7 Steps to Minimize Your COVID Risk

A crucial part of protecting yourself from COVID-19 is to be well-informed about the simple preventive measures you can take from the comfort of your own home. With the right tools and proper preparation, you can stay safe and healthy during this crisis. Follow these steps to minimize your COVID risk and take control of your health.

Step 1: Vitamin D Is the Key

Having optimal levels of vitamin D may help bolster your defenses against COVID-19 and other viral infections. You still have time to beat the vitamin D DEADline and get your vitamin D3 levels to at least 60 nanograms per milliliter before the second wave of COVID-19 hits in the fall.

3 Keys to Achieve Optimal Vitamin D Levels

1 Measure Your Baseline Vitamin D Levels

Before you can begin to optimize your vitamin D levels, take a vitamin D test to find out what your baseline measurement is — this will be your starting point. The GrassrootsHealth’s vitamin D testing kit provides you an easy and cost-effective way of doing this at home.

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2 Assess Your Individualized Vitamin D3 Dosage

Once you’ve received your test results, enter your baseline measurement into the calculator to determine the dose you need to maintain or increase your levels. The best way to get your recommended vitamin D levels is through regular, safe sun exposure, the duration of which may vary depending on your skin tone. You may also need to consume a dose of oral vitamin D3 supplement, which is calculated based on your initial measurement of this nutrient.

3 Retest

Measure your vitamin D levels every three to six months to evaluate if the sun exposure and supplement dosage you’re getting are working for you or if there’s a need for dosing adjustments. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to maintain or improve your levels.

3 Retest

Optimize Vitamin D With Magnesium and Vitamin K2

Combined intake of both supplemental magnesium and vitamin K2 has a greater effect on vitamin D levels than either individually. If you take all three supplements in combination, you need far less oral vitamin D in order to achieve a healthy vitamin D level.

Additional Vitamin D Tools

DMinder App

This free mobile app calculates your required vitamin D dosage depending on the demographics you submitted upon first opening it. It then uses your phone’s GPS and clock to determine the best time of day to get your required sun exposure.

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GrassrootsHealth

Check out additional references and studies from GrassrootsHealth to learn more about the link between immunity, vitamin D and coronavirus.

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Vitamin D Synthesis Chart

This chart displays the likelihood of vitamin D synthesis across the U.S. by month, so you’ll know which times throughout the year UVB rays are very minimal in your area.

Step 2: Maximize Your Metabolic Flexibilty

When you are insulin sensitive, metabolically flexible and eating a cyclical low-carb diet, you will be able to generate healthy ketone levels, which can help inhibit cytokine storm, a primary cause of COVID deaths. In fact, ketones may help protect you from inflammation. It’s much more difficult to get into trouble with inflammation when your ketone level is high.

To boost your ketone levels and attain metabolic flexibility, you should cut down the hours during which you eat. This will decrease insulin resistance, and allow you to seamlessly switch back and forth between burning fat or carbs as your primary fuel.

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Step 3: Use Quercetin With Zinc

It may offer benefits as a treatment for SARS coronavirus infections. Quercetin offers great promise as a potential supplement in the clinical treatment of SARS. Resveratrol is another antioxidant that could be useful. It's been shown to inhibit MERS-CoV infection, at least in vitro.

Quercetin functions as a zinc ionophore – it helps transport zinc through the cellular plasma membrane. Zinc is vital for healthy immune function and a combination of zinc with a zinc ionophore (zinc transport molecule) was in 2010 shown to block viral replication of SARS coronavirus in cell culture within minutes.

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Step 4: Monitor Your Omega-3 Levels

An omega-3 deficiency leaves you vulnerable to several chronic diseases and lifelong challenges. Optimizing your levels is truly a foundational strategy to attaining and maintaining good health. The best way to determine if you’re eating enough food with omega-3 is to get tested.

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Step 5: Stay Home if You Have Symptoms and Sanitize Often

Sensible behaviors such as staying home when sick and doing everything you can in your home to limit exposure to infected household members may prove to be as more effective than lockdowns.

Phone

To reduce the number of pathogens that reach your face, nose and mouth through your phone, consider using a headset with a microphone when making a call. You should also clean your phone on a daily basis.

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Home

To disinfect and sterilize the objects around your home, you need to clean their surface first. Soap and water is a good choice. Once the surface is clean of dirt and sticky grime, spray your chosen disinfectant on the surface and let it set for several minutes before wiping.

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Hands

Frequently wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds each time, and keep your hands away from your face. Also, be sure to cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, and avoid close contact with anyone exhibiting symptoms of the common cold or influenza.

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Step 6: MATH+ Protocol if You Get Sick

This protocol addressed hyperinflammation, hypercoagulation and hypoxia, the three mechanisms that make COVID lethal. Its name is derived from intravenous Methylprednisolone, high-dose intravenous Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), optional additions including Thiamine, zinc and vitamin D, and full-dose, low molecular weight Heparin. The MATH+ protocol is designed to treat the active phase of COVID infection, called the hyperinflammatory immune response, which can result in organ failures, but it needs to be administered early enough. These three medicines should be started within six hours of hospital admission:

Intravenous methylprednisolone to suppress the immune system and prevent organ damage from cytokine storms. On Day 8, switch to oral prednisone and taper down over the next six days.
Intravenous ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to control inflammation and prevent the development of leaky blood vessels in the lungs.
Subcutaneous heparin (enoxaparin) to thin the blood and prevent blood clots.

Optional additions include thiamine, zinc and vitamin D. The protocol also calls for high-flow nasal oxygen to avoid mechanical ventilation.

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Step 7: More Oxygen, Less Ventilators

While oxygen is crucial for COVID-19 patients, placing them on ventilators could actually increase their risk of death. Doctors at UChicago Medicine also report “truly remarkable” results using high-flow nasal cannulas in lieu of ventilators. What's more, people experiencing mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 could be treated at home instead of going to hospitals, which are major transmission sites of SARS-CoV-2.

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