Here we are, 2 years into this unreal experience changing everything in our lives because of the unknown. Though extra-ordinary efforts have been made to attempt to “control” the spread of the virus, you might get the impression that all attempts have been futile. But there is a great deal of knowledge that has been gained, and now I have had some personal experience to add to that mountain of knowledge.
There is Hope
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The Start of the Journey
The virus came through our household at the beginning of the week. Everyone in the household, except for me, identified the typical symptoms - fatigue, muscle aches, and loss of taste. I did not have any symptoms until Saturday evening when I spiked a fever. By Sunday morning, I also had fatigue, muscle aches, and a stabbing headache on the right side of my head.
During the first part of the week, I noted that my family members did not have great appetites, which is not unusual when you don’t feel well. As my symptoms came on, I continued a practice of taking a digestive enzyme, first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. I take this enzyme about 1 hour or more before any breakfast is consumed.
Enzymes breakdown large molecules for reuse.
My purpose in taking the digestive enzyme on an empty stomach was to allow the enzymes to move into the blood stream and begin to breakdown any “loose” proteins that were floating around. I was curious if the digestive enzymes might break down the excessive virus proteins being made and reduce the overall symptoms I was feeling.
This use of digestive enzymes is known as “proteolytic enzymes.” This can be a helpful practice for cleaning the blood vessels of plaque buildup or fibrin clusters. Proteolytic enzymes are being researched for benefits related to heart disease, but I have not seen the application to virus symptoms.
Step 2: Fasting
Since my appetite was not as strong and I did not have a lot of energy to make food anyways, I decided to do a simple water fast and see what would happen. As I progressed to 20 hours with only water and some Vitamin C, I noted that I did not feel as fatigued and the muscle aches were decreasing. By 24 hours, my stabbing headache was gone.
I broke my fast at 30 hours, and had an evening meal before bed. Before I went to sleep that night, I could tell that the headache was returning. The next morning I took some pain reliever for the headache and ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had some more energy, but I did not have relief of the headaches without medication. So I decided to try fasting again with my 2nd fast starting after the evening meal.
The next day, I only had water and herbal tea along with some Vitamin C. Again, around 20 hours with no food the headache began to disappear. This confirmed for me that the headache activity was closely related to blood sugar levels, which typically reach low levels after 20+ hours without food. I continued the fast until the next morning, completing 36 hours with only tea and water.
Stimulate and Relax
Fasting is a combination of resting your body and focusing your body on specific tasks.
After this 2nd fast, I felt like my body was beginning to recover. The headaches did not return and there was no muscle aches, fever, and limited fatigue. All together, the virus battle had taken about 5 days. There was still some residue to cough out of my lungs, but I never had any severe breathing issues.
Benefits of Fasting
Fasting is a simple, productive way to signal to the body that a “clean-up” activity needs to take place. When we fast, our body will begin to use up the energy stored within the body to keep things going. The energy most easily removed from storage is called glycogen and is stored in your liver and muscles. If you have consistently eaten regular meals every day of your life, you have probably never had a day when your glycogen storehouse was empty. Usually about 24 hours of fasting is needed to totally use up the glycogen stored away in the body. For many individuals, this is about the time when a headache is experienced, as the body makes a significant shift from depending on glycogen to burning fat.
Within every one of your cells, there are tiny mechanisms that are “garbage disposal units.” These garbage disposal units move through the cell and clean up any leftovers and recycle what can be used. When you fast, your cell will begin to clean up the space more aggressively, looking for any resources that can be recycled. This recycling mechanism gets triggered when we fast, and can significantly impact the effect of a virus or a bacteria invader.
Fasting in Practice
I went on to do some more research and found a clinic in Germany that is using Fasting to help the “long-haulers” of COVID. These are patients who still have COVID symptoms months after the initial infection. These patients have not had their taste return, they still experience headaches, and energy levels are still low.
I have personally experienced the benefits of a short term fast to help resolve the effects of viral infection within a short time. There are many other benefits associated with fasting including:
Reversing Diabetes
Detoxification
Increasing Human Growth Hormone production
Reducing chronic anti-body production
If you would like more information about how to effectively use fasting to manage your health, please contact Nutrition Proportion at the contact information listed below.