What Mainstream Medicine Gets Dangerously Wrong About Covid-19
The entire country is in different stages of a shutdown. The news media, health officials, the White House, and many doctors and health experts have been painting a picture so bleak that it is terrifying. Currently, there are over 100,000 deaths in the United States alone attributed to Covid-19. There will be, without a doubt, many more. Even if you have been blessed enough not to lose anyone during this time, you are almost certainly struggling in some way with the reality of what has become of the world we live in.
The main reason why this article is so hard for me to write is that I know not everyone will agree with it. Some people might even believe that the perspectives that I express are dangerous, insensitive, or even morally wrong to publish. Over the last few months, it has become clear to me that I see health VERY differently compared to mainstream medical opinions. I understand that there are many different points of view, but I hope that you will listen to what I have to say and give it some serious consideration. So let’s talk about how we look at health.
Germ Theory Vs Terrain Theory
In the 19th century, two scientists, Louis Pasteur and Antoine Béchamp, were studying how diseases work and why we get sick. Both men were members of the French Academy of Science, but their research and writing led to major disagreements within their scientific community, and beyond.
Louis Pasteur, popularized germ theory, the belief that microorganisms, bacteria, virus and fungi are the cause of most disease. He believed that healthy cells within our body could be exposed to bacteria and become sick and die. Therefore germs and viruses are negative and harmful, and medicine should be developed and used to kill disease. This idea laid the groundwork for today's mainstream western medicine: synthetic drugs, chemotherapy, radiation, surgical removal of body parts, and vaccines. Germ theory is the cornerstone of mainstream medicine and treatment of disease to this day.
Antoine Béchamp, on the other hand, popularized Terrain Theory, the belief that when the body is functioning correctly (the immune system is healthy, and your body is properly detoxifying), it can handle the bad microorganisms, bacteria, virus, and fungi that come it's way. He believed that the diseases one develops are based on the terrain of their body. Simply put, if your body is healthy, disease will not harm it, and rather than work to kill viruses in the body, Béchamp believed we should work to strengthen the body to fight disease. This concept has led to holistic medicine and treatments that improve the "terrain" of your body, including probiotics, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbal therapies, diet changes, lifestyle improvements, and proper nutrition. The mainstream medical establishment does not accept terrain theory.
Approaching Covid-19 From a Functional Medicine Perspective
You might think that this is all very interesting, but what does this have to do with Covid-19? Well, let me explain. When Covid-19 was first picking up steam in the US, our whole family was traveling quite a bit. We had two trips that took us outside of the country and several trips within the states. We were in a lot of places where it could have been very easy to be exposed to germs such as airports and in customs. I had been following the virus' progression very carefully; at the time, Italy was getting hit hard. I knew that it was likely that we would be exposed to the virus, but because our family takes precautions to ensure that our bodies are healthy and our immune systems are functioning well, this did not concern me. Before our travel, we spent about a week improving our bodies' terrain to prepare for this aggressive virus. We usually don't eat processed sugar or many dairy products anyway, but we made sure to completely avoid processed sugar and all dairy products other than butter. We got outside in the sun and started to take different supplements like zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C, and others. We made sure that we continued to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. With this approach, I was utterly confident that we would either suffer no effects from being exposed to this aggressive virus or small effects that we would recover quickly from and that would have little impact on our health.
If you use the terrain theory to think about Covid-19, the first thing you do is stop and take a look at your life and find the areas where your health is most vulnerable. Most people can do this by focusing on eating healthy foods and making sure the nutrition they take in is complete. People who are not currently very healthy may need to be more extreme. Their functional medicine doctor might put them on a nutrient-dense diet and have them taking supplements or doing therapies specifically designed to improve their health in the areas where the virus would have the opportunity to take root. If the patient's situation is bad enough, their doctor might ask them to isolate away from others to protect them long enough to get healthy. The treatment, no matter what the disease or situation, should work to improve your body's terrain using the healing mechanisms inherent in your body. This kind of healing is possible at any age and with any health condition.
Germ Theory’s Flawed Approach to Fighting Covid-19
If our goal is to protect ourselves from and vaccinate against these kinds of viruses, it will be a difficult, never ending mission. If you live in fear of viruses then you have hundreds of millions of reasons to be afraid because that is how many different kinds of viruses there are and they continually change. In reality, there is no reason to be afraid, viruses are actually be part of our healthy bodies. If your body’s terrain is healthy, viruses turn out to be helpful rather than harmful to our overall health. Viruses play a role in breaking down and removing damaged parts of our cells, leaving us more healthy than before we contacted the virus.
David Pride, Associate Director of Microbiology, University of California San Diego and Chandrabali Ghose, Visiting Scientist, The Rockefeller University writes:
“It may be hard to fathom, but the human body is occupied by large collections of microorganisms, commonly referred to as our microbiome, that have evolved with us since the early days of man. Scientists have only recently begun to quantify the microbiome, and discovered it is inhabited by at least 38 trillion bacteria. More intriguing, perhaps, is that bacteria are not the most abundant microbes that live in and on our bodies. That award goes to viruses.”
He goes on to admit that even though it seems counterintuitive, viruses could help to keep us healthy?
“For example, when our healthy bacterial communities are disturbed by antibiotic use, other microbial bad guys, also called pathogens, take advantage of the opportunity to invade our body and make us sick.”
Almost everywhere you look in modern science and research, we see overwhelming evidence that the germ theory is blatantly wrong. Why does mainstream medicine fail to recognise the reality of the situation and make changes? That will be a topic for another time, but for now, here is what you can do.
In the coming months, possibly even years, you will hear about “new outbreaks of Coronavirus”. Although these reports might be worded to sound like a surprise, they really are not. Health officials have predicted from early on that there will likely be a lull in the virus and it might reappear again in the fall or pop up in pockets around the country. This is normal and typical of how viruses spread, especially with so many parts of the country locked down currently. As it reopens there will be new people exposed as the virus travels more freely. This is normal.
So What Can You Do to Protect Your Family?
The main thing you can do for your family during this time is to eat healthy, nutrient-dense food such as fruits and vegetables from your garden or a local farm. Ensure everyone is drinking plenty of water, and above all, avoid processed sugar as much as possible. This summer, spend a lot of time outside in nature and soak up the sun. Eat the best foods you can find and focus on becoming as healthy as possible so that your body's terrain is strong.
Covid-19 is particularly harsh on people with multiple health conditions, which makes sense when you understand that the terrain of their health is weak. This is likely compounded by the many negative effects of the medications used to treat these conditions. These health conditions, combined with the havoc many medications work on our microbiome is a bad combination when dealing with a virus like this and can, unfortunately, be fatal. If I were in that situation, the first thing I would do would be to look for a functional medicine doctor. Ask them to help you explore other options that might require less medical intervention and ask them to put together a whole life plan including diet, lifestyle, nutrition, and the right medicine to begin to heal your body and restore health. Functional medicine doctors will have a lot of insight into what you can do to protect yourself and be ready should you get sick with Covid-19 or any other virus.
Finally, don't freak out or let your anxiety get the best of you, trust the body that God has given you and work hard to take care of it. Rather than worry about every new report, be thankful for life and celebrate every moment. Our bodies are incredibly designed to fight disease, be grateful, be positive, and pursue health.