I’m putting up an extra post with the information I received this morning from the Weston A. Price Foundation about the Swine Influenza. (Who is Weston A. Price?)
I touched on this very topic in this post: 10 ways to build your immune system, but considering the hype associated with the Swine Flu, I thought you might appreciate more tips on staying healthy.
After you read this over, I’m very curious to hear from you on this topic:
Are you anxious about the Swine Flu? Do you think it’s overblown? Are you doing anything different to protect yourself? Do you think the media have too much time on their hands?
From the Weston A. Price Foundation:
With all the dire warnings, where is the message about building natural immunity?
Dear Members,
You are all aware of the dire warnings about swine flu, the outbreak that started in the Mexican village of La Gloria and which local residents blame on infection and/or toxins coming from local confinement hog operations.
The internet is abuzz with warnings bordering on hysteria (conventional media) to a variety of conspiracy theories, and even to allegations that the pandemic is a government fabrication designed to sell stockpiles of anti-viral medications.
Conventional medical advice ranges from wearing face masks to taking the anti-viral drug called Tamiflu (which can have many serious side effects, see here). It is interesting to note that not once in all the media broadcasts have we heard any mention of building natural immunity.
NATURAL IMMUNITY
Fortunately, we do not have to sit back and listen to the news about swine flu feeling helpless and anxious. We can be proactive by simply nourishing ourselves and our families.
Vitamins A and D in cod liver oil offer strong protection against infection of all types, as well as against environmental toxins.
Vitamin C is important from vitamin C-rich foods like sauerkraut.
Healthy gut flora provide 85 percent of our protection against disease. Be sure to consume healthy lacto-fermented foods and beverages every day and avoid the foods that disrupt gut flora, especially refined carbohydrates.
Bone broth plays a double role of supporting the immune system and helping the body detoxify.
We are grateful to Beth Beisel, registered dietitian and WAPF member for reminding us about the protective factors in coconut oil. Swine flu is a lipid coated virus (https://www.pnas.org/content/98/5/2115.full.pdf+html), and thus is inactivated by sufficient amounts of monolaurin. (Our bodies convert lauric acid, found in coconut oil, to monolaurin).
According to our own Dr. Mary Enig, two to three tablespoons of coconut oil per day appears to be an adequate dosage to fight infection, even from virulent antibiotic-resistant organisms such as MRSA.
There are lots of ways to get coconut oil into the diet: stir coconut oil in some tea; make macaroons; replace some of the butter in baking with coconut oil; and use it in cooking/sautéing. Mary's oil blend (see below) is a good way to incorporate coconut oil in cooking and salad dressings.
MARY'S OIL BLEND
1/3 melted coconut oil
1/3 sesame oil – expeller pressed
1/3 100% olive oil (For quality olive oil, visit my resources page.)
Combine oils, store in a tight container, in an area free from sunlight, and use in cooking or on salads.
COCONUT SMOOTHIE
Beth has shared this great smoothie recipe with us.
1 banana
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pomegranate/blueberry juice
1/2 cup natural yogurt or kefir, preferably homemade from raw milk
1/2 can coconut milk
Whirl in blender and drink to your health!
To get on the WAPF email alert mailing list, contact them here: [email protected]
photo: Kapanka
Kelly says
Meggan, it was cut and pasted, but either way it’s good to get it right, thanks for your help, I’ll go fix it now! 🙂
Kelly
Meggan says
Sorry for a nit-picky comment, but I’d like to make a gentle correction: it is MRSA not MSRA:) I don’t know if that was cut and pasted or typed out, but it sounds more reliable if the name of the bug is spelled correctly.
Kelly says
Pogonia & Cindy – great info, I’ll try it from now on!
MotherHen – woohooooo! Real food WORKS!
Jen, I just spent a while googling to try to figure out the answer to your great question and didn’t come up with much. A couple places said that coc. milk isn’t as beneficial, but just thinking common sense, I’d guess that it must still have some great health benefits, but maybe not as many as the oil. If anyone can find more info on this, please let us know.
Mary, I agree, that is SO cool.
Carrie, thanks for the recipe!
Organic and Thrifty says
I have the most amazing Coconut Macaroon recipe…it’s from Chef Rachel Albert-Matesz, on my blog:
https://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-make-jennies-macaroonsonly-wless.html
Great post, Kelly. This is good info. Armed with the best nutrition we can, we can only pray that God will be merciful!
Organic and Thrifty
Julie says
Mary, thanks for the sauerkraut comment. I made sauerkraut last fall and have a crock full of it, but keep forgetting to use it. Thanks.
Mary P. says
Thank you for this Kelly. And just a validation here about what you wrote, herbalist Susun Weed says that eating only 2 tablespoons of raw sauerkraut (and/or kimchi) each day will give your immune system the boost it needs to ward off colds and flu. Myself and many others agree. I eat a lot of raw kraut and haven’t had a cold or flu in I don’t even remember when. I think it’s amazing that raw fermented sauerkraut has 10 times more vitamin C than the cabbage it is made from…. lacto fermentation is transformative! 🙂
[email protected] says
Does coconut milk have the same qualities as coconut oil? Other than being from coconuts of course – I mean the health benefits.
I think the media and the ‘experts’ lost me when they said to use an antibacterial hand sanitizer to prevent the swine flu. Which is a virus. Bacterial and viral infections are different bugs!
[email protected]
Motherhen68 says
Thank you Kelly! I think I may have fought off whatever was trying to get me. I not only drank the chicken stock all day yesterday, I took 3 teaspoons of coconut oil & made a coconut milk smoothie in the afternoon. By evening, I was still really tired, but felt much better. Today, I”m feeling fine. 🙂 Yay!
Motherhen68
Cindy says
The coconut oil in my smoothies is not clumpy either and I don’t even melt it. It is very thick and smooth and emulsifies well with the fruit and greens and cocoa powder. I do let it go a while in the vitamix at high speed though.
Cindy
Pogonia says
I put coconut oil in our smoothies. I melt several tbsps in a custard cup on the coffeepot burner. After everything else is in, I add the melted oil as the blender is running; and we have never had clumpy oil. Can’t even tell it’s there! That said, I have read somewhere that the raw (pastured) egg yolk I use may keep it emulsified. 🙂
Kelly says
Motherhen, I’ll say a prayer that you’re not getting sick, but if you do, with all that natural immunity building you’re doing, I’ll bet you’ll fight it off fast.
Cindy, that does sound good! And you answered Nicole’s question about coc. oil in smoothies. I personally don’t love how the oil clumps up in the cold (I guess it depends on whether or not you make them icy cold), so I use coc. milk in my smoothies.
Janet, yes, lauric acid IS in butter! This is from Wikipedia: “Lauric acid is the main acid in coconut oil and in palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil), and is believed to have antimicrobial properties. It is also found in human milk (5.8% of total fat), cow’s milk (2.2%), and goat’s milk (4.5%).”
Megan, sorry but I’ve never made macaroons – if you find a good recipe, let us know! 🙂
Cindy says
Thanks Kelly. I use a heaping TB of coconut oil in my smoothies every morning with raw cocoa powder, strawberries, a bananna, and some greens (e.g., wild dandelion, kale, or swiss chard) and a little local honey and clean water. The wild weeds have really built my immunity this allergy season 😉 sounds kinda weird with the greens but it is oh so good. I’m sure it would be a great way to trick kids into getting some more greens too.
Rosy says
Oh by the way,I live in Orlando, the North America’s swine flu spread central. Just ask South Carolina…. People are freaking out for no good reason. Just be clean, and make sure you get proper medical care when you need it. Not this, here is a pill now go away thing. You have a mouth keep using it till you get what you want. Goodness people!
Rosy says
People aren’t dyeing of Swine Flu or H1N1; they are getting secondary infections and passing away due to improper treatment of these. I wish the media would stop leading people to believe that swine flu is killing people. It
KerryAnn Foster says
So far, this flu is following the pattern seen in the 1918 flu pandemic. A mild wave in the Spring, followed by a very deadly wave in the Fall. The death rate in the 1918 pandemic was 2.5%, however this current swine flu in its second wave in Mexico is currently holding a death rate around 6-7%. Once the second and third waves start hitting the US, the death rates are expected to rise in the US. Because this is a new virus, there is no herd immunity and the catch rate is much, much higher than with an average virus. Unfortunately, this particular type of virus has the potential to kill young and healthy people, as the pandemic in 1918 did.
For those concerned about their immunity or wishing to have an extra weapon against the swine flu, I recommend elderberry syrup as both a preventative and a curative. Home-made elderberry syrup is a very cheap and effective aid in helping your body to overcome anything you might be exposed to, as well as sodium ascorbate, oscillio, lacto-fermented foods, cod liver oil, oil of oregano and extra doses of Vit D. There are also multiple other herbs and essential oils known to be anti-viral that can assist in healing. If you do become sick, chest percussion (cupping) can be a huge help to prevent pneumonia from setting in.
We have been discussing this topic on my forum. If you would like to see my elderberry syrup recipe, the thread is at https://www.tfrecipes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3957 and the syrup recipe is on post #54.
Megan says
Thank you for the post. Do you have a recipe for macaroons with coconut oil?
Local Nourishment says
I honestly believe 24-hour newstations have done nothing but disservice to our society. In an effort to provide instant information, they have whipped up panic in more instances than they have given people information they need. They have to fill 24 hours, and if it’s a slow news day, one story will be harped upon to fill their time.
I’m old enough to remember the swine flu of 1976. Millions were expected to die, none did: not from the flu, anyway. The government issued a statement that every American needed to be immunized. The only two dissenting votes in Congress against this action were the only two physicians. Many died or were permanently disabled from the swine flu “shot.”
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Local Nourishment
Janet W says
In 2003, I got rid of my TV; I don’t read newspapers or “news” on the internet. It makes life a lot saner. This is not the first time there has been a swine flu virus, nor is it the first time there has been a named flu virus. I don’t worry about it. The better I eat, the better I feel, and even though I still have plenty of healing to do, my immune system works very well.
I would like to see more information about other healing fats, like butter, which I think also has some lauric acid in it, besides coconut oil. Coconuts and I don’t get along, so while everyone is touting them, I’m looking for alternatives.
Nicole says
That last smoothie recipe got me thinking-can you use coconut oil in smoothies?
Julie says
Last week after reading news and hearing the goings on who wouldn’t feel like they had the swine flu?
Motherhen68 says
Raine, apparently in my area, you still can get the flu shot. In fact, they (the media) were encouraging people last week to go to the doctor and get the flu shot.
We have confirmed cases of Swine flu in our area. I’ve been doing all the precautions, but I think I’m getting sick. All day long I’ve been drinking chicken stock in the hopes to ward it off. I’m doing the coconut oil, lacto-fermented foods & beverages, etc already. I really hope I don’t get sick.
Motherhen68
Suzanne says
Thanks for this information. I don’t know whether swine flu is really as big a deal as we’re being told. Personally, I think the “big media” is tired of reporting on the economic situation and so has jumped on the swine flu now. My DH used to be a journalist and I can assure you, this is how the media works. (Notice I said “used to be”. 🙂 ) Swine flu may truly be a problem, but I think what we’re seeing is a slow news cycle.
Just my two cents.
Raine Saunders says
This is great, and I so appreciate the information for all those who do not – and who desperately need to know! I talked to someone last week who said she had not gotten the flu shot this year and was seriously thinking about going to find out if she could get it for herself and her family. I cautioned her against it, but inside I was shouting, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME???”. Most people don’t have a clue about natural immunity and are willing to just run out and get the latest drug, even though it would be utterly useless. Even on a most basic level, you’d think people would know that if you did get a flu shot now (are they even still available this time of year?), it wouldn’t be for the Swine Flu anyway because scientists develop those preparations in advance for viruses they think will be strong during the coming winter season – and they certainly had no foresight about the Swine Flu back when they made those shots, let alone treating yourself naturally and nutritionally for illness and disease.
I tell you, if those of us who do take care of ourselves and eat right do fall sick, it will be because we’re in the minority and most other people do not take care of themselves – and at some point we will fall victim to something really bad because the vast majority are helping to breed the most virulent species of bacteria and viruses that perhaps even natural cures, nutrition, and remedies won’t be effective against.
Until then, I’ll just keep eating butter, coconut oil, real meat, raw milk, and cod liver oil. 🙂
Raine Saunders
Marianne says
Thanks for sharing this update Kelly! We have not been concerned here (we also do not listen to conventional media, so that helps) due to our confidence in our bodies natural immunity when we are so well nourished (WAPF). I love the tips on Coconut oil though. I think I might go make some Macaroons =)
Marianne