment and genetics in which the virus finds itself. It’s not just the virus causing the long-term symptoms, what is more important is the health status and genetic makeup that determine how well a person can shake off the virus and to what extent.

Let’s have a closer look.

Your Age

Age does play its role in the likelihood of Long COVID developing, as it does statistically with the severity of the COVID-19 infection. Long COVID affects around 10% of 18-49 year olds who become unwell with COVID-19, rising to 22% of over 70s.

Lots of peope I see with Chronic Fatigue and post viral illness generally can be in the 20s and 30s. So age is not always a guideline, but the statistics are useful.

How Healthy is the Host?

How healthy are you?

It’s not always an easy question to answer.

How a person will be impacted by COVID-19 during and after is very much determined by how healthy you are when you get infected.

While you may feel fine, fit and healthy, when something like COVID-19 comes along, it can act as the trigger, or the straw that breaks the camels back. In short, it can expose the fact that beneath the surface all is not as well as it may have appeared. Very quickly, a person can go from being asymptomatic to feeling very unwell.

In addressing Long Covid, what’s important, is to pin point what was going on below the surface.

History of Glandular Fever

For many with post viral fatigue, a history of Glandular Fever leaves its mark and plays a role, or another sickness that was difficult to recover from. For those with such a history, Long COVID is more likely to grip.

A common theme post Glandular Fever can be a congested lymphatic system. If the lymphatics are not working well the immune system is compromised and the body can’t effectively clear out waste material via this channel. The knock on effect is the post-viral type symptoms experienced by people with Long COVID and often by those who have had Glandular Fever.

Inflammation

COVID-19 can, for some, cause a massive strain on the body, effectively whipping up an internal storm. If your body is already inflamed, from poor diet, stress, infections, injuries, chronic health conditions, being rundown, or overuse of medications, such as antibiotics, bringing COVID-19 into the picture is going to be that much more challenging for the body to handle. Inflammation in the body can make you feel very unwell. Furthermore, inflammation in general underlies nearly every disease you can think of from Dementia and Diabetes, to Cancer and Autoimmune health problems.

Bringing down inflammation with a low carbohydrate and low sugar diet is a good first step. Natural medicines can specifically be applied to reduce inflammation also.

Gut Health

70% of the immune system is in the gut, so this is an important area to optimise for recovery. What’s more, gut issues are a common symptom of Long COVID. If the gut is not operating well, it can affect the body’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients, which are vital for recovery.

Iridology, which I provide in my practice, is a good way to test for leaky gut and damage to the gut lining. The virus can cause great damage to the gut lining, which in turn allows particles to leak across the bowel wall into the blood stream.

Another issue is that because much of the immune system is in this part of the body, histamine production goes into overdrive and the body is on high alert. For some people this can trigger Mast Cell Activation, which produces a range of uncomfortable symptoms. In such cases a low histamine or Paleo diet can bring about relief.

It is widely thought that part of the virus gets stuck in the bowel, and exacerbates the Long COVID symptoms.

Probiotics, natural antivirals, antibacterials, fermented foods, fruits and vegetables are an important part of restoring a healthy microbiome. In addition, there are some very effective natural remedies to help heal the gut wall.

For some cases, stool testing can be of great benefit.

Genetics

Supporting genetic predispositions to oxidative stress and inflammation with specific nutrients is a helpful way to counter this issue.

For example, 60% of the population inherit a MTHFR gene. This in turn affects your body’s ability to utilise synthetic folic acid, which results in many being low in naturally occuring folic acid. Folic acid is important for many reasons, but in this context it helps the body to produce Glutathione, which protects your body from oxidative stress.

Optimising Glutathione, with or without this gene is important. This can be done in several different ways, from diet to supplementing with NAC.

There are other genetic factors which can also play a role, such as IFNG pro-inflammatory gene, affected by viruses and bacteria. Making sure you have sufficient B vitamins is important for this particular genetic pathway.

If you have been affected by Long COVID or want to find out more, please get in touch and we can discuss it on the phone.

How to Successfully Lose Weight

So many people come to see me with the problem of not being able to lose weight despite hard work, going to the gym, and following a diet

Frustration is the result. But, there are a number of key body functions that need to be working well for weight loss to occur. If they are out of balance or not operating well your efforts will be poorly rewarded. Understanding this can make a massive difference to losing weight, but unfortunately, it’s not something mentioned by Doctors and weight loss organizations very often.

KEY AREAS TO FOCUS ON FOR SUCCESSFUL WEIGHT LOSS

1) Bile and liver function

Bile is produced by the liver and released from the gall bladder into the digestive tract. It helps us digest and breakdown fats as well as acting as a laxative and transporting waste and toxins from the body. Insufficient bile production will make it harder to lose weight. I find that the gall bladder will almost always be an issue where weight loss is difficult. It contributes to hypothyroidism, constipation, hormonal imbalance and weight gain.

2) “Eating fat makes you fat” is a myth

In fact healthy fats like flax seed, olive oil, coconut oil (both cold pressed and virgin), grass fed butter, avocados, and eggs all help your body produce hormones that reduce inflammation and aid metabolism. This is important because a faster metabolism means your body will be burning up fuel more efficiently. In addition, reduced inflammation results in many health benefits and helps to allow the body to lose weight.

3) Hormonal imbalance

Excess estrogen contributes to gall bladder disease and fluid retention among other health problems. If there is excess estrogen in the body, this in turn puts an extra stress and load on the liver and gall bladder, which, as mentioned above, will have a knock on effect on the body’s ability to lose weight.

4) Fluid retention

Commonly, 3-4kg of extra unwanted weight is actually trapped fluid in the body. Hormonal and mineral imbalances as well as lymphatic congestion will contribute to this. By taking natural remedies, such as celery seed and juniper, as well as other minerals, excess fluid can be eliminated from the body.

5) Thyroid

An under active thyroid will mean your metabolism will slow down, in turn holding onto more weight. Mostly this is related to an autoimmune condition, but when reading this information I think you’ll see how other factors, such as hormonal imbalance, liver and gall bladder function will also impact your thyroid function.

6) Adrenal exhaustion

Adrenal exhaustion will interfere with progesterone production thus allowing excess estrogen to dominate. Fatigue can be another side effect. As mentioned above, this excess estrogen will put an extra load on the gall bladder and liver function, while also affecting the thyroid.

7) Blood sugar balance

If you have erratic blood sugar swings you can gain weight easily. When insulin is high sugars and carbs in your diet get converted to fat, and the body will store this fat typically around the waist, but will also start to find other places, such as the liver and even the arteries.

Eating a low carb/sugar diet reduces stress on your liver and blood sugar levels. Avoiding or limiting high carb foods (bread, pasta, potato, rice, alcohol, cakes and biscuits ) to lose weight is a key step. If you do want to have some carbs, have them for dinner rather than breakfast and lunch, as this will be less of a problem for weight loss.

Another issue is that gluten, found in a lot of high carb foods, will contribute to an under active thyroid, which in turn makes weight loss harder.

Intermittent fasting, which means eating during a small part of the day (eg from 4-8pm), results in less insulin being produced, so less fat storage. If you would like any advice on this let me know.

8) Exercise

Exercise helps hormonal balance and of course burns up energy. But remember, if one has a banana and a muffin for breakfast you will need to run about 10 kilometres to burn it up. That’s a lot. Exercise helps with weight loss, but too much emphasis is put on calories and exercise, and not enough on having your body working in balance, unhindered, paving the way for easier weight loss.

Summary

You can probably see a picture starting to form here, whereby different parts of your body need to be in balance in order to achieve effective weight loss. Just trying to target one of these areas alone will have minimal results.

If you want to lose weight, look at all of the above in its entirety. However, the most important single factor is having low carbohydrates, as this will mean that less insulin is produced in your body and less inflammation – allowing your body as a whole to operate more effectively.

Having good energy levels will help achieve a good metabolic rate. As you can see there is a strong digestion and hormonal link too.

The FODMAP diet plan & IBS

Not only is the FODMAP diet useful in helping IBS, it can also be beneficial for a range of other health complaints too. There are other specific diets, such as Ketogenic and Paleo that are also well known for helping with digestive complaints and general good health. Finding which suits you best is key.

FODMAP is an acronym for a group of mostly sugars that become fermented and are not well digested. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. These include sugars found in fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols.

IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS)

The FODMAP diet was created in Australia and was discovered to help IBS symptoms. What’s more, a very high carbohydrate diet was shown to be strongly associated with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and other digestive issues.

In my time as a Naturopath and Nutritionist, I’ve learnt that IBS symptoms, such as bloating, digestive cramps, swings from constipation to loose bowels, diarrhea and wind are often things people just put up with. While the symptoms may not be too troublesome, over months and years IBS can contribute to a more serious deterioration of the bowel, leaky gut and coeliacs disease. In fact,  Leaky gut is common for those with IBS. These conditions have a knock on effect contributing to such a long list of illnesses, from migraines and headaches, to skin problems and inflammation in the body.

GLUTEN FREE

Gluten is found in wheat, rye, spelt, and sometimes oats. These are the first foods to eliminate with IBS and bowel problems.

Gluten is found more in our food today than it used to be because of genetic engineering, which renders the gluten content in wheat to be much higher than previously. This is one of the reasons why our grandparents didn’t seem to have such a problem with gluten. Compounding this issue, processing and cooking methods are very different today.

Our grandparents also ate a lot less sugar, in all its forms. Today supermarket shelves are full of foods not only packed with sucrose but also fructose. Fructose is a lot more absorbable than cane sugar, so it hits our blood sugar balancing systems much harder, puts pressure on the liver and creates more inflammation in the body.

Sugar generally is very pro-inflammatory and creates unwanted acidity in our blood, which is why it is a major food that promotes disease and illness in our bodies.

There’s no doubt that many people with IBS who avoid gluten and most grains feel better. This is in part because of the inflammation it can create in the gut and body, such as with eczema and psoriasis. It is also found in high carbohydrate (high sugar) foods, such as bread, pastries and pasta.

During the FODMAP studies by Monash University, the participants significantly improved when they avoided gluten and whey (cow’s dairy proteins), and every participant worsened when gluten and whey proteins were introduced.

HOW DOES FODMAP COMPARE WITH THE PALEO AND KETOGENIC DIETS?

It’s interesting to note, such as the Paleo diet, and in particular the Ketogenic diet play important roles in reducing inflammation in the body. This inflammation contributes to skin conditions, like eczema, acne, psoriasis and other complaints, such as migraines and headaches, inflammatory bowel disease and IBS.

The Paleo diet is low in grains and dairy. This compares with the Ketogenic diet, which is low in grains, but not restrictive of dairy. The Ketogenic diet recommends healthy fats, such as butter and coconut oil. This is so we get our energy from ‘clean fuel’ rather than dirty, damaging foods, which come from high carbohydrate foods, such as bread and pasta, and in particular sugar and fructose.

The FODMAP, Paleo and Ketogenic diets all have in common a low level of fermentable sugars, which is in fact what FODMAP stands for. These sugars can create an unhealthy balance of bad to good bacteria in the body. The microbiom (or microorganisms in the body) that are essential for a good immune system and optimal health, can be thrown out of balance. If there is an environment that supports bad bacteria to thrive, when high sugars are present particularly in the gut, SIBO, thrush and candida overgrowth can thrive, contributing to more ill health.

HIGH FODMAP FOODS (TO AVOID)

Vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, cauliflower, garlic, peas, leeks, mushrooms, onions, sugar snap peas.

Fruits: apples, cherries, dried fruit, mango, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, watermelon.

Dairy and whey products: cow’s milk, custard, evaporated milk, ice cream, yogurt, condensed milk.

Protein sources: legumes, pulses, some meats.

Breads and cereals: wheat, rye, barley, biscuits and snack products.

Sugars, sweetners and candy: high fructose corn syrup, honey, sugar free candy.

Nuts: cashews and pistachios.

Corn is gluten free, but is also a high carbohydrate food that can contribute to a lot of digestive complaints, so I recommend keeping clear of it.

FODMAP FRIENDLY FOODS

There are low FODMAP food alternatives. However, simply by avoiding the high FODMAP foods listed above, you are doing a great job.

You can include grains such as quinoa, rice, and gluten free breads, which are fine. However, it’s worth noting, that in some cases I take people off gluten free breads and they can feel better. So in this it’s worth trying to see how you feel.

WHICH DIET IS BEST FOR YOU?

There has been a lot of hype around the FODMAP diet, and there are some really valid benefits to it. The main one that I believe stands out is avoiding gluten. It’s interesting that the Paleo and Ketogenic diets, also eliminate gluten. Keeping sugars low is also of great benefit to most people.

My word of caution in relation to the FODMAP diet is that getting sufficient healthy fats in our diets today is really important. So my diet of choice tends to be the Ketogenic diet, which encourages plenty of healthy fats, including dairy fats of a certain type.

If you are tackling IBS or wanting to follow a healthier diet, get in touch and we can talk through the best diet for you. I am a big believer in tailoring diets to specific needs. We can learn a lot from the FODMAP diet, but each of these diets I’ve mentioned have positives and negatives, and I would like to help you find the right diet for you. For pregnant women, or those with certain health issues, dietary changes should be done carefully and with guidance, so please get in touch before making any changes.