Holistic self-care & COVID
Optimise your health
We want you to understand there is a lot that you can do to look after your own health and to optimise your health and build immune resilience to ward off infections including COVID. Scroll down the page for evidence based ideas & inspiration from natural and holistic approaches.
Here are our top tips – click on each to take you to some brilliant resources on the web…
GO BAREFOOT
Grounding or earthing produces intriguing effects on physiology and health
Natural Remedies & Supplements
Herbal remedies and nutritional supplements can both play a role in helping us build a healthy immune system. Herbal remedies can also be used to help alleviate symptoms and some have anti-viral properties too. While we are not recommending these instead of routine medical care, they can be used by those who are not currently in need of medical care and can possibly be used in addition to conventional treatments. Here are our kitchen remedies…
- Garlic & onions – are anti-viral and can help coughs
- Thyme – great for coughs
- Ginger & turmeric – anti-inflammatory and may help with muscle aches and fever
- Chili pepper – helps flu like symptoms in multiple ways
- Fermented foods e.g sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt & kefir – boost the immune system via the gut
- Herbal teas – great for keeping hydrated. If feverish try diaphoretic herbs such as peppermint; chamomile; lemon balm & ginger
Real Food for Immune Resilience
What to eat:
- EAT A RAINBOW: a variety of colourful, seasonal fruits and vegetables – ideally organic
- Pastured or organic meat, eggs & dairy and wild-caught fish
- Nuts, seeds, pulses & whole grains
- Herbs & spices
- Extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil & butter (grass-fed/organic)
- Therapeutic foods – see kitchen remedies above
What to reduce
- Sugar and sugary foods including fruit juice*
- Refined carbohydrates e.g pasta and white rice*
- Processed foods
- Vegetable oils and fried foods
Key nutrients for the immune system
It is ideal to get all the nutrients we need from Real Foods however at times of greater stress supplementation may be beneficial. If wanting to supplement in doses above the RDA then it is advisable to seek the help of a suitably qualified practitioner.
Beyond Covid
Our new Journal is now out:
- Can GP practices become hubs for transition?
- Going beyond the bio-psychosocial – The complex person in a complex environment and uncertain world
- Change of self, change of system – journey into Integrative Medicine
- Student Essay Winner: Holistic lessons from a pandemic…prevention is better than cure
- NHS health carers’ staff erosion: England 2020s: Dust bowl USA 1930s
- Build Back Better
- Re-imagining healthcare towards health equity
- A better future for healthcare
- When I say flourishing in medical education
- Reimagining psychotherapy and the emerging promise of psychedelics
KITTY O’MEARA
And the people stayed at home
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still.
And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.
Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed.
And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
Self-Care Articles
Healing through the collective intelligence of our profession
Healing through the collective intelligence of our profession Sam Hazledine, Doctor, wellbeing advocate, medical entrepreneur [...]
Becoming a person: the Hera project at Brighton Health & Wellbeing Centre
Becoming a person: the Hera project at Brighton Health & Wellbeing Centre Emma Drew, Hera Programme [...]
Sphurana – seeing with new eyes
Sphurana – seeing with new eyes Peter Owen Jones, Anglican Priest, author and television presenter [...]
Fasting – a modern take on an ancient practice
Fasting – a modern take on an ancient practice Antonia Wrigley, Holistic doctor; BHMA vice chair; [...]
Awakening your inner physician
Awakening your inner physician Ciara Jean Roberts, Holistic educator, yoga teacher, naturopathic nutritionist [...]
Humanising medicine through co-creative self-care
Humanising medicine through co-creative self-care Louise Younie, Clinical Senior Lecturer, Barts and The London, QMUL [...]
What is holding us back from caring for ourselves?
What is holding us back from caring for ourselves? Sarah Kuipers, Stress management coach, trainer, and [...]
Heaps of health
Heaps of health Thuli Whitehouse, GP and yoga instructor Published in JHH [...]