Introduction to Part Two

The material in part 1 addressed viruses, immunity, how viruses cause illness, and why we are facing an immune crisis and experiencing viral plagues. At this point, let's summarize the most important areas that influence viral immunity:

Susceptibility

Virulence

Immune status

Immune stressors

Inflammation

Fatigue

Susceptibility is the degree to which you are vulnerable to infection. Virulence describes how potent the virus is. If your immune status is strong, your susceptibility is less, even if the virus is very virulent. However, the immune system can be weakened by many factors that are common in modern life, such as psychological stress and environmental toxins, thereby reducing your immune status. Due to these and other factors we have discussed, chronic infection is becoming more common than acute infectious illness, resulting in chronic inflammation, which damages tissues and causes discomfort, pain, and fatigue.

Now that we have identified the problems, let's look at the solutions.

Viral immunity is composed of two aspects and ten steps. The two aspects are prevention and treatment. Preventing viral infections involves avoiding viral diseases and conditions that are conducive to infection while strengthening the immune system. Treatment involves the management of existing viral illness, reducing the viral load in the body with natural antivirals, and strengthening the immune system. Before going further, let's define viral load and review the definition of viral immunity.

Viral Load: Technically speaking, viral load is the number of viruses per milliliter of blood, measured by a special laboratory test. This test gives an approximation of the amount of specific viruses in the body. There are three viral load tests used: the PCR (polymerase chain reaction), dDNA (branched chain DNA assay), and the NASBA (nucleic acid sequence-based amplification) tests. The PCR test is the most widely used of the three. “Viral burden” is a better, nontechnical, way of describing the impact viral disease has on the body. Effective therapy should reduce both the detectable viral load and symptomatic effects caused by the viral burden.

Viral Immunity: Viral immunity is the ability of the body's immune system to effectively resist viral infection, neutralize viruses in the body, remove viral toxins from the body, and normalize inflammation and autoimmune processes caused by viral disease. The 10-step viral immunity program of this book tells you how to achieve optimal viral immunity. The goal of the 10-step viral immunity plan is to help you prevent viral infections, strengthen your natural immunity, and to effectively treat viral infections with safe, natural medicines.

Now, let's review and outline all of the important components of the 10-step viral immunity plan. The steps are organized into prevention, treatment, and application:

Remember that each step is related to every other step. For example, if you follow step 1 and build a strong immune foundation, it will not only help you prevent viral disease and strengthen your immunity, but will help the treatments in step 7 work better.

Here is a brief outline of each step and what you can expect from reading them.

  1. Build a Strong Immune Foundation with an Immune-Enhancing Lifestyle: In the first step you will learn the elements of an immune-enhancing lifestyle, including dietary suggestions that constitute the foundation for deeper healing. You will learn how to reduce and manage stress, and what dietary supplements are best to support your foundation. A strong will and a positive attitude are essential in winning the struggle with any illness—viral diseases included—and are critical factors in keeping the immune system strong and responsive. Mental and psychological strategies are also discussed in step 1.
  2. Defend and Strengthen Your Immune System with Antioxidants and Oxidative Therapies: In this step you will learn the critical role of oxygen in viral immunity, and how to use immune-strengthening antioxidants. It describes the evidence for their use and explains which dosages work best. As in all the steps, safety issues and contraindications are explained. You will also learn what medical oxygenation therapies are and when and how to use them to treat viral infections.
  3. Rejuvenate Your Immune System with Enzymes: Enzymes and phytonutrient-rich foods enhance the diet, improve digestion, add specialized nutrients like carotenoids and other naturally occurring antioxidants to the diet, improve natural detoxification, and reduce inflammation. This step tells you which phytonutrient-rich foods are the best for viral immunity and how to use enzymes to improve your health.
  4. Renew Your Cells through Detoxification: Detoxification regimens and cleansing strategies are essential and important to prevent disease and improve immune function. This step emphasizes the important role of natural medications in cleansing the lymphatic system and the liver, both critical for viral immunity. You will learn how to safely conduct your own viral immunity detoxification program, which natural medications and nutrients promote tissue and cellular cleansing, and which remove the toxins produced by viruses from your body.
  5. Restore Your Innate Immune Response and Manage Inflammation: Natural anti-inflammatory agents are important in building viral immunity as is managing autoimmune-induced tissue inflammation in chronic viral diseases. In this step, you will learn how to use natural anti-inflammatory medicines to reduce tissue damage from inflammation occurring in your tissues and organs, caused by viral disease or autoimmune activity.
  6. Boost Your Immunity with Natural Immune-Enhancers: Natural immune-building medications are a key component in the treatment of immune dysfunction and viral infections. This step explains how to use immune-enhancing substances, or immunomodulators, to boost your immunity. These products are considerably more powerful than herbs and vitamins, and include mushroom glucans, transfer factor, and lactoferrin. Dosages are provided for each medication, along with contraindications for their use.
  7. Target Viruses with Natural Antiviral Alternatives: Natural antiviral medicines are critical for successfully treating viral illness. In this step you will learn how to use nature's most effective antiviral medicines. Dosages and direction on how to use them safely and effectively are presented in detail.
  8. Empower Your Viral Immunity Program with Chinese Medicines: Using Chinese herbal remedies can considerably increase the effectiveness of your program. No other culture provides such a rich source of knowledge about viral infections and the methods and medicines that treat them than the Chinese. In this step you will learn how to use powerful and effective Chinese antivirals, immune modulators, energy enhancers, and anti-inflammatory medicines.
  9. Optimize Immune Performance with Hormonal Balance: Hormones play an integral role in maintaining a strong immune system. This step shows you how to use natural hormonal therapies including DHEA, thymic hormones, human growth hormone, and thyroid hormone to increase your health, energy, and mood, and enhance your immunity.
  10. Implement Your Viral Immunity Plan: The last step teaches you how to design your own viral immunity program, work effectively with natural medications, measure success, and teaches you which lab tests are most helpful. It presents treatment recommendations for selected viruses such as for the common cold, the flu, and hepatitis C.

Caution: Note on Dosages in Part 2: The material in this book is written for adults. The author understands that senior adults and children have special requirements; however, these are not specifically addressed in this book. For seniors, dosages should be reduced by at least one half, and for children by at least one quarter of the lowest recommended dosage. Dosages are given in ranges for the average adult to be used as guidelines only. Effects from remedies can vary a great deal from person to person, and applications must be adjusted to meet individual requirements. Consult your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions about interactions between natural medicines and prescription or over-the-counter drugs.