A virus uses it's host’s cells to manufacture it's own parts. It highjacks our cells to reproduce and make replicas of itself inside, then busts out.
It DOES NOT want to kill it's host! That would be pointless.
What it does want to do is SPREAD. It wants it's host to be mobile. In the case of upper respiratory viruses like this one, it wants it's host not only mobile but spewing virons out from it's respiratory system in the form of aerosols.
Sometimes the virus encounters a host who's health is compromised. Compromised hosts tend to have inflammation. Inflammation leads to an increase in ACE2 receptors, as does the obese state (fat cells have a lot of ACE2 receptors). In these hosts the virus will often have a higher binding affinity, will replicate more and in the case of flu at least, we have studies showing that in the obese host there is more viral load, more shedding of virus into the environment and for a moderately longer period of time.
I’ve covered the topic of obesity in detail here:
In the health compromised and inflamed host the virus will sometimes create a far more robust response. It’s the host's immune system, not the virus, that can kill the host.
This happens in inflamed bodies, the obese state, the host with uncontrolled blood sugars and the elderly, frail and malnourished. (This is also the same group that vaccines don’t work terribly well in.)
Considering the virus cannot only evade critical parts of the immune system, but that in the above types of hosts the immune system is often compromised and mis-orchestrated, and you can see the problem.
I say NONE of this to scare or shame ANYONE, simply giving you facts on how this works.
We want to address this by keeping INFLAMMATION DOWN as much as possible. A little inflammatory response is good as that means the immune system is working, so we don't want to suppress it completely, but we also don't want things going haywire.
My most critical ally in my health and in keeping my inflammation low is my diet.
I also rely heavily on sleep, exercise, meditation and supplementation, but none of that is worth a damn without a clean and nutritionally dense diet complete with adequate protein.
Consider eating foods that look like where they came from (whole foods, or foods in their whole form), avoiding processed foods, refined sugars, and eating a well balanced ratio of nutritiously dense foods, as available.
I personally prefer animal protein sources (beef is easy to digest and very nutritionally dense), healthy fats and some vegetables at every meal. I also incorporate brightly colored berries and some fruits.
I avoid foods that I've found inflammatory to my body.
The most common inflammatory foods are processed grains (including gluten containing foods), corn, soy, dairy and refined sugar.
Laid out in Chapter 4 of MY FREE BOOK I discuss food in more detail. It's a quick & helpful read, I encourage you to check it out.
A well rounded diet, high in vitamins and nutrients and low in inflammatory causing ingredients is quite helpful in building one's terrain.
I never worry about amounts or measure macros or ANY of that stuff. I simply fill my bowl with things that I know to be nutritious and eat as much as I want, when I want.
The occasional sweet treat is in my wheelhouse, but I do so sparingly, knowing full well how sugar impacts our immune system.
I don't follow any particular dogma around diets, I do lean more carnivore, I eat what makes me feel good and avoid what makes me feel poorly.
What you put into your mouth matters, a LOT, especially right now. There are no magic bullets, only foundational work built on nutritious food.
Cutting soda and junk food is free. Consider giving it a try and replacing it with foods that are whole and nutritiously dense!
And no matter what: HYDRATE! Plenty of water keeps things fluid. Dried out mucus membranes like to get infected with upper respiratory viruses.
Eat like you give a damn, basically.