Many public health officials and the media, nationally, have hyper-focused on promoting non-proven interventions like cloth face coverings, while utterly neglecting the importance of: Diet, Exercise, Mental Health. I can be snarky but I’m genuinely alarmed about this.

— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) July 17, 2021

Pushaw expressed that she is genuinely alarmed, and as a holistic health practioner and servicer, so am I. Full disclosure before we go forward: according to the BMI chart, I am considered morbidly obese. But for me, that doesn’t translate to unhealthy, and it never has. I exercise regularly, I am active, my blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate all better than many people I know my age, and even younger than me. As is the focus of my own practices and what I teach others, it’s about building and maintaining health and your immune system, not what the scale indicates. I know a ton of skinny folks that are as unhealthy AF.

However, Bonchie does reference this CDC study, that links obesity as a prime comorbidity that increases the risk of contracting COVID-19, as well as increasing its fatality. While it has valid points, as studies go, it lacks a deeper dive and nuance.

The findings in this report highlight a dose-response relationship between higher BMI and severe COVID-19–associated illness and underscore the need for progressively intensive illness management as obesity severity increases. Continued strategies are needed to ensure community access to nutrition and physical activity opportunities that promote and support a healthy BMI. Preventing COVID-19 in adults with higher BMIs and their close contacts remains important and includes multifaceted protection measures such as masking, as well as continued vaccine prioritization (6) and outreach for this population.

So, if you are morbidly obese, don’t get moving, get healthy, or learn how to increase and protect your immunity—mask up!

Nowhere in this study does it talk about holistic care. Nowhere does it talk about exercise, getting out in the fresh air, sun exposure. What does it lead with? Masking, which has been proven inconsistent or useless as a first strategy or a protective measure. It also does nothing to help you lose weight or to breathe.

Go figure.

If the CDC’s intent is to support the tinfoil hat theories that this whole PLANdemic was about population control and ridding the planet of those who our betters feel are dragging it down, then studies like this without any additional context do much to fuel that fire.

I am a certified 500-hour Yoga instructor who has taught thousands of classes. This would basically put me at a Masters-level degree in this practice, and I was required to do hours of anatomy and science-based human study. Despite the popular culture image, Yoga is not just about stretching. It’s about using postures and breathing to create a unity and balance between the body, mind, and soul. Many of us in the holistic community saw the dangers when public health officials went on this wholesale push of isolation and masking. If you are a person who is prone to anxiety, depression, and claustrophobia to begin with, it was already a recipe for disaster. Yet, this was what was presented to us. Many Yoga instructors, personal trainers, and the practitioners we serviced used movement and outdoor spaces for more than just staying in shape and enjoying the out of doors. Breathing out in the open and moving your body in a multitude of ways is a great means of combatting depression and anxiety, on top of helping you feel connected to something bigger than yourself.

Kind of hard to do that sitting on your couch in your 10 x 15 living room, binge-watching Disney Plus. When the only thing bigger than yourself is the flat-screen TV, you’re in serious trouble.

What was the first thing that got shut down in many of the states? Fitness Centers. Parks. Recreational Spaces. I had a part-time gig as a Yoga instructor, and that was gone in March once Governor Hair Gel led the charge to shut everything down. Fifteen days to slow the spread, didn’t sound all that long; until people realized it was turning into 6 months to demoralize the population, then One year to cull the herd.

We could’ve have a National cry to “Let’s Move! Hike off 5 lbs!” but inside we were told to stay home, watch Netflix and eat Cheetos

— Trish the Dish 🌸 (@TrishtheDish_7) July 18, 2021

They sure did succeed in those aspects, and we are still uncovering the damage.

From the AP:

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday.

That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.

“This is a staggering loss of human life,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends.

The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly “COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis,” he added.

Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said.

They shut down the churches and synagogues too. Do you know how many AA, NA, other addiction-support meetings are held in church halls and worship centers? Countless.

Oh, but didn’t they have Zoom? Some might ask.

A virtual screen cannot replace human interaction, or the energy exchange that occurs when we interact. Touch. Breath. Hugs. Hand holding. Those all matter in supporting mental, physical, and emotional health. When you shut that down, and isolate the people who most desperately need it, what exactly are you expecting to happen?

It’s almost as though it was intentional.

Some of these revelatory (and too late for some) studies now show that the surest way of contracting COVID-19 is staying in enclosed spaces with no moving air. That not moving is neither good for you, or good for your lungs–it makes them more vulnerable. That breathing FRESH AIR, and soaking up Vitamin D from the sun is essential to not just preventing COVID spread, but essential to your overall health.

WHAT. A. CONCEPT. We holistic professionals knew this, and encouraged our people who we were still in contact with, to disregard the isolation nonsense and find a way to move, breathe, to get outside. I didn’t hole up in the house. I went outside all the time. I connected with other Christians in person to talk and pray. I revitalized the outdoor space in my home so that I could spend as much time as possible there, especially as the weather warmed.

Among my holistic crowd, we were appalled that no one was talking about getting regular exercise, getting adequate sleep, reducing stress, getting plenty of sun—especially if you are Black or Hispanic.

The Cooper Institute did a 2019 study showing that Black men and women who even exercised moderately (say three days a week), were 45 percent less likely to have a Vitamin D deficiency. The more melanin you have, the harder it is to absorb Vitamin D, which is why Blacks and some Hispanics suffer from the deficiency. Why is having adequate Vitamin D important? Well, a recent study done by the University of Chicago shows a connection between adequate to high Vitamin D levels and COVID prevention.

Instead, we had the useless so-called Black leadership and Leftist blaming racism on the high rate of COVID deaths among Blacks and Hispanics, rather than actually looking at root causes and treating those causes appropriately. It is racism to not recognize these distinctions and treat people according to those distinctions. This equity nonsense is what is getting people killed.

The lack of emphasis on reducing stress was probably the most troublesome. While I focused on meditation and prayer, and encouraged others to do the same, CNN, MSNBC, and other legacy media outlets simply pushed fear porn and Trump hatred, and both were indistinguishable.

For real the only medical professional I heard making a big deal about this on tv was freaking Dr. Oz.

They should have done better.

— SarahSSC (@ssc_sarah) July 19, 2021

Doctors and other holistic professionals who dared to speak out about this warped focus on mask control and  lack of focus on holistic health were banned from YouTube, and shut down. A friend’s discussion page about holistic cancer prevention was shut down by Facebook. It had nothing to do with COVID, but anything that appeared to offer alternative solutions to their control methods was blocked, discouraged, and pushed aside. Instead, you had the supposed medical experts on all the channels (including Fox and Newsmax) insisting everyone mask up.

Now they’re insisting everyone get vaccinated. While in most states health and fitness centers have now opened, we are fighting a battle with people wanting to penalize those who choose to eschew the vaccine for their own reasons. Just like with the mask studies, recent studies into the COVID vaccines, coupled with personal evidence from those reporting side effects, is showing this is not the cure-all, and for some, could be dangerous and deadly.

But the health officials continue to push artificial means, rather than ways to enhance and strengthen individual immunity and health.

A sick and dependent population is a population you can easily control.

Yes, it’s intentional.

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