Upping Your Immune Function During an Epidemic

Video Transcription

Laini:
Okay. So, welcome everybody. This is Laini. And I have the really distinct honor of speaking with Allyson McQuinn today, she said yes. Allyson is one of my personal friends and heroes. And I’m gonna give her just a moment to introduce herself. But this is a part of the mental health series that I have committed to recording and sharing with our community. Allyson is not coming at the mental health awareness from a psychology perspective, although there’s a lot of psychology involved. But she’s coming at it from a very wholistic perspective. And I think that what she has to offer in terms of staying healthy right now in a time of uncertainty is going to be so helpful to our community. So, welcome Allyson. Can you just share briefly your background? And talk a little bit about your approach to health and wellness.

Allyson McQuinn:
With pleasure. Thank you so much, Laini, for inviting me. It’s always such a pleasure to hang out with you. My name is Allyson McQuinn. I’m a Doctor of Heilkunst medicine; and that’s just a weird German word that means “the whole art of healing and curing”. We work mainly in the realm of chronic disease with patients. And as Laini alluded to, it’s not just about the physical level of health, but also the mental and emotional. We take people like onions, and strip the emotional physical shocks and traumas off in the order in which they’ve actually accumulated them during the course of their lives. While doing this, we have a very naturopathic approach as well with regards to supplementation, diet, that kind of thing. So today, we’re going to kind of focus in on that area: as to what you can do to up your immune function, which is really critical, not just at this time, but at all times. So anything that I’m going to say today is something that I would share with patients. We have a blog written on arcanum.ca that is about upping your immune function and those are my speaking notes for today.

Laini:
So we’re going to address the immune system. But before we talk about the physical foods that you can eat and supplements (and stuff like that), can you talk a little bit about how the immune system and mental health sort of work hand in hand? And that way, it’ll sort of give the foundation for the importance of addressing this from that perspective.

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah. We talk about certain viruses, and viruses are opportunistic. Whereas things more like chickenpox or measles are more natural diseases. So for example, 80% of the population carry streptococcus in their bodies. It’s there all the time. We call it an opportunistic bacteria. And it’s waiting for the opportunity for you to create enough stress in your environment for it to activate symptoms. See, everybody in the material realm really thinks, “Oh, it’s a symptom. Now I have the disease.” It’s like, no, no, no, no. No, you actually have to create the conditions right. And if you study germ theory versus (inaudible), you realize that Pasteur on his (inaudible), actually went, “Oh my god, guys, I’m really sorry. I buttered up. Oh, I’ve misled you. And I had a really good marketing team.” And so yeah, this is what’s come out as the as the prevalent idea. Well, Antoine Béchamp, who actually was a colleague of Pasteur said, “You actually have to create the conditions right.” I was speaking about this with somebody even yesterday. I said, “You know, a child in a classroom that gets chickenpox, for example, isn’t necessarily subject to the germ theory. The idea being is that there’s going to be 80% or 50% of those kids that never get chickenpox.” Why is that? And we also know that kids that don’t have active symptoms, doesn’t mean they haven’t had the disease. We know people that have been tested for titers for diseases that they as children actually had, but never had symptoms. So the idea of being is that we want to really create the health and robust state of mind where we kind of have like the proverbial blood on our doors, it’s gonna pass you by. Right? Because you don’t have the state of mind that creates a resonance with that particular virus or disease matrix. So how to do that? Well up your health on the physical level, but also up your health on the mental and emotional level as well.

Laini:
And how do we do this?

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah. Good question. So I must say it’s interesting. Because when I listen to my patients, and the ones that have been working with us for quite a number of months, I offer them any kind of immunization they would like. Homeoprophylaxis is something we’ve been doing for hundreds of years. If you think about it, the vaccines are actually based on homeopathic law – “like cures like”. The problem with the vaccines, though, is you’ve got 19 chemicals and adjuvants. And while that can… if you have the strength to withstand that, go for it. But I offer patients homeoprophylaxis. Those who have been working with us for a while are like, “Ally I got this. I don’t even need it. It’s not not a thing for me. I don’t feel any resonance. I am outdoors, lots of really good diet, state of mind, it’s not…” But those patients that we start to work with in the early times, especially people that have been in the allopathic matrix, they’re like, “Yeah, bring it on. Give me everything.” The idea being is that “bring me what you have from the outside of myself”. And in health, we work more from an inside out state of being. Right? There’s no magic bullet for health. Health is lifelong immunity; just like lifelong learning.

Laini:
I love how those two things tie together. So in terms of (I know you wrote an article about this and we’ll share that in the links) but could you give some high level sort of immune boosting tips for maybe supplements and food?

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah. So up your D; get out in the sun. I don’t have any tan lines. But I have a lot of (inaudible). Just the kind of gal I am. Yeah. And up your vitamin C. So I’m making a great big pot of jamaica tea every morning. Really, really… And you can sweeten it with a little bit of honey. These are the leaves of the jamaica hibiscus tree. They’re beautiful to drink; extremely high in vitamin C. I sweeten mine with a little bit of xylitol which is sweetener from the bark of the birch tree. The reason being is I don’t want the high glycemic index in my particular diet. The other thing I do when I land in wherever it is I’m staying – Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, wherever it is that I happen to be – I will start to ferment anything that doesn’t move. So my husband always jokes he has to stay out of the kitchen because chances are he’ll be put in a jar if I get ahold of him. So what I do is I take cabbage and I cut it up (sometimes I like carrot; red onion is really juicy in that combination), and I will also do it with a bit of hot peppers, jalapenos. You don’t taste the hot peppers. They’re not hot after you ferment them. So just even my kids love that. And then you just add a brine of kosher salt or sea salt (Himalayan salt I use sometimes), depends on what you have. And water – it’s about two tablespoons of kosher salt per liter of water. I apologize. I was raised not in the imperial system. So you may have to do a Google search on that. What you want to do really is create a very high level of probiotics. In the body, we know, there’s death forces and enlivening forces. You want to load heavy on the enlivening forces in your body at all times, especially when something like a scourge or a disease matrix is in our midst.

Laini:
Let me interrupt real fast. Somebody’s watching and they’re asking about zinc.

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah, that’s the other thing I was going to mention. And again, zinc is something that the physical body no longer produces on its own (same with vitamin D). So these are things you want to make sure that you’re supplementing regularly with. If you can’t get natural vitamin D, then you will actually want to supplement with it – about 3000 to 4000 IU for an adult 1000 IU for a baby. So the other idea is zinc. It is very highly, I mean, the first defense to anything that’s coming in in your midst is actually at the level of your tonsils. Zinc is very helpful. Some people will also supplement with nascent iodine. And again, if you have access to these things and can order them from Amazon, wonderful. Nascent iodine is very helpful because we’re exposed to so much radiation from computers and phones and such. So that would be three to four drops of nascent iodine. Zinc, just follow the recommendations on the bottle.
The other thing that we do recommend is vitamin E to restore any tissue damage in the body as well, also very helpful. Cod liver oil, high high high in vitamin A. Wonderful for really increasing the immune function. We recommend this very highly in the fall when people are starting to kind of go within or inside. If you are in a quarantine situation, up your cod liver oil and your supplementation. Feed your microbiome because you may not be outside as much as you would like. On that note, do make sure that you get outside as much as you possibly can. I was on a hike with five people yesterday and we practice social distancing. We were all approximately six feet away from each other. But we had an amazing hike up into the mountains. I can’t even tell you what that did for my state of mind. So I’m really practice… There’s great YouTube videos on for… I follow yoga with Adriene from for the last seven years. I have a yoga mat wherever I live, and I just pull it out and do my yoga practice. Pace is amazing, weight bearing exercises of all kinds, right for your typology. So just quickly go over that.
With regards to your blood type, this is really important because certain foods act like poisons in your blood. If you’re an “A” blood type, you actually are Asian by blood. You do very well with high vegetable, lower meat content and no red meat. So you do very well with chicken, turkey, a lot of vegetables in your diet. The exercise that’s best for you is yoga, Qigong, Tai Chi, these kinds of things; not robust or heavily laden on cardio, very hard on your endocrine system and will blow really your adrenals very quickly. So this is really important. You can get more information from us. We’ll actually send out blood type diet for highly optimal foods, neutral foods and then avoid foods. All blood types do very well with bone broth, red meat, elk, bison, buffalo – things that are not as readily available in North American diet. The idea being is that you really need to fortify the iron levels in your body, for example. They also do very well with high vegetables. Knock the sugar and grains out of your diet, please, please, please. Sprouted grains are okay like Ezekiel bread, for example. Ferment your bread; sourdough bread is a fermented bread. Knock all other grains, processed wheat out of your diet, refined sugar. If you’re going to eat chocolate, makes sure it’s the good chocolate that is made from cocoa nibs. Not the other things that the big companies would like you to think are chocolate, which are just the husks from the pod. The other thing is “B” blood types do very well with a European diet or European by blood. So what would a European eat in the afternoon? Well, they do very well with a Ploughman’s lunch. So lamb, turkey, anything that actually comes from organ meat – really positive B’s. Need to do this; really important for upping their immune function. “AB’s” are a combination between the Asian and European diet. They’re only 4% of the population. But again, just lots of vegetables. 75% of every human being’s diet should be vegetables; and the rest, low amounts of carbs, meat, seeds, nuts – which are brilliant as well for helping you stay whole and healthy.

Laini:
So what can you say to families that are now quarantined that are together? And they’re dealing with immune system issues and anxiety issues, especially with children – and those things are raising. Are there any specific practices or supplements or sort of foods that you can focus on for these times, especially with children?

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah, very well said. Anything that I have recommended has already been what we call the “sustenative side of your generative power”, big honkin words. That means you have two sides of your health. One is what you can do on the vitamin therapy, healthy diet, (which we’ve just talked about) exercise. These are what we call the naturopathic approaches to keeping your ground substance really healthy. That’s the organismal level of your biology. If we have engendered a mental or emotional or physical disease matrix, it’s a bit like a pregnancy. It’s very hard to become unpregnant. And no matter how much vitamin C you take, you’re still going to be pregnant. Right? It’s a truth. We just know this instinctually. That’s where we come in as Heilkunst physicians is to help people that are really struggling on that level. And we’re booked about four to six weeks out for this very reason. It is because people are having a real hard time; they’re really struggling. A lot of what happens in times of stress is a lot of our childhood issues come up. And for me, I know this. My mother committed suicide when I was eight years old, my father died of a heart attack when I was 17. I was the most frightened person on this earth from my teens, to my 30s. Before I found this system of medicine, you would probably wouldn’t recognize me. I had chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Guillain Epstein Barr virus, in bed five days a week, every month, horrible menstrual issues, covered in psoriasis all over my scalp. So I was one of the sickest people I know. I know what it feels like now to be 57 years of age and the healthiest I’ve ever been. Like I run the hills yesterday, I did. God I think it was 12 miles and I don’t even think about it, you know, hiking. Because I’ve had to work to buy back my physical and mental emotional health. That’s really what I do, I help people find that for themselves through Heilkunst principles which are homeopathic.

Laini:
So just sort of reiterate what you’re saying. You’re saying emotional trauma can be stored in the body and affects the body. And for those of us that are dealing with or have dealt with or will be dealing with our childhood traumas, that’s a long term sort of path to healing. What about right now not creating more trauma for ourselves and for our children? Can you give your thoughts on that and how to move through this fear and isolation in a very healthy way?

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah. It’s not an easy question, Laini. Honestly. I mean, if you think about it, I hiked with two people yesterday that were paralyzed with fear. I mean, covering themselves constantly and not just the masks but also the lots of sunscreen, suffering allergies and such. It’s a bit like if you think about a herd (herd of lions), the lionesses go out at night. And what they’re looking for in the antelope herd is the weakest link, the link that is most terrified, that’s been fight-flight. The idea being is that if that weakest link because of the state of mind because of age, because of feeling paralyzed with fear actually knocks your immune function down considerably more than you might even realize, that people feel prey or have unresolved anger. That’s a state of victimization, right? And over time, that causes us to be a weaker link. I know because I suffered that. In a way where I really thought that it was just a matter of time before I would be exiting this earth plane. So the idea being is that yes, you can build your immune function on the physical level. Absolutely. But it’s interesting because when we’ve done live blood analysis with certain people, we have found that the terror of childhood (what is still there), when you take away the vitamin therapy, they’re actually quite weak. Their iron levels cannot be maintained. Iron being inner light metabolism. If you strike anvil, it sparks – it creates light. Well, your job as a human being is to metabolize light. Right? But if your light has dimmed because of fear or bad regimen over the past 5, 10 or 15, 20 years, you’re right, it’s not a quick fix. Saying, “Oh, my state of mind is really positive, it’s best. I can meditate yet. But if I have a shadow side that unexhumed, I’m going to be a weaker link in my herd.” It just is what it is. Yeah, I wish it were different. But, after 25 years of buying back my own health and doing this for hundreds of (or thousands of) patients around the world internationally, it just hard to change your state of mind.

Laini:
From one of the the real world (inaudible) who are watching now, there’s a comment (a question). It’s from Sarah. She writes, “I suspect that these times of quiet and going inward if we open ourselves up to this, we will see many people revisit childhood trauma.” And she says, “I wonder though if they might not recognize it if they’re not used to a slower quieter life. What can be done to help those people?”

Allyson McQuinn:
Yes. That’s a great question. We’ve written blog articles on busyness as your drug of choice. People have used it, even in the health field, as their drug of choice. Because if we’re busy, we have the illusion. And especially, the intellect loves busyness. It takes, “As long as I’m productive and taking things off the list, then I’m doing great.” But that’s a measure again from the outside in. So I love this question. Busyness is a measurement from the outside in of my productivity, that I am being a viable human. The thing is that in utter stillness, with just breath in my lungs, thoughts in my mind, do I know that my value is even greater in those moments? Then taking shit off a list. I mean, seriously. And so it’s going to scare the living daylights out of a lot of people to suddenly go within. I’ve meditated for 45 years since I was a competitive swimmer as a kid. I wouldn’t choose to live without that really in my life, because it’s going to come to as a shock to many people who suddenly are at home with their kids. There’s going to be a lot of volatility. I mean, it’s hilarious. My husband sent me a meme this morning, he said, “Two weeks after quarantine.” Ethel is knitting a new thing for her husband. It’s a noose. So yes, it can get very spicy when all of a sudden you’re with your kids 24/7, and with yourself 24/7, or with your spouse.
The idea being Is that get a punching bag, I always say, express your anger in a healthy way, not on your beloved people. I have a doctor I’ve supported for many years as her physician. And she goes home, swears, curses, hits that punching bag for all it’s worth, get the anger out. I took a broom up to an oak tree in the backyard for years just to get the rage and the anger out of being frustrated of suffering tyranny that was perceived (or imagined, it doesn’t matter). I yelled obscenities up into the rafters of my barn for years as part of my therapy. Really important: express it, get it out, but not on your beloved family.
The other thing too is really gravitate to those who give you energy. Up your scenic index mentally and emotionally. Really surround yourself with people. My colleagues are amazing human beings. We boister each other up all the time mentally. Listen to music. Music that are binaural beats on YouTube are great. If you have a headache or you’re feeling depressed, binaural beats are a great way of using resonance to up your state of mind into a more positive way of thinking. Positive affirmations; we put out memes on our arcanum.ca on Facebook and Instagram all over the place. We don’t even mention the c-word because we’re all about creating more positivity in the world. And really dig into what is the true reality for you. Where is this all coming from? What is it they want you to think? And how can you bolster your state of mind, really in opposition to that?

Laini:
You know, this makes me think of (I can’t think of the name of) that pyramid of needs, (guy’s name starts with an M) but he places “love” and “belonging” on the same level. And to me that’s so powerful because it reminds me that the connectedness with one another. And if right now during isolation, the only way we can remain connected in our all of our craziness and our processing and all of that, we stay connected through community. That to me is the the one saving grace that we can look at. Do you have any thoughts about other sort of strategies that we can do right now, today?

Allyson McQuinn:
I think the lovely thing too, that you just mentioned. My husband and I were both doing PhDs. We ran a farm of 36 animals. We ran a camp on the farm for unschoolers and Waldorf kids and self educated kids at home, and it was tough. Like, Laini, I gotta tell you. There were times, financially, I was just like, “Oh, boy. Are we going to be able to put anything into the crock pot this week?” It was scary at times. And it was really important for me not to transfer that on to my babes or to create a rift with my husband. It was really important to me that we cultivate a love relationship, nurturance, intimacy, touch, really, really important. My kids and I had this thing that we always do. We’d like to beeswax candles and I’d say ,”Ten minutes we’re in the big bed.” And big bed was the code for that’s where we would all get to cuddle. Everybody got to bring their own books, including me. I would bring something then read about passage from it that meant a lot to me or something I had discovered that week or that day. Kids always brought the same books over and over again, and that is what they loved. And what they wanted is that sense of rhythm. And that’s really important. As physicians formally of three Waldorf schools in Canada, rhythm is really important. That to have kind of a daily rhythm that maybe you’ve not explored before. That approximately 10 o’clock every day we all go out for a walk or to explore the creek that’s now running that was frozen before. To really kind of notice what is nature; how she expressing herself right now today. To make paper stars with kids that cover the windows to felted animals (felted little you know). Just to get basic crafts supplies, even while you’re on the road and traveling, to do felting together. Sometimes just to get lost and finger knitting together for hours. Make a rug out of that finger. These are the things that children really love to engage with. “What are you doing?” “Can I do it too?” That’s really the questions. And of course, cooking, for example, can be an amazing thing. That’s a win-win for the whole family but it’s an opportunity really just to be together. Sunday evenings at our house was cooking night. So even the two-year old had a dull knife and a carrot. Because people want to feel part of a community.
Where this is all going, as we know, there’s going to be a huge ascension around 2035. And this is a an ascension not on a religious level, but of a Christ-consciousness in all of us. What that means is that peer to peer engagement, supporting our businesses with each other, trading, bartering, taking it down away from the elite and what they would like us to think is our only means of finance or economics. This is a grand opportunity that we’re all extremely excited about. Because we’re going to come back down to the essence of our grassroots – communication and love for humanity and each other. And this is the opportunity, really, to start to create this web now. And world schoolers are amazing at this. Amazing. I mean, they trade their homes, they trade resources, they trade already on the basis of business. It’s amazing, amazing. So you are starting a very small ripple in a very large pond that is going to change the whole of really relational meaning to each other out of love.

Laini:
We just got to get through these next few weeks together, but we got this guys. Thank you so much, Allyson, for your time. And I’m going to have you put all of your links in the link to the article in this thread. And I’m going to move also everything over to the mental health thread as well. I am so grateful.

Allyson McQuinn:
Such my pleasure. And we’ve gone a great score of things on epidemics and how we treat those. And so yeah, we’ve got this guys. Nothing to worry about. Thumbs up on all levels.

Laini:
Thank you darling. Much love to you up in northern Mexico.

Allyson McQuinn:
Yeah, you in southern (inaudible). Bye

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