Photo by samantha celera.

When it comes to the H1N1 flu pandemic this year, it seems like a lot of our patients have vaccine-related questions. Who’s at risk? What’s in this vaccine? Should I get it?

Tune in below as Dr. Natasha Kassam gets to the bottom of the H1N1 vaccine kerfuffle. Still have a question? Leave in the comment section.

Dr. Natasha Kassam is dedicated to facilitating the healing and wellbeing of her patients. Her passion is cardiovasular and pulmonary medicine. She practices at Bloom Natural Healthcare in NE Portland Oregon and is the host of askdrkassam.com.

Photo by Gibson Claire McGuire Regester.

What are we reading about over at WellWire this week? The flu, dementia, the environment and food. Okay, to be a bit more specific:

With this year’s new flu strain, we have seen that viruses can be tenacious and virulent for humans. Yet there are some viruses that may be beneficial and help ward off bacterial infections. These special class of viruses are called bacteriophages and actually infect individual bacteria. In the short term it may difficult to determine the adaptive advantage of certain infectious agents, but in the long-term they all serve some role in the ecosystem we call life.

Dementia is not an inevitable part of aging. In fact, an autopsy of a 115 year old woman’s brain showed no signs of dementia often associated with the older people. So keep your brain young by staying active in mind and body.

Does the health of the environment really effect human health? Yes, most definitely. In this photo essay, it is all-too-apparent the direct effect environmental pollution has on health. For me, these amazing pictures, are just another reminder that to be truly healthy we need to take care of our planet as well. Holistic health extends beyond the confines of our skin and into the world around us.

Eat to celebrate the last few days of breast cancer awareness month. A recent BBC article reports that scientists have found that the key ingredient in curry powder, turmeric, kills cancer cells in the lab. That’s good news for all those curry lovers out there. Food really is the first medicine. Yum!

Gibran Ramos, L.Ac. completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Mr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at Northwest Natural Medicine in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Photo by jpcolasso.

I’m not being dramatic: we are on the verge of what could be a terrible flu season, fighting a strain of flu virus that has the potential to be very infectious and strong. So don’t wait for that first sniffle! Flu vaccine aside, here are eight ways you can buff up your immunity:

1. Manage your stress. When under long-term stress, our bodies adapt by moving energy from the defensive mechanisms of the immune system  to dealing with the perceived stressor. Our bodies can’t differentiate between being chased by a tiger and our deadline at work, it’s up to you to help your body cope.
2. Get some good sleep. At night our bodies repair and rejuvenate and the immune system can focus on its job. This is a very important time for various cells of the immune system to sweep through our body, spot and destroy potential invaders.
3. Balance your energy.  Chinese medicine can help you to balance your energetic defenses so that your body can recognize an invader when it sees it. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs (like ginger) can help with this immune process along with the ancient exercises like Qi gong and Tai chi.
4. Get your sunshine. The vitamin D produced by your  skin and the sun shining on it actually increases your immunity. This vitamin has also prevents certain types of cancer.
5. Eat the rainbow. The pigments in fruits and vegetables are super antioxidants and have an anti-viral activity.
6. Bounce and move! Bouncing is a specific type of movement exercise that circulates the lymph system. The lymph is where most of your immune cells are located. Bouncing increases the likelihood of these cells to come in contact with a virus or bacteria that has made its way deep into our body.
7. Inoculate yourself with bacteria–the beneficial type. These bacteria are called  probiotics. There is a delicate balance between the beneficial bacteria, harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi in your body. The probiotic bacteria establish their place in your body out-competing other bacteria, viruses and fungi. This keeps you healthy.
8. Laugh it off.  Laughing activates the immune system through the psychoneuroimmunological connection. This is just a big name for a simple concept, your emotions affect your health and well-being. Laugh more!

Gibran Ramos, L.Ac. completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Mr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at Northwest Natural Medicine in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Photo by jpcolasso.

If you turn on your TV it would appear that there is an apocalyptic event starting with swine in Mexico.  Swine flu itself is not an uncommon occurrence, people with direct contact to pigs often have antibodies to H1N1 (the specific strain of this swine influenza virus).

The big questions:  Why have there been deaths in Mexico and not the U.S.?Why did the strain kill young adults (as a pose to the more susceptible young and elderly).  This is what has the CDC on a code red along with the fact that they do not have a vaccine, and 2 out of the 4 commonly used anti viral drugs are not effective against this strain.

Cause for concern or not, here are some simple precautions which will only do you a lot of good anyway.

1.  Wash your hands frequently, don’t rub your eyes and have children especially avoid putting their hands in their mouths.  If you are accustomed to greeting with an exchange of kisses, and extensive handshaking – don’t.  CDC has recently confirmed human to human spread.

2. Pack, and I mean seriously pack your diet with these easy to get anti viral foods;  Garlic, thyme, shiitake mushrooms and ginger.  Not a sprinkle of thyme from a year old dried up jar.  Try a bushel of the stuff in a stew, don’t be shy.  Start now to give your immune system time to ramp up.

3.  Don’t panic.  There is no reason to at this time, and doing so will only lower your immune system, and stress you out – which will then really crash your immune system.  Remember, everyone in the U.S. who contracted this has recovered and only 1 person has been hospitalized.  Deep breath.

4.  Find a Naturopath near you , or acupuncturist and book an appointment to work on specific preventative medicine for your body using botanical herbs, homeopathy and a number of immune boosting treatments.  Anti-viral medicine is a realm where alternative medicine really shines as there are millions of complex biochemicals which when working synergistically with each other can knock influenza out cold (pun intended).

5.  Don’t fly to Mexico…

Here are a couple of recipe ideas for those anti-viral nutrients.

Anti H1N1 Soup for 2

1 handful dry shiitake mushrooms, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced, 1 onion thinly sliced, 1 small piece ginger thinly sliced, 3 cups pork stock (lol kidding, this is hard to find – any stock will do), 4 glugs of sake, 2 spring onions.

Soak the mushrooms in boiling water until tender.  Remove the soaking liquid.  Saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic in a tablespoon of oil until tender but not browned.  Add the stock and the ginger and simmer on low heat for about ten minutes. Season to taste and just before serving add the sake and spring onions.

Anti-H1N1 Raw Thyme Pasta

1 packet spaghetti, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, 2 cloves garlic sliced, half a bunch thyme washed and picked, 1 tablespoon Parmigiano

Boil the pasta (or gluten free variety) in salted water.  Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan and toast the breadcrumbs until golden brown.  Turn off the heat and add the garlic, thyme, salt and Parmigiano.  When the pasta is ready, toss with the mixture, saving a little extra mixture for the top.  You could easily add in shiitake mushrooms in this – loads and loads of them.

Happy immunity

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.