What the CDC (or any of the powers that be, for that matter) doesn’t address quite so clearly—much to many experts’ dismay—is the fact that nutrition is also a nonnegotiable in the fight against COVID-19. Of course, all that information is important and useful—as are the other COVID-19 guidelines the CDC has laid out. But, unfortunately, there’s not a single mention of nutrition as a preventive measure—it’s entirely left out of the conversation on their “Prevent Getting Sick2” section. The way mbg sees it, leaving nutrition as a side note is a huge miss. After all, we’ve had nutrition top of mind since day one of the pandemic—whether it’s featuring an immunologist’s COVID dietary advice or discussing top immune-supporting nutrients with a longevity expert. One expert who has been particularly outspoken about this topic is preventive medicine specialist David Katz, M.D. He already gave a compelling COVID reality check on the mindbodygreen podcast, and now, he’s sharing his thoughts on the importance of nutrition as a tool to keep you healthy—now and always. But especially now. So, why exactly don’t we hear more about diet in relation to disease prevention? To start, other factors that affect health and mortality are often much more straightforward. For example: You’re either a smoker or a nonsmoker; you either do physical activity or you don’t; your blood pressure is either high or normal. “But diet is an infinite array of intermingled variables,” says Katz. “There are many ways to get it right. There are many more ways to get it wrong.” There are also numerous other factors at play (think cultural, socioeconomic, the list goes on) that can interfere with your access and understanding of optimal nutrition. Not to mention, as survival-driven humans, our instincts are programmed to be more attuned to immediate threats rather than long-term ones, Katz explains. “One of the reasons we neglect our diet is it doesn’t fly at the speed of a bullet,” he says. “If I eat a doughnut today, it won’t affect me tomorrow. The cause and effect are separated by time, so it’s hard to see. We are pretty blasé about the massive association between diet and adverse health outcomes in general.” That is, until we’re faced with a pressing threat. Enter: COVID-19. For that reason, Katz sees the current COVID-19 climate not only as a reason to prioritize diet more than ever but also an ideal time for people to make lasting change. “It’s a massive opportunity to address the acute and the chronic,” he says. “We should have done it anyway, but that’s the problem with diet—it’s a slow-motion threat; it doesn’t trigger our anxiety. COVID does, so I say, let’s catch the wave.” As for a healthy diet, Katz believes there’s a basic theme to eating optimally, but there isn’t a narrow prescription every person needs to adopt. To get you started on your own path, he shares a few tips for taking positive, dietary steps forward—and they’re backed by other experts in the field, too: And when it comes to choosing those foods…amid a pandemic, experts and the CDC agree that foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc may be particularly beneficial. “There’s no disagreement between scientists and doctors that vitamin D is important for the immune system,” David Sinclair, Ph.D., said during a recent mbg podcast episode. While Amy Shah, M.D., notes that vitamin C is such an important nutrient for immune support. Supplements are also an option, but Katz points out these should be used as “supplemental to, not substitutes for a high-quality diet.” Other experts agree with this sentiment, including father of functional medicine Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D. “If we go back to the cultures that have respected longevity and ask what they ate, we find that they’re eating very hearty plants,” he shared in a recent mbg podcast episode. Of course, there are other measures you can take—but a healthy diet doesn’t need to be overly complex, by any means. As Katz puts it, “It’s just that simple; it’s just that powerful. It’s actionable, it’s immediate, and there’s never been a better time.”
