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With cold and flu season approaching, Dr. Barrett looks back on COVID-19 with a few years of hindsight, covering the shifting public health guidance, natural immunity, and how metabolic health shaped outcomes during the pandemic. He shares his perspective on vaccine risk conversations and informed consent, then pivots to practical, actionable steps for building a resilient immune system heading into this fall and winter: chiropractic care, vitamin D, sleep, whole foods, sunlight, and targeted supplementation.
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Watch the episode on YouTube here!
DISCLAIMER
This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Barrett Deubert and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to replace medical advice or treatment from a physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding health questions and concerns. Neither Dr. Deubert nor the Real Health Co. takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All audience members, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.
. . .
Watch the episode on YouTube here!
- (00:00) - Intro: Revisiting COVID-19
- (03:47) - Public Health Communication
- (06:19) - Natural Immunity
- (07:01) - Viral Origins
- (08:59) - Vaccine Safety & Informed Consent
- (11:19) - Metabolic Health
- (12:34) - Building Immune Resilience
- (15:09) - Supplements & Cautions
- (17:05) - Closing Thoughts
DISCLAIMER
This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Barrett Deubert and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to replace medical advice or treatment from a physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding health questions and concerns. Neither Dr. Deubert nor the Real Health Co. takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All audience members, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.
Creators and Guests
What is The Real Health Podcast?
On a mission to share practical solutions to improve your wellbeing, The Real Health Podcast will equip you with evidence-based recommendations essential to achieving a healthy lifestyle. Join Dr. Barrett Deubert as he shares his passion for educating, inspiring, and empowering individuals to achieve “real health for real people”. Breaking down health topics such as: immunity, stress, real food, natural living, and much more to provide you with actionable steps to improving your family’s health.
How do you protect yourself, right? Like how do you support your immune system so you're more resilient? And as we know from the coronavirus, COVID-19, you know, your your body can handle way more than what the government tells you it can. Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we are diving into probably the most controversial subject matter in the last decade, and that is COVID-19.
Dr. Barrett:When we think about the last few years, it's really wild to look back and reflect on all the societal changes, the medical interventions that were recommended, social distancing, the truth about the virus itself and how it's transmitted and spread and even the origin of it. So today, the goal is to look back and say, hey, what do we know now that we didn't know back then? Like, what is truth today that was unclear in the past and whether that was communicated out of deceit for financial gain or whether that was come to the market quickly with a vaccine for financial gain? Maybe that's true. It's really not My goal is not to just bash the big pharma because we could all do that, but it gets us nowhere, right?
Dr. Barrett:We know these corporations are in it for high dollar returns. My goal is to help equip you with information that could transform your health and not just for you, but for your family. It's also gonna be coronavirus season, c viruses, COVID-nineteen, flu, influenza is coming around. Right now, we're seeing a definite surge in COVID related cases. So that bug seems to be peaking at this moment.
Dr. Barrett:So how do you protect yourself, right? Like how do you support your immune system so you're more resilient? And as we know from the coronavirus, COVID-nineteen, you know, your body can handle way more than what the government tells you it can. Let me just be real with you. You're like, you know, natural immunity still exists.
Dr. Barrett:So if you can create a more robust immune system, right, rather than live in a state of chronic disease, well, it was pretty obvious the last few years who lived through the epidemic and who didn't. And comorbidities, multiple comorbidities, and chronic disease was definitely impacted the most. And so that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna talk through that today. Now that emotions have somewhat settled down, even though Fauci's on trial for all his stuff, for the most part, we're all kind of clear headed in what we've seen transpire over the last few years and what we need to do to equip ourselves heading forward.
Dr. Barrett:And this really isn't about politics. This is about a public health event that happened and that we have to learn from. And so maybe you're in the camp where you've changed your narrative, what you believe about who you're trusting and, what you believe about health, right? That's not a bad thing. So I hope we all grew from it.
Dr. Barrett:And so let's get into, I think, one of the biggest lessons from COVID wasn't just about the virus, really came down to trusting the communication of certain officials. And many public health recommendations were presented with a level of certainty that when we look back later on, we realize that that changed as evidence became more available, that weren't the best recommendations at all, that created more harm than good. I mean, social distancing was one of the, in my opinion, worst recommendations given just from a psychological perspective, what that did to young kids and what that did to families, what that did to individuals who were just stuck in a box at home all day. And so, I don't think that necessarily means that every communication was given in bad faith, but it definitely means that when we look back, you know, topics have evolved in terms of mass recommendations, was just silly. School closures, right?
Dr. Barrett:We saw lockdowns happen, and we even had conversations about, hey, there such thing as natural immunity? And as we know today, all right, we have changed for the most part when we say we as a side of whole, have changed our viewpoint quite a bit. Now there's some people that still believe that some of those things that were communicated a few years ago are still true today. But if you just look at research and evidence, we can clearly see that the subject matter has changed. The information is different, and the recommendations therefore should be changed heading forward.
Dr. Barrett:And so I think several things are much clearer today than they were in 2020. And the first is that natural immunity does meaningful protection against infection. And then, to kinda support that narrative, we just look at kids who have stronger natural immunities, and they were the ones that handled it the best. But as we got sicker, and we had more comorbidities, and we were fatter and more inflamed and had diabetes and the list goes on, that natural immunity waned and we didn't have it as an effective resiliency to the virus. We also know that natural immunity does wane, that the inevitable is you're probably gonna have a Covid-nineteen viral load again.
Dr. Barrett:You're probably gonna have symptoms from a coronavirus, influenza virus. Your immune system is going to come up against that organism again. And how strong, how robust, how resilient is your immune system today compared to where it was a few years ago? Well, it's obviously seen the virus. It's recognized it, natural immunity may wane, but we can build our natural immune system so that when do get exposed to these viral loads, we have a much better ability to handle them and to fight them effectively.
Dr. Barrett:We know that the whole issue of where it came from, right? Like research based labs, that it probably came from lab origin. And as we look at some of the craziest viruses, like let's just take RSV for instance, that respiratory virus that that is, so impactful to kids, puts kids in hospitals, kills kids every year. That was a that was a lab made virus. And if we look at COVID-nineteen as a lab made virus, these lab made viruses, they have detrimental effects on our immune system, and they hammer us pretty hard.
Dr. Barrett:And so the reality is probably in the future, there will be more man made viruses that that get into circulation, and you've gotta be ready for it. That's just a reality. I don't know if it's gonna be if you can't avoid it. Right? I mean, like, even the social distancing and stay in a room and, you know, don't come out and give your food handed to you in gloves or the person holding the mask over their face.
Dr. Barrett:Yeah. Well, they still got it. They still got exposed to the virus, and you're not gonna avoid it forever. If you have if you have if you live in society, you will not avoid viruses. They will come for you, but you shouldn't be scared.
Dr. Barrett:We should be strong and protective and robust and resilient. It's the same thing with other bugs like strep or staph or other bacterial infections. When the immune system is strong, it's able to handle infections well, natural immunity. But when it's not strong, it's weakened, that's when we're in trouble. I think one of the biggest things that we saw was when we looked at vaccine safety and we pushed this vaccine to market quickly, yet then we're like, yeah, it's safe for everyone.
Dr. Barrett:Just like we always say about vaccines, that they're safe for everyone. There's no issues, right? They're safe and effective is the verbiage that's used. Yet, I mean, we have adverse effects like myocarditis, pericarditis. We have thrombosis or blood clots, thickening of the blood.
Dr. Barrett:We have so many detrimental effects that potentially life altering from a vaccine, wherein healthy individuals, right, especially kids, especially healthy young adults, could handle this virus without complications, yet could then have a heart attack or a blood clot in their lung from a vaccine that they didn't need. And that is a reality that we have to look at the risks with being vaccinated and the risks with being unvaccinated. Only you can make that decision, that informed consent decision with your medical provider. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm not here to tell you to go one way or the other.
Dr. Barrett:It is your job. It is you as a parent, it's your job to lead your kids in a meaningful way, in an intentional way with the information that you gather, right? Don't let me or any other person tell you what to do. You take in the information and use wisdom to decide what's the best course of action for your family. And so patients, they deserve informed consent.
Dr. Barrett:And I think that's where we've lost our trust in our medical society is that it's like, Hey, just do this because I told you to do it, versus, Hey, let's have a conversation. And gosh, I love talking to practitioners, physicians who are just willing to have conversations and be unbiased, non dogmatic, and just be neutral, and just say, Hey, let's just talk through it. Let's talk through the COVID vaccine, or let's talk through maybe other vaccines that you're potentially gonna give to your children, or a medication intervention, or a surgical operation, or a chiropractic adjustment. Let's talk about the benefit. Let's talk about the risks and have an informed consent that then inevitably builds trust within that practitioner because you had a quality, conversation.
Dr. Barrett:It's like we've lost the ability to have meaningful conversations. And more important than anything, right now, we need to have quality, informed consent. So I think Covid, what exposed about our health is that one thing became very, very clear about the pandemic and that it was the people at the greatest risk for illness often shared common characteristics. Obesity, type two diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, poor metabolic health. These these are the people that were impacted the most.
Dr. Barrett:Viruses matter, but the health of the host matters most. Viruses matter, but the health of the host matters most. I'm gonna say that one more time because viruses do matter. Viruses can impact everyone, but the health of the of the host matters the most in the way that they can build a natural immune system that's supportive to overcoming that viral load or that bacterial pathogen. And so what we can do is just be intentional with this upcoming flu, cold season coming ahead.
Dr. Barrett:I mean, kids are gonna go back to school. There's gonna be more exposures to viruses and hand, foot, mouth, and cold, and flu. And so what do do? What are ways to prepare your body to build a healthy, natural, robust, resilient immune system? Get adjusted.
Dr. Barrett:This is number one. Go get adjusted. Stay adjusted. Get in your wellness weekly care role because chiropractic care can influence the immune system in a way that nothing else can. Number two, make sure you check your vitamin D levels.
Dr. Barrett:We know that better vitamin D levels were more resilient to the longstanding COVID effects that we saw. What is your vitamin d? Is it twenty, thirty, forty, fifty? It needs to be at least 60 to 70. That would be a sweet spot.
Dr. Barrett:So where's your vitamin d levels and supplement accordingly? Number three, get enough sleep. Get restful, deep, restorative sleep. Seven to eight hours every night. Kids need more.
Dr. Barrett:Make sure you go and sleep at the same time, waking up on a at the same time. Number four, let's make sure that you are eating meaningful whole foods that's not full of sugar. Don't give your kids a bunch of juice boxes and fruit snacks during cold and flu season, right? Sugar, we see sugar directly lowers the immune system for hours after the consumption of it. So the worst thing you could do is when your kid sniffly and sneezy, don't give them a juice box and fruit snacks.
Dr. Barrett:Right? Because they're immediately gonna have a negative impact to their immune system that's gonna linger that viral load longer. It's gonna make that virus have longer effects in the body. Do not use sugar and juices for your kid's immune system health. Okay?
Dr. Barrett:We know that to be true, but yet we still do it. All right? We also give ultra processed foods that are are absolutely wreaking havoc on immune health, so make sure that your kids, you're controlling what you can control. Maybe that's just breakfast and dinner, but you're controlling what you can control and making sure they're eating quality, whole foods every single day. Make sure in these next few months you get out and you get into sunlight, as sunlight has such a dramatic effect on immune system.
Dr. Barrett:Walk outside, walk out in the sun, and get as much sunlight as you can because as the winter comes in and we don't see the sun as much, we do get naturally lowered immune health. Protein is one of the best ways to actually help a, strengthen the immune system. Amino acids are needed literally to form an immune system response and allow cellular repair to happen. So if you're not consuming the building blocks of the body, which is protein amino acids, then we are definitely gonna be starving our immune system from functioning well. And then for me, I think there's some great supplements out there outside the vitamin d recommendation.
Dr. Barrett:I think vitamin c is impactful. I do think mushrooms are fantastic like Reishi, like Turkey Tail. You know, there's a great company called Five Defenders. They make a they make a really good product that you can take daily to build healthy and natural immune system health. Yeah.
Dr. Barrett:I think there's some really good antivirals out there that we can consume. L lysine plays a role. I I just mentioned vitamin C plays a role. Colostrum plays a role. But I would warn against taking immune, supplements every day because you actually a lot of people don't know what's in them, and some of them are just too strong to be taking every day.
Dr. Barrett:Like, echinacea, don't need to be taking that every day. There are some dangers with that. There are dangers with taking on, of just random herbs in certain quantities that could negatively impact you and and and what you think is being beneficial can can be actually detrimental. So just be mindful of how you're supplementing and what you're supplementing with. Make sure you're working with a health care practitioner to guide you and your kids on what is appropriate and how to take it properly.
Dr. Barrett:The foundations are true. If we eat well, move well, sleep well, get adjusted, and we are properly supporting our stress, you're going to build a healthy, robust immune system. If you're eating junk food, processed foods, sugars, not sleeping well, drinking alcohol, right, you are going to see the effects of that. So, choose wisely, right? And if you build a healthy immune system, then it doesn't really matter what comes your way.
Dr. Barrett:You don't have to live in fear. You can live a state of faith knowing that you have invested well in your body, your body's a temple, and it will fight off whatever comes its way. So, when we look back from where we were to where we're at now, we know so much more. But I but the truth still the the thread of truth remains the same. Control what you can control.
Dr. Barrett:Build health today, and don't leave it to anyone else to tell you what to do when the next pandemic comes because there will be another pandemic. That is the reality of today. So this is me signing off for another episode of the Real Health Podcast.