Sometimes the simplest health practices are the most powerful.  Unfortunately we tend to forget or minimize them as we run after the latest supplement du jour.  But if you want strong immune protection against the COVID-19 virus, getting plenty of pure water is critical. Even a small amount of dehydration will negatively affect all the chemistry in your body. Yet studies show that most people are chronically dehydrated, especially over the age of fifty. In addition, we’re all under extra stress these days, and stress itself is dehydrating.  Here are eight ways staying well-hydrated supports your immune system: Almost all biochemical reactions involve water, and every cell depends upon water to wash away waste and toxins (including viruses) and to supply nutrients.  Your immune system relies on your bloodstream to transport oxygen and other nutrients and important communication signals to your organs. This transportation is less efficient when…

Excessive amounts of salt in the diet damages healthy bacteria living in our intestines and leads to high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and fatigue.But we need some salt. If you perspire, whether it's from exercising, using a sauna, or living in a hot climate, you can lose too much sodium and other minerals in your sweat causing serious consequences, even death. People with weak adrenals often don’t retain enough salt leading to excessively low blood pressure, so they need extra salt.According to Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt: A World History, humans began to include salt in their diets once crops were cultivated and grains introduced. Salt mobilizes enzymes that help to digest grains and balance their acidity with alkalinizing minerals. (Unless it’s conventional salt, stripped of its natural minerals, in which case it will only increase the acidifying effect of eating grains. More about that later.)The problem is most people are getting too much salt, and it’s…

"Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates Do your meals leave you feeling light and full of vitality, or do they weigh you down, making you feel sleepy and dull? Although all food supplies calories, how well your body utilizes those calories to provide you with energy depends on the "life force" in the foods you eat. And foods vary widely along a continuum in this respect, from producing vitality, rejuvenation and healing to sapping your energy, adding unwanted weight and contributing to premature aging and disease.Food also influences mood and mental abilities, from raising your spirits, making you optimistic and heightening your awareness and mental function to bringing you down and dulling your brain.A number of factors determine a food's vibration or life force. Overall, foods are most energizing and health-promoting when they're consumed raw, or as close as possible to their natural state. This gives pride of place to the multicolored fruits and vegetable…