FROM THE NEWSLETTER: The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc. It's the most impactful event of our lives, for most of us. Yet there's so much we don't know about the coronavirus and the disease it causes: COVID-19.

For example, it can be especially fatal to older people, yet it can kill people of any age.

Many who get COVID-19 don't even notice the symptoms. Others report horrible, painful symptoms. And, of course, many even die.

How can a disease kill thousands of people, when most people who get it experience the mildest symptoms?

Despite the mysteries and unknowns, there's a common thread that links most of the different kinds of people who have an extreme or fatal reaction: immune response.

What appears to happen is that the body reacts to COVID-19 with flu-like symptoms: headache, body ache, sniffles, fever. That's partly how the human immune system fights colds and flu.

But some patients experience an "inflammation storm" -- a wild over-reaction on the part of the immune system. In fact, in the case of most COVID-19 fatalities, people are killed by their own immune response.

In other words, strong immune systems defeat COVID-19; compromised immune systems are defeated by it.

The young and middle-aged people most vulnerable to succumbing to the coronavirus have inflammatory conditions likely to result from diet and lifestyle choices: diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, alcoholism, kidney disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder caused by smoking or they live in smoggy cities.

In all these groups, their immune symptoms are less efficient at clearing viral infections or they have compromised lung tissue.

It's also likely that drugs prescribed for some of these conditions, such as drugs to treat high blood pressure or diabetes, may increase the damage from COVID-19. Another risk factor is when people are taking immune-suppressing drugs (for example, after an organ transplant).

Everyone is sheltering in place and observing social distancing in order to "flatten the curve" and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed.

But we should also understand that in order to reach some level of so-called "herd immunity," lots of people (more than half the population) need to get, and recover from, the coronavirus.

We should all be doing everything we can to boost and strengthen our immune systems and get as healthy as possible as the best defense against the worst effects of COVID-19.

The Spartan Diet is the ultimate diet and lifestyle for strengthening your immune system no matter how old you are or what your health history is.

We’re never too young or too old to become healthier and stronger -- and start making better lifestyle choices, which have a direct impact on our health. The most effective way to boost our quality of life is through diet and lifestyle.

The daily practice of making healthy lifestyle choices rewards us in every way. From maintaining optimum body weight to having a strong immune system, from sleeping well to managing stress better, from enjoying high stamina to physical strength and mental clarity as well as good mood, eating the right foods is central to health.

In upcoming Spartan Diet newsletter issues, I’ll be sharing valuable information on how to improve your immune system through diet and lifestyle. Let's get healthy!

Subscribe to The Spartan Diet newsletter now, to get the free recipe for my Super Punch Power Tonic!

Amira Elgan