And the days drone on.
My family misses eating out and getting together with friends and family. Social isolation was not what I was ever taught human beings were designed for. When the hair salons and restaurants open again and this corona virus has peeked and is infecting fewer people, will it be easy to resume life as we knew it prior to March 2020? It is likely social distancing will continue for some time which will affect any place people congregate. In my opinion, it is unlikely we will go back to what we would all consider to be normal for some time.
When will an effective treatment for this virus become available for those with complicating health issues? This seems to be the group at highest risk. Despite claims this virus attacks everyone equally between late teen years through centenarian age, New York City statistics as of 4/3/2020 at 4:30PM of confirmed positive cases indicate only 1.5% of corona virus deaths occur in those without documented underlying health conditions (https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-19-daily-data-summary-deaths-04032020-2.pdf) Many experts are emphasizing we all do our best to keep our immune systems strong. Normally this task is a challenge. Now, with the looming threat of a global pandemic killer-virus coupled with a big blow to our economy and to any investments we may have (or have had), keeping a strong immune system becomes quite a trick. Stress, inactivity, sleep deprivation, and eating poorly all place stresses on our body thereby weakening our systems. We are all in stress mode. How can we prepare ourselves to make it through the potentially brutal flu-like COVID-19?
The answer may be obvious and simple but as the expression goes, easier said than done. I’ve found myself hunkering down to maintain discipline to minimize stress and maximize health measures and my healthy routine. I am very upset my gym is closed but I’ve forced myself to do some sort of exercise most days. I’m sleeping longer because life has slowed down. I’m focusing on the gift of more sleep rather than the fact I have less going on because our office is slower than typical. I’m staying away from sugar and attempting to maintain healthy levels of vitamin C and Vitamin D as they have been rumored to help fight viral attacks. I’m still receiving chiropractic care on a weekly basis as I personally believe it is an essential component of my health and wellness regimen. To provide this support for my chiropractic patients, our office remains open and we are adhering to a strict schedule, allowing only three patients at a time in our open-office area and asking people to wait in their cars when a fourth person arrives. We are vigilant about cleaning before and after each patient and are respecting social distancing. All patients fill out a questionnaire upon arriving to the office and if any red flags arise, that person can not be treated that day and must wait until we are certain they have not been sick for an appropriate period of time before returning to treatment. This has been working smoothly and well for our health-minded patients.
Since we all seem to have a bit more time on our hands, I’ll point to some resources I’ve found useful. Some time ago someone sent me a link to a YouTube video lecture by Michael Holick, MD, PhD, chairman of physiology and biophysics at Boston University, who is considered a world class expert on vitamin D. It is worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuWC2d0mTbo
The next thing which I think may be worth while is checking out the website,
https://nutritionfacts.org/
This is a Wikipedia-like website using contemporary indexed biomedical literature (the current Medical scientific publications) to discuss nutrition. Dr. Michael Greger is the person behind this website and is a medical doctor who believes in healing the body with plant-based foods. His website has many informative videos about all kinds of food and food issues. Greger is not selling anything and the website content is free. The whole thing is funded by donations from people who find value in the information.
In an attempt to build the arsenal of healthy foods in our home for the week I have cooked organic yellow split peas (Toor Dal), stewed organic lentils with onion and tomato, made a load of beautiful organic asparagus, sauteed mushrooms and onions, made basmati rice, Cuban style black bean soup with lots of garlic and cilantro, braised fennel and leeks with white wine, garlic and vegetable broth, and experimented with a potato leek casserole layering sliced potatoes Au gratin style with leeks and some grass fed butter. I have sauteed both white and shiitake mushrooms as well. Since my thirteen year old son insists on being on a meat-kick, we have sous-vide curry grass fed lamb and stew meat which he enjoys over a bed of greens with tzatziki sauce (Greek low fat yogurt with cucumber garlic and dill).
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for contemplating the contents of this note and I hope it helps inspire healthier choices in your life and in your friends and family.
Sincerely,
Leonard Siskin, chiropractor
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Leonard Siskin, DC
Siskin Family Chiropractic
326 US Highway 22 West, #6B
Green Brook, NJ 08812
p. 732-752-6606
f. 732-752-6643
DrLen@SiskinChiro.com
www.SiskinChiropractic.Com