I was hit with the bug going around, and it’s taken me a while to shake it off - it really reminded me that treating early is vital, but building a strong immune system, so I don’t get sick in the first place, is just as important.
I loved the five recipes from Dr. Kristina Carmen created that you can make for your family today. (link in replies)
But I wonder what your number 1 tip or supplement that you do or take to keep your immune system strong?
As a Carnivore I never get sick. I’m in the hospital environment a lot and I never get sick. 
Suggest keeping VitD level at 80 and should have magnesium and VitK2 on board as well to prevent possibility of calcium calcifications in blood vessels. Use D3 only. Also NAC and berberine are excellent to support liver function and berberine to control lipids, increase insulin sensitivity and a list of other benefits that Dr mercola and McCullough discuss
Thank you for the recipes Helen!
Detox baths and I use Taurine everyday. Dr Ardis has a video about the benefits.
Glad you’re doing better
Quantum Immune Support Liquid Extract (Elderberry, Echinacea & Goldenseal) has been in my arsenal of nutritional support for 30+ years along with Zinc lozenges, Vitamin C.
That’s amazing, I have a very meat based diet, but not quiet carnivor yet.
All fantastic suggestions from what I have read, I haven’t been taking my berberine and NAC, a reminder to go back to taking them daily. 
I love a detox bath, but haven’t looked into Taurine - so thanks for that, it’s on my list.
Take elderberry, but not goldenseal or echinacea- a good reminder to look at them again. Thanks for adding to this important thread.
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) supplementation is essential for most people to attain at least the 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L = 1 part in 20,000,000 by mass) level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (calcifediol or “calcidiol” AKA “25(OH)D”) in the bloodstream, which the immune system needs in order to function properly.
This is an important exception to the general principle that we can gain all the nutrients we need from food.
The natural source of vitamin D3 is ultraviolet B exposure of our skin, but this always damages DNA and so raises the risk of skin cancer. Those with brown or black skin need very large amounts of UV-B to generate enough vitamin D3 to be hydroxylated, mainly in the liver, to the circulating 25(OH)D the immune system and the kidneys need. Far from the equator, sufficient UV-B light for even white-skinned people to attain 50 ng/mL or more 25(OH)D is only available in the middle of cloud-free summer days, without glass, clothing or sunscreen intervening.
All medical professionals know that the kidneys need about 20 ng/mL circulating 25(OH)D. Some are aware that higher levels are required for the immune system to function properly. The clearest measure of the level required is from Quraishi et al. 2014 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/articlepdf/1782085/soi130062.pdf. They showed that the risk of post-operative infections dropped to only 2.5% (separately for hospital acquired infections and for surgical site infections) for levels of 50 ng/mL or more. See the first graph below. Many people have half or less than this. At 20 ng/mL, which is normal for many people in winter, the risk of each of these two types of infections was about 25%.
“Vitamin D” blood tests measure the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the bloodstream. Neither vitamin D3 nor 25-hydroxyvitamin D are hormones.
There is no such thing as a vitamin D rich food. Some foods contain tiny amounts which can raise rock-bottom 25(OH)D levels somewhat, and so reduce the risk of children developing rickets. However, no practical amount of food can supply more than a small fraction of the vitamin D3 we need for full health.
Please see the research cited and discussed regarding the vitamin D compounds and the immune system, at: https:// vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/.
This begins with recommendations from New Jersey based Professor of Medicine, Sunil Wimalawansa on the average daily supplemental intake quantities of vitamin D3 which will attain least 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, over several months, without the need for blood tests or medical monitoring:
70 to 90 IU / kg body weight for those not suffering from obesity (BMI < 30).
100 to 130 IU / kg body weight for obesity I & II (BMI 30 to 39).
140 to 180 IU / kg body weight for obesity III (BMI > 39).
For 70 kg (154 lb) body weight without obesity, this is about 0.125 milligrams (125 micrograms 5000 IU) a day. This is 8 or more times what most governments recommend. “5000 IU” a day sounds like a lot, but it is a gram every 22 years - and pharma-grade vitamin D costs about USD$2.50 a gram ex-factory.
These recommendations are included in a recent article with another professor of medicine Scott T. Weiss and professor of pediatrics Bruce W. Hollis: https:// www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/22/3969. All three have been researching vitamin D for decades. These ranges of ratios of body weight first appeared in an FLCCC webinar with Professor Wimalawansa in August 2023: Understanding Vitamin D: FLCCC Weekly Update (Aug. 16, 2023). They are an adaptation of recommendations in his July 2020 article in Nutrients “Rapidly Increasing Serum 25(OH)D Boosts the Immune System, against Infections - Sepsis and COVID-19” https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/14/2997.
Prof. Wimalawansa’s vitamin D recommendations have been part of at least some FLCCC protocols since early 2022. His recommended daily average vitamin D3 supplemental intake quantities can be met with larger amounts every week to ten days, such as a 1.25 mg (50,000 IU) capsule every ten days.
These healthy intake quantities take several months to raise circulating 25(OH)D levels from typical, 10 to 25 ng/mL, unsupplemented levels. To boost circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D in clinical emergencies, a loading (bolus = single, large) dose of 10 mg (400,000 IU) for average weight adults will raise the level safely over 50 ng/mL in several days, since it takes time for it to be hydroxylated in the liver. The best approach, as recommended by Prof. Wimalawansa in FLCCC protocols, is a single oral dose of about 1 mg of calcifediol, which is 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This is easily absorbed and goes straight into circulation in the bloodstream. This will raise the 25(OH)D level safely over 50 ng/mL in about 4 hours.
Many types of immune cell require a good supply, by diffusion from the bloodstream, of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, made primarily in the liver from ingested or UV-B → skin produced vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. The cells use this as a raw material to run their intracrine (inside each cell) and paracrine (to nearby cells, typically of different types), signaling systems. These systems are crucial to each cell’s ability to adapt its behavior to its changing circumstances.
These are unrelated to hormonal (endocrine) signaling. Since, as far as I know, there are no tutorial explanations of these, I wrote one in late 2020: Vitamin D intracrine signaling - illustrated tutorial (Also, incorrectly, referred to as Vitamin D based autocrine signaling.).
A less detailed tutorial is at the start of: Vitamin D and the Immune System - how much vitamin D3 to take, by body weight and obesity status. Every doctor, nurse, immunologist, vaccinologist, virologist etc. should understand these signaling systems.
Once you understand the importance of vigorous dosing of D3 to reach sufficient dosing (70 ng%+) the cofactors of D become even more important, specifically K2, magnesium & zinc as well as boron.
The American diet is generally deficient in all 5 of those factors, with supplementation being the most reasonable solution:
Vitamin tK2 is present in fermented foods & grass-fed beef & milk & cheese, & in D3K2 supplements.
Magnesium is hard to measure as it is an intracellular nutrient but we measure serum. A mag level of 2 mg% (mid-range) or more indicates acceptable levels. Mag deficiency can be triggered by high D levels resulting in symptoms including arrhythmia, so this is important, & deficiency is triggered by drugs (such as proton pump inhibitors) as well as dietary lack of processed foods.
Zinc helps with both D metabolism & by direct support of the immune system. The original describer of zinc deficiency said that it was present in 30+% of well to do Americans.
Boron is felt to be a necessary nutrient by the WHO, which reports that average boron intake is 1 mg compared to 3 mg deemed necessary. You have to ear a lot of apples & drink lots of coffee to reach this level.
The study of the extra-skeletal benefits of D leads naturally to an appreciation of micro-nutrients which are missing from our processed diets, & an appreciation of the ;nature & necessity of quality diets.
Dr Merrill Hicks
Thomasville. Ga
Dear Dr Hicks, Thanks for your reply. I agree - my list of five neglected nutrients at https://5nn.info is vitamin D3, boron, magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids and potassium.
I have some rough notes with links to research on boron https://aminotheory.com/cv19/#08-boron and potassium https://aminotheory.com/cv19/kna/.
The latter links to six of the many peer-reviewed articles which indicate that increasing the potassium to sodium ratio in our diet is vital to reducing the risk of hypertension and/or stroke. My wife Tina and I supplement potassium via multiple small drinks thoughout the day of potassium gluconate solution. This has a mild taste. However, it is very important not to ingest too much potassium at once, since high blood levels can upset the heart. I don’t know any doctor who recommends this. Extended release potassium gluconate (or some other salt) is probably a better approach, but these are not generally available, and would involve a lot of tablets since we need to supplement more than a gram of potassium a day.
Boron is a mystery - no-one knows what it does in the body. The half life is a day or less. As far as I know, research to date does not indicate that it forms any compounds in the human body. My best guess is that the borate ion subtly affects numerous chemical reactions. Some hypotheses along these lines from 2004: https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2003.12.053.
A quick web search reveals material about magnesium deficiency and heart arrhythmias. Can you point to research which indicates that high 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels reduce magnesium absorption and/or its intracellular or bloodstream level? I don’t recall reading anything which indicates this.
I am yet to search assiduously for the best research on vitamin K2 - and K1. I hope to find out the half-life of K2 in the body and learn more about the two major isoforms, MK4 and MK7, which I recall have very different half lives. Can you suggest some good vitamin K2 research articles?
There are all kinds of YouTube videos on those subjects
