Being healthy takes on a whole new meaning.
These last two years Bob and I have been eating an extremely healthy plant based diet and feel good because of it. Since we have changed to it, both of us have not had a cold or flu despite people sneezing and coughing all around us ( pre-corona that is! ). When we tell family and friends they try and pin it on Bob working outside ( he worked outside two years before going plant based and picked up a cold several times )...anything not to have to acknowledge that plant based is the way to go.
Round about now the world is waking up to the fact that one of the best ways to protect ourselves from this corona ( and surely more of the same down the road ) virus is to be healthy and have a healthy well functioning immune system at the same time. Eating vegetables, rice, potatoes, fruits, whole wheat pastas, lentils, hummus, oats, whole wheat bread, pumpernickel to name but a few will do exactly that.
When the virus hit Europe, I went into overdrive. Reading up, listening to and watching various health advice from reliable sources and taking note. Bob was the target of my new information and has been eating much more healthily lately. ( plant based can also be a less healthy affair if mixed with biscuits, chips even though they are vegan ) He knows that the minute I get a bee in my bonnet ( when he sees me perusing health books or even sharing my enthusiasm with him, he knows it is better to capitulate then to protest ) his daily meals will up their health value if not their yummyiness value...or so I thought.
The other day he was describing to his folks via Skype in detail the yummy health shake I have taken to making for him lately. Ginger and all, which I thought he detested but it turns out he likes as I found out when he mentioned it to his parents. Fancy that!
Washing hands is of course a good way to keep the virus at bay but doesn't it make more sense to also ensure that our immune systems are at full capacity and able to kill any enemy invaders? Why don't you try it during this current crisis? They say that after only twenty four hours of eating whole food plant based ( ie, real vegetables, beans, fruits and whole foods without any animal products ) the good bacteria in the gut will activate and do their thing of activating and aiding our immune system...eating animal products will do the opposite and increase the bad bacteria which tend to weaken our immune system.
Final thought: imagine how much economic hardship would have been avoided if the populace had been healthy enough to face the virus straight on instead of having to stagger it through total economic shutdown? The true price of fast food takes on a whole new meaning...
Biggi
