Nutritional suggestions that can help our bodies deal with the smoke and pollutants from the fires (and any other time) from Commonweal Healing Kitchen Institute Founder Rebecca Katz. Thank you, Rebecca!
"Environmental toxins from smoke exposure can greatly deplete antioxidants, which are key to fighting free radicals and keeping our respiratory system strong.
Now is the time to load up on fruits and vegetables, especially those high in Vitamin C. Also, it’s important to keep yourself well hydrated. A little fluid can go a long way in keeping the brain sharp, which is important during times of stress.
Here are some tips on how you can boost your immunity on the go.
Citrus is your friend. Eat oranges, or squeeze lemon juice in a bottle of water, or sip hot water and lemon.
Snack on dark berries, and any fruits or vegetables deeply hued in the color spectrum.
Drink green, black or herbal teas with lemon juice.
Make sure to incorporate good health fats: olives, olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds."
Read more from Rebecca and get healthy recipes on her website
www.rebeccakatz.com
More information on air quality and health effects of wildfires:
Collaborative on Health and the Environment at Commonweal Director Karen Wang recommends reading the Air Quality page on their website for background info on health effects of air quality.
www.healthandenvironment.org/…/global-e…/air-quality
Also from Karen:
"I would recommend following air quality on the EPA's AirQualityNow website ( airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=319 )
Also, the EPA has a crowd science app available for download called SmokeSense to evaluate health effects of wildfire smoke. This is for people who want to contribute to the science or are just interested in learning more."
Air Quality — The Collaborative on Health and the Environment
healthandenvironment.org
The Collaborative on Health and the Environment's (CHE's) primary mission is to strengthen the science dialogue on environmental factors impacting human health and to facilitate collaborative, multifactorial, prevention-oriented efforts to address environmental health concerns.
Commonweal shared The New School at Commonweal's post.
Many people in the Bay Area are wearing paper face masks to filter out smoke and pollutants. Ted Schettler, MD, Science Director at the Collaborative on Health and the Environment has some helpful information on which kind of mask works best. He also offers some links to research about health effects of wildfires. "Generally, paper masks are not effective at filtering out small particles and do nothing to prevent inhalation of hazardous vapors. What’s generally recommended for particulate filtration is an N95 filtering facepiece respirator. They do not filter vapors either but are effective against particulate inhalation, which will be the most widespread hazard away from the fires themselves. They are normally available in hardware stores but a story I saw in the news this morning said that many stores in the area are sold out. Respirators with canisters that capture vapors as well as particulates are also an option but more expensive and may not be necessary if not right next to the fire. If people are in a safe place but where there is smoke and they do not have a N95 respirator, staying indoors with windows largely closed will help reduce exposure to particulates." www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/n95list1.html *** Here are links to publicly available reviews of health effects of wildfires for those who may be interested in some of the details www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25460628 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23145351