TL;DR (too long, didn’t read): I went mostly WFPB (whole foods plant-based) after being a lifelong passionate meat, egg, and dairy eater on a whim and HOLY WOW to my bloodwork (scroll to the images).  😀

If you’ve got some time…

Before sharing my bloodwork with you, I wanted to give you some backstory to yours truly re: my “health and wellness;” I put that in quotes because I never lived from a place of caring about actually being healthy and WELL. Instead, I only cared about my weight, being “skinny,” not being the “F” word, and how I physically appeared (my aesthetic) to others. Note: Although I will use the actual “F word” in my shares – as it is part of the common vernacular – I hate the word for what it has come to mean (more importantly, FEEL) because one can (MUST) have fat versus them BEING “fat;” just as you can have toes but cannot be toes, you have fat and cannot be fat. However, as much as that is the case, I’m also not going to fight against these kinds of things because they are of the least importance, and disclaimers/clarifications like the above are a complete waste of time; accordingly, if the word triggers you, I’m genuinely sorry, but I’m not going to personally tend to that, so my shares on this topic may not be for you.

All that being said, some info about my *health* history:

• 42 years old, born and raised in America to immigrant (from India) parents which is important because their health completely transformed for the worse by eating the Standard American Diet (appropriately called “S.A.D.”) and because they, back in the 80s and 90s were completely clueless about what they or their children should or should not be eating; they, instead, believed that being “skinny” (which I was until I wasn’t) meant that I was “healthy,” and I can’t blame them because my only recollection of visiting my pediatrician was being WEIGHED and told that I was “within the range” for my “appropriate weight” which, as I was outright told, I was *allowed”*5 lbs for every inch over 5 feet tall *cringe.*
• My primary diet as a child and through my teen years included pizza, everything/anything with cheese and white bread, TONS of processed food (loads of processed meat), added sugar/overt sugar galore, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets/breaded chicken patty sandwiches, and hardly any fruits and veggies unless I was eating the latter in the context of Indian food.
• In college, I would out-eat football players (I literally did this once with a linebacker for “fun” 😕 ) and got my next level money’s worth for the dining hall at Boston University; finally on my own, I could also eat all of the fast-food that I wanted and, remarkably, I remained “skinny” (even though my waistline was expanding and had been suggesting otherwise ever since I was in my teens) while others gained the “Freshman 15,” I, legit, arrogantly thought I was immune to whatever plagued most everyone else and the joke would very soon be on me when I gained 20 lbs in my senior year of college in spite of eating the healthiest I had ever eaten and working out more than I ever had (I was dating an extremely healthy physical therapist/personal trainer)
• But to understand my true “origin story,” you’d need to go back to when I was 16 and, for the first time, decided that I was “fat” at 5’5″ and a whopping 95 lbs (~60 lbs less than what I am now) and kicked off 20 years of extreme body dysmorphia, being consumed by diet culture, daily weigh-ins (which resulted in feeling “good/great” if the scale went down or stayed at whatever decided was an acceptable weight to be and feeling “sad/mad” – deep in self-loathing – when the scale went up), my being obsessed with the notion of a “bikini body” (even though I had NO desire to actually wear a bikini – which, no offense to anyone who wears them always felt like walking around in my undies – but I just wanted to be deemed worthy of being ABLE to wear one), and riding the yo-yo dieting roller coaster hard and fast again and again.
• I won’t even get into all the cruel things I did to my body or the exorbitant amount of money I spent in the pursuit of an “ideal body” (you’ll have to read my book for all of that) or all of my #mommyissues regarding my body/weight like how she asked me if I was pregnant at 21 years old (I was “with” burrito belly) and a weight that is 45 less than what I am now (which is 155 lbs so 110).
• In 2011, I – at 136 lbs. – worked out with a personal trainer and literally SHREDDED; my body transformed so dramatically that I very quickly went to 118 lbs and a size 0 which was something I genuinely did not want to be and, accordingly, developed a NEW body dysmorphia. My trainer could not comprehend my “hating my too skinny legs” because, per him, “no women ever had this complaint prior to me;” like I said… I had TONS of body image issues and that was a time that the J-Lo booty was all the rage and my trifling self very deeply cared about being *aTtrAcTiVe tO mEn* (*judges self for perpetuity* knowing how much dysfunction came out of this desire)
• I then lived through major trauma in 2012 where I became something I never expected to become: a domestic violence survivor in the context of a brief 3-month relationship with no love on the table in which I was, on the the final night of our relationship, held hostage and suffocated with a body pillow. I proceeded to file an order of protection (was granted an emergency OOP), found out he had an existing one on record, spent $30,000 in court over 7 months and had a 3″ binder of evidence, lost my case with the same female POC judge in the first case one year prior, lost most of my friends, and was persecuted by my “community” for speaking out about what happened to me. In the aftermath of all of that trauma (the least of which was what my ex did), I experienced extreme PTSD & depression and gained 40 lbs in 2 years mostly by not eating all day but then eating $13-16 of McDonald’s or Taco Bell in one sitting to fill (feel like I was filling) the gaping hole in my soul.
• This was a new body that I felt like a complete stranger living in, and I naively thought that I could get rid of the depression by “just losing the weight,” so I actually went to what one could call a “fat camp” (CRINGE at the entire notion and the whole experience which was based in escapism and self-delusion) and spent $10,000 for 4 weeks to hike/work out for 5 hours a day. DEAR LORD, WHAT WAS I THINKING??? This was a new-to-me dysfunction of being in a no stress, perfectly controlled environment which resulted in becoming quite attached to the blissful feeling of not dealing with life and my actual issues at the crux of what I was experience, and, instead, just wanting to escape it all. I lost 8 lbs in 4 weeks which interestingly felt like nothing to me because I had lost “10 lbs in 10 days” on several cleanse-type diets; of course, I regained all of that weight quickly the second I returned to an uncontrolled environment where I was not exercising 5 hours a day. *face palm*
• In 2018, I lost 15 lbs doing a 16-hour intermittent fasting protocol but my biomarkers were more or less the same re: my A1C, the primary biomarker for diabetes, and my total cholesterol (THE – even if not always the case in ALL people – primary biomarker re: coronary artery disease) was always elevated. In fact, I got my first high total cholesterol level reading at age 19 because I decided to check it after my dad had a brain aneurysm at age 54 in 1998. One would think that such a huge health event in a parent’s life would have helped to transform my lens towards what I ate and how it impacted my health but NOPE.  I was young and naive – with no capacity to consider that my future health would be impacted by my actions in my present – and, to my credit, my doctor back then literally said NOTHING about the risks of high cholesterol and told me it was “no big deal” because of my age. I tragically still believed that as long as I was *skinny* – or more like (as the expression goes) “skinny fat” – re: the SCALE that I was FINE.
• I also first learned that I was pre-diabetic back in 2011 and my primary care doctor back then (who also happened to be my #1 target as a drug rep selling cardiovascular drugs because he wrote the most volume of cardio drugs) told me that “it was nothing to worry about because I was young and did not have a weight problem.” It will always irk me that this doctor had the potential to positively impact my actual HEALTH & WELLNESS with a conversation about the seriousness of diabetes which I was on the path to have – you know things like losing your VISION or your FOOT – but he chose the “no big deal!” path and sent me on my way. Note: a few divergent misfit doctors actually don’t even believe in prediabetes and just believe that anything in that range = ACTUAL diabetes, AND they believe that you were diabetic at least 10 YEARS before you ever got your first high A1C reading; for me personally, I believe that I started to become insulin resistant and began having elevated lipids in my tweens as I always had a protruding stomach that just kept growing into my 20s as these physical manifestation in our bodies do not happen without underlying pathology. 
• I remained a lifelong emotional eater who would *treat myself* to fast food every time I couldn’t deal with and wanted to numb/escape from whatever I was feeling (#lifetheme). During the few years that followed my trauma, eating this way was my primary M.O. and, while it absolutely decreased, it was still a fundamental part of my being because I STILL only thought about my weight so those kinds of meals were something I could “undo at the gym” or by “eating healthy for a few days.” Rinse repeat… rinse repeat.
• & THEN I GOT COVID back in November 2020 so the OG strain. I felt incredibly lucky that it all felt like a big NOTHING and the worst thing that I experienced was an elevated temperature of 101 for 2 days. That was IT. Until it WASN’T. A few weeks later, I began experiencing the worst post-COVID long haulers symptoms like brain fog, sundowners effect – yes, what Alzheimer’s patients experience – heart palpitations, extreme fatigue and so much more. Sadly, as much as I started to get better in the months that followed, I fell back to ground zero – but WORSE – after getting the vaccine (I am 100% pro-v@x but it wrecked me). I gained 15 lbs in the 2 months that followed which is an outrageous amount of weight for my frame and my entire body was super inflamed. I tried to “eat healthier” to lower inflammation in my body but my feel bad feels about experiencing long haulers won out often and had me “eating my feelings” often.
• I wrote several blogs about my COVID experience for anyone who is interested:
• Thankfully, in September of 2021, I finally – after my SECOND emergency room visit in less than 6 months – got my head right and started eating in a mostly health-serving way. I cut out all fast food, reduced my consumption of refined sugar, began doing light exercise, and essentially made it my ONLY JOB to get better; I took lots of supplements which you can see in the blogs above, but I hope you’ll read the BELOW versus relying on supplements as a crutch for your health; note: part of what I do is, literally, sell supplements for a living – many that I still love and use daily – but I wish my lifelong mindset had been to see food as medicine and start there FIRST.
• In March of 2022, I thought I was “fine” and began eating small quantities of my former favorite health-harming foods. “Just a little” but it was just enough to have some long haulers symptoms return (note: I’m calling my symptoms “long haulers” – which I have written a blog about – but I believe that long haulers is more just your body turning the light switch ON for underlying things that had not yet manifested); again, I was depressed, experiencing anxiety about my longterm health, & doing the most to hold myself back from reverting to all my old emotional eating ways, so I went to my PCP (primary care provider). She ordered another set of bloodwork which showed my CRP (inflammation marker) was highly elevated and she wanted to put me on an anti-depressant; I agreed but then something extraordinary happened…

On April 3rd, I sat down on our sofa to watch something on Netflix and randomly searched on the word, “health,” and a documentary, “What the Health,” came up; I watched it and, afterward, decided I decided that I would stop eating meat (I did not decide “forever;” that happened the next day when I watched “Game Changers” also on Netflix & this film really targets men who will want to see the blood of athletes after just ONE meal with meat and also the whole part about erections 😉 ); seeing what animal products do to our blood was enough to turn on a permanent light switch of “Omigod, THIS is THE thing.”

Re: “What the Health,” it is frequently cited as THE impetus for people quitting meat – &, if nothing else, never eating bacon again (not because of the tolls on pigs but HUMANS impacted by the industry) – but it is important to note that it is purposefully heavy-handed. No, having bologna is not samesies as smoking cigarettes, and the film is a bit absurd in how it tries to portray some “gotcha” type moments; yes, our “health” organizations are absolutely in bed with the food industry and not looking out for our best interests – as there is no money in anyone actually being WELL – but stopping by unannounced and talking to an admin person is silly. In spite of it being totally CRINGE in parts, was nonetheless an impetus for me versus an end-all-be-all in “truth” and, following watching both films, I have done over 200 hours of research (totally excessive & highly DO NOT recommend) and learning on my own.

The first week was NOT FUN because they say that your “decaying/rotting animal flesh and animal secretions “(dairy)-eating bacteria (#sorrynotsorry for putting it that way; it helps me stay the course!) in your gut microbiome literally DIE OFF when you stop feeding them and the waste products of that bacterial die-off is not always pleasant. It wasn’t pleasant at all for me but I persisted in spite of not knowing that bacterial die-off was even a thing because I – a former self-proclaimed “raging carnivore” who regularly used the hashtag #worsthinduever – was ALL IN.

After the first week, the magic began… the brain clarity, extreme focus, glowing skin, next-level energy/stamina (one of the many things I do “for a *living*” is help people purge/organize and I was able to do 8 hours up and down off the floor and on my feet with no problem AND come back home and cook a meal and get plentiful things done in my personal life), improved mood (I became less reactionary and felt more resilient to life being “lifey” which, at present, includes being with my parents), incredible digestion, and I felt like someone put a pin in me and debloated my entire BEING (clothes that I was last able to wear at 7 lbs less than what I am now are fitting me with ease).

Interestingly, although I temporarily lost 4 lbs in my first month, I regained them as I found myself spending a lot of time at my nephew & niece’s (I guess their parent’s) home and wound up eating a TON of their high-sugar, highly processed snacks so the really compelling part of the below images is that the change in my biomarkers was NOT due to weight loss. Basically, I ended 2021 at ~155 lbs and that is exactly what I am now. I realize to some they might find that hard to believe and uninspiring re: this way of eating because “why would anyone choose to eat this way if they don’t lose weight,” but here’s the thing. Many do – right away or eventually (go to any of the plentiful Facebook groups mentioned below like a few of my favorites: and many folks have immediate/eventual/sustained weight loss but eating whole foods, plant-based is not – simply by default – a weight loss “plan/diet.”

Moreover, no part of me began this effort to lose weight; that was the old me mindset which made everything about the scale and not about my actual well-being, so please trust that – when you have seen the images below – I am so THRILLED to know that I am positively and dramatically impacting my actual health and wellness. 

K, so here it is. Preface to understanding my bloodwork (I have included links to the bloodwork that I got and that you don’t even need to see a doctor to get below under “RESOURCES”): The data on the left is from March 15th when I felt AWFUL after having started to fold back elements of the S.A.D. into my diet, & I stopped eating meat on April 3rd (I still have animal-derived collagen in my body-composition-altering #collagencrack and gelatin in my supplements so I am not an aspiring vegan which is a 100% ethical decision), ate THREE overt eggs (I probably used to eat eggs at least 3-4X/week if not more), & dairy only a handful of times (this was HUGE because I ate dairy all the time – almost daily & sometimes several times a day).

During those 2 months, I ate in a mostly whole foods plant-based way which included plentiful fruits (which honestly gave my “all carbs are *bad,* formerly low-carb/keto self anxiety as I was certain I would gain weight and that my A1C would be off the charts), veggies, grains (so much rice & potatoes), & legumes. Keyword: mostly because I am not purist nor have I been “perfect” in this pursuit and, like I said above, I did NOT eliminate all processed food or refined sugars which is okay because I had already made a TON of huge positive changes. There was also no change to how much I was exercising or the intensity.

On that note… here’s my BLOODWORK (again, on the left is from 3/15…. I flipped the switch on how and what I ate on 4/3 and I had my second bloodwork exactly 2 months later on 6/3 so, although the time frame 2.5 months, the below demonstrates what happened from eating in this new way over just TWO MONTHS (click to see each image):

To me, this was nothing short of MIRACULOUS. Without statins, increasing my exercising, being “perfect” in what I ate, losing weight, and ANY addition of any new supplements (again, I was still taking the body composition-altering ones I always took like #collagencrack), I – for the first time in my LIFE (not even when I went down to a size ZERO) – had my total cholesterol drop in this significant way & my inflammation marker, CRP (which is associated with an increased risk of heart disease), decreasing by 62% was just  😯 .

Lastly, the 3 most surprising things to me were: 1) That my HDL (known as “good cholesterol” went UP, 2) My ApoB (also an indicator for heart disease & high Apo B correlates with a higher risk of strokes & heart attacks) decreased out of the “red” zone! 3) Whereas I was certain my A1C would have increased considering I was eating SO MANY CARBS (to be clear, they were primarily in the form of fruits, veggies, starches, & legumes), it actually went DOWN by .1 also moving from red to GREEN!

My cholesterol numbers would have probably moved a lot more had I not eaten as much dairy as I did in that first month and not eaten so many fat-laden sugary foods and snacks, so I am even more committed than ever to keep going on this journey knowing that my body is literally HEALING! (I forgot to mention that my systolic blood pressure # dropped by 20 points and my resting heart rate dropped by 10!)

Now some folks will inevitably think, “well, I don’t have high cholesterol and my body is not inflamed.” Fair enough, but our health is a long-term sum total game. Whereas I was impacted far earlier in life due to my genetics and lifestyle  (like I said, I had my first high cholesterol reading at 19 and only because I was so compelled to actually find out whereas so many people are not so inclined at such a young age so they may wrongly think they did not have a cholesterol/blood pressure/pre-diabetes/etc problem until the first time they were checked however many years later), someone else may not be until they are 50 or 60 but that doesn’t mean that the effects on one’s body have not occurred as a blood test result only tells you the first time you cognitively KNOW. Far too many people who feel “fine” and don’t have a problem with their weight (which nearly everyone sadly uses as the only or primary bar to gauge wellness), interpret themselves to be healthy, but ask any emergency medicine doctor how many “skinny/fit” people come into the ER having had a heart attack or a stroke. The answer is LOTS. Accordingly, not using one’s outward appearance or even how one feels as the only measure is so important considering that, in 1 out of 4 patients with heart disease, the first *symptom* is sudden death.

I want to mention that my eating in a new way for 4+ months does not negate a lifetime of eating in a health-harming way. Yours truly could still have a stroke or a heart attack or cancer or ANYTHING, but I am doing the most on my end – imperfectly within my present capacity as I wish to do much more – to prevent or delay those things from happening. Similarly, even a lifelong WFPB or vegan person could experience any of those things just due to genetics or the simple randomness of life but harping on those outlier examples – versus the majority of cases – is a bizarre human mindset & please trust that I LIVED in bizarro land; instead of ever folding in more fruits, veggies, healthy starches, and legumes into my diet, I’d be the whackadoodle who’d say, “Well, I know A vegan who got cancer!” as if THAT was my free pass for eating a diet that was absolutely slowly but surely killing me. Note: Many people do this for any behavior they want to justify any behavior; for example, I used to have a friend who smoked cigarettes who always (even though I never said anything to them other than “please just don’t smoke around me”) said, “my grandfather drank half a bottle of whiskey and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and lived to be 104!” Amazing story, bruh but smoking still moves MOST people expeditiously towards their death and your granddaddy was clearly genetically blessed with armor to his lifestyle but most people aren’t. Also, he could have probably lived to 120 if he hadn’t smoked!

All that being said, I did not write this in an effort to “convert you” or tell you that THIS is the WAY. You do you is my life motto for all things as “there is no one thing that works for everyone or there would be no other things.” If you think you can only get protein from animal sources (completely false & that is a FACT btw) and keto/low-carb is the way, AMAZING, although, for anyone who might be curious, I encourage you to watch Game Changers/What The Health or don’t!

& if you feel so inspired after doing so and want to make any changes, do what you CAN and feel so compelled to do. Versus all of your (all of MY) other efforts, do not obsess about being “perfect” or throwing the towel in because of whatever egregious expectations you have of yourself. &, even if you just start small – swapping out one or two meat meals for WFPB meals – that is a GREAT START! Cut out processed meats? AMAZING! Quit eating bacon? That’s huge! Reduce how much cheese you eat? Get ittttt! Do what works for YOU & call THAT good because simply incorporating more fruits, veggies, legumes, and healthy grains into your diet can make a world of difference. 

That being said, I personally felt that this experience was infinitely easier because of 2 things: First, I made huge changes FAST and went all-in on the one that I knew would be the hardest for me (meat) and just made a decision because I WANTED TO for me; if that’s not for you, cool. Had I eaten a “little bit of meat here or there,” I would have been training my palate to keep loving and craving meat whereas now I cannot personally fathom eating it ever again versus dairy which I did NOT just turn off like a light switch and is also far more addictive than meat. Second, I did NOT begin this journey by going out and buying a ton of meat/egg/dairy substitutes or frozen foods from the “Meatless” section. Yes, I do have those things on occasion, but I focused on WHOLE FOODS and as many foods as possible that have no label. Meat substitutes are an amazing thing but, in my humble opinion, they just keep you craving meat and are SO COSTLY. Note: I am editing this blog in August and, in an extreme stress situation, I did break down and eat meat (a burger specifically) and I did not enjoy it AT ALL and it made me feel terribly sick so it was easy to learn my lesson (even if I succumb to emotional eating, THAT is not at all what I want to eat) and focus on better coping mechanisms like making sure I stay consistent with #zencrack which has helped me with every aspect of my life.

As a starting point, I highly recommend watching the films that I mentioned above (plus Forks Over Knives) and Eating You Alive), joining the Forks Over Knives Facebook group (this is the one that I feel shares the most science information and success stories), Plant-Based & Vegan Recipes for Beginners, and Plant Based Health & Weight Loss Support Group by my friend, Kerryn. She offers an amazing free guide and TONS of great info that can help anyone incorporate more WFPB meals into their life irrespective of whether they are looking to lose weight or not. 

I highly recommend NOT joining a hundred “vegan/plant-based” groups” or obsessing over and saving a thousand recipes (*raises hand*). Instead, if you are so inclined to embark on this journey, start with the BASICS and keep it as simple as possible. 

On that note, if you took the time to read this blog – to me, personally, the most important one that I have ever written – THANK YOU, and, to anyone who may be interested in exploring this path further, I have included a TON of info below: books to read, films & YouTube videos to watch, people to follow, more groups once you do a deeper dive into the info, cookbooks, how to connect with me, and more!

Lastly, if you found this share of any value and feel so compelled (no obligation or pressure & just mentioning) to make a donation, I have a GoFundMe for my post-COVID healing journey which left me incapacitated and unable to work for almost a year and from which I am still continuing to heal almost 2 years later, or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

On that note, thank you again for taking the time to read and please check out the resources (including links to the bloodwork I got that you can also get without a doctor’s visit) below!

Signing off with the best of wishes to our good health whatever that may mean to each of us respectively,

RESOURCES

• Bloodwork: Although I had and still have insurance, I got a few of these tests without seeing my doctor because I COULD and it was such a huge savings re: my TIME (no waiting at the doctor’s office for extra COVID exposure and 1-2 day turnaround with results direct to you)
• Note: You will get an extra 15% off the prices below with code: SMITASHARES
  • Lipid Panel (includes total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, non-HDL, Chol/HDL ration, triglycerides): $21 (current savings of 76% off)
  • hsCRP (analyte of choice for cardiovascular risk assessment): $33 (current savings of 34% off)
  • A1C (average blood sugar over past 3 months): $22 (savings of ~56%)
  • Apo-B (powerful indicator of CAD): $35 
  • VLDL (“When high levels of VLDL are present, the conversion of VLDL to LDL is slowed and the accumulation of intermediate particles is thought to contribute to the development of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.”): $14 (current savings of 34% off)
  • ** If you got all of these tests, they would be $106.25 with the discount code ** The first 2 are the most important in my opinion, and CRP is probably the MOST important because far too many people have no idea what kind of inflammation is at play in their bodies; I didn’t until I got COVID)
• Favorite Body Composition Scale: While not focusing on weight as the primary outcome of all of your health efforts – whatever they may be respective to you – metrics around our body composition can absolutely provide valuable insight &, while I weight exactly the same, my clothes fit me completely differently; for example: my bathing suit (video on TikTok)
• How to connect with me: 1) Please be sure to follow this group where my dad and I share about wellness: Be Well With the Moons. We will also eventually be hosting webinars on various topics including those who wish to embark on being WFPB (my dad is a walking health encyclopedia and his science background is nothing short of amazing plus he gets paid $90+ to host these amazing yoga sessions in a corporate setting and will be hosting low-cost mini versions via the group) 2) You can connect with me personally on Facebook, but please bear with me as I get a lot of messages. If you want any support on your journey – as I said I’ve done over 200 hours of research and had my own powerful transformative experience – I am wonderful at providing accountability on all things. It would be my honor to help support you and we can figure out what working together would like (my personal motto is: provide the most & compelling important info that can get you going, we should not need to connect often, & being there for support without ever becoming a crutch to you all while valuing my time and yours); if reaching out for this purpose, I will prioritize you over all other messages, so please start your message with #WFPB. You can also e m a i l us at bewellwiththemoons [at] g m a i l [dot] com.
• (Disclaimer: The spoiler alert to all of these films/books is: Carbs are not the cause of heart disease; FAT is. Stop eating animal products that promote heart disease & cancer. Eat more fiber-rich foods so fruits, veggies, starches, & legumes. Someone could understand and practice those things without ever having to watch a film, read a book, join a group, or watch a video.
• Films: Forks Over Knives/What the Health/Game Changers/Cowspiracy/Seaspiracy (all free on Netflix), How Not To Die (Free on Amazon Prime), Foods That Cure Disease, At the Fork (Free on Prime), Food Inc,  Live and Let Live (from butcher to vegan chef!), Vegucated, Plant Pure Nation, Rotten (a documentary series; I have not watched it but I am going to)
• Books to read but first some disclaimers. All of these authors have similar foundational concepts – most of all that animal products are not good for you – but vary in their exact guidance. Please do NOT get caught up in their nuanced guidance as this is the case in the entire space of health and wellness; everyone has their own unique approach that they believe is right. Accordingly, consume the info they provide and then practice what resonates with you and, most importantly, can actually DO; what I mean by that is… if one doctor says something that feels too extreme for you to practice in present (like I love Dr. Esselstyn but I – in spite of reducing my added oil/butter consumption by 75% – am not going to be eating zero added oils ever), DON’T! If something one of them says does not make complete sense, go to YouTube and search for that exact topic by another one of the authors. Or let’s schedule some time together and I’m happy to try to help. Also, do not get ALL of the below books at one time and put yourself into info overload/overwhelm; check out their descriptions and see which resonates with you the most and start there, and don’t move on to another until you have fully digested that one book.
  • How Not To Die by Dr. Michael Greger – (please do not take this title literally as in you will never die  🙄 )
  • The Starch Solution by Dr. John McDougall – This book was where I started and I am so glad I did. It was so reasonable and easy to begin practicing, and I ate a TON of rice and potatoes which was very satisfying to me while also being pretty shocking.
  • Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz – “The plant-based gut health program for losing weight, restoring your health, and optimizing your microbiome”
  • Mastering Diabetes by Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro – I believe this book is a must read for anyone with Type 1, Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or Alzheimers (known as Type 3 diabetes) and, on the latter 3, even if you just have a family history for these diseases.
  • Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman
  • Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. – this is the most strict of all the books but still a good read because, even if one was to do 85% of what Dr. Esselstyn says, you’re doing a LOT for your health.
  • The Pleasure Trap by Drs. Douglas Lisle and Alan Goldhamer – this is really for people who are new to WFPB and, most importantly, feel like they want to make changes but feel literally trapped
  • The Cheese Trap by Dr. Neal Barnard (he is my favorite in this space and I, legit, just watch/listen to his videos on YouTube all day long like a huge nerd). The reviews for this book are incredible and this is a must read if you feel like you cannot remotely fathom quitting or even reducing dairy and, specifically, cheese.
• Excellent videos on dairy (which has more saturated fat than even meat which is also why so many vegetarians and, particularly, South Asians – plus the significant amount of oil we use in cooking and our unfortunate genetics which pre-dispose us to coronary artery disease – are not necessarily “healthy” and still have heart attacks, strokes, etc.):
  • Dairy and Milk Health Dangers by Dr. Vieth – This blew my mind and made me sad and mad
  • What the Dairy Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know by Dr. Neal Barnard (1.5M views)
  • The Truth About Dairy – Interview with Dr. Milton Mills (he was in “What The Health” & I loved his matter-of-fact style plus the info about how so many of us are lactose intolerant – for a REASON as we were never meant to consume the milk of cows and no other mammal consumes the milk of another mammal – but we are marketed something that literally makes us feel awful and causes negative health consequences)
• Other great videos:
  • How To Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind (2.2M views)
• Other groups:
  • McDougall Success Stories – Truly inspiring stories of people transforming their lives
  • Plant Based Health & Weight Loss Support – This is the group of my Plant-Based Coach that I am working with and she offers this incredible free guide to anyone who joins her group which is great even if you are just looking to add more WFPB meals to your diet and not go WFPB entirely 

I will do my best to keep this current with any promos, but here’s the link (codes to save right below!)

As of 3/18/22, the limited time promo (they are cutting it off after a certain amount of orders) is 30% off the ENTIRE SITE with the code: MADNESS30

You can always get 20% off with my code: smitashares

Note: A MILLION disclaimers about “weight,” words like “fat/diet,” diet culture, body image, our appearance (I value my appearance for how I appear to MYSELF), healthy lifestyle choices/changes  >>>> products, and using the stuff you already have FIRST are all on my Facebook page, but, for the sake of time, I’m not doing that right now. If you do not know my heart and my intent by now, it cannot be helped and that’s okay. 

The below 2 products – which come with a 30-day money back guarantee from the date of purchase – are AMAZING (as in… worked for me personally and I have no idea how or if they will work for you without you trying them and that, too, using them as directed) & a great starting point (sure, you could order 12 different things but you’ll have NO IDEA WHICH THING IS WORKING).

You can click on the image for any to get there directly and there is a discounted bundled offering below; note: $9 flat rate shipping:

1) Beauty Bum Anti-Cellulite Cream – Heat activated BeautyBum® works by penetrating deep into the subcutaneous layer of the skin. Once it reaches there, the active ingredients of BeautyBum® forces fatty tissues and cellulites to contract and release lipid particles into the bloodstream. With the regular use of this lotion these tissues shrink significantly and leaves your skin smoother, slimmer and healthier.

When you buy it non-bundled/a la carte, you can select any scent): $39.99. Note: It is very normal to have your turn skin red and feel hot to the touch; as with any new skin product, do a test spot first. Can be used on your abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs. 

2) Onyx Fat Burner – $39.99 (Note: 1 capsule has 100 mg of caffeine, and a serving is 2 capsules – START WITH ONE!! – and, although they say you can take a maximum of 4 capsules/day, unless you have a very high caffeine tolerance, I highly don’t recommend doing that); even if take caffeine regularly, still don’t start with 2 because it is a new-to-you product and you should always ease your way in 

• Maximize Fat Burning
• Reduce Stubborn Body Fat
• Elevate Metabolic Rate
• Decrease Appetite
• Boost Energy Levels
• Improve Recovery
• Heighten Mental Focus

3) Cardio Stack BUNDLE! Versus $78.99 for both a la carte, $72.99 (with the current 30% off $51.10 plus tax)

Once you’ve placed an order, feel free to message me on Facebook and I can help support you to have to the best possible experience with the product(s)

BLACK FRIDAY 2022 OFFER (ends Sat., 11/26 at 11:59 MT):  While supplies last, deals on Limited Edition Salted Caramel TRIM (body composition-altering tablespoon of collagen pudding):

* New customers get an additional $10 off & all products come with a 30-day money back guarantee from the day that you receive your package. 

• $20 off Salted Caramel TRIM ($79.99, reg. $99.99), plus free tablespoon
• $60 off ONE Salted Caramel & ONE Chocolate TRIM ($139.99, reg. $198.98), plus free tablespoon
• $60 off ONE Salted Caramel & ONE Vanilla TRIM ($139.99, reg. $198.98), plus free tablespoon
• $74 off Salted Caramel Lean Body System ($119.99, reg. $195.99), plus free tablespoon

For all Holiday Deals, click here & use my referral code: 6517007

Yearlong info for ordering. New customers will get an additional $10 off). All products come with a 30-day money back guarantee from the day that you receive your package. 

Step 1: Pick your first qualifying Trim Product (single bottle links are followed by their respective Lean Body Sculpting System – LBSS – link in pink)

• Chocolate Trim (this is my personal favorite and company-wide most popular flavor) & Chocolate LBSS 
• Vanilla Trim & Vanilla Trim LBSS
• Mango Trim & Mango Trim LBSS
• Coconut Lime Trim & Coconut Lime LBSS 
• Lemon Trim & Lemon Trim LBSS

Step 2: ADD TO CART (there will be an option to “subscribe and save” on this screen or later for an extra 5% off (10-15% off if you get more unique items); your next order will process on the 28th of the next month. You get text and email reminders. Can edit/cancel/re-enroll anytime)

Step 4: Enter your shipping and CC info and complete order.

Step 5: Feel free to message me on Facebook for best use info & any support in the ordering process. 

DISCLAIMERS: This is going to be the weirdest “sales” page you’ve probably ever landed on.  (If you’ve already read all of this and are just ready to learn about the products/order, scroll to the GREEN HIGHLIGHTED SECTION BELOW)

Okay, so “Collagen Crack” is what I call the collagen products – a body composition-altering pudding and a unique formulation (high-absorbency & mimics our own body) collagen – of one of the MANY companies that I love represent. I emphasize “many” because I don’t do brand/company/product “loyalty” or drunk off the kool-aid; there is simply no ONE thing that works for everyone and, if there were, there would be no other things. Furthermore, I do not put profit >>> people, so – by the time you’re done checking out the company’s website – if there are 12 supplements you want to start with, I highly recommend that you DON’T do that, because you will have NO IDEA what is actually working and you’re likely going to a terrible job taking everything. You’ve done the whole zero-to-hero/all-out-to-all-in “strategy” before where you kick off 32 “lifestyle changes” on a Monday and you know how long that enthusiasm lasts. As Beca from Pitch Perfect said, “Make good choices!”

Also… before you drop any money on supplements, are you sure you gave those other products sitting on your shelf or the program you signed up a fair chance? I’m asking because, if you didn’t, use them/do that program FIRST. I say that because – if you have a “quick fix”/”squirrel!” (just chasing the next thing that pops up into your social media) mentality without ever properly using/doing the last thing you dropped money on – not only are you wasting money (which pains my South Asian self knowing how much I have personally wasted!), you’re setting yourself up to have a similar experience because, if you really want these products to work, you need to actually use them (consistently as directed) and not stop using them if you haven’t dropped 10 lbs in one week; note: “weight” cannot even be your main metric because one of the 2 primary products that I share below INCREASES LEAN BODY MASS (which means, if your experience is like most folks’ experiences, you will become compact while becoming more physically dense)

Accordingly, if you are going to use the scale as your only metric and will not take photos (for your eyes only) and measurements, then, honestly, don’t even bother. I’m saying that because my first photo below in the pink shirt – see my waistline – was over a month’s time and NO change on the scale and, per my dad’s medical report, he lost 3″ across his waistline with his weight barely changing.

Note: If you do hear/see a story of significant weight loss, allow that to be their own experience without being disappointed if that same exact “result” doesn’t happen for you; keep in mind that they have a different body chemistry than you and you don’t know what their starting point was/what they did during. Put blinders on and run your own race, and – whatever you decide to do – do it for your actual health and wellness and not just your physical appearance as it appears to others (certainly not for a “bikini/summer” body because, well, all bodies are worthy of bathing suits and ICK to that toxic body shaming marketing); that being said, I am someone who deeply values how we appear to OURSELVES because – as I always say – “when I look good, I feel good and am then able to DO more good.”

All that being said, I deeply believe that supplements should support our wellness efforts and not become a crutch for them; in my overall experience, 70% of our longterm health and wellness is based on our lifestyle choices; yes, you’ll see stories (like my initial experience or my dad’s re: inches lost sans lifestyle changes), but I personally did not start moving towards being actually fundamentally HEALTHY and WELL until I leveled up the choices I make on a daily basis including simple choices like making healthier food choices 70-80% of the time, enjoying my life fully the other 20-30%, hydrating, making sure I get 7 hours of sleep, and moving my body more. START THERE and start small, because if you wait to start doing all of those things in tandem with buying products, you’ll have NO IDEA if it is the products or your lifestyle changes making the biggest difference (pstt, it’s probably mostly the lifestyle changes that you, as the fellow weirdo you are, did not decide to make until you decided to drop some cash on some products! #whyarewelikethis???) 

&, although both of the collagen products can be taken for perpetuity without issue (considering that our body is losing collagen every year starting around age 25), I highly recommend seeing what your own amazing non-broken body can do first all on its own.

Like I said, this is the weirdest sales page you’ve probably ever visited and that’s because, more than “making a sale”/”getting you to buy,” I genuinely just want people to feel and BE actually WELL. These products 100% support me in doing that – real talk, I very much so actively tried to replace them for lower cost options only to never find anything that worked quite the same for me – and, although the company absolutely has so many amazing products, I personally speak to 2 of them more than anything else and about 10 of them total at present.

On that note, all of the information you need to know what your options are, what to consider ordering to have the best experience possible, the guarantee, etc. is all below. Feel free to hit me up on Facebook messenger if you have any questions (please lead with the hashtag #collagencrack) or wish to be added to the online support group. 

Click on any link below to take you to the product page which will give you all the ingredients, product fact sheet, and more.   The code that gets new customers $10 off is: 6517007 

Note: None of the collagen products are vegetarian-friendly.

First, on BODY COMPOSITION: “Body composition is the ratio of fat to muscle in the body, and is often used to determine a person’s overall level of health. Because muscle is denser than fat, a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat, which is why two people with the same height and weight might have vastly different body shapes.”

TRIM (the “tablespoon of collagen pudding” per day) 

“Trim goes beyond weight management with a unique combination of advanced technologies to promote a sculpted, lean body.* Trim was awarded the 2018 Editor’s Choice for best weight management supplement by SupplySide West. This delicious version of Trim lets you indulge in a decadent chocolate flavor made with real cocoa powder and zero sugar.

Product Benefits:

• Supports fat metabolism* • Inhibits cellular fat storage* • Supports a reduction in fat cells* • Promotes a healthy body composition* • Improves muscle tone* • Restores youthful skin* • Supports joint, muscle fitness and connective tissue health* • Supports healthy hair, nails, gums and eyes*

Product Details: Trim is the only product that features an innovative, first-in-the-world combination of two leading technologies for a body transformation experience: CLA to accelerate fat reduction and Collagen/HA Matrix® Technology to improve muscle tone and restore youthful skin.* Plant-derived conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, has been clinically shown to decrease body fat. Not only does CLA support fat metabolism, it actually helps block fat transport from the bloodstream into fat cells, inhibiting fat absorption, reducing fat cell size and reducing fat cell formation. The result is a more sculpted, lean body.*

Trim also includes multi-patented, award-winning Collagen/HA Matrix Technology to promote youthful skin and flexible joints. Weight loss can cause skin to wrinkle and sag. This clinically tested technology replenishes collagen and HA, or hyaluronic acid, in a highly absorbable form, restoring youthful skin. Collagen and HA are also critical to knees, elbows, wrists and the spine where they support flexible joints and fitness performance.* Together in Trim, scientifically studied CLA and Collagen/HA Matrix Technology work potently to deliver a full body transformation experience.*”

Note: Trim is $99.99 for a 4-week supply and comes in several different flavors –> Chocolate (my favorite), Vanilla, Mango, Coconut Lime, Lemon, and (limited edition, but currently available) Blackberry which is my second favorite. From 2/28 to 3/2 (while supplies last), when you buy a bottle of Trim or a collection with Trim (more on that in a hot second), you can get Blackberry and FREE PURPLE SPOON for just $59.99 (no code; discount will apply at checkout). New customers get an extra $10 off. This is an amazing offer because you will get a 2 month supply for $160 (versus $200) and 2 months will give you a chance to really experience the product working.

LEAN BODY SCULPTING SYSTEM (LBSS):

A scientifically designed body-sculpting system with an innovative, first-in-the-world combination of technologies that accelerate fat reduction, improve muscle tone and promote lean body composition.*

Product Benefits:

• Trim (see above)
• Burn:  A science-backed thermogenic formula featuring a powerful blend of 3 fat-burning ingredients. The coastal seaweed extract fucoxanthin is combined with plant-derived berberine and the essential trace mineral chromium to activate your metabolism, reduce cravings, and shift your body into fat-burning mode.*
• Activate: A monthly 3-day detox formulated with organically grown aloe vera to naturally eliminate toxins, plus apple pectin and psyllium seed husk for added fiber. This formula helps ignite digestive energy, making the perfect complement to a fat loss regimen.

Together, these 3 products optimize your fat-burning metabolism, promote a leaner body composition and rejuvenate cellular health for a full body transformation experience.*

LBSS is $195 value for a bundled discounted price of $159.99 (again, $10 off for new customers); this system will qualify you to get Blackberry Trim for $59.99 (add both to your cart) plus the free spoon; you could even start with just Trim and then, on month two, start with LBSS.

LBSS comes in the following flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Lemon, Coconut Lime, Mango, & Blackberry.

LIQUID BIOCELL  Note: A one-month supply is TWO BOTTLES and formulations CAN BE mix and matched!

Visible signs of aging and joint discomfort can be a result of natural wear and tear of connective tissue, where both collagen and hyaluronic acid (HA) are essential. Liquid BioCell® replenishes these important substances and is clinically shown to work. The multi-patented power of Collagen/ HA Matrix® Technology offers a unique deliver system that provides fast absorption and results by counteracting skin photoaging, supporting joint and muscle fitness and connective tissue health, restoring youthful skin, and supporting healthy hair, nails, gums and eyes. Liquid BioCell® is so remarkable that it has been awarded 7 U.S. and international patents and multiple industry awards. It has been featured on NBC, Good Morning America and Fox News.*

It comes in FIVE formulations – one is limited edition – with Biocell Life being the most popular one.

• Liquid Biocell LIFE: Supernutraceutical with award-winning Liquid BioCell®, an ingredient that is clinically shown to promote healthy aging, active joints and younger-looking skin.*
  • Product Benefits: Provides 13 phytonutrient-rich superfoods + resveratrol. Improves joint mobility & lubrication*/Reduces joint discomfort/Promotes healthy cartilage & connective tissue/Decreases skin dryness/Improves skin’s hydration, firmness & elasticity/Increases skin’s collagen content/Reduces hyaluronidase, the enzyme that can make your skin age/ Supports cardiovascular health*/Promotes healthy hair, nails, gums & eyes*/Great-tasting natural fruit flavor/ No added sugar/Gluten-free/Dairy-free. 15 calories per serving, 3g carbs
• Liquid Biocell SKIN:
  • Product benefits: Look younger, and stay that way longer with the patented, award winning science of Collagen/HA Matrix® Technology plus ceramides and 17 phytonutrient-rich foods including pomegranate, bamboo, and green tea, all in a unique, fast-acting liquid delivery system. Liquid BioCell® Skin delivers clinically studied, effective ingredients and results. Reduces wrinkles from the inside out/Increases skin’s collagen content/Virtually eliminates dryness/Improves skin’s microcirculation, hydration, skin tone and firmness/Promotes healthy hair, nails, gums and eyes*Improves joint mobility and lubrication/Reduces joint discomfort/Improves muscle tone. Dairy free. 10 calories per serving, 2g carbs
• Liquid Biocell SPORT
  • Product benefits: Take your sport to the next level with the award-winning, patented science of Collagen/HA Matrix® Technology, BCAAs and L-carnitine plus 9 phytonutrient-rich superfoods all in a unique, fast-acting liquid delivery system. Joint discomfort can be a result of natural wear and tear of connective tissue where collagen and hyaluronic acid are essential. NSF Certified. Fuels physical and mental performance/Promotes healthy tendons, joints, muscles and ligaments/Reduces joint discomfort/Stimulates muscle cell recovery/Enhances muscle tone/Promotes healthy cartilage and connective tissue/Supports energy, stamina and mental focus/Protects skin’s hydration, firmness and elasticity. Non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free. 10 calories per serving, 2g carbs
• Liquid Biocell PURE
  • This is simply the unique Liquid Biocell + Hyularonic Acid complex without anything so it has zero sugar, zero carbs, and zero calories. Improves joint mobility & lubrication/Reduces joint discomfort/Promotes healthy cartilage & connective tissue/Reduces the appearance of wrinkles/Decreases skin dryness/Improves skin’s hydration, firmness & elasticity/Increases skin’s collagen content/Reduces hyaluronidase, the enzyme that can make your skin age/Improves microcirculation in the skin/Promotes healthy hair, nails, gums & eyes/Sugar-free zero calories/Gluten-free/Great-tasting natural fruit flavor
• Liquid Biocell IMMUNE (limited edition)
  • Product Benefits: Liquid BioCell Immune combines the multi-patented power of Liquid BioCell with the added benefits of our exclusive Modere TriPlex Immune Complex™ in a unique liquid delivery system for fast absorption and results. Elderberry, zinc and 13 phytonutrientrich superfoods work together to bolster your immune system, and support respiratory and cardiovascular health. Improves joint mobility & lubrication/Reduces joint discomfort/Reduces wrinkles from the inside out/Improves skin’s hydration, firmness and elasticity/Promotes healthy hair, nails, gums and eyes/Bolsters your immune system/Supports respiratory & cardiovascular health/Boosts vitality. Non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free. 15 calories per serving, 3g carbs

RANDOM STUFF I LOVE: 

Standing Desk (EB): https://amzn.to/3BkzJ6m

Standing Desk (SC): https://amzn.to/3BpNHE1

Standing Desk with drawer (40% off): https://amzn.to/3wW8FH6

Massager: https://amzn.to/3yXwC2c

Digital Scale Options:

• Petite (smaller stature), Lightweight, WiFi & bluetooth-enabled: https://amzn.to/3ipbLhV
• Larger (includes “body *age*”), wider based, bluetooth-enabled: https://amzn.to/3r727US

Treadmill: https://amzn.to/3bYu3nH 

Digital Kettle (this is the one we have at home and have used and loved for years): https://amzn.to/3p4VZf3

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post. 

I will update this properly later (writing 5 other blogs has taken its toll on me, so, for now, copying & pasting some key parts – the beginning and end – to all of my COVID blogs) and dropping a few quick links.

Note: The beginning of this is copied and pasted from all of my other COVID blogs, because it is simply too much for me to have to try to change simply for the sake of making each blog different; I’m not trying to impress people but help them, so I’m not worry about all of that. Accordingly, feel free to just skip past this part if you’ve already seen it before.

If you are seeing this in passing, please be sure to bookmark or copy and paste this link to a note on your phone: https://www.smitashares.com/covidhairloss/

Just like my other blogs, this, too, is purely anecdotal based on my own experience with COVID and that of others. Please consult with your physician before doing ANYTHING as it relates to any aspect of your health and especially your care as it relates to COVID. Also, as I did in my previous COVID-related blogs (& will be repeated in every blog as it relates to this topic), I am also going to ask in advance that – if you derive any benefit/value from this info – that you please consider making a donation (any amount helps) towards my fundraising efforts in this GoFundMe; it was no small thing to feel how I have been feeling and put all of this together (6 different blogs), and, more than anything else, I am sharing personal health information (& that, too, as a South Asian where the crux of our existence is “what will other people think”) that most would never share in a public manner for the benefit of others.

& I am sharing because – had my only communication been with the healthcare practitioner from the private testing center who called to inform me that I tested positive – the only information I would have received would have been, “take Tylenol for a fever” and nothing else (including no mention of the possible aftermath of COVID known as #longcovid or #longhaulers), and that experience was COMMON. I did a survey in one of the groups I am in and 80+% of people said they were not told to do one of the (or at least so I believe) most important things when diagnosed with COVID.

Thankfully, that was not my experience as it relates to #acuteCOVID, and I spoke to at least 6 different healthcare practitioners who all offered advice for our care (I gave COVID to my mom; full story in this #videoshare). However, I had NO IDEA that so many people experience an entire slew of long-term effects following their acute/active COVID experience until about 2 weeks after I thought I was done with COVID, the aftermath badness hit me like a freight train which resulted in me ending up on Le Google and, for the first time, even learning about “Long COVID/Long Haulers.”

On that note, let us dive right in!

*End copy & paste*

The premise of this blog is confronting the idea of dying (without it becoming an all-consuming or depressing thing, but just coming to terms with REALITY) and doing the bare minimum to both prepare loved ones in case you die and also have your last wishes and such be honored.

I personally made a super ghetto “Woops, I died” folder and put it into a sealed enveloped that was literally marked WOOPS I DIED and told my brother and best friend where it was and what it included (passwords, account info, recurring billing info, insurance policy info, credit card info, people to invite to my funeral, last wishes, etc.)

There are other people far more clever than me who came up with the following:

• Get It Together 
• I’m Dead Now What?

Will share more later, but, for now, copying & pasting what I shared at the end of every COVID blog:

Lastly…

A REQUEST: If you have derived any benefit from the above, I am kindly asking you to please consider making a small donation to my fundraising efforts here (I am recovering financially from being a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month dating relationship in which I was held hostage and suffocated and then spent $60,000 in the legal battle and aftermath while also being laid off 5 times in 3 years). Again, as a “cosmic/energetic/spirtual/good karma” thank you for me taking the time/making the effort to do the #videoshare and all of these blogs which – while I am still recovering from COVID – took everything out of me to do. Any amount – no matter how small – helps and you can donate to the GoFundMe directly or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

A few final things:

1. If you are not the kind of person to doom scroll or obsess but want to see the experiences of those who are newly diagnosed or living through #longcovid/#longhaulers, then check out the following Facebook groups (sharing in order of my favorites): Coronavirus Experience and Recovery, Survivor Corps, Long Hauler Advocacy Project
2. I will be hosting wellness webinar with my dad (who stayed in close proximity with us both just prior to our being symptomatic and testing positive but did not get COVID). Note: We will be sharing everything he did – including things not in my blogs – at length, but we are not suggesting that these things were the absolute reasons he did not get COVID. How he lives his life is actually great for one’s overall health and wellness (he made a massive permanent & consistent lifestyle change – that included losing 20 lbs – following a brain aneurysm he had back in 1998). If you are interested in taking part in these, please just message me on Facebook starting your message with #DaddyMoonWellness; there will be a suggested donation (all funds going towards my personal fundraising efforts) for these webinars but anyone who is not able to afford making a donation can absolutely attend for free. You can also email at daddymoonwellness(at)gmail[dot]com
3. If you feel you need support/accountability (like someone to make sure you are doing all the things you have decided you need to be doing/checking in on you), please also message me on Facebook starting your message with #CovidCareCoach. Note: this is something that I will be charging a nominal amount for (as a commitment to myself of honoring my time as having value). You can also email me at covidcarecoach[at]gmail[dot]com.
4. In addition to making a donation if you are able, please kindly consider sharing my #videoshare on Facebook or these blogs for the benefit of others. The more people we spare from getting COVID or suffering the worst should they get it/after getting it, the better it is for all of us, because – as I truly believe – “what happens to one of us happens to all of us.”

Thanks for taking the time to read and be and stay well,

Check out some of my other Favorite Things!

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post. 

If you are seeing this in passing, please be sure to bookmark or copy and paste this link to a note on your phone: https://www.smitashares.com/ifyougetcovid/

Just like my last blog, “Avoid Getting COVID,” this, too, is purely anecdotal based on my own experience with COVID and that of others. Please consult with your physician before doing ANYTHING as it relates to ANY aspect of your health and especially your care as it relates to COVID. Also similarly to my last blog (& will be repeated in every blog as it relates to this topic), I am also going to ask in advance that – if you derive any benefit/value from this info – that you please consider making a donation (any amount helps) towards my fundraising efforts in this GoFundMe; it was no small thing to feel how I have been feeling and put all of this together (6 different blogs) and I am sharing personal health information (& that, too, as a South Asian where the crux of our existence is “what will other people think”) that most would never share in a public manner for the benefit of others.

& I am sharing because – had my only communication been with the healthcare practitioner from the private testing center who called to inform me that I tested positive – the only information I would have received would have been, “take Tylenol for a fever” and nothing else, and that experience was COMMON. I did a survey in one of the groups I am in and 80+% of people said they were not told to do one of the (or at least so I believe) most important things when diagnosed with COVID.

Thankfully, that was not my experience, and I spoke to at least 6 different healthcare practitioners who all offered advice for our care (I gave COVID to my mom; full story in this #videoshare).

First and foremost, how you feel is valid. Scared, anxious, upset, angry. All of it. V A L I D. However, you must honor your feelings and then have them inspire you to ACTION because – & I cannot emphasize this enough – COVID is NOT LIKE THE FLU (revert back to my blog post re: why or see this and this). In short, COVID has the potential to wreak havoc on all of your body’s organs/systems far beyond what you would be obvious or expected. Google “cytokine storm” if you’re really into the science of it and “COVID long haulers” if you want to know about what many experience in the aftermath of COVID which – in hindsight – is something I knew about at all so it would have been something I was actively seeking to avoid (versus just surviving and, so I thought, “clearing COVID”)

& I am sharing all of the above NOT to “freak you out,” but, honestly, because I wish I was a little more aware as I knew NOTHING otherwise.

What you absolutely need (having these things in advance is ideal) & please note: I am making (anecdotal/based on the experiences of others & subject to change) product recommendations that I do, if you purchase via the link provided (which I hope you will consider doing in support of me doing this share considering how I have been feeling), earn a few cents from; however, you can find these things nearly everywhere.

• Oximeter – measures your oxygen level in your blood; “a healthy blood level of ‘oxygen saturation’ normally measures 95-100% on a pulse oximeter, and readings lower than 90% are considered dangerously low.” (Source). It is important to have the oximeter because, as per Dr. Len Horowitz, “Recent clinical reports reveal that patients with COVID-19 may have significant oxygen desaturation—less than 8%—and yet appear conversant, and not breathless. For this reason, it would be helpful if those patients were able to monitor their oxygen saturation so that if they dipped down to the mid-80s or lower, they could use supplemental oxygen [at a hospital]” This state – known as “happy hypoxia” – means that a person may not always present with the more obvious shortness of breath (if you present with this symptom, contact your doctor or seek emergency care) but could have low oxygen levels.
  • Per this Yale Medicine article, “If you do have a pulse oximeter and are checking your oxygen levels, it’s important to know that a level between 95 and 97% is considered normal by the American Lung Association; anything below that would be a reason to call a doctor, and anything under 90% would be a reason to go to the emergency room.
  • A few things to note: You want to wait a few minutes for a proper reading (my reading scared the heck out of me when it started some days but then landed at 99% a few minutes later), &, if you have nail polish on, your readings could be off. Also, if you are reading this and don’t have one, ask in your local friend/family circle/community group as someone may have one that you can borrow (this is an item easily sanitized).
    • There are truly a MILLION options on Amazon (all with great reviews), so I am sharing the ones that we have in our family/that I know doctor friends have recommended
      • Zacurate – $19.95 (47,825 reviews)
      • LPOW – $26.95 (10,000+ reviews); includes “perfusion index” (I don’t know what that is, & I’m not going to look it up)
      • Beurer – $46.82 (268 ratings; tracks data to your phone, only 19 left at time of writing)
    • Again, I cannot say this enough: do not get caught up in which one or the best one. Just get one.
• Thermometer – since fever is a key symptom of contagion and a fever beyond a certain threshold can be dangerous, it is imperative to have a thermometer.
  • Note: On fevers, I cannot speak on what you should do or what the threshold of concern is, so please see here for ranges and recommendations on when to see further care. I can speak to the fact that my first symptom was chills followed by a temp reading of 99.9 (my normal is almost always exactly 98.6). The doctor who informed me that I tested positive said to only worry if I had a temperature of 101 or higher. My temperature never went above 100.4 and, although I did take Tylenol one or two times, I let my fever run and it always self-resolved. See here or Google “are fevers good for you” to learn more about the approach that I learned from a friend who informed me that she doesn’t treat fevers unless severe as it means that your body is doing the work to fight off infection.
    • I’m old school and prefer under-tongue thermometers, so here ya go:
      • Femometer: $6.79 (58% off); with memory recall
      • Braun Digital Ear for kids, babies, toddlers: $38.45
      • Chooseen forehead thermometer: $22.99

You may or may not experience a slew of common symptoms like headache, fever, loss of smell/taste, fatigue, cough, etc. and I obviously cannot speak to the management of all of them, but these are the things that I believe are the most important.

• Know that everything you will be doing now is not just to prevent dying from COVID, but to also prevent/minimize long-term side effects (experiencing “Long COVID” or “Long Haulers.” As I go over at length in my For Long COVID/Long Haulers blog, you – even if you start feeling better – need to act as if you have COVID for, at a minimum, the next 90 days. I strongly advise against reverting to whatever your normal was because many who have (self-included) have suffered tremendously thinking that “they kicked COVID and were back to good again.” Accordingly, you want to do the most possible – considering what you are able to do (not obsessing/freaking out if you cannot do all of the below) – keeping your long-term health in mind after recovering from COVID which is why I highly recommend reading my blog on long COVID.
  • If you need visual proof of the long-term impacts of COVID… the first 2 pictures are snapshots from live videos I did in August and November – in the same lighting albeit different times of the day- and both with no face/skin makeup as with the third), but my hair, skin, and nails all changed drastically.
• Keep a log of symptoms. I personally created a Google doc (I also have the DOCS app on my phone) where I tracked everything for me and my mom and emailed it to my brother and best friend with the intent being that, god forbid things escalated, then our course of illness would be fully documented (including onset of first symptoms, medications/supplements taken, and how we were feeling).
• Self-isolate. If you are in a home with others (fully understanding every precaution may be difficult to take depending on your living situation), the infected person must quarantine. If you can, seal your vents with foil (this may be extra, but it is a thing & we did it), open the windows in your home to let air circulate through to reduce the potential viral load that others will be exposed to (use a space heater if you have one), stay in your quarantined space, and avoid sharing a bathroom with anyone who has not tested positive. If you must be in common spaces for any reason make sure that you and everyone else is masked and that you are sanitizing common high-touch surfaces.
• Hydrate – this is an obvious one but most of us fail to do this enough as it is and fail to do so, even more, when we are feeling crappy but I cannot emphasize the importance of hydration enough, so read it from the experts: “Nutrition and Hydration are centra to COVID Recovery”. If you can get something like the low sugar options below to replenish electrolytes, that would be ideally but WATER IS ALSO GREAT.
  • Body Armour Lyte Peach Mango (Pack of 12, $12)
  • Body Armour Lyte Blueberry Pomegranate (Pack of
  • Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier: $23.98 plus 10% off at time of writing
  • HiLyte Electrolyte supplement: $19.94
  • Dr. Berg’s Original Electrolyte Powder: $34.15
• Move as you are able. Straight up pretty scary real talk: COVID can cause blood clots & they can happen in your micro blood vessels and hardly ANYONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS as something that all COVID patients should be trying to prevent. My cardiologist who I am now seeing for #longhaulersyndrome (side note: I own that domain name & was very pleased with myself for getting it!) said that the best way to avoid any major problems due to blood clotting is to engage in physical activity, so… even though you may not feel like it, if you are able, walk outside with a mask for 10-20 minutes. Or just around your room/in the hallway. Stretch or do a yoga video. SOMETHING.
• Actually REST. I know it is tempting to just doom scroll/research/zone out on your phone or computer (if you experience what I did with my eyes after, you may really consider refraining from staring at a screen), but aim for as much as genuinely restorative rest as humanly possible.
  • On this, you also want to lay prone (on your stomach) as much as possible. Read here for more, but, essentially, laying prone helps oxygen get into your lungs versus you lying on your back and compressing them. This was hard for me but I did it as much as I could, and it kept me off of my phone.
• Ask for help. Let some trusted people around you know that you got COVID so that someone can check in on you once or twice a day via the phone or possibly drop off food/pick up prescriptions/anything else. Note: Help may even – depending on your circumstance – mean help paying for the things you need immediately for your care, and, considering the context (& although an uncomfortable thing for anyone to do), I encourage you to ask for whatever help you may need.
• Make sure you eat. This might seem obvious but your body needs nutrition (see below) to fight off infection and this may be something that doesn’t feel intuitive when someone might have lost their sense of smell and taste. I personally ate lots of Campbells products and Indian lentils and rice.
• Eat an anti-inflammatory (Ideally WFPB = whole foods plant based; see this blog)/anti-histamine diet. The real jerk of COVID is that – in your body doing the most to fight off the virus – your body kicks off a next-level inflammatory response which you want to quell as it what is believed to largely contribute to possible long hauling effects. Do NOT do what I did. A lot of people lose their appetite because they lose their sense of taste, but I did NOT, so – in addition to what I ate above – I ALSO ATE MY FEELINGS. In fact, I felt ravenous (I’m sure some kinda emo coping thing) and ate all kinds of regrettable things. If you can, avoid things like sugar, fried food, processed foods, gluten, dairy, and caffeine (this is a biggie to stop both because it dehydrates & because it is high in histamine). I know, NO FUN but you are not only trying to clear COVID but also trying to minimize the long-term effects of the virus. (Please Google “anti-inflammatory/anti-histamine” diets to learn more; I’m sorry that I cannot make this as comprehensive as I’d like but just doing this is a lot for me based on how I am feeling)
• Continue taking your supplements & teas (please see “Avoid Getting COVID” post for my recommendations on Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, other supplements – please pay attention to what I said about the importance of collagen, & teas; increase the dose of Vitamin C and Vitamin D); note: I see COVID as a multi-layered thing… doing the most to avoid getting COVID… and, then, god forbid you get it, doing those things plus the below added things… and, finally, if you have lingering symptoms, doing all of those things and even more as outlined here)
  • Many healthcare practitioners suggest increasing your Vitamin D (please consult with your physician as Vitamin D is not recommended for everyone and anything over 4,000 IU should be taken with physician supervision).
    • This is what I personally took after getting COVID: Vitamin D 10000 IU with all 3 types of Vitamin K
    • Note: If you know me personally, in any other context outside of COVID, I would NEVER (for example, in the context of weight management products I share) suggest that anyone take so many things at once because – when you do so – you really have no idea what exactly is making the most difference, but, with COVID, I have adopted a “throw the whole kitchen sink at it (& hope for the best)” approach keeping in mind that, again, everything I am sharing is anecdotal and based on my experience/the experiences of others. 
• Take baby aspirin (this would be contraindicated in some people based on many factors, so, again, consult with your doctor as anything you do/try is – to be frank – on you). “Up to 70% of patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus experience hypercoagulability, and about 25% of patients admitted to the ICU with the disease develop pulmonary embolisms. A growing number of reports indicate that stroke is a common—and sometimes presenting—symptom of COVID-19.” (source). Aspirin is an anticoagulant so you are taking it for the same reason mentioned above: preventing blood clots. Good to read: Aspirin May Help Prevent Serious COVID 19 Complications (this was the thing that 80% in that group – that now consists mostly of long haulers – was not even told)
  • Health A2Z, 300 tablets, $7.95
  • Rite Aid Chewable Cherry Flavor (3 bottles, 36 each); $11.99
• Because I can only handle so much time in front of a screen, please kindly read this (linked multiple times as a source) to learn the role of many of the things that I have mentioned above and am about to mention right below.
  • Melatonin – “Melatonin is best known and most commonly used to boost sleep and reduce anxiety, both of which improve the immune system. It also blocks inflammasome activity, reducing inflammation in the lungs, and it reduces the risk of fibrosis, one of the most challenging complications for patients who have had COVID-19.” I believe Melatonin is SO IMPORTANT. Although I took it during COVID and had great sleep (I normally have good sleep), my mom kept taking it for weeks after and she fared so much better than I did in the aftermath.
    • Natrol 5 mg fast dissolve: $11.99, Amazon’s Choice
    • Natrol 10 mg fast dissolve: $11.49
    • Natrol Advanced, 10 mg time-released: $10.31
  • Famotidine (reduced risk of mortality; read here). Also here
    • Basic Care – 20 mg, 200 count, $9.88 (You want to take 40 mg/day)
  • Quercetin – “Quercetin has shown preclinical benefit as an antiviral medication, and a Chinese study found that it bound with the spike protein in the novel coronavirus, reducing its ability to infect cells. Like Vitamin C, it has antioxidant effects.” (Source)
    • Jarrow’s (the brand that was recommended to me & that I am presently taking): 500 mg, 200 capsules, $40.08
    • Source Naturals (has Quercetin, Vitamin C, Magnesium, & Bromelain)
    • Thorne (I love this brand in general) Phytosomal Quercetin (higher absorption): $36, 60 capsules
    • Amazing Nutrition (Quercetin + Bromelain; read here) – 120 capsules, $19.99
  • CDP Choline – Why?
    • Jarrow’s (what I am taking) – 250 mg, 120 capsules, $28.30 (49% off)
    • Nutricost: 300 mg, 60 capsules, $16.95
  • Niacin – “Vitamin B3 (niacin or nicotinamide) “is highly effective in preventing lung tissue damage,” the journal study states, suggesting that it “might be a wise approach to supply this food supplement to the COVID-19 patients (Source). Note: I was not taking niacin during my acute experience with COVID but wish I had been.
  • For these next 3 supplements, please see this article; if you can only take one, then just take the first one.
    • In the article Dr. Horowitz recommends “600 mg of NAC two to three times a day; 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid once or twice a day (the higher dose can cause reactive hypoglycemia in sensitive individuals); and 250 to 500 mg of glutathione twice a day—as a preventive measure against COVID-19”
  • NAC (N-acetylcysteine) – Why? (I was not taking NAC or the 2 items mentioned below  during my acute COVID and so wish I had known about them then or at least immediately after)
    • Jarrow’s Sustain (what I am taking now) – $14.55
    • Pure Encapsulations – $29.40
    • Thorne – $25.00
  • Glutathione – See here and here for more info about the importance of glutathione
    • Jarrow’s (what I am taking now) – $34.18
    • NOW (this has milk thistle & 50 mg of alpha-lipoic acid in it) – $20.87
    • Welluxa (liposomal glutathione) – $34.97
  • Alpha-Lipoic Acid – See here and here for more info about the importance of ALA.
    • Jarrow’s (what I am taking now) – 60 count, $14
    • Nutricost – 240 capsules, $19.89
    • NOW – 120 capsules, $21.35
• Deep breathing exercises. Just like the point about trying to rest/sleep pronated, you want to do the most to get oxygen into the deepest parts of your lungs. & you can use a device like the below (what I used; what others used) to do so OR just follow this video or other plentiful YouTube links.
  • The Breather: $39.95 (this is what I used personally)
  • Health & Yoga Deep Breathing Exerciser: $17.99
• Mental health. Do whatever makes you feel good. Listen to relaxing music, an audiobook, journal, do yoga, or anything else. The below is what I used 2-3X daily:
  • www.zencrack.com – This is a wellness gadget that I describe as equal parts meditation, therapy, & hypnosis. Via binaural waves/brainwave entrainment, an impression is made deep on your subconscious and there are sessions for every aspect of what ails the human condition (my life has improved significantly since first learning of the device) but, specific to COVID, I listened to sessions focused on “immunity, healing, & relaxation.” & I can say that I was perfectly calm and lucid – while being able to manage both my and my mom’s care – during my active experience with COVID.
• In the “Avoid Getting COVID” blog, I talked about heat therapy and massage as preventative things one could do, and I want to reiterate: do not get massages or use a massager if you are running a fever. Similarly, I don’t know if baking in a sauna is your best life choice if already running a fever. Keywords: I don’t know.
• Get some basic life things in order. Now, this may depress some people but this is something that we should ALL do/have done before the thought of dying prematurely due to a global pandemic crosses our minds but see www.woopsidied.com for my personal approach.
• LASTLY, if you are seeing this towards the end of your experience with acute COVID…
  • DO NOT RESUME AN (IF YOUR NORMAL) INFLAMMATORY DIET OR EXERCISE ROUTINE!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. They say that anywhere from 30-50% of people who get COVID – even the mildest case like I had – suffer from long haulers syndrome, and, as you will see in my blog, www.forlonghaulers.com, I suffered TREMENDOUSLY (like thinking I would never feel like myself again) for 10 MONTHS (which included 2 ER visits and plenty times where I thought I was going to die or, real talk, just wanted to be put out of my misery; note: I would NEVER do anything to myself but I also could not fathom that being the rest of my life.
  • Accordingly, I recommend that people act like they COVID is still in their system (“viral debris” likely is plus your body just fought off a really serious infection) for the next 3-6 months; I truly believe that resuming my normal diet and intense exercise because I “felt back to normal/fine” right after my 2 weeks of quarantine set me on a path to suffer for much longer than I had to.
  • For more information, see my blog mentioned above.

All that being said, none of the above is a comprehensive list nor is it any of it me suggesting that you heed my advice over that of a medical practitioner. Please do not do that. However, I believe that both my mom and I (see my full COVID #videoshare for the story) fared as well as we did through COVID and my mom after (she continued the supplements) because we were taking and doing everything that we did as she had pre-existing conditions and I’ve had lung health issues in the past  (prone to bronchitis and even had full-blown lung surgery in 2012 following severe pneumonia where I had 1.5 liters of fluid on my left lung).

REQUEST: If you have derived any benefit from the above, I am kindly asking you to please consider making a small donation to my fundraising efforts here.(I am recovering financially from being a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month dating relationship in which I was held hostage and suffocated and then spent $60,000 in the legal battle and aftermath while also being laid off 5 times in 3 years). Again, as a “cosmic/energetic/spirtual/good karma” thank you for me taking the time/making the effort to do the #videoshare and all of these blogs which – while I am still recovering from COVID – took everything out of me to do. Any amount – no matter how small – helps and you can donate to the GoFundMe directly or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

All funds will be going towards my COVID recovery, moving out of my home, and, hopefully, when I recover, my big dream of becoming a mom one day. p.s. – If you are a family friend/relative reading all of this and think, “I should actively reach out to Smita’s family – mom, dad, bro, or SIL – re: her having had COVID/how she is feeling to show I care,” thank you for your care, but PLEASE KINDLY DON’T. Everyone’s plates are full and heavy, and I assure you that we trust you are sending your love and care without actually sending it.

A few final things:

1. If you are not the kind of person to doom scroll or obsess but want to see the experiences of those who are newly diagnosed or living through #longcovid/#longhaulers, then check out the following Facebook groups (sharing in order of my favorites): Coronavirus Experience and Recovery, Survivor Corps, Long Hauler Advocacy Project
2. Other blogs I wrote on the topic: www.avoidgettingcovid.com,  www.forlonghaulers.com, www.covidbrain.com, www.covidhairloss.com 
3. In addition to making a donation if you are able, please kindly consider sharing my #videoshare on Facebook or these blogs for the benefit of others. The more people we spare from getting COVID or suffering the worst should they get it/after getting it, the better it is for all of us, because – as I truly believe – “what happens to one of us happens to all of us.”

Thanks for taking the time to read and be and stay well,

Check out some of my other Favorite Things!

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post. 

Note: I updated this in November 2022, so 2 years after I had the mildest case of COVID which resulted in living through long haulers hell – made infinitely worse by getting the vaccine (J&J in April 2020; I fully support people getting vaxxed but it personally next level messed me up) – for almost 10 months and feeling grateful to be able to say that I am now over a year into feeling 100% most days; there are some days where I will feel a symptom re-emerge (like a sensation in my right temple that can’t even be called a headache but is unpleasant nonetheless) and I am still dealing with changes to my hair in spite of my hair being 75% better than the absolute worst of things (www.covidhairloss.com)

On that note, into the blog on my long haulers experience. If you’ve seen some of my other blogs on the topic, you’ll see that the beginning of this is copied and pasted from my “If You Get COVID” blog, because it is simply too much for me to have to try to change simply for the sake of making each blog different; I’m not trying to impress people but help them. Accordingly, feel free to just skip past this part if you’ve already seen it before.

If you are seeing this in passing, please be sure to bookmark or copy and paste this link to a note on your phone: https://www.smitashares.com/forlongcovid

Just like my last 2 blogs, “Avoid Getting COVID” & “If You Get COVID” this, too, is purely anecdotal based on my own experience with COVID and that of others. Please consult with your physician before doing ANYTHING as it relates to any aspect of your health and especially your care as it relates to COVID. Also, as I did in my previous COVID-related blogs (& will be repeated in every blog as it relates to this topic), I am also going to ask in advance that – if you derive any benefit/value from this info – that you please consider making a donation (any amount helps) towards my fundraising efforts in this GoFundMe; it was no small thing to feel how I had been feeling and put all of this together (6 different blogs) in the wake of such an impossibly trying time, and, more than anything else, I am sharing personal health information – & that, too, as a South Asian where the crux of our existence is “what will other people think” – that most would never share in a public manner for the benefit of others.

& yet I am choosing TO SHARE because – had my only communication been with the healthcare practitioner from the private testing center who called to inform me that I tested positive – the only information I would have received would have been, “take Tylenol for a fever” and nothing else (including no mention of the possible aftermath of COVID known as #longcovid or #longhaulers)

I had NO IDEA that so many people – irrespective of how mild or severe their case of COVID was – experienced an entire slew of long-term effects following their acute/active COVID experience until about 2 weeks after I thought I was done with COVID; the badness in the aftermath hit me like a freight train which resulted in me ending up on Le Google and, for the first time, even learning about “Long COVID/Long Haulers.”

On that note, let us dive right in!

What is “Long Haulers?”

“Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms can last weeks or months for some people. These patients, given the name long haulers, have in theory recovered from the worst impacts of COVID-19 and have tested negative. However, they still have symptoms. There seems to be no consistent reason for this to happen.”

Re: symptoms (copying and pasting from my “Avoid Getting COVID” blog so if you have read this before skip ahead until you see BLUE)…

Up to 30% (my neurologist – that’s a spoiler alert right there and I’m 41 years old if you’re wondering – said up to 80% :-() suffer lingering/long-term/(presently unknown but possibly) experiencing lingering/even permanent impacts of COVID as it can ravage the entire body’s organs and systems and result in MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome); whether COVID causes MCAS or just looks like it for a bunch of people who endure COVID is beyond my level of knowledge but see here for more). Or just join any of the COVID groups at the bottom of this blog and scroll through the posts (or just Google “Long Haulers” or “Long COVID” or COVID long-term effects), and you will see that there is not a single (seemingly random to you at present) symptom that is NOT listed.

Here are just some off the top of my head that people experienced/are experiencing anywhere from 2 weeks to THREE YEARS after COVID (people 100% had this in December 2019 if not months earlier; my cardiologist said he believes it was here as early as August): tachycardia (racing heart), shortness of breath/ongoing low oxygen, fatigue, brain fog, cognitive issues (comparable to dementia), impaired vision/taste/smell/proprioception/hearing, (new-to-them) mental health issues (anxiety, depression, & more), physical impairment/debilitation (loss of balance, joint issues), hair loss/hair texture changes, skin changes, loss of teeth (straight up falling out of people’s mouths), nervous system issues, ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION (I love Dr. Fauci but home doctor really needed to mention this when telling people they needed to wear masks; link from Cleveland Clinic), fertility issues, strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, blood clots in the brain/lungs, stroke, heart attack, and SO. MUCH. MORE.

Real talk, I love the COVID support groups provided me so much value/emo support and I truly wish I knew about them earlier, but being in them also (hyper-empathy plus imagining every worst outcome possible) became depressing as all get out, so I had to unfollow and only go to them when I need information or am in the mind space where I can (in a healthy way and not to my own detriment) scroll and offer my own insight/experiences.

Back to the aforementioned list of badness… The molecular structure of COVID’s spike protein can – as a result of the “cytokine storm” and the body’s excessive immune response – end up causing damage to the brain, heart, lungs, organs at large which include your gut, muscles, bones, blood vessels, and more. Will everyone experience this impact? No, but, this is IN. MY. OPINION. the truthiest truth… Most folks who test positive for COVID and were symptomatic during or after now have a pre-existing condition, and the medical world will not be able to make correlative/causative statements about the long-term impact for a long time (for example, blood clots in the brain were found in people who died of COVID after AUTOPSY). In other words, let’s say the child/teenager/< 30s person – or anyone of any age including yours truly – who had COVID experiences ANYTHING in the future related to their health, will never know what, if any, impact COVID had.

Honestly, I have had to block that thought out of my mind in order to not spiral (& trust me, I had my spiral moments when it seems like how I felt would be my forever state) into depression and paralysis. &, now, because I am feeling anywhere from 95% like my pre-COVID self (while honoring how deeply so many are still suffering), I’m just telling myself that all is okay/will be okay even though I will never really know how COVID changed the course of my life as it relates to my health while I continue to throw fragranced glitter paint on a pile of poo and try to derive “higher purpose” in my own suffering by doing this share (sharing in hope for the good of others is the way I reconcile most of my life’s most trying times).

Now for my personal post-COVID experience… (For my story re: how I got it & what actual COVID was like for me, please see this #videoshare)

Once I thought I had successfully nipped COVID in the bud, I resumed my normal life as I knew it (MISTAKE or so I believe in hindsight). I believe THAT everyone who gets COVID – no matter how mild their experience with it and even if they test negative – must act AS IF they still have COVID for at least the next 90 days. I know that is a depressing/daunting thought, but if you visit any of the Facebook groups I will mention below or just Google “Long COVID” or “Long Haulers,” you will see countless stories of people who felt COVID was a big old nothing and suffered BADLY in the aftermath.

I fell swoop stopped taking the supplements (my mom, however, did not) and resumed working out aggressively (bad idea as doing so causes inflammation) thought I was back to GOOD again. In about 2 weeks, all the badness began… The worst of it was a headache that felt like someone was slowly squeezing a helmet around my head, feeling like I had worms crawling in my temples, pressure behind my eyes, debilitating brain fog, severe cognitive issues (including memory loss, not being able to find words/do things I commonly do, difficulty articulating/writing) – note: these last two made me weep on more than one occasion thinking life as I knew it was over (not my best life moments but I’m sharing my truth) –  vision issues (difficulty looking at screens and bright lights, trouble driving), neuropathy (tingling in my arms/legs & my left arm kept falling asleep when I would sleep), sundowners effect (this is something that people with Alzheimer’s & dementia experience where they get exponentially worse once the sun, literally, “goes down”), hearing issues (determined by our TV always being on one set volume that never changes and not being able to hear it and not being able to hear when my mom was talking to me), tachycardia (racing heart), hair loss and hair texture changes (my hair, albeit so much better now, turned completely lifeless and is about 1/4th of its original density), and low body temperature (I normally run a consistent 98.6 and tend to feel hot when most people feel cold, but, all of a sudden, my temperature starting running between 96.2 and 97.5 and I was freezing all the time).

I want to pause for a moment to – as mentioned above and in other blogs – reiterate that it is a big (feels scary and uncomfortable) deal to share my personal health information with the whole of the world like this as I do not love the energy of sharing this or feeling like people will see me as “sick” or unwell), but I am doing it because I do not wish for anyone – not even my worst enemy (&, real talk, I have a lot) – to experience this.

Sorry, I digressed…

Because I am trying to get 6 blogs done so that I can go live on my Facebook page, I am not going to go into the detail of every doctor’s visit. It is just all too much, so let’s just say that I went to every specialist (ophthalmologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist, integrative medicine doctor), got nearly every blood work/scan known to mankind (including a chest x-ray and a CT scan for my cough that still persists 3 months later and that I had for one month pre-COVID), and – to my relief but also dismay – nothing was determined as being actually wrong with me other than “long COVID/long haulers” which is this painfully nebulous and tremendously frustrating thing, because…

With all due respect to the entire field of medicine (which my brother and 1000 people I know belong; hello, I’m South Asian), with COVID being so new, I would say the greater majority of practitioners (this is not me dissing on them as it makes perfect sense) don’t know enough about the aftermath of COVID and, accordingly, how to deal with it. The most that was determined was that “my body was still healing,” that I was experiencing “inflammation,” and that this could last anywhere from 6-9 months or FOREVER. For reals, one doctor said that there – if someone was not seeing improvement after 6 months – it was likely they would continue to experience some after effect of COVID for the rest of their lives (I nearly died hearing this).

That being said, the neurologist who I was not able to see until 1.5 months after I first experienced the worst of the brain fog and cognitive/sensory issues said that I would not be in that category as I was already so much better but then I went and got vaccinated because some people were saying it helped “clear long haulers symptoms” and others made it seem like you had to do it (even if infected) because the supply was limited so you wanted to get it if you could.” Note: After being vaccinated in April 2020, the worst of my long haulers symptoms came back immediately but in a TENFOLD more terrible way; my entire body was retraumatized and so much so that I gained 15 lbs in the 2 months following the vaccine.

• To reiterate, you must (per my belief; holler at your doctor for real advice) – to the best of your ability (fully understanding that everyone’s circumstances do not allow for such) – act like you have COVID for at least 90 days following COVID. So that means everything continuing doing everything you were doing (re: supplements, movement, hydration, anti-inflammatory nutrition, relaxation, rest, mental health, and more) during acute COVID. & I say this because I did NOT do this… Including stopping all of the supplements, I stopped my light daily walks that I was doing while I had COVID, I did not focus as much on my hydration (I don’t know what it is about COVID, but it seems to suck the body DRY), I resumed my normal eating which often included inflammatory foods (gluten, sugar, dairy, fried food, & processed foods), and I resumed hardcore workouts which was a HUGE mistake. While I cannot say definitively, I truly believe that doing these things exacerbated the badness that I experienced in the wake of COVID.
  • This will include NOT resuming full physical activity if you were very active pre-COVID. Go to those groups I will mention below and search on the topics “exercise/gym/workout” and you will find countless folks who resumed running/aggressive workouts/lifting and had debilitating setbacks. Yes, if you are someone who regularly works out, this can be very depressing, but ease your way back into things very slowly as you might – as many people have experienced – be put flat on your back if you go all out trying to resume your “normal” no matter how “back to good/like yourself” you feel.
• Note: There are folks (like me) who resumed their bare minimum normal. Like simply being an upright and functioning human who could do household/work/life tasks with no issues, and just doing that alone caused me to feel terrible. It is almost as if post-COVID (for many, not all) requires us to do the absolute least which, of course, is maddening and simply not possible for many (& especially those who have to care for others or must return to work outside of their homes to pay their bills; real talk: as much as being at home with my mom is the bane of my existence, it is also the reason I have been have been able to focus on my recovery).
  • Be prepared for very few people – including your nearest and dearest – to fully understand what you are going through. My mom really struggled with it because I could seem “normal” and fully functional one day and then be completely out of it and expressing how much I was struggling the next; in fact, she called COVID my “new crutch” (that being said, she called depression following a major trauma my “crutch” and believed it was just me being “lazy”).
    • On that note, if you are someone’s nearest and dearest, please fully understand that nothing about healing post-COVID resembles a linear trajectory that you may be familiar with, for example, when someone recovers from the flu as there are folks who go months feeling fine and then experience completely new and disconcerting things that they can only attribute to having had COVID.

Now what I’m about to share is going to perhaps seem insane… I am taking/doing EVERYTHING that I mentioned in my “Avoid Getting COVID” and “If You Get COVID” – re: hydration, nutrition, movement, mental health, relaxation, rest – plus additional supplements on top of the already plentiful supplements. It might all be overkill – shoot, it might not even be good for me (I really have no idea!) – but I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER, so here’s my forever disclaimer: this is all my anecdotal experience only and not a directive of any sort. I cannot say for sure how anything I am sharing will work with/react to your body (your physiology based on your pre-existing conditions, genetics, and medications/supplements you already take), so please always consult with your healthcare provider before embarking on anything re: your health & wellness. Please also do not worry if you cannot get all of the things that you mentioned; it is perfectly reasonable (it is actually the most reasonable thing to do) to start with a few things and see how you feel after those and then fold in more thing; I, however, did not do that because of the severity of how I was feeling. It is also perfectly reasonable to get nothing that I recommend in the way of supplements and just nourish your body the way our ancestors healed from things (liquids, rest, & good nutrition)

On that note, I honestly do not have it in me at present to go back to those 2 blogs (Avoid Getting COVID” and “If You Get COVID“) and copy and paste each thing that I mentioned (I will try later, but staring at a screen for this long physically pains me) so please just review them thoroughly. Note: If you plan on getting anything I recommend, I would ask that you please kindly use the links (ideally from a desktop) that I shared; to be forthcoming, I earn a few pennies on each sale, but – as I was basically incapacitated and unable to earn an income for over 10 months – every little bit helps so getting everything while on your computer would be ideal. I will, however, mention the things that I added to those I had already mentioned and believe are so important:

August 2022 Update: Nothing helped me more than eliminating meat, dairy, & eggs from my diet and going WFPB (whole foods plant based). See this blog. What I wrote below is from when I first started experiencing long haulers symptoms but it took me almost 10 months of suffering before – like a light switch – turning it all of with this change in what I was eating. 

• Benadryl – Disclaimer: This is NOT a longterm solution and can only give you some temporary relief and understanding of what may be going on in your body. That being said, I wish I had taken this after I first began experiencing brain fog and a severe headache both of which were debilitating. However, once I read more about the histamine response (due to Mast Cell Activation), I decided to take Benadryl at night and, I kid you not, but my headache reduced by at almost 80%. I continued this for 3 nights, felt infinitely better and then began an anti-histamine diet (I have not stuck to this 100% – food was my WEAKNESS – but any time I have come off of this, I have suffered). I did not continue the Benadryl beyond this time period and it would be best to consult with your healthcare practitioner to talk about longer term solutions to combat the (very likely) histamine response going on in your body. If you do start Benadryl, be aware that it can cause drowsiness and you may consider taking a half tablet to start with; I held the tablet under my tongue which is likely why I felt a speedier response as it went directly into my bloodstream versus going through first-pass metabolism.
  • GenCare – 600 tablets, $9.99
  • Non-drowsy daytime options:
    • Health A2Z (comparable to Zyrtec)
    • ValuMeds (comparable to Claritin)
• For Neuropathy (my left limbs kept falling asleep and I was getting terrible tingling sensations in my hands); this product nipped that in the bud right away: Dr. Clark Niacin 25 mg (once a day dosing)
• DETOX: Your body has lived through some things… Likely an abundance of stress, medicines, supplements, and just a whole lot of total body badness, so I strongly recommend doing some kind of gentle detox. My personal favorite is a non-stimulant gentle (won’t make you feel like you’ll poop your pants) cleanse called Activate ($30, but you’ll get $10 off your first order total); I just love this one so much and have tried so many Amazon brands that I have not loved, so I’m not going to recommend any but I’m sure you can find one.
  • Similarly, your liver has been through some things taking all of the above. As with the above, after trying many Amazon brands, my personal favorite is Liver Health ($22.99, $10 off your first order total). That being said, I have no head-to-head studies and nothing other than my anecdotal experience to offer you, so please consider other brands as well.
• Thorne Undecylenic Acid for GI & Gut Flora Support (Formula SF722, 250 capsules, $36.50) – I’m so sorry but you’ll just have to Google this re: benefits (I believe this helps – along with everything else for your gut health – because COVID can live in your gut for up to 6 months); I don’t remember who recommended it one of the forums and, once I added it, I felt a distinct difference. Ease your way into taking this product versus taking the recommended dosage all at once.
• Omega 3 Supplement. Key point: Omega 3’s help with inflammation and your body is INFLAMED.
  • Nordic Naturals (5 stars, 16,000 reviews, $34.49)
  • Arazo Nutrition (120 capsules, $21.95)
• ** Awesome VITAMIN HOLDER to organize the above! – $11.99 and definitely helped me, after I learned I was experiencing “Long COVID,” take things religiously **

Lastly, Zencrack – I have mentioned this in my previous COVID blogs and I truly believe that this wellness gadget has helped me so much in these last 3 months and, more than anything else, in keeping my mental health on point because the experience of Long COVID is so difficult and depressing to endure. It is like nothing like anything else (health-wise) that any of us have ever experienced. As for the gadget, I describe it as equal parts meditation, therapy, and hypnosis and it uses binaural waves/brainwave entrainment to make deep impressions on your subconscious. Every aspect of my life has been impacted (my health & wellness, ability to focus/organize, mood, resiliency, and more). Get a 45-day trial ($45 value) to the audio sessions here (the headset is separate and, in my opinion, a huge part of the immersive experience), and you can find all of the science and my brain “before and afters” here and please feel free to contact me on Facebook for more info or feel free to email me at zencrackwellness(at)gmail[dot]com.

While I had COVID, I listened to sessions on immunity, wellness, stress, headaches, and more because I needed to get/keep my head right to keep wanting to try to get better because I felt defeated most of the time; accordingly, I listened to quite a few about having a positive attitude and sessions on headaches/focus/memory, and what was most remarkable was (before discovering Benadryl) was that, I had a splitting headache one day, did a session, and it WENT AWAY.

For 2 other blogs related to post-COVID recovery: COVID Brain Fog & COVID Hair Loss

All that being said and I know it is a LOT, please, again, do not get yourself frenzied obsessing about any/all of this or wrongly believing that not taking/doing any one thing will be the thing that prevents you from recovering. I cannot guarantee recovery from COVID – not for myself and certainly not for anyone else – so everything I have shared was based on my own recovery experience (I am feeling 80-90% than I was before and have even experienced 100% days along with real setback days when I do too much or think I can tolerate eating as I used to).

Lastly…

A REQUEST: If you have derived any benefit from the above, I am kindly asking you to please consider making a small donation to my fundraising efforts here (I am recovering financially from being a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month dating relationship in which I was held hostage and suffocated and then spent $60,000 in the legal battle and aftermath while also being laid off 5 times in 3 years). Again, as a “cosmic/energetic/spirtual/good karma” thank you for me taking the time/making the effort to do the #videoshare and all of these blogs which – while I am still recovering from COVID – took everything out of me to do. Any amount – no matter how small – helps and you can donate to the GoFundMe directly or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

A few final things:

1. If you are not the kind of person to doom scroll or obsess but want to see the experiences of those who are newly diagnosed or living through #longcovid/#longhaulers, then check out the following Facebook groups (sharing in order of my favorites): Coronavirus Experience and Recovery, Survivor Corps, Long Hauler Advocacy Project
2. Other blogs I wrote: www.avoidgettingcovid.com, www.ifyougetcovid.com, www.covidbrainfog.com, www.covidhairloss.com 
3. In addition to making a donation if you are able, please kindly consider sharing my #videoshare on Facebook or these blogs for the benefit of others. The more people we spare from getting COVID or suffering the worst should they get it/after getting it, the better it is for all of us, because – as I truly believe – “what happens to one of us happens to all of us.”

Thanks for taking the time to read and be and stay well,

Check out some of my other Favorite Things!

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post. 

Note: The beginning of this is copied and pasted from all of my other COVID blogs, because it is simply too much for me to have to try to change simply for the sake of making each blog different; I’m not trying to impress people but help them, so I’m not worry about all of that. Accordingly, feel free to just skip past this part if you’ve already seen it before.

If you are seeing this in passing, please be sure to bookmark or copy and paste this link to a note on your phone: https://www.smitashares.com/covidbrainfog/

Just like my other blogs, this, too, is purely anecdotal based on my own experience with COVID and that of others. Please consult with your physician before doing ANYTHING as it relates to any aspect of your health and especially your care as it relates to COVID. Also, as I did in my previous COVID-related blogs (& will be repeated in every blog as it relates to this topic), I am also going to ask in advance that – if you derive any benefit/value from this info – that you please consider making a donation (any amount helps) towards my fundraising efforts in this GoFundMe; it was no small thing to feel how I have been feeling and put all of this together (6 different blogs), and, more than anything else, I am sharing personal health information (& that, too, as a South Asian where the crux of our existence is “what will other people think”) that most would never share in a public manner for the benefit of others.

& I am sharing because – had my only communication been with the healthcare practitioner from the private testing center who called to inform me that I tested positive – the only information I would have received would have been, “take Tylenol for a fever” and nothing else (including no mention of the possible aftermath of COVID known as #longcovid or #longhaulers), and that experience was COMMON. I did a survey in one of the groups I am in and 80+% of people said they were not told to do one of the (or at least so I believe) most important things when diagnosed with COVID.

Thankfully, that was not my experience as it relates to #acuteCOVID, and I spoke to at least 6 different healthcare practitioners who all offered advice for our care (I gave COVID to my mom; full story in this #videoshare). However, I had NO IDEA that so many people experience an entire slew of long-term effects following their acute/active COVID experience until about 2 weeks after I thought I was done with COVID, the aftermath badness hit me like a freight train which resulted in me ending up on Le Google and, for the first time, even learning about “Long COVID/Long Haulers.”

On that note, let us dive right in!

*End copy & paste*

I will update this blog shortly (I needed to get the 3 other ones out), but I wanted to say this.

I felt like LIFE WAS OVER 2 weeks after COVID. The worst of it was the brain fog, headaches, vision/hearing impairment, and other cognitive issues. I am writing this 2 months out from that time and feeling SO. MUCH. BETTER. Like 80-90% better most days and 100% better some days. That being said, I am not “back to (my) normal” – not even close – but I am so hopeful.

If you landed on this blog in particular, I recommend starting with my For Long COVID/Long Haulers blog; it will direct you to go back to 2 of my other blogs, so – if you are super serious about feeling better (while realizing everything I am sharing is anecdotal) – I would get onto a desktop computer with a notepad in hand and do a deep dive into ALL the blogs that I shared. You may already be doing a lot of this stuff and some if it may be new to you; whatever the case, please do not feel like you need to go “zero to hero” and fold all of these things in at once (I don’t even know if all of what I am doing is actually good-good for me, but I feel so much better, so I am going with it), and – if you can’t do the supplements (for whatever reasons including they would be contraindicated to something you are already taking or affordability) – just start with the lifestyle stuff.

That being said, I wanted to expand a little bit about my experience (if you want to read about COVID’s impact on the brain, please feel free to read “How Does Coronavirus Affect the Brain”, “The Hidden Longterm Cognitive Effects of COVID”, and “How COVID Attacks The Brain”).

For my full experience with actual COVID, please see here (#videoshare; including this hashtag so I can update the blog after I go live), but, in summary, I thought COVID was a big old NOTHING which is why I was so shocked at how terrible I felt 2 weeks after I thought I had cleared it.

As I mentioned above, I experienced a whole world of cognitive/neurological badness, and I was TERRIFIED. I learned that I was experiencing “Long COVID/Long Haulers” syndrome – something I had no idea was a thing pre-COVID – got into the groups that I mention at the end of my other blogs and learned SO MUCH. What I have shared in my blogs is that information distilled down into one place AND – as this definitely happened to me – sparing yourself from spiraling into doom and despair reading the stories of so many people suffering so badly so long after they got COVID.

I also want to mention what my neurologist said… He said that COVID can – for a lot of people and not all – have a cognitive impact that can be comparable to traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, unlike in TBI, you have not had a physical trauma but your entire body has experienced a multi-system micro-trauma.

There are also some very fascinating (albeit disturbing) reads about how COVID crosses the blood brain barrier:

• New Evidence Suggests COVID-19 Crosses the Blood-Brain Barrier
• SARS-COV-2 Spike Proteins Disrupt the Blood-Brain Barrier, Potentially Raising Risk of Neurological Damage in COVID-19 patients

As you’ll see in the blogs that I wrote, I went with the “throw whole kitchen sink approach,” but please consult with your healthcare provider before starting anything as it relates to your health and wellness. I wish I could tell you which one thing is helping the most, but I do believe there were a few things that really did help the most with the cognitive issues.

August 2022 Update: Nothing helped me more than eliminating meat, dairy, & eggs from my diet and going WFPB (whole foods plant based). See this blog. What I wrote below is from when I first started experiencing long haulers symptoms but it took me almost 10 months of suffering before – like a light switch – turning it all of with this change in what I was eating. 

1. Using Benadryl as a test to see if your body is in a world of badness re: a next level histamine response (due to Mast Cell Activation). Once I learned about this response, I decided to take Benadryl at night and, I kid you not, but my headache reduced by at almost 80%. I continued this for 3 nights, felt infinitely better and then began an anti-histamine diet (I have not stuck to this 100% – food is my WEAKNESS – but any time I have come off of this, I have suffered). I did not continue the Benadryl beyond this time period and it would be best to consult with your healthcare practitioner to talk about longer term solutions to combat the (very likely) histamine response going on in your body. If you do start Benadryl, be aware that it can cause drowsiness (so it is best to take it before you go to bed) and you may consider taking a half tablet to start with; I held the tablet under my tongue which is likely why I felt a speedier response as it went directly into my bloodstream versus going through first-pass metabolism (I experienced an odd tingling sensation but it went away by the time I woke up)
   • GenCare – 600 tablets, $9.99
   • Non-drowsy daytime options:
     • Health A2Z (comparable to Zyrtec)
     • ValuMeds (comparable to Claritin)
2. If Benadryl helps you at all, you MUST begin on anti-histamine diet
3. Hydrate like it is your JOB. You may not be “actively” sick with COVID anymore, but you need to treat your body as if you are (start here and work your way backwards to my first 2 COVID blogs linked in that one)
   • I don’t know what it is about COVID but it feels like it sucks everything good out of your body and, most of all, the MOISTURE. Everything (your hair, skin, nails, BEING – okay, I’m sorry – but it feels like it, become brittle). Accordingly, while water is great, I highly recommend keeping up with electrolyte drinks:
     • Body Armour Lyte Peach Mango (Pack of 12, $12)
     • Body Armour Lyte Blueberry Pomegranate (Pack of
     • Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier: $23.98 plus 10% off at time of writing
     • HiLyte Electrolyte supplement: $19.94
     • Dr. Berg’s Original Electrolyte Powder: $34.15
4. PectaSol:
5. Lastly, Zencrack – I have mentioned this in my previous COVID blogs and I truly believe that this wellness gadget  has helped me so much in these last 3 months and, more than anything else, in keeping my mental health on point because the experience of Long COVID is so difficult and depressing to endure. It is like nothing like anything else (health-wise) than any of us have ever experienced. As for the gadget, I describe it as equal parts meditation, therapy, and hypnosis and it uses binaural waves/brainwave entrainment to make deep impressions on your subconscious. Every aspect of my life has been impacted (my health & wellness, ability to focus/organize, mood, resiliency, and more). Get a 45-day trial ($45 value) to the audio sessions here (the headset is separate and, in my opinion, a huge part of the immersive experience), and you can find all of the science and my brain “before and afters” here and please feel free to contact me on Facebook for more info or feel free to email me at zencrackwellness(at)gmail[dot]com. While I had COVID, I listened to sessions on immunity and wellness, and, after, I listened to quite a few about having a positive attitude and what was most remarkable was (before discovering Benadryl) when I had a splitting headache one day, did a session, and it WENT AWAY.

I promise to make this more comprehensive – while having a better flow later – but I wanted to get the most basic versions of these blogs up as soon as possible to start helping the most number of people, while keeping in mind, that is a huge strain on me to be writing these with how I feel at present, so I am going to copy & paste the ending to each of my blogs here:

Lastly…

A REQUEST: If you have derived any benefit from the above, I am kindly asking you to please consider making a small donation to my fundraising efforts here (I am recovering financially from being a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month dating relationship in which I was held hostage and suffocated and then spent $60,000 in the legal battle and aftermath while also being laid off 5 times in 3 years). Again, as a “cosmic/energetic/spirtual/good karma” thank you for me taking the time/making the effort to do the #videoshare and all of these blogs which – while I am still recovering from COVID – took everything out of me to do. Any amount – no matter how small – helps and you can donate to the GoFundMe directly or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

A few final things:

1. If you are not the kind of person to doom scroll or obsess but want to see the experiences of those who are newly diagnosed or living through #longcovid/#longhaulers, then check out the following Facebook groups (sharing in order of my favorites): Coronavirus Experience and Recovery, Survivor Corps, Long Hauler Advocacy Project
2. Other blogs I wrote: www.avoidgettingcovid.com, www.ifyougetcovid.com, www.forlonghaulers.com, www.covidhairloss.com 
3. In addition to making a donation if you are able, please kindly consider sharing my #videoshare on Facebook or these blogs for the benefit of others. The more people we spare from getting COVID or suffering the worst should they get it/after getting it, the better it is for all of us, because – as I truly believe – “what happens to one of us happens to all of us.”

Thanks for taking the time to read and be and stay well,

Check out some of my other Favorite Things!

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post. 

Note: The beginning of this is copied and pasted from all of my other COVID blogs (www.avoidgettingcovid.com, www.ifyougetcovid.com, www.forlonghaulers.com, & www.covidbrainfog.com), because it is simply too much for me to have to try to change simply for the sake of making each blog different; I’m not trying to impress people but help them, so I’m not worry about all of that. Accordingly, feel free to just skip past this part if you’ve already seen it before.

If you are seeing this in passing, please be sure to bookmark or copy and paste this link to a note on your phone: https://www.smitashares.com/covidhairloss/

Just like my other blogs, this, too, is purely anecdotal based on my own experience with COVID and that of others. Please consult with your physician before doing ANYTHING as it relates to any aspect of your health and especially your care as it relates to COVID. Also, as I did in my previous COVID-related blogs (& will be repeated in every blog as it relates to this topic), I am also going to ask in advance that – if you derive any benefit/value from this info – that you please consider making a donation (any amount helps) towards my fundraising efforts in this GoFundMe; it was no small thing to feel how I have been feeling and put all of this together (6 different blogs), and, more than anything else, I am sharing personal health information (& that, too, as a South Asian where the crux of our existence is “what will other people think”) that most would never share in a public manner for the benefit of others.

& I am sharing because – had my only communication been with the healthcare practitioner from the private testing center who called to inform me that I tested positive – the only information I would have received would have been, “take Tylenol for a fever” and nothing else (including no mention of the possible aftermath of COVID known as #longcovid or #longhaulers), and that experience was COMMON. I did a survey in one of the groups I am in and 80+% of people said they were not told to do one of the (or at least so I believe) most important things when diagnosed with COVID.

Thankfully, that was not my experience as it relates to #acuteCOVID, and I spoke to at least 6 different healthcare practitioners who all offered advice for our care (I gave COVID to my mom; full story in this #videoshare). However, I had NO IDEA that so many people experience an entire slew of long-term effects following their acute/active COVID experience until about 2 weeks after I thought I was done with COVID, the aftermath badness hit me like a freight train which resulted in me ending up on Le Google and, for the first time, even learning about “Long COVID/Long Haulers.”

On that note, let us dive right in!

*End copy & paste*

I will update this blog shortly (I needed to get the 3 other ones out), but I wanted to say this, COVID AGED ME. Visual proof below (the first 2 pictures are snapshots from live videos I did in August and November – in the same lighting albeit different times of the day- and both with no face/skin makeup as with the third), but my hair, skin, and nails all changed drastically.

Read the following for more info on why our hair gets impacted: Here & Here

My hair absolutely fell out, so I am offering 2 things that I know and have, since COVID, experienced a difference after using. However, I have not yet found the thing that helps with my hair TEXTURE; I feel like my 41-year-old hair went to 75-year-old hair (that is not to meant to be offensive, but our hair changes as we age); now, I did not have Bollywood actress hair to begin with but I am so disturbed by how much my hair texture and density have changed so please feel free to message me if you have any recommendations in that regard.

Disclaimer: Yes, I KNOW this is the smallest of all things when it comes to COVID, and, omigoodness, YES, I am so glad and grateful to be ALIVE; however, I am also HUMAN, and – whether right or wrong – my exterior dramatically changing for the negative (in my own perception – re: how I view myself – because I truly don’t care what anyone else thinks) has impacted me. & that may make me “basic” or “superficial” but I operate from the belief that, when we look and feel our best (again, to ourselves and by our own measures), we show up in this world with a different energy; in other words: “when you look good/feel good, you are able to high vibe to DO MORE GOOD.”

That being said, I’m going to quickly drop links to the 2 things and then update the post properly later:

THING 1

THING 2

Will share more later, but, for now, copying & pasting what I shared at the end of every COVID blog:

Lastly…

A REQUEST: If you have derived any benefit from the above, I am kindly asking you to please consider making a small donation to my fundraising efforts here (I am recovering financially from being a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month dating relationship in which I was held hostage and suffocated and then spent $60,000 in the legal battle and aftermath while also being laid off 5 times in 3 years). Again, as a “cosmic/energetic/spirtual/good karma” thank you for me taking the time/making the effort to do the #videoshare and all of these blogs which – while I am still recovering from COVID – took everything out of me to do. Any amount – no matter how small – helps and you can donate to the GoFundMe directly or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

A few final things:

1. If you are not the kind of person to doom scroll or obsess but want to see the experiences of those who are newly diagnosed or living through #longcovid/#longhaulers, then check out the following Facebook groups (sharing in order of my favorites): Coronavirus Experience and Recovery, Survivor Corps, Long Hauler Advocacy Project
2. Other blogs I wrote: www.avoidgettingcovid.com, www.ifyougetcovid.com, www.forlonghaulers.com, www.covidbrainfog.com 
3. In addition to making a donation if you are able, please kindly consider sharing my #videoshare on Facebook or these blogs for the benefit of others. The more people we spare from getting COVID or suffering the worst should they get it/after getting it, the better it is for all of us, because – as I truly believe – “what happens to one of us happens to all of us.”

Thanks for taking the time to read and be and stay well,

Check out some of my other Favorite Things!

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post. 

First off, assuming you might be seeing this in passing but may want to get to it later, bookmark it or copy & paste the link into a note on your phone or desktop. Here’s the link: https://www.smitashares.com/avoidgettingcovid/

Other blogs: If You Get COVID*, For Long COVID/Long Haulers, COVID Brain Fog , & COVID Hair Loss

Now, all the DISCLAIMERS: Please take the title of this blog with a grain of salt. This is about doing the most to possibly reduce the RISK of getting COVID seeing as one could do every single thing I (ANECDOTALLY) mention and still get COVID. Athletes, personal trainers, dietitians, nutritionists, yoga instructors, and otherwise young and healthy people get COVID. So do health professionals with the very best PPE and insight into preventative measures. I am just reporting back on things that – following my own experience with COVID reading about and learning from other experiences – MAY help.

As with all things, no single approach works for anyone for any one thing so this post is absolutely not a guarantee as a million factors impact someone getting sick with anything (their genetics, life circumstances/stressors, who/what they are exposed to, pre-existing conditions, their baseline immunity, and so much more) and some of it (a lot/most) is just completely random luck as some people who did the MOST still go it.

So do you ignore what I’m about to share? Maybe. I’m honestly just sharing because of what I BELIEVE as I am not – as an individual – able to offer any clinical data to the efficacy of anything I share. Similarly, I can’t speak to how any recommendation would impact you (for example, a supplement interacting with someone’s prescription medicine or another supplement), so please do your own due diligence and, just like every health program/book/advisor says, “please speak with your doctor before beginning anything.”

Also, what I am sharing may evolve as I learn new things. On that note, I am also sharing because I believe that I could have been doing more in the way of prevention/reducing risk (I got COVID in November 2020 – so the first variant & this is videoshare on how I got it – and I naively thought that my normal lifestyle + a simple cloth mask was enough) and, although I was doing a few things that I believe helped me (as my actual COVID experience was a big nothing and my “long haul/long COVID” effect was seemingly less  than most in the groups from which I collected this information), I do believe I could have been doing more, so this blog is about that.

Also, I’m a little mad – including at myself for thinking that what I was doing was enough – that these anecdotal things (many with data/scientific reasoning to support them) are not being emphasized alongside using masks considering that masks are not 100% effective and there is so much more at play re: whether someone gets COVID or not.

One last thing, re: my “Long Haul/Long COVID” experience which I am now, thankfully, 99.9% on the other side of (I wrote this in January of 2021 when I was still living through complete hell and updated it in August 2022 when I feel the best I have ever felt)… I am going to be sharing several separate blogs about that. There is so much that I wish I knew in hindsight, so my intent in sharing this is to possibly help people reduce their experience of the badness of COVID and its aftermath as I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Okay, now that we got the disclaimers done, let’s begin…

What you first must know: COVID IS NOT THE FLU!!!! People harp on the survival rate as if the only outcome of getting COVID (at the time I started writing this, 1 in 16 Americans were being diagnosed) is death and then extra stupidly think “it only impacts the elderly/those with pre-existing conditions.” BIG NOPES. It impacts EVERYONE. Plentiful young and healthy people have lost their lives to it (click here, here, and here to be thoroughly depressed, or, I dunno, just believe me), and I am AWE OF AND DUMBFOUNDED by how so many people are acting as if losing ANYONE – elderly, pre-existing condition, or perfectly healthy – who was not going to die otherwise is no big deal.

Furthermore, up to 30% (my neurologist – that’s a spoiler alert right there and I’m 42 years old if you’re wondering – said up to 80% :-() suffer lingering/long-term/(presently unknown but possibly) permanent impacts of COVID as it can ravage the entire body’s organs and systems and result in MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome); whether COVID causes MCAS or just looks like it for a bunch of people who endure COVID is beyond my level of knowledge but see here for more). Or just join any of the COVID groups at the bottom of this blog and scroll through the posts (or just Google “Long Haulers” or “Long COVID” or COVID long-term effects), and you will see that there is not a single (seemingly random to you at present) symptom that is NOT listed. Interesting reads: Studies Show Long Haul COVID-19 afflicts 1 in 4 COVID-19 Patients Regardless of Severity & “Most COVID-19 ‘Long Haulers’ Continue to Experience Symptoms 15 Months After Initial Infection”

Regarding some symptoms experienced, these are just some off the top of my head (my personal experience will be in the long hauling blog) that people are experiencing anywhere from 2 weeks to ONE YEAR after COVID (people 100% had this in December if not months earlier; my cardiologist said he believes it was here as early as August): tachycardia (racing heart), shortness of breath/ongoing low oxygen, fatigue, brain fog, nervous system/cognitive issues (comparable to dementia), new onset diabetes, impaired vision/taste/smell/proprioception/hearing, (new-to-them) mental health issues (anxiety, depression, & more), physical impairment/debilitation, hair loss/hair texture changes, skin changes, loss of TEETH (straight up falling out of people’s mouths), ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION (this really needed to be emphasized back in 2020/2021; link from Cleveland Clinic), fertility issues, neuropathy, digestive issues, strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, blood clots in the brain/lungs, stroke, heart attack, and SO. MUCH. MORE. (More info We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus & The Great Invader: How COVID Attacks Every Organ)

• If you need visual proof of the long-term impacts of COVID… the first 2 pictures are snapshots from live videos I did in August and November – in the same lighting albeit different times of the day- and both with no face/skin makeup as with the third), but my hair, skin, and nails all changed drastically and I felt as if I had aged 20 years. 

#SorryNOTSORRY if all of the above scares you because it SHOULD. Everyone should have been infinitely more scared than we were because we naively believed that the 2 outcomes were: survive or die from COVID (why so many people were a-okay with the latter will forever be beyond me).

Note: I love the COVID-related groups as they have provided me so much value/emo support and I truly wish I knew about them earlier, but being in them also (hyper-empathy plus imagining every worst outcome possible) became depressing as all get out, so I had to unfollow and only go to them when I need information or am in the mind space where I can (in a healthy way and not to my own detriment) scroll and offer my own insight/experiences.

Back to the aforementioned list of badness… The molecular structure of COVID’s spike protein can – as a result of the “cytokine storm” and the body’s excessive immune response end up causing damage to the brain, heart, lungs, organs at large which include your gut, muscles, bones, blood vessels, and more.

One compelling quote on the above by Dr. Richard Horowitz: “I saw that the inflammatory molecules that are released when people are exposed to COVID are exactly the same inflammatory molecules that are released when you’re exposed to Lyme,” he says. “There’s a cytokine storm that happens, which is like a fire in the body, a huge inflammatory reaction that can affect all the organs. And we know that with COVID, it’s not the virus itself that’s killing people. It’s this overstimulated immune response with all the inflammation. When I saw that the cytokines in COVID were the same molecules in Lyme, I thought, well, we already know how to lower these cytokines.” (Cytokines are molecular messengers between cells. Inflammatory cytokines are molecular messengers that can increase the inflammatory response.)

Will everyone experience what I described above? No, but, this is the truthiest truth… Anyone who tests positive for COVID who was symptomatic now has a pre-existing condition, and the medical world will not be able to make correlative/causative statements about the long-term impact for a long time (for example, blood clots in the brain were determined in people who died of COVID after AUTOPSY). In other words, let’s say the child/teenager/< 30s person – or anyone of any age including yours truly – who had COVID experiences ANYTHING in the future related to their health, will never know what, if any, impact COVID had.

Honestly, I have had to block that thought out of my mind in order to not spiral (& trust me, I had my spiral moments when it seems like how I felt would be my forever state) into depression and paralysis. &, now, because I am feeling anywhere from 70-95% myself (while honoring how deeply so many are still suffering), I’m just telling myself that all is okay/will be okay even though I will never really know how COVID changed the course of my life as it relates to my health while I continue to throw fragranced glitter paint on a pile of poo and try to derive “higher purpose” in my own suffering by doing this share (sharing in hope for the good of others is the way I reconcile most of my life’s most trying times).

ANYHOO, I am #sorrynotsorry for going on about above, but THE MOST IMPORTANT PART of “avoiding getting COVID” is believing it is very REAL, knowing the possible consequences beyond death, and THEN acting accordingly to do the most to reduce your risk of getting it.

On that note… let’s start with the obvious.

WEAR A KN95 mask when indoors whenever possible (I do NOT wear one all the time as I have resumed indoor dining and living my life as I think most have). Any of these are great options:

• Black 50-piece pack for $11.69
• Multi-color 25-piece pack for $19.74
• You can also reuse a mask by following these recommendations and you can split a pack with several friends/relatives to save on the cost; no need to hoard!)

Okay, now my actual recommendations. Again, these are all anecdotal and presumptive and someone else might say completely otherwise.

Supplementation – If you don’t believe in supplements and get everything you need through nutrition alone, AMAZING, awesome (truly, no snark), and please feel free to skip past this part; while I absolutely believe that what we get in our food intake is the crux of all things health-related, I also personally believe that supplements have helped me tremendously in my recovery and I was a believer in many of them already pre-COVID. I was, however (ALAS), NOT taking all of these consistently pre-COVID; I took Vit D and Zinc sporadically although my mom was actually taking them religiously and fared far better than I did after COVID/really did so well considering her pre-existing conditions (there could be zero correlation to anything re: supplements as she simply could have gotten less of a viral load than I did, her body was predisposed genetically to fare better, and/or we could have gotten a less severe strain of COVID than someone else – but I believe that the below plus what we did during COVID helped spare my mom from serious disease), so you do you. &, to reiterate from above, please consult with your healthcare provider before beginning anything new.

Disclaimers:

1) I am making recommendations in links and you buying from those links (ideally from your desktop) does support me financially – I’m talking a few cents per purchase – so, while I hope that you will click through these links to add through your cart or, even better, order on a desktop as a small cosmic “keep COVID away thank you” for my taking the time and effort to do this share (note: it was a LOT of effort with #COVIDbrainfog and the whole of COVID kept me unable to make an income for 10 months). Also, there will be plentiful options at places like Costco and Walmart (I cannot offer alternatives), but I just prefer Amazon for ease.

2) Please do not get caught up in obsessing over which brand/formulation or even taking all of these (again, you doing everything I mention below is still not a guarantee that you won’t get COVID). Get what you can afford and go with it, and only get what you think you’ll actually consume. If taking all of these adds more stress to your life (financially or otherwise), they are not worth it.

3) Again, consult with your physicians before beginning ANYTHING and do your own due diligence to see what things would not be recommended to take based on your pre-existing conditions/current medications and supplements.

4) Prices on supplements subject to constant change, & I will not be able to keep up with updating them.

Note: I will try to update this list with the best ways/times to take each, but – keeping in mind that even writing all of this as I feel at present is hard for me – please do not wait on that info as it is all available via a quick Google search.

• Vitamin D (not needed if getting daily sun exposure)- Here is why Vitamin D is important to your immune system. You can take up to 4,000 IU with doctor supervision (again, checking out safety on anything is on you): NatureWise 5000 IU one year supply, Vitamin D3 (5000 IU) + K2 (Vit K helps with the regulation of calcium)
• Vitamin C (if not consuming enough Vitamin C-containing fruits & veggies) – Although I think most of us have internalized Vitamin C (a water-soluble vitamin so okay in higher doses as extra gets excreted in our urine) as having some impact on our immunity, here’s the why on “why Vitamin C?”.   Supplement recommendations: Nature’s Bounty; 500 mg ($9.69), Nature’s Bounty, 1000 mg with Rose Hips ($7.68), Costlier options: Solaray’s Timed Release 1000 mg Vitamin C w/ Rose Hips ($28.49) or Liposomal Vitamin C ($18.99) OR the super fancy 2-month supply of Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C ($79.90)
• Zinc – Here’s the why on Zinc as it relates to our immunity. 30-50 mg elemental Zinc
  • NOTE: If you want an “all-in-one” kind of product on the above, here is something to consider: 7-in-1 Immune Support Booster; if you want to do D & Zinc separate and get C, Elderberry & Reishi Mushrooms in an all-in-one, here is another one: Immunoshield. Finally, Vivanaturals Brand has 5000 IU Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, Elderberry, & Ginger.
    • Other note: Per an integrative medicine friend, you do not want to take Elderberry or Echinacea once you are sick.
• Melatonin – “People who take melatonin are nearly 28% less likely to test positive for COVID.  The difference is even more significant for African Americans – the study said, ‘Importantly, melatonin usage is associated with a 52% reduced likelihood of a positive laboratory test result for SARS-CoV-2 in African Americans.'” Source
  • Natrol, 3 mg: $8.99
  • Natrol 5 mg fast dissolve: $11.99, Amazon’s Choice
    • Note: I know absolutely nothing about the long-term use of melatonin so please look into that.
• Prebiotics and probiotics – Read this by the NIH as to why our gut health is so critical to our immunity, and then get yourself some probiotics. There are so many brands available everywhere, but I’m recommending things I like/use or have seen broadly recommended, but, first, 2 things to note: 1) You want to get something that is encapsulated and can survive your stomach acid to actually make it to where it needs to go, & 2) You want something with as many strains of good bacteria and as high of a good bacteria count.
  • Earth’s Pearl (Pre- & probiotics; 15X survivability, 5 strains, 1.5 billion bacteria, 60 day supply)
  • Physician’s Choice Probiotics (with Prebiotic fiber blend, acid-resistant, 1 month supply, 10 strains)
  • I am also a huge fan of this encapsulated probiotic by Modere; they taste like SMARTIES, come in a convenient on-the-go stick pack, and guarantee delivery of 5 billion bacteria. Kids and grown-ups alike love them (you’ll get $10 off your first order with this link); everything comes with a 30-day money back guarantee &, once you order, you get your own link and can earn $10 in free product credit for each person you refer who orders.
  • If affordability is not an issue for you, Modere has a pre-/pro-/post-biotic that supports optimal gut health and well-being (again, $10 off your first order)
• Collagen – I believe that people should be taking this (compounded by an anti-inflammatory diet that supports this) to both help with leaky gut syndrome (leaky gut syndrome can lead to autoimmune disease and, although no correlation has been made, a HUGE amount of what people are experiencing in the wake of COVID resembles autoimmune illnesses or triggers autoimmune illnesses like Guillain-Barre syndrome). I say this because research suggests that COVID crosses the blood-brain barrier which “prevents harmful compounds from entering the brain while allowing helpful nutrients in and cellular debris out (2 disturbing reads: New Evidence Suggests COVID-19 Crosses the Blood-Brain Barrier and SARS-COV-2 Spike Proteins Disrupt the Blood-Brain Barrier, Potentially Raising Risk of Neurological Damage in COVID-19 patients). This causes inflammation in the brain and symptoms such as depression, brain fog, memory loss, and other brain-based symptoms and disorders.” (Source), and there ARE things that you can use to improve the health of your BBB. I put a * next to the supplements that help with BBB health but they also, in my opinion, help with overall health & wellness. Please also note: your body will be processing all kinds of toxins (medications) while you are sick so why not keep all your “barriers” and cells as “tight” as possible? (that may not even be a thing, but I’m going with it!)
  • If you understandably cannot afford the fancy collagen I will present as the final option, it is OKAY. If I did not work for the company and didn’t get free product credits I, too, could not personally afford it! Some people, however, can and, instead of being mad/resentful about that, make the best of what is possible for you.
    • Option 1:  SR’s Collagen Peptides ($26.06)
    • Option 2: Vital Proteins ($42.48, 20 oz)
    • Option 3 (This is the fancy/pricey option. I have been using this brand going on 4 years now – I was NOT using it back in November 2020 – and am always complimented on my skin when people respond in shock that I am 41 years old; the formulations include Liquid Biocell, Hyaluronic Acid, and plentiful antioxidants. Reasons why this liquid formulation makes a difference are here. A dose is 2 tablespoons per day so you would need 2 bottles per month. Please look at the benefits of each by clicking on the fact sheets. Biocell Life (has resveratrol which is a potent anti-inflammatory), Biocell Skin, Biocell Sport (great for joints), & Biocell Pure (keto-friendly, no added antioxidants). You will get $10 off your first order with any of those links and you can email me at collagencrack[at]gmail or on Facebook. Your messages will go to my “other” folder, so please start your message with #collagencrack as I expect to get lots of messages after this share.
  • Note: Vanity-wise (the least important of all things, but, trust me, when you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror, it impacts you in a profound way), I would take collagen both from a preventative perspective considering that our levels of collagen in our body begin declining at around age 25; I definitely fell off of it in fall of 2020 when I got COVID, and I truly feel like I aged 20 years. I am, of course, now taking the Biocell products above (specifically the SKIN formula) at higher doses and, as of my most recent update to this blog, I have seen huge improvements in my hair, skin, & nails.
• Curcumin (you do not need supplementation and can get benefits from using turmeric in your food or how my dad takes it) Read here to learn more about the benefits of curcumin as it relates to your immune health. Bioavailability is very important when it comes to curcumin.
  • Life Extension Super Bio-Curcumin, $24.13, 60 capsules
  • Delta Nutrition Curcumin, $25.99, one month supply
  • This was the brand I used post-COVID that was recommended to me by my integrative medicine doctor (expensive as all get out): Integrative Therapeutics, $90
• For these next 3, please see this article; if you can only take one, then just take the first one.
  • In the article Dr. Horowitz recommends “600 mg of NAC two to three times a day; 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid once or twice a day (the higher dose can cause reactive hypoglycemia in sensitive individuals); and 250 to 500 mg of glutathione twice a day—as a preventive measure against COVID-19”
  • NAC (N-acetylcysteine) – Why? (I was not taking this during my acute COVID and so wish I had known about it then or at least immediately after)
    • Jarrow’s Sustain (what I am taking now) – $14.55
    • Pure Encapsulations – $29.40
    • Thorne – $25.00
  • Glutathione – See here and here for more info about the importance of glutathione
    • Jarrow’s (what I am taking now) – $34.18
    • NOW (this has milk thistle & 50 mg of alpha lipoic acid in it) – $20.87
    • Welluxa (liposomal glutathione) – $34.97
  • Alpha-Lipoic Acid – See here and here for more info about the important of ALA.
    • Jarrow’s (what I am taking now) – 60 count, $22.74
    • Nutricost – 240 capsules, $24.26

** Awesome VITAMIN HOLDER to organize the above! – $9.99 and definitely helped me, after I learned I was experiencing “Long COVID,” take things religiously **

Diet/nutrition

Disclaimer: I am not someone who can preach about “eating healthy” as I did not eat healthy most of my life (I had the palate of an 8-year-old child/14-year-old linebacker and have been a lifelong emotional eater), but I DO believe that certain things I was already doing in preparation to pursue being a single mom by choice helped me (I was doing a complete sugar detox and had eliminated most processed foods), and I LOGICALLY KNOW that what we eat impacts our overall health and well-being. & I know this the most because I see it demonstrated by my dad who – in spite of being in close proximity to me and my mom for 4 days before we showed symptoms did not get COVID in spite of being 77 years old, having diabetes (genetic predisposition as he is one of the healthiest people I know), and being a stroke survivor. Since the time of this edit, he has had direct COVID exposure 5 times and I believe how he eats and his yoga practice (which we will be sharing more about on our page have helped to protect him)

Side note: My dad and I will be hosting webinars (with a suggested – so not mandatory – donation towards my fundraising efforts) about his lifestyle and what we believe is doing the MOST not just to reduce the risk of getting COVID but staying as healthy as possible for the sum total of your life. If interested, please find me on Facebook (preferred way to connect). Since your message will go in my “other folder,” please use this hashtag at the start of your message: #daddymoonwellness OR feel free to email daddymoonwellness(at)gmail[dot]com

Live your best life – which means enjoying food – but aim for this as much as you can while knowing that fast food, processed foods, sugar, dairy, gluten and a whole slew of other things increase inflammation and reduce our body’s ability to fight off infection, and try to include as many functional foods as possible including fruits, vegetables, healthy carbohydrates/fats/protein. I will just let you Google anti-inflammatory/pro-immunity/anti-histamine diets, because I have, like 4 more blogs to write.

Disclaimer on the above: I saw a bunch of people get very upset at the suggestion of correlation/causation between getting COVID/experiencing long hauler symptoms, so – as stated above – ANYONE CAN GET COVID no matter their baseline health status and lifestyle. That is how absolutely random (&, accordingly, scary) this virus is but a healthy lifestyle can only HELP and not hurt (not just for preventing COVID/minimizing post-COVID impact for your actual health & wellness), and I’d ask those people who got sick irrespective of being “perfect/doing everything right” and taking every precaution to not get COVID to consider how much worse it could have been had you not been doing all of those things.

Hydration

Hydration is one of those things that we all know is so important for so many reasons, but yet is still something so many of us don’t do to the levels required for our health (75% of Americans are dehydrated). Not only is being hydrated important for the function of every cell in our body, there is also the belief that being sub-optimally hydrated in the weeks before contracting COVID could impact one’s risk of dying from COVID. This is a scientific article from the NIH but you can gather the key points here.

Physical Movement

Click here and here to learn more about exercise and immunity. That being said, COVID is not the time – at least not in my opinion – to kick off a new-to-you rigorous fitness routine. Often, such efforts can actually put a strain on your immune system, so I would consider a bare minimum JUST MOVE YOUR BODY (for 10-30 minutes per day) approach. That may mean a brief walk, light jog, a yoga video off of YouTube or something else with the intent being increasing blood flow/relaxation/restoration and promoting “feel good” feels.

Another important thing with COVID is that it is notorious for creating blood clots in blood vessels and organs, so the blood flow thing is so important.

Teas – All anecdotal as shared in the groups that I am in

• Dandelion tea – Read here for more background info.
  • Raw Organic Dandelion Detox tea
  • Traditional Medicinals (16 count, pack of 6)
• Green tea – Read here for more info. “While green tea isn’t a recognized cure for COVID-19, some researchers are looking into the possibility that one of its components, EGCG, can help fight off COVID-19. In one study, researchers tested how certain compounds that have shown antiviral properties will interact with COVID-19 proteins. Among the 18 compounds tested, EGCG showed the most potential as a drug treatment for the new coronavirus.”
  • Bigelow; 120 count, $16.02
  • Pukka Turmeric Glow Green Tea; 20 count, pack of 3, $17.37

Mental Health/Relaxation

Please Google how chronic stress impacts your immune health or read here for starters.

• “Zencrack” – This is a wellness device that I was first introduced to back in 2018 which has since had a profound positive impact on my life. I describe it as equal parts meditation, therapy, and hypnosis and it uses binaural waves/brainwave entrainment to make deep impressions on your subconscious. Every aspect of my life has been impacted (my health & wellness, ability to focus/organize, mood, resiliency, and more). Get a 45-day trial ($45 value) to the audio sessions here (the headset is separate and, in my opinion, a huge part of the immersive experience), and you can find all of the science and my brain “before and afters” here and please feel free to contact me on Facebook for more info or feel free to email me at zencrackwellness(at)gmail[dot]com.
• I also used this massager (my family has purchased 4; two between our households and 2 for gifts): nearly daily for 15-30 minutes; as someone who has had chronic neck and back pain since a car accident in 2004, this has been a life-changer for me personally. It was $70 when we purchased it and far more affordable now. Do not use if you have a fever.

Heat Therapy

This is going to sound wonky to some, but basicallyyyyy (again, Google “heat therapy & COVID or see here for starters) putting your body into a hyperthermic state can possibly help fight infection just as our body’s natural response to viruses – a fever – can do the same. I mention this because my dad used my brother & SIL’s at-home sauna daily (plus he lives a nearly perfectly healthy lifestyle including daily exercises, lots of curcumin, anti-inflammatory foods, greens, beans, nuts, teas, and more) and he was with me and my mom for 4 days and DID NOT GET COVID.

• Durasage lightweight sauna ($149.95)
• Smartmak Sauna ($182.99)

Air Circulation

COVID is spread in 2 ways: 1) Large droplets have virus in them (for example, someone talking to you which is why we wear masks) 2) Tiny little particles that become airborne and suspended in the air, which is why it is so important to turn the air over to promote air exchange. You absolutely can get fancy home/office filtration devices like the below OR you can just open your windows/doors as comfortable and as you feel appropriate.

• Medify Air Purifier – $270 (price with 24% off)
• LEVOID Air Purifier – $99.99 (19,901 ratings)
• ASLOTUS – $159.99 ($30 off coupon available at present, 5 star reviews)

COVID PREP KIT

Please visit my next blog, www.ifyougetcovid.com to learn about some things that you may consider having on hand in case you or someone in your household gets COVID.

REQUEST: If you have derived any benefit from the above, I am kindly asking you to please consider making a small donation to my fundraising efforts here (I am recovering financially from being a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month dating relationship in which I was held hostage and suffocated and then spent $60,000 in the legal battle and aftermath while also being laid off 5 times in 3 years). Again, as a “cosmic/energetic/spirtual/good karma” thank you for me taking the time/making the effort to do the #videoshare and all of these blogs which – while I am still recovering from COVID – took everything out of me to do. Any amount – no matter how small – helps and you can donate to the GoFundMe directly or, in order for me to avoid paying fees, via Paypal (pay as friend to paypal.me/smitamoon), Venmo (@SmitaC), Cash app ($smitamoon), or Facebook. 

A few final things:

1. If you are not the kind of person to doom scroll or obsess but want to see the experiences of those who are newly diagnosed or living through #longcovid/#longhaulers, then check out the following Facebook groups (sharing in order of my favorites): Coronavirus Experience and Recovery, Survivor Corps, Long Hauler Advocacy Project
2. Other blogs I wrote on the topic: www.ifyougetcovid.com,  www.forlonghaulers.com, www.covidbrain.com, www.covidhairloss.com 
3. In addition to making a donation if you are able, please kindly consider sharing my #videoshare on Facebook or these blogs for the benefit of others. The more people we spare from getting COVID or suffering the worst should they get it/after getting it, the better it is for all of us, because – as I truly believe – “what happens to one of us happens to all of us.”

Thanks for taking the time to read and be and stay well,

Check out some of my other Favorite Things!

* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties.  Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you. 

What about sponsored content? 
I do not write sponsored posts.  I want to bring you real, unbiased information.  However, if a post is sponsored by a company, I will disclose this clearly in the beginning of the post. 

As for my social media pages where I use Amazon & other affiliate links for product recommendations, I will include a link to this post, or put “(affiliate link)”, or #ad in the post.