A Holistic Approach to Fighting Sickness
We've all been there. The dreaded scratchy throat, congestion, and draining sinuses begin to appear. We assume the worst and prepare ourselves for the long fight ahead. What if it didn't have to be this way? Have you considered your natural options before reaching for the bottle of blue liquid that will knock you out?
There are many factors that either help or harm our chances of infection including: our diet (read how much sugar we eat), our stress levels, our environment, mold, and many more. In this episode, Ed discusses some practical ways to not only guard against infection, but also holistic options that can help increase your immune response and give your body the fighting chance it deserves.
Some Topics We Discussed:
What are some common misconceptions about how and why we get sick? (1:02)
What is a habit that most people have that can cause illness to spread? (6:34)
What are some immune boosting supplements that can help optimize our immune systems? (12:54)
What are some of the downfalls of antibiotic use? (22:57)
What protocol would Ed follow if he was ill? (26:12)
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
Your fingers are generally the germ carriers on your body. (2:49)
Antibiotic resistance is the biggest issue today in the risk of the future of this entire world. (5:19)
Sleep has to be addressed when talking about your immune system. (14:30)
We are killing ourselves with carbohydrates. (13:01)
Vitamin C is more of a builder of the immune system rather than an attacking nutrient. (32:11)
Products & Resources:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:43 Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Holistic Navigator Podcast. Thanks so much for listening today. I'm Brian Strickland, the producer of the show. And here with me, as always is Ed Jones. Ed, how are you doing today?
Ed Jones 00:56 I'm doing about 9.8 on a scale of one to 10, which is pretty damn good.
Brian Strickland 01:02 Well, we wanted to take a little time, and discuss on how to put together a holistic natural toolbox to help you not only prevent, but actually fight infection. So why don't we just jump right into it? Can you talk about a little bit about how germs actually spread and some of the misconceptions of why we get sick and how we get sick?
Ed Jones 01:25 Absolutely. And I like your word misconception. Because we are living in a world of great confusion based on dogma based on the fact that we have a very fundamental type of thinking within our medical community and also the public community that has almost been written in stone about certain aspects of sickness, you know about catching germs, and about how to recover? And should we lower fevers and down the list. But really, and truly I continue in my life to be drawn further to the ancient wisdom. And we're not doing that in the philosophies of health and healing in most instances. Now, when we look at why people get sick, you know there is patterns, there is no doubt. We've all been in a house with a relative who had some type of infection and we caught it. Well, we do catch germs, there is no doubt. But the issue is, how are we catching it catching it? And why is it that in a family of four people that one or two catches it, but the other was spared? Well, when we look at the true research and maybe even wisdom that comes about with this question, do you think you're going to get sick because you walked into the last breath of air of someone else who just passed you in the hallway and they had a sore throat? Yes, it can happen. But that is not your risk. The risk is actually coming generally from your fingers. Because anytime you touch a doorknob, or you shake hands, or anything comes in contact with your fingers, that is the carrier. That's where that germ is going to land whether it be the flu, a cold, a sore throat, anything that is a pathogen and and just take one step back. The pathogens are viruses or bacteria. Those are two different things, but they certainly cause incredible illness in many of us. So if it's on your fingers, how does it actually get in your body? It's generally not from you eating or touching food and then you consume it in your mouth it. We have a great system a barrier that blocks the contagiousness of germs through the gastrointestinal tract and the throat. Normally, what we don't have barriers against is touching your eyes and your ear holes and your nasal passages. Those are the three entry points for most of the sicknesses that we get. Now when you're around someone sick and they cough on you, it is possible to breathe that in and it gets locked into the nasal passages. But there are so many steps to take that we can use to accommodate this and so knowing that is through the fingers is bullet point one. Bullet point two is no I do not recommend using hand side sanitizer constantly because of a variety of reasons. One of which has many of those contain chemicals that are simply not safe or conducive to our health. If you're use it on an ongoing basis. Anything you put on the skin is similar to ingesting it because it's going to go into the bloodstream. There's an interesting compound called dmso, that if I put it on my feet, I taste it within 60 seconds. Well, most things aren't quite as absorbed as that. But everything is absorbed. So don't think it's just staying on the fingers. So that's the reason we don't want that is perhaps some of the chemicals that you might absorb. But the bigger reason is you're going to create more resistance. Antibiotic resistance is the biggest issue today in the risk of the future of this entire world. Because once the type of virus or type of bacteria mutates into the superbug, we don't have anything left. So, when you're living your life day to day, what do you do if you know the germs are spread by your fingers, washing it is a very effective method to move the germs out of your hands. And most of those are found under the fingernails. So you have to use a type of scrubbing, where you're actually not just washing the scan, but you do the finger nails. Now, the soap you choose should not have strong antibacterials in it. Soap and water alone will wash this off. We don't need to keep poisoning everything that we fear. You know, gets soaps like Dr. Bronner's or get you know, natural Castile soaps, and things like that. And then thirdly, even though you're washing weed, or touching something every few minutes, so know that the best wash in the world washed away what was previous, but it can't stop the future pathogens from landing or touching your fingers. So I developed a habit, probably a decade ago. That might be the key for me staying as well as I do, however, and Brian has been around me for a long time, I have a lot of staff members, Cady, always my daughter says she doesn't remember me ever being sick, except once in 28 years, the biggest reason is I learned to break the worst habit on Earth, which is scratching your eyes with your fingers, digging your fingers into your ear holes, and then flicking your nose. Because all this happens, without you thinking about it. If you ask a relative or a friend of yours, I want you to just touch me, when you see me doing one of these things. I assure you you'll do it 10 to 50 times a day, just out of nervousness or a habit. If you do nothing else, you're going to get sick 50% less, almost guarantee it.
Brian Strickland 07:30 Yeah, it is. I mean, it is such a it's a bad nervous habit. And I'm definitely guilty of it as much as anybody else. But I think when you really start paying attention to actually how often you do it, it's really kind of eye opening. And it lets you understand a little bit more of Oh, this is why I get sick so frequently. And then if you have a three year old, he sneezes in your mouth constantly, you know, that doesn't help a whole lot, either.
Ed Jones 07:55 No, if it's flying at you, it's going to be as just as though you had put a finger up your nose, because you know, you're breathing and it's going up there. But as you know, it's not that difficult to break once you become aware of it. And you know, if you don't want to have someone watch you, you just watch other people. I mean, I'm 30 minutes of watching the public, you will see how many times it's touched.
Brian Strickland 08:18 Well, we can move on, just to cover what we spoken about. Right. So the majority of infections occur through contact. If we control our hand movements, and don't touch our face constantly we're prone to kids sick less, and hand sanitizers. There are other alternatives besides those can still wash the terms away with without the harsh chemicals that you can absorb through your skin. So what are some steps that we can use to reduce sickness? I know there, there's got to be some supplements that we can take that can help reduce that risk. And then Are there other remedies or things that you practice that can help lower that infection rate?
Ed Jones 09:01 Well, I certainly believe there is. And I've practiced it myself for 40 years, being heavily steeped in natural remedies and nutrition. I do want to make a quick history lesson here. We all heard of Louis Pasteur. He was the French chemist that turned a microbiologist who's you know, known for his germ theory that he created based on his research. Well, there's his rival of the day was Anton Beauchamp, who I absolutely have followed his writings and theories for 20 plus years, because the germ theory holds that, you know, microscopic pathogens are, are the cause of most specific diseases, as far as infection, and is so pervasive today, this belief that it seems so just as self evident, it just, we all accept it, but guess his rival, which was Anton Pasha, he had a totally, totally different theory on this. He was a very highly respected scientist who was, you know, really was looked upon with favor with many of the professionals of the day. And what he said was that it was the terrain that counted. And what does that mean? It means that, because of certain reasons, we are actually making ourselves like a sponge. For pathogens, we actually harbor many of the things that cause us to be sick. But when you're super healthy, or your immune system is on guard, and it's on the right of which we are, sometimes we're born, we have weak immune systems for a few years, but then we get in that stage where we have very strong immune systems. And so Anton bishopp, basically said, there's no need to run from germs, you'd need to foster it the strength of the inherent immune system of the body. That is what can reduce sickness significantly. Of course, that rings true with me completely, because as long as we think that the bad guy is out there, and we're going to run from them, and we're going to hide, we're going to use methods that would be like fighting a war. And really, the war to me is, is, I don't believe in fighting any wars, because that's creates fear, it creates weaknesses, it creates a lot of emotional paths and journeys that I'm not comfortable with as far as longevity. So I want to have a peaceful relationship with even pathogens. So I want to focus on building the fort, building the machine so that it has a tremendous resistance about the pathogens over multiplying, we can live with a ton of what we would call a negative germ, as long as they don't over multiply. That's the key. I mean, cancer is perfectly fine to have. We all have it at times, then the body takes care of it. If we have a good system. There'll be one day if you live long enough that it may not. But there are people who have lived 30 years with cancer as long as it stays stable and dormant and doesn't grow. Well. It's the same of you can have any germ as long as it doesn't multiply like the craziness that viruses and back then bacteria can do. So building the body with the correct advice is key to follow Antwan Bishops' building of the terrain, so how do we build the terrain? I guess that's the question at heart. Is that right?
Brian Strickland 12:41 Absolutely. I mean, so much can compromise our immune systems, you know, very quickly. And it can be attributed to many factors. I mean, lack of sleep, stress, your lifestyle. But what are some practical steps that you do that help build up that immune system, and help build up that resistance to pathogens?
Ed Jones 13:01 Well, here's the condensed version. You could explore this for days, weeks, months, and you could do it like me, which is an entire lifetime. And I don't have all the answers, but I certainly see patterns. And I have watched over 1010s of 1000s of people throughout my 40 year career. And I when I say watch, I'm actually not just observing, I mean, they are sharing, and they are. I'm trying to help them be educated and they give me feedback. And I watch what happens when they do certain things opposed to when they do other things where they do nothing. So I have a PhD in observation of health, there is no doubt. Well, the biggest chunks of information I think that we all need to think about if this is important to you is number one, you mentioned it sleep. Again, we're being led down a primrose path with the mainstream pharmaceutical thinking that if you can't sleep and obviously you have a deficiency of Ambien, well course that's bullcrap. And this, but it is the way that the system works. I don't live in the world of treating symptoms, I live in the world of figuring out the underlying true reasons and addressing it. You know, if you have a leaky tire on your car, and you just keep filling it with air, you know, the end result is not going to be positive. So let's fix the thing. So sleep has to be addressed, recommend you going back listening other podcast, then you go into stress levels of life. Now to me, stress is actually positive. Because we become jellyfish. If we simply were in a pristine environment and nothing ever happened, and everything was given to us. You can see that's even stressful because all of a sudden you don't have a life of challenge and excitement. In, and all the things that we come and go with as we grow older. So what I don't think is healthy is when we shove things within us down to a level where they become hidden. And I am watching and I'm connecting the dots with so many people. And I've seen the pattern of the smiley face, the happy go lucky person who you would never think has any significant negative issues in their life. But if you say the right thing at the right time, that smile goes away because they have bottled up so much within them, that it will come pouring out at a weak moment. Well, those emotions speak very loudly to the immune system. They need to be cleansed. There's nothing wrong with sadness and grief and, and and all the emotions that come with a life that we have been given, which is a life of joy and sometimes great suffering. And we're so using a technique or some method to help you to process that doesn't mean run from it. The American people run from negative emotions because we're programmed to have pleasure and no pain. So we watch TV, we drink alcohol, we over exercise, we oversex, we overrun, we overwork, we overread. All of that is not healthy, because you're, you're not doing it for a purpose, mainly other than distracting yourself in this emotional toxin. So dealing with the emotions, number two, huge, huge, then we deal with the foods that we eat. I just recently did a lecture on the promise and pitfalls of the keto diet. And I was very excited to share what I can share on this diet. There is no one died for everyone and anyone listening who thinks I'm trying to preach, you know, quit thinking that because it's not true, I can see people who are extremely healthy, who do some pretty odd things. Now, I've also seen people who have stayed healthy, who do everything wrong. That is an exception to the rule. Don't let those kind of examples of of your aunt Ruth, who lived to be 97, and smoke cigarettes and ate sausage every day, don't let that be your excuse to not make wise choices with food because chances are, you weren't dealt the same hand of cards that she was. So that's an easy thing to try to put in your back pocket, just so you can do what you want. Your chances are you're going to be sorry, if you do that. So the diet, I can just summarize it very quickly. We are killing ourselves with carbohydrates. We just are. You can do the keto diet wrong, which is a diet that has to do with high fat, healthy fat, not the old Atkins stuff, and modest protein and low to moderate healthy carbs. It's really it. Now you have to learn how to make the you know the fine tune it. When you do a lot of carbohydrates, you're spiking certain blood levels, those blood levels are insulin number one, when insulin is shooting up and down, you are disrupting the immune system terribly. Do you know that if you eat sugar, like a dessert, you have about four hours after eating that level of carbohydrate where the immune system is cut in half, cut in half for four hours. Well, many Americans are eating sugar morning, noon and night. But even those of us who don't. Why in the heck do you think that Christmas is causing so much sickness, two reasons, sugar. And because the vitamin D is lessening because of lack of sunshine. It's not really because we're all hanging out together. If I eat sugar, I know them for hours, my barrier is down. It's like a big fort that has a moat around it. And that normally is preventing the enemy from crossing. But when I eat sugar, I'm lowering those gates down. I'm inviting the pathogens to come in. And that's simply not what you want to do. Now I'm not proposing living a life of absolute not allowing junk in your foods. We need this for our mental state, just be aware of it. And so when you eat sugar, be more cautious. Make sure you don't touch those orifices. Make sure that you are taking the nutrients. So that's that's the second biggest thing. And then, you know, building my toolbox of nutritional supplements every day is imperative. We talk about I think I've talked about the core four. There are I take 72 pills a day, no one needs to take 72 but you do need past 35 years old to be taking a modest amount of things and the core four is a multivitamin, not the name brand syndromes and the junky stuff. I'm talking good quality from you know, a fantastic health food store wherever it may be in your local area that knows their stuff. Second, omega three fatty acids, not one that you just pick off the counter you need one has been tested to not have heavy metals, you need the right amount, what is the right amount? It's easy, you look on the backside, you need 2000 milligrams of EPA DHA. So that's the devils in the details. So you got to make sure you're looking at the right label. And then thirdly is probiotics. Here's the take home message on this most are worthless. If they've been shipped in the summertime, and you're ordering from amazon.com, throw the dadgum thing away. These are live organisms that cannot survive in temperature sitting in your mailbox in the summer. And that's even if it's a good company. And lastly is a green drink. I love natural factors and green vibrance are the only two green drinks I will ever drink. But those core four things with his diet is not in the four but and then a vitamin D. 5000 units is cross the board what I recommend, and then eventually getting a blood test to make sure that it's not over or under. So if you do the core four, you're going to be boosting your immune system quite substantially. If you're doing the emotional work and asleep.
Brian Strickland 21:09 Yeah, absolutely. Now, I'm 33 and I do I abide by the core four. Those are the basics. Those are the basic building blocks, as far as supplementation is concerned outside of those four, is there anything else that you would recommend for me at my age to take?
Ed Jones 21:26 Well, I think you know, individualized, personalized health care whether it be mainstream or in the holistic field needs to be viewed and embraced. Because what's going on with you is not the same thing that's going on with the next person who walks in front of me. And you know, that's why finding people who are helpers along your way is vitally important. The chances of us if we talked for eight minutes that I would kind of uncover perhaps a few other things that I would recommend. However, that's not always easy. We can't find these kinds of people sometimes that's why we are doing this podcast. But as far as you know, building your immune system, if you only did what we just talked about, the chances are you will get sick less often. Now, I know your next question will be or you tell me the next question, but I want to talk about the scenario that all of a sudden you just start feeling ill it's and you're getting, you don't really know what it is. Maybe it's heaviness in the face. Maybe it's you know, his throat is sore, maybe it's just body aches. But you know something's going on, that probably will prevent you from coming to work the next day. Does that sound like something you've gone through? Brian?
Brian Strickland 22:47 Yeah, absolutely. I think the majority of my sicknesses begin with my sinuses draining into my throat. And I pretty much know right then in there, it's going to be a week long illness so
Ed Jones 22:57 And that's that's a good segue into me atleast giving my opinion here. Before I get to what my personal take home emergency kit is which I've utilized on myself many times over the past 15 to 20 years. I want to say one other topic that has to be looked at if a person is having chronic respiratory distress and illness. And that is mold. Because what we've got in again, the mainstream philosophy, which I find so incorrect, is many of us get this this every other month or every third month, you know that heaviness in the face, you know, you're going to get the infection, you got green mucus pouring out, you feel awful. And you what do you do? What do the majority of people do? Well, we get so down and out, we get sick and we feel like we have to be aggressive. So we call the doc or we go to the doc there comes Mr. antibiotic. Well, you know what, there is a time in place for antibiotics. However, we know that every round will weaken your immune system for future defenses. One, two is it is going to dig holes in your gut, which is called leaky gut, which then just absolutely furthers the weakened immune system. We have done a show on on leaky gut and glyphosate that I would encourage you to listen to. So and then when you buck but here's why people keep doing it. When you take an antibiotic, you do tend to feel better, quicker than you probably would if you didn't take it Why is that? Is because the mold whether it be from your house, whether it be from just your office, or it really could just be harboring in yourself which is can mold being Candida and East also is all in the same family. It creates a environment that is conducive to lots of pathogens wanting to live in it. And it because it's moist, it's warm, and it has the kind of food in it, that will produce more of the pathogens. So when you take an antibiotic, you are going to kill the bacteria because the bacteria actually go along for the ride on the mold. If we could eliminate Candida and yeast in your body, wherever it may be coming from, you're going to get less sinus infections. So what my plan is, let's treat the Candida and yeast, let's do a preventative program. And as you lower the Candida and yeast, you're going to lower your chances of sickness. Now, this is not an overnight deal. And there are remedies like oregano oil, olive leaf, many yeast products, but the other part of this platform is eating less carbohydrates, because that's what feeds can data in yeast. So as long as you're feeding it, it's going to be more difficult to control it.
Brian Strickland 25:55 So now that we've covered the basic building blocks of supplementation and keeping your immune system healthy, what happens if you're already ill? What happens if you're already having those symptoms? What would be your recommendation beyond picking out different supplements? What are your thoughts on that?
Ed Jones 26:11 Well, I can give my own personal examples of that I do have to, of course, legally say, you know, we're not giving medical advice. If you're sick, and you follow what I say, and something bad happens, I'm sorry, I'm not the one treating you and I'm not treating anyone. So go to your doctor get permission to do these things with their blessing. What I normally have in my toolbox, here's my basic list. Now everybody can come up with different things is olive leaf, an 18% concentration is my absolute will number one go to I love certain brands, I'm brand loyal to blue bonnet is one of them. I never travel without it. It truly truly is a lifesaver for me, I have when I felt things coming on. If I will do six olive leaf a day, which is to breakfast, to lunch and to supper, and sometimes too at bedtime. It can be a game changer. Before I get into the further details of this, here's the other bullet point that I'd like to make number three, you only have between 24 and 48 hours for these things to work. Don't think that you're going to allow wait till I get sick and go then purchase this product because I'm sure I'll be fine. No, you only have one to two days. And after that it's gonna run its course no matter what you do, it could be helpful to prevent a secondary problem. But it probably won't work too much on the first because once this virus or bacteria starts massively multiplying that tide that momentum cannot be stopped by many things, including sometimes antibiotics. So my olive leaf is my absolute go to what do I back it up with. I am a fan of collodial silver. Only the right brands though, because homemade Silver's are to me toxic, the type of silver you want to use is theirs and I'm again brand specific. sovereign is a great company I use and also dose is between 10 and 50 parts per million in most cases. Occasionally i'd grabbed the 500 parts per million but I don't want it unless a specific circumstances. So if you're going to silver and my so my combo is olive leaf and silver. That's what I do. I carry this over with me in my car and when and I'll just sip it like about a teaspoon every two to three hours and then I'll take my olive leaf it is worked 90% of the time for me if I will start it upon the first feeling of illness. Now. There are other great things out there one of which is epicor. It is can be used anytime I do like it preventatively but also, I'm not opposed to it on an acute situation. And it's funny because Epicor's actually made from a yeast but it's not a Candida yeast, so it's perfectly healthy. It's one pill per day dose, it will triple your natural killer cells within 24 hours. These are the guys that are the policemen who are going into the riots who helped to control the situation. And so it's wonderful for prevention. I do one pill per day, and it's all fantastic. If you jump on it quick enough. Oregano oil. I don't like it personally because number one I don't like the taste and I burp it very aggressively all day. But it is considered a very strong herbal compound for pathogens. It actually has some good clinical studies on it against a certain array of those pathogens. So I love oregano for certain people again, if you follow the label on the on the bottle, you're not gonna get anywhere. Let me just tell you those labels are for kind of prevention for just the basics, you have to consider that there's two different words, prevention and therapeutic, you got to be on a therapeutic dose. And because of the laws, they can't really be too educational on the label. They can't say, if you're sick with a cold, we want you to take six of these a day. No, because that's against the law. So I've covered the five things that I truly like the very best, and I travel with them, and I carry them at home. And always have them handy because again, you get sick on Saturday night, and you feel terrible, you're not going to go get the product in time. So at least have olive leaf in your house and on your travels. As you go in, and on my first aid kit, please add charcoal to it. Because then if you have a stomach bug, the charcoal can be life saving, if you do it early enough to make it work.
Brian Strickland 30:58 So I noticed there were two things missing from your toolbox that I'm curious about what your opinion is one, I think is what most people turn to or what a lot of people turn to is vitamin C, in high doses into is elderberry. Now elderberry has seen a surge of what's the word I'm looking for it?
Ed Jones 31:16 Well, certainly a surge of popularity across the whole United States. And I'm glad you brought that up. I don't actually use elderberry in my first toolkit, they would be in my secondary. And of course, because I'm always around nutritional supplements, I have access to all of these at all times. Elderberry to me, because of the research done in Israel is credible for certain flu vaccines. What's happened, though, is because it seems to be credible for that people think it's going to kill everything. And I'm not saying that it actually does, it does give people peace of mind. It gives them the ability to feel that they're actually actively doing something. If I had what I thought was the flu, which was a temperature coming on, and the huge body aches, then I would do elderberry. But other than that it's actually not in my first list. And what was the other thing vitamin C and vitamin C, there's no one a bigger fan of vitamin C than I, however, see vitamin C is back to the conversation of how do we build the immune system. And that's part of the plan is building it. But the thing is, you really, it's hard to build an immune system quick enough for it to attack the pathogens that you have right now in it, and is it can be helpful. And yes, I always take 1000 milligrams twice a day. Now I'm I am totally on board with an IV vitamin C. But it would be in my secondary list even though it's kind of done the elderberry thing, which is, you know, tradition has shown it to be beneficial. So let's take a lot of vitamin C, nothing wrong with it. It's just not in my first toolbox. I gave a lecture the other night to a big group of people. And I found this point that was just resonated with me so well. And I'd actually want to read this on a more often occasions as the time goes on in the future. Because this is where it is. This is where I see people divided into two groups, those who are going to be better and those who are not. I'm not sure who wrote this, but I don't divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures. Those who make it for those who don't. I divide this world into learners and non learners. And the more I think about that, the more applicable that has been in my life when I counsel people. Well, that's it for this week's episode of the holistic navigator. Thank you so much. Until next time, I'm Ed Jones. And remember this whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm. Have a great day. Thank you.
Brian Strickland 34:04 Thanks for listening to the holistic navigator podcast. For more information and previous episodes, visit theholisticnavigator.com