The Common Cold
Copyright © 2004 Nora Lenz

Colds are as misunderstood as they are common.

What you don't know about colds could save your life.

Please read on...

What are colds?
Colds are the body's safety valve. When bodily wastes accumulate to a point where the normal channels of elimination (bowel, kidneys, etc.) can no longer keep up, the body uses cold symptoms to expel the excess. Left alone, the common cold will cleanse the body back to the level where optimal function is restored. When this flow of waste out of the body is stopped via medications and remedies, however, the body must either retain it or produce more severe symptoms to accomplish its goal of purification.

What causes colds?
The causes and proper methods of dealing with colds have been known for many years. Colds are not caused by bacteria or viruses, but by diet and lifestyle habits that overwhelm the body with toxins and other waste matter. Eating inappropriate foods, taking medicines or fractionated "nutritional" supplements, smoking, drinking alcohol, getting inadequate fresh air, exercise or sleep all contribute to the causes of colds. The cold itself is a constructive, restorative process undertaken by the body to step up the rate of elimination by enlisting, most commonly, the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract.

Why do colds "turn into" pneumonia, bronchitis or other serious illnesses?
Colds don't turn into more serious illnesses on their own. When simple symptoms escalate, it is always because they were initially suppressed with medications and remedies, or because the sufferer continued to indulge the causes of the original symptoms (a poor diet, too little rest, too little exercise, too much stress, etc). Colds should be left alone. They should never be treated with remedies of any sort - pharmaceutical, natural, herbal, homeopathic or otherwise.

If you are worried about missing your flu shot this year because of the vaccine shortage, it may comfort you to know that the best way to avoid getting the flu is not by being vaccinated but by living healthfully, which includes properly dealing with cold symptoms if/when they arise.

Starve a cold … or feed a fever?
There's an old, oft-misquoted saying that goes "Feed a cold and you'll have to starve a fever". Whoever coined it obviously knew something about health that has been lost in modern times. It means that if you continue to eat when you have a cold, your symptoms will get worse. That's because eating when acute symptoms are present interferes with the body's efforts to cleanse itself. Digestion requires, by some accounts, 50% of all our bodily energy. When you have a cold it's best to rest, stop eating altogether and allow your body to devote all of its available resources to healing and recovery.

Do colds prevent cancer?
In a way, yes. Since their sole purpose is to allow the body to catch up on its backlog of elimination, colds prevent the over-accumulation of wastes that leads to degenerative disease like cancer.

Cancer is nothing more than the end product of a chronically-polluted internal environment. Tumors are formed by the body to quarantine toxins that would otherwise cause damage to tissues and organs. The cells that make up and surround tumors are deprived of oxygen and other vital nutrients, so they adapt to their environment by transforming themselves into a different type of cell. When these cells replicate, cancer is born.
The same toxemic state that produces cancer also causes other degenerative diseases like diabetes, arthritis, lupus, chronic fatigue, heart disease and various digestive and bowel disorders including ulcers, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. These diseases all have a CAUSE and causes are never addressed by taking medicines or having body parts surgically removed. The proper way to deal with the symptoms of disease is to stop indulging the causes.

How can colds be prevented?
All of this is not to imply that it is a good thing to get colds. Frequent or even annual colds are a sign that your lifestyle habits are overwhelming your body's normal eliminative channels. Living healthfully allows your body to function without having to resort to emergency elimination mechanisms like colds.

Colds are common because the dietary and lifestyle mistakes that cause them are also common, especially during winter when people stay indoors, eat more processed food and less fresh fruit, get less exercise, etc. To prevent all disease, we need only give the body the raw materials that it requires: unprocessed, biologically-appropriate foods (raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds), sunshine, sleep, fresh air, exercise, purposeful work, psychological security and emotional poise.

When you have a cold:

• Stay in bed, all day and night, and keep your eyes closed as much as possible.
• Stop eating and drink only pure water, or eat only fresh juicy fruits like oranges or melon.
• DO NOT take medicines, remedies, vitamins or supplements of any sort.
  Get fresh air, but stay warm.
• Do not take hot baths, showers or saunas.
• Spit your mucous (mucous is a transport medium for bodily waste).
• Know that by cooperating with your body, you will be feeling better in a matter of days, rather than weeks.