2022 ACTION PLAN for COVID

Discover the 5 steps you can take to understand your personal risks, build your immunity, and thrive in a COVID environment.

“Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.” ~ Winston Churchill

1. Know Thyself

Channel the wisdom of history’s greatest philosopher, Socrates, to understand your personal risks.
  • What are your particular health risk factors?
    1. Age?
    2. High blood pressure?
    3. Cardiovascular disease?
    4. Metabolic dysfunction?
    5. Diabetes or Pre Diabetes?
    6. Overweight?
    7. Autoimmune tendencies?
  • Where is your biochemistry taking you?
    1. Need to check comprehensive bloodwork/labs- I call this the River of Life.
      • low vitamin D, zinc, vitamin A, magnesium, omega-3 fats?
      • Advanced cardio-metabolic and inflammatory levels – often abnormal in patients who do poorly with COVID – all of these labs are reversible.
    2. Here are great resources from Cleveland Heart Labs in conjunction with Quest Diagnostics:
“You control your vitality, resiliency, durability, and outcome of your chemistry.” ~ James LaValle PharmD, CNS

2. Prevention – Prepare your terrain

Learn from the Ancient Greek goddess of good health, Hygeia, to restore and rebuild your immunity.
  • Work to optimize your lifestyle and build your terrain or foundation.
  • Practice good hygiene.
  • Enhance the quality of your sleep and get plenty of rest.
  • Go outdoors and get plenty of SUN.
  • Eat as clean as you can and exercise often.
  • Turn up the heat- hyperthermia-like baths and saunas are great for your immune system.
  • Keep vitamin levels up- a high Vitamin D (greater than 50ng/mL) is very protective.
“We all need to be citizen scientists during these trying times and learn from our N of 1 self-experiments.” ~ Sam Pappas MD

3. Identify where you are situated in the total spectrum of COVID exposure:

No COVID
“The winds of adversity fill the sails of accomplishment.” ~ Andy Andrews
Vaccinated
  • Vaccines – Safety Net but NOT a Shield – Vaccines have helped minimize deaths and hospitalizations, especially for high-risk patients, but do not prevent infections or decrease transmission.
  • Have you gotten the vaccine? Would you benefit from it? 
  • Focusing on the following for pre- and post-vaccine tips can help improve the effectiveness of the vaccine and decrease the side effects (a new theory that makes sense).
    1. Optimize lifestyle factors.
    2. Get good sleep, especially before the shot- melatonin is good before and after the vaccine.
    3. Eat low inflammatory foods and no alcohol before shot.
    4. Balance stress response.
    5. Lower inflammation markers.
    6. Support the immune system through better Vitamin D, A, folate zinc, NAC, etc.
  • Watch for side effects – VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) shows more side effects than past vaccines like flu, etc. Most are self-limiting but some lasting a while and can have real effects.
  • “Post-Vaccine Syndrome”
  • Myocarditis in young men post vax is a real risk.
  • Check your bloodwork to see if anything has changed from your baseline. (I’m seeing low-grade inflammation in post vaccinated and post-COVID patients)
    • Nutrient levels like vitamins D and B, Omega 3, etc.
    • The persistence of these markers signify low-grade inflammation:  
      1. D-Dimer 
      2. Fibrinogen
      3. CRP
Past COVID infection
“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” ~ Peter Drucker
FOR ALL
  • Keep working on lifestyle- you must be able to police yourself.
    1. Begin with Gymnastike, or Purposeful Fitness- The Leaders Gymnasium: exercising your body, mind and spirit to reach your leadership potential.
    2. Keep improving to be the best version of yourself – fasting is a great way to help the immune system (see my recent article on fasting).
  • COVID pack on standby and for your travels.
    1. Nutritional armor aka Vitamins. I take my custom supplement blend, Immune Armor, which can support early exposure and help prevention.
    2. OTC medicines such as aspirin and antihistamines, and prescription drugs like antibiotics, steroids, antiparasitics, etc. Work with your doctor to get the best-personalized plan for you.
    3. Nasal irrigation with special saline formula- XLEAR is my favorite. Gargle with products that have cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) found in common oral rinses, Betadine oral rinse.
  • Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) and Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).
    1. Use supplements and/or meds for targeted support after or before possible exposures.
    2. Practice mucosal irrigation – flush out the sinuses and gargle in the throat, the most common place COVID gets attached. Research shows these work very well: XLEAR, CPC oral rinse, Betadine, etc.
“Public health, by definition, should be inherently broad and interdisciplinary, not monotone and overly specialized in scope.” ~ Sam Pappas MD

4. Personalize

  • Be aware that many factors are contributing to the local and worldwide morbidity and mortality numbers. No one country or state, nor any one plan is perfect; we must use all the tools available in this war as we personalize support for our families and communities.
Mary Beth Pfeiffer states, “In the midst of this onslaught, federal policy says to watch, wait and do nothing for the newly sick. “No specific antiviral or immunomodulatory therapy recommended,” states this nation’s COVID-19 care guidelines for outpatients. Instead, sicken in place.”

5. Take action

…to become as bulletproof as possible by focusing on closing the G.A.P. from your current situation to your ideal health profile.
  • GYMNASTIKE- purposeful and regular exercise and fitness.
  • ASKESIS- Greek spiritual term related to the habits of discipline and spiritual training or exercises such prayer, meditation, and fasting to awaken from the “sleep-walk of daily life and create a compelling purpose.”
  • PHILOSOPHY- The set of your sail and core values and beliefs. We must do Deep Work as we ‘contemplate the cosmos’ and intentionally cultivate habits and an outlook that is resilient and supportive.
For more info on these ideas, see The Leader’s Workout
“I never worry about action, only inaction.” ~ Winston Churchill

Helpful resources:

“The Greeks were untaught by adversity while the Romans were taught by the discipline of many trials and struggles.” Polybius
Let us know about your current COVID action plan and how we can help you.