DIET IS THE CULPRIT!

Most people imagine the cold virus is ‘caught’ from another individual who is infectious. In simplistic terms this is true, however it is far from the whole story, otherwise why do some people always seem to be going down with something or other whilst others never catch anything. It is obviously all to do with individual immune systems. That is also why when we have been weakened by one virus we may well succumb to another immediately on recovery.

The first thing to understand is that colds and flu are simply methods the body adopts to cleanse itself and get rid of weakened tissues. Similarly catarrh is a means of getting rid of harmful acidity that is creating an internal environment detrimental to good health. Treatment must be directed towards assisting this elimination and not suppressing it. Suppression e.g. nasal decongestants will merely result in toxic materials accumulating in the body laying the foundation for disease in later life.

Since colds are a natural expulsion of acidity from the body it is obvious that foods, which build up acidity, are the real culprits.

Acid foods are first and foremost refined white sugar and all its products, also refined white four e.g. sweets, pastries, cakes, biscuits and bread, pop and soft drinks in general. Also, excessive animal products, i.e. meat, fish, eggs, cheese, milk and also fried foods.

Alkaline foods should be the main core making up approximately 80% of the diet. Examples of alkaline foods are fresh fruit and vegetables, seeds, and nuts such as Brazil, coconut and almonds.

The quickest method of cleansing the system is through the use of a short fruit fast.
When one has a cold, or flu especially, appetite is generally suppressed naturally. The worst thing we can do is to ‘eat to keep our strength up’ at such a time. The body has enough to do detoxifying itself; it doesn’t need another load to deal with at the same time. Even if we loose weight during an illness, recovery is much faster if we don’t overload the system whilst ill and on recovery the appetite returns and the weight lost is soon put back on again.

Initially only pure fruit juices should be taken, diluted with spring water. After a day or so any type of fresh fruit can be taken with impunity apart from starchy fruit like bananas. This should be continued if possible for several days, later incorporating raw vegetables. This is the best way to ensure that the bodies cleansing attempts have not been in vain.

There are two reasons we may not succumb when others around us do. The first is that our immune systems are so strong and our tissue so healthy that we ward off all invading pathogens. However it takes energy to ‘spring clean’ and so the second is that our vital energy or energy within our body is so weak we are unable to summon up the energy to perform this ‘spring cleaning operation’. You can see by this that most chronically, long-term sick people with conditions like cancer and chronic arthritis fall into this second category and that is why they don’t readily recover by orthodox treatment.

It is not coincidental that during herbal treatment as well as with other ‘alternative therapies, colds and flu happening early on in the treatment are looked upon as positive and often even expected.
I remember a patient of mine, who was also having acupuncture treatment with a colleague and started catching one cold after another. ‘Excellent’, said the acupuncturist, ‘your vital energy is picking up nicely!’. However this patient, tired of these troublesome colds, went and had a flu jab. Now don’t forget her vital energy was high, but now but her body was unable to ‘spring clean’ using the usual route. She subsequently came out in boils, which I think was far more uncomfortable than having the colds.

BUILDING UP THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Penny Baulm who started the Bristol Cancer Centre in her autobiography talks of how decided she didn’t want to go down the path of radiotherapy for her breast cancer and sought out more natural methods. In her quest one treatment she was given under supervision was to have fevers induced in order to stimulate her immune system.

Fortunately we now know several extremely effective medicinal herbs that will perform this task.
The first one many people know about nowadays is Echinacea.

Echinaforce, a particular preparation of this herb, is now advertised frequently on prime time T.V., a testament to the number of people using Echinacea. Echinacea is both anti-viral and anti-bacterial and contrary to what most people have been told, the longer you take Echinacea the stronger your immune system becomes. It is normally an extremely safe herb. The only possible contra-indication being that because it also cleanses the lymphatic system everything is thrown into the blood system. I once had a patient whose eczema flared up after taking Echinacea simply because toxins were being actively thrown out of her body through her skin, the same way they had always been expelled. I would also be cautious with anyone whose body is highly toxic and they have weak kidneys. This is because their kidneys could simply become overloaded with waste and buckle under the strain.

Garlic has always been available and a superb anti-bacterial, anti-fungal anti-viral herb. Unfortunately the deodorised capsules do not exhibit these qualities and the smell of the pungent essential oil on the breath is less than acceptable for most people. In the book ‘Green Pharmacy’ there is a true story of grave robbers who during the Black Death were able to protect themselves from catching it themselves by eating garlic. Another story cites how a schoolteacher reading this decided to hang garlic up in her classroom during an infectious epidemic. Her class was the only one in the school to remain healthy.

Anne Chiotis

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