Boosting Your Immunity -4 Over-sanitizing Home may Lower Immunity

[The Foolish Couple are founders of the Foco Academy, nutrition specialists and success coaches. We focus on teaching Jack Canfield’s Success Principles and applying the principles to the 3 areas of life that money can’t buy, that is, Health, Time, and Love Relationship.]

Never in our lives were we more concerned about our health. And that is, of course, thanks to the COVID-19. The virus is of course highly contagious and fatal but it has also raised our awareness of just how important it is to keep our immunity systems strong.

When it comes to the viruses, our best chance of survival is not about how much money we have, how powerful we are, or how influential we may be. The only thing that matters is our health.

If there’s one good thing that comes out as a result of the COVID-19, I would say it is the increased awareness of how our health affects not only us, but our relationships, our lifestyles, and our economy.

We started releasing our blog series called ‘Boost your immunity’ in response to the COVID-19 because there are many people that truly don’t know how to protect themselves against the virus. Boosting your immunity system is not about staying inside, closing all your windows and wearing a face mask. Isolation is a way to keep you away from the virus. But if you do get in contact with the coronavirus, then you need to fight back. And you need a strong immunity system to do that.

We started off by first talking about metabolic efficiency and how it is important to track your health numbers and what your optimal numbers should look like. 

And then, in the second episode, we talked about fear. You’ve probably heard about fight or flight response. And we are now mostly into our fight or flight mode. This tiny virus is as threatening to us as a tiger or a lion that is coming at us. Fear heightens your stress level and also could lower your immune system. To help you face your fears, we have included an exercise in episode 2 that may help you release those fears. 

In the third episode we talked about what we should be stocking our kitchen with. Rather than stocking up on ramen and spam, which will likely lower your immune strength, we recommend that you go with fresh fruits and vegetables, to shop the colors of the rainbow, and to eat less of the processed white and brown stuff. We included a downloadable PDF for you.

 In today’s topic, we would like to talk about house cleaning.

We are coming into our fifth week of shelter in place and it seems that there is still a lot of fear everywhere. I’m not going to bore you with the latest numbers because, quite frankly, the numbers are just numbers now. But what is interesting is that so many people are buying up all the strongest cleaning products and using these products inside their homes.

I am curious why all of a sudden everyone’s homes seems so much dirtier than before.

But I know from my experience that when I use bleach or Clorox or something really strong to clean the house, the chemical does make me feel a little bit queasy. Are there any health concerns that we should be aware of when we are using these chemical cleaners?

Well there’s a lot of phobia about how the Covid-19 could be lurking in every corner of our lives, in our foods, in or clothes, in our car, in our house and we have to clean anything and everything we touch, I think this is going to cause more problems with our health in the long run. We are seeing social media posts about all the things you have to sanitize and wipe around your house, like door knobs, refrigerator, microwaves, light switches, toilet flushers, dresser handles, even floor baseboards, the cleaning bottle itself and of course your car. This seems excessive if you have to do this every day or every time you leave that house.

When we do go out for grocery shopping, the extra safety measure that we’re doing now is that we’d follow the social distancing protocols, and we sanitize the door handles and the shopping bags.

But for the actual fruits and vegetables, we don’t use cleaners on them. I know that many people are using diluted bleach solutions to clean their groceries but, for us, I don’t want to be eating bleach.

No matter how diluted, bleach is a poison and you should never ingest it. I know there are videos telling you to use bleach or soap and warm water to clean your groceries.

Soap, to me, is also a no-no because it causes stress to our digestive system that can lead to stomach upset and diarrhea and all sorts of other potential problems down the road. You may even mistake some of these symptoms as COVID -19 symptoms.

So we pretty much just use water to clean our foods.

We really don’t believe in harsh household cleaners and never used them in the house. We make our own organic cleaners that we use around the house. These homemade cleaners are mostly a mixture of vinegar, baking soda, essential oils and high grain proof alcohol.

The toxic chemicals in most commercial cleaners not only wipe out germs and bacteria inside your house, they also wipe out helpful bacteria inside your body and inside your digestive system. Have you heard of probiotics? Well, probiotics are bacteria, but they are the good bacteria that accounts for 60% of our immune system. We hope that you won’t over-sanitizing your house with all these toxic bleaches and chemicals because they can cause respiratory problems being locked in the small confines of your home.

They also can harm and kill beneficial bacteria that is on our skin, in our bodies and digestive system which is part of our immune system.

We are including our DIY cleaning products as a bonus for today’s blog. They are all natural, non-toxic, cost effective and easy to make at home. And the best part, you probably have most of these products at home. You can download them in the link provided. Also, If you missed any of our first three episodes, make sure you watch them and get our free gifts. Download our free Metabolic Efficiency List and our “gut matters” ebook.

Next time, we’ll talk about the importance of physical exercise, especially if you are 50 and older and have chronic conditions

Until next time, love what you live, and live what you love. 

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 We believe that healthy relationships start with health. We help you achieve total success in health and in relationships through nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle. If you know someone who can benefit from this blog, share with them. Let them know that you care about them. And of course, leave us any comments below. We love to hear from you.

We are not medical doctors. This blog is not intended to diagnose medical condition, or replace your health care provider. The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only. Statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult your personal physician before starting any fitness or exercise program or changing dietary habits. The content of this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is not a substitute for a medical exam, nor does it replace the need for services or counsel provided by medical professionals. However, we do hope to inspire you to become healthier, more self sufficient, and more aware of options.