Two Simple Tips to Stay Healthy During Wildfire Smoke

During a fire, our lungs take a big hit from the smoke and debris. We typically think about supporting our lungs in terms of wearing a mask, staying indoors, or even taking herbs, like my Firestorm Tea recipe. There’s a lot of great information out there on how to support the lungs, but what I want to share are two less talked-about yet essential things you can do to take care of yourself to stay healthier during wildfire smoke.

In holistic health, we look to support all the organ systems. If one organ system such as the lungs is under pressure, we want to aid the other organ systems so that they can bolster the one taking the brunt. When you have smoke particles entering the lungs and bloodstream, you want to support the body’s ability to detoxify and reduce inflammation. Anytime you help other organs in the body, it helps the lungs.

In this article, I’m going to share a couple of simple things we can all do to take care of ourselves and each other and stay healthy during wildfire smoke. Wildfire smoke is bad for you, there is no getting around that. But for many of us, we can’t get away from it and it has become part of life. Every little thing you can do to support yourself during these times, helps.
These are really easy, and you don’t have to go out and buy a bunch of things or learn something new.

#1 Support Your Liver

To stay healthy during wildfire smoke, you want to support the liver. If you lighten the load on the liver, then it can process more of the toxins that are getting into the bloodstream through the lungs.

Your liver processes fat, so one of the best things you can do is be mindful of the kind of fat you’re eating. Don’t give your body extra bad fats that cause inflammation, which can block up the liver and prevent it from reducing the inflammation that’s coming in through the lungs.

This is not about eating low fat or 1% fat, but about eating whole, organic, healthy fats. For example, stick with healthy oils like olive oil and coconut oil. It’s not the time to be eating fried and heavily processed foods.

Read all your labels. Avoid ingredients common in packaged foods, like soya bean oil, canola oil, and safflower oil, which are all high-inflammatory oils. Get rid of all the hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, and processed fats so that you can lighten the load on the liver.

When you free up the energy in the liver, it can help the lungs. You don’t have to go out and buy a bunch of supplements or learn some herbal teas that you’ve never heard of before. You can just be impeccable about your fat intake.

#2 Support Your Skin

We don’t usually think of taking care of the skin to take care of the lungs, but we are whole beings. Anytime you support the skin, you support all the other organs in the body so you can stay healthy during wildfire smoke.

Your skin is constantly bringing in nutrition and excreting waste. Even if you’re hiding indoors with an air filter and wearing a mask, a lot of toxins can come into your body from smoke, fire, and debris. Do whatever you can to take care of your skin.

Scrub

Can you get to a sauna or take a bath? Can you do any kind of scrubbing? You can get fancy and use a loofah, or you can just use a washcloth. Take a hot bath or shower, scrub your skin, increase the circulation, and get rid of the dead skin. What that does is increase the metabolism in the skin and it excretes some of what the lungs are having to deal with.

Massage

Massage is another way to support the skin and stay healthy during wildfire smoke. Sure, it’s great if you have 50 bucks or more to go see a massage therapist, but you know what? Massage therapy is a home art that every single one of us can do for each other. Give each other a back rub or rub each other’s feet. It’s amazing what you can do with 5 or 10 minutes of massage with the people that you live with.

When you massage, you work the lymph and open up the skin so that it can release the toxins. Moving the lymph bolsters the immune system.

Note that when you work the skin and open up the pores with a bath or massage, you don’t want to go out afterwards. Do this at the end of the day or when you can stay home.

Moisturize

During fire season, it’s really easy for your skin to dry out from the combination of the dryness of the season, the fire and smoke toxicity, and stress.

Just below the skin is your lymph, which houses your immune system. When your skin is dry, your white blood cells in your immune system cannot get to the lungs or wherever they need to go as easily. Also, your nerves are right below the skin. When your skin is dehydrated, your nervous system is dehydrated. This increases your stress and anxiety and lowers your immunity.

So, keep your skin moisturized! Lotion up. Put olive oil on your body. You can also put olive oil around your ears. Do this several times a day.

As you can see, there are tools right at our fingertips to help us during smokey times. These holistic supports are really easy to do, and you don’t have to buy a bunch of herbs you don’t have or learn anything new. Please stay safe and take care of each other.

I would love to hear from you. How do you and your loved ones stay healthy during wildfire smoke? What can you do to prepare for supporting your liver and skin? Please share in the comments below.