Podcast #009 - Hacking Viruses & Colds
After recording this episode, I realized I shared a ton of stuff, and it could be a bit confusing. So, I decided to make a PDF with all the links and resources I use, so feel free to check out my Virus Protocol for more info.
The other day, I could feel a cold coming on, and I thought to myself, “Oh crap, this can’t be happening.” I quickly ran to my cupboard (to people still call it that, maybe cabinet is more appropriate) and grabbed my arsenal of pills, potions, and powders. If you’ve ever seen my cabinet and my counter, you would know that I have a lot to choose from. Anyhow, I’m going to share with you some of my philosophies when it comes to fighting off a cold or any kind of flu. My philosophy contains a little bit of East mixed with West, mixed with Biohacker. Needless to say, I worked that night until 2am, and felt great the next day using the following protocol:
First off, any time I feel myself getting sick, I think one thing and one thing only: the gut. More and more studies have shown that the gut is the root of much of our immunity and responsible for much of our overall wellness (most people will go out and buy probiotics, which I’m not against, I just haven’t found one that I’m sold on yet. From what I’ve read, many of them die before even reaching your gut). So, I immediately think, how can I better shape my gut flora or better yet, what can I give my gut that will make it more able to fight off this cold. I start off with the following:
FIX YOUR GUT
Fire Cider: I found this little gem at one of our local shops. It’s combined organic apple cider vinegar, whole, raw, certified organic oranges, lemons, onions, ginger, horseradish, habanero pepper, garlic and turmeric. What I like about this product is that it has apple cider vinegar, already a proven product to provide the gut with good bacteria and rid toxins, but it also has lemons; ginger, garlic, and turmeric; all fantastic for the gut and your overall immunity. If you’re not interested in buying a “fancy” fire cider like this one, at the bare minimum, treat yourself to some apple cider vinegar (ACV).
Bone Broth: Bone broth is another great gut healer. It contains glutamine which is helpful with healing the actual lining of your intestines. There’s two brand that I’m really liking right now and they are Osso Good Bones and La Happy Belly.
SORE THROAT & OVERALL IMMUNITY
Elderberry Syrup: I love the ingredients in this blend, as it has elderberry, which packs powerful antioxidants and has shown to treat influenza. It also contains ACV, which we already talked about above, and it has honey, which has shown to be helpful to the gut.
Echinacea:I like to take this herb out of liquid droppers. Echinacea has shown to help prevent colds and increase recovery time.
THE BIOHACKING KIT
I still drink my Bulletproof coffee when I’m coming down with a cold. Why? Because coffee has some good polyphenols and it’s low caloric. Polyphenols are essentially antioxidants that help fight free radicals, reduce inflammation, and protect your cardiovascular system.
Ketones: I load up on ketones mostly from Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil , but you can use any type of exogenous ketone you want. The reason being, is that ketones are a better source of energy for the body, and the body prefers it. Ketone body helps eradicate free radical damage. Ketone expert Dr Veech suggests without ketone bodies, you’re wasting your time taking excessive amounts of Vitamin C and other antioxidants.
Glutathione: Glutathione is the master antioxidant of our body and helps up-regulate the immune system and rid toxins. Bulletproof makes Glutathione Force but I also like Quicksilver Liposomal Glutathione. If you buy any brand, just make sure you get the liposomal form, otherwise your body won’t absorb it, and you’ll be wasting your money.
C360 (Carbon 60): So I didn’t mention this on the episode, but as I was typing up the show notes, I forgot to mention it. I recently started adding this to my regimen. Carbon60 has been shown to help support and beef up your mitochondria. Your mitochondria are essentially the powerhouses of your cells. So you want them operating at full capacity, especially when you’re sick. C360 Health formulas contain antioxidants 270 times stronger than vitamin C, and prevent and counter the effects of damaging free radicals in the body. I’ve enjoyed this product so far, and it’s too early to tell, but I give it to my kids anytime they’re under the weather and it seems to help.
Molecular Hydrogen: Molecular hydrogen lowers oxidative stress. Oxidative stress and inflammation are two of the worst mechanisms for destroying human health. Molecular hydrogen alleviates inflammation, which is the underlying cause to many diseases. The thousands of publications on molecular hydrogen all suggest that hydrogen has a therapeutic potential in over 170 different human and animal diseases. Molecular hydrogen is shown to be effective in helping virtually every organ, whether it is diseased or not. When you look at the free-radicals, not all are bad. Some free radicals, such as nitric oxide, are "good" and are needed by the body. Molecular hydrogen doesn't neutralize these "good" free-radicals, only the bad ones. Hydrogen is proven to be "selective" in this way. Most other antioxidants, are not selective, which can be problematic. With other types of antioxidants (in some of their clinical trials) the patients took high levels of antioxidants. In these trials they had to stop the study, because of negative results. Those other antioxidants were killing off the "good" free-radicals. This is not the case with hydrogen, because of the fact that it's selective.
TYPE OF DIET
The day of my sickness, I did what’s known as a protein fast, meaning that I made sure I kept my total protein amount under 15 grams. The reason being, is that it takes a lot of work for our body to break down proteins, so by “fasting,” I’m essentially giving my body the chance to rest and recover. By protein fasting, I’m also inducing autophagy, which the process of your body killing off old or dead cells and recycling others. My meal plan for that day looked like the following:
Breakfast:
Crushed garlic with molecular hydrogen water
Greens Powder (optional)
Bulletproof Coffee
Breakfast Smoothie: 20 oz of water, blueberries, cucumbers, power greens mix (found at Costco), Ceylon cinnamon, Multi-Vitamin Powder, fresh ginger, glycine powder
Lunch:
Guacamole mixed with Brain Octane Oil and carrots/celery/cucumbers
or a simple green salad
Dinner:
White Rice with Brain Octane Oil, Yams with coconut oil & ginger, small amount of brussel sprouts w/turmeric
THE ORTHOMOLECULAR APPROACH (Great for VIRUSES)
For general supplements, the brands I like are Equilibrium Nutrition (because they are 3rd party tested and formulated by a functional medicine doctor), Bulletproof, Pure Encapsulations, NOW, and Life Extension (I learned this from Dr Isabella Wentz who used to be pharmacist)
Antioxidant Powder:I wanted to give my body a sufficient amount of minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and other antioxidants, so I supplemented with Oxylent. Oxylent blows Airborne out of the water. It has no artificial sugars and increases another master antioxidant known as super dismutase oxide (SOD). SOD is a free radical scavenger and helps reduce inflammation. I also use CellFood a lot, but this is not a powder, but rather a dropper. I like it a lot as well, and it does many of the same things Oxylent does.
Vitamin C: I increased my vitamin C intake to at least 2500mg/twice a day. Also make sure you purchase a brand that has it in the liposomal form.
N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC): NAC is a precursor to glutathione and another powerful antioxidant.
Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA): Free radical scavenger, and can help recycle and regenerate other antioxidants.
Zinc: Zinc increases your production of white blood cells and helps them fight infection more effectively.
Lysine: Lysine is crucial for viruses and increasing your recovery time from a virus or preventing viruses
Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE): Add this for killing off viruses
ESSENTIAL OILS
I like to diffuse Four Thieves oil or Fighting Five by Edens Garden, which contains Clove, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Lemon and Eucalyptus. Both of the above listed oils have been shown to help boost one’s immunity. I put these in my nebulizer to increase absorption of the immunological effects.
Top 10 List
Vitamin c, NAC, alpha lipoic acid: Monster stack for creating master antioxidant, glutathione.
Elderberry: reduce duration and severity of the cold
Echinacea: lessened length of cold by 1-4 days, also used a preventative measure, helps with upper respiratory issues
Wellness Formula: this is an awesome formula and is a shotgun approach. It’s got your multi-vitamin as well as herbals such as Echinacea in it.
Grapefruit Seed Extract: help kill just about anything, especially for viruses. This is great for killing sore throats as well.
Vitamin D - has shown that people with low levels are more likely to get sick
Zinc acetate: A type of Zinc especially for sinus/throat issues. This zinc percolates to those areas specifically.
Crushed Garlic or Allicin: reduce duration of cold, increase NK killer cell activity
Molecular Hydrogen bomb: Molecular hydrogen lowers oxidative stress. Oxidative stress and inflammation are two of the worst mechanisms for destroying human health. Molecular hydrogen allieviates inflammation, which is the underlying cause to many diseases.
Intermittent Fasting: it’s free, do it! :)
FOR KIDS
This is exactly the protocol I use with my kids. I forgot to mention Bee Propolis and Colloidal Silver in the podcast episode, but these are definitely go-to’s in my cabinet. Many good studies with Bee Propolis & Colloidal Silver when it comes to viruses and killing bacteria. With kids, you’ll also notice my protocol is centered around liquids, because it’s just easier for them and they like taking liquids versus powders.
Liquid Vitamin C: not a huge fan of this one, just because they add fructose to sweeten it, but I also haven’t found any other liquid vitamin c’s without some type of sweetener. My kids like it, and if I can up their dose of Vitamin C, I’ll do it.
Oxylent: strong multivitamin that the kids love to drink.
Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE): strong anti-viral, great for sore throats and hacking colds
Vitamin D drops - shown to help reduce colds. People with higher Vitamin D levels tend to not even get sick.
Elderberry Syrup - shown to help reduce colds
Bee Propolis (especially for sore throats)
Colloidal Silver (especially for sore throats) - RNA ACS is one of the few brands that has willing to be tested and compared to other silvers.
Optional: GSE drops, molecular hydrogen, Carbon60 (see links above)
Timeline
2:00 - Fire Cider
3:45 - Bone Broth
5:00 - Elderberry Syrup
6:30 - Echinacea
9:55 - Glutathione
12:05 - Intermittent Fasting
15:20 - Antioxidant powder
17:00 - NAC
17:15 - Alpha-Lipoic Acid
18:00 - Zinc
18:30 - Essential Oils
21:20 - Echinacea
21:40 - The Wellness Formula
22:30 - GSE
24:00 - Vitamin D
27:45 - Crushed whole garlic
29:37 - Molecular Hydrogen
31:19 - Intermittent Fasting