Dr. Norman Walker, considered to be the Father of Juicing, and who lived to be between 110 and 118 years old (sources vary) following a predominantly raw-food diet, wrote of the common cold in, Fresh Vegetables and Fruit Juices:

Think this over when you “catch a cold.”

The waste matter in the system, if not eliminated, builds up fermentation and heat in the body in the natural course of events. When such fermentation has reached a sufficiently toxic state, Nature becomes worried about our neglect to keep the body clean within, and gives us a warning in the form of mucous elimination which has been labeled “a cold.” It is just as simple as that, and we have seen it demonstrated over and over and over again, that if the warning is ignored and disregarded, more serious conditions develop, conditions which are so well-known that a list of them covers a medical encyclopedia.

Never curse a cold which has caught up with you. Rather be thankful for the timely warning, and do something about it. No drug was ever known to cure a cold without the development of eventual afflictions of a more serious nature, rarely attributed to such drugs.

To put it briefly, a cold is the result of the secretion of too much accumulated waste, and insufficient and improper elimination. The Colon is the recipient of all this corruption. Toxins spread throughout the body generating unhealthy mucus in the sinus cavities. Excessive waste matter is the contributing factor in the generation of mucus. The result  — A COLD

True to form, our bodies were created by God to be self-healing. And once again, we have the cure to a problem being seen as sickness.

When eating an improper diet, the body tries to eliminate the many toxins generated by such a diet as quickly as possible. But doing so requires a lot energy, which is already taxed from an improper diet to begin with. Eventually the body becomes overwhelmed, allowing a buildup of waste and toxins in the body. At some point, the body rallies to clean itself out, with the result being, as Dr. Walker pointed out, what we label a cold.

In times past, “catching” a cold meant getting lots of fluids and bed rest. Now there are countless medications designed to cover up the symptoms of the cold and allow a person to carry out his normal daily routine. And the symptoms that are seen as illness are nothing more than the body’s attempt to heal itself. The principle here is the same as with taking antibiotics to rid the body of a bacterial overgrowth, the symptoms may be stopped, but doing so allows the conditions to remain that caused the problem to begin with. A person who has stopped his symptoms may feel that he is now “well,” but just as with antibiotics, this appearance is illusionary at best.

Once again, a person who covers up his symptoms with man-made drugs sets himself up for the same problem, or worse, in the future. And there are always risks from taking the drugs themselves, as all drugs have side effects.

Several years ago many cold and flue medicines containing the drug phenylpropanolamine were pulled from the shelf by the FDA because the drug can cause the heart to race and lead to a stroke. But just because phenylpropanolamine has been removed from these chemical concoctions does not mean that they are safe now, because there are many other questionable ingredients in them, whose harmful effects will not be known for years. Keep taking them and you could aid the FDA in finding the next drug to pull from the shelf — after you have a stroke or worse.

Catching a cold should not be seen as a bad experience, but rather, as a cleaning experience that will leave you better off health wise. If colds are coming frequently, it is a sure indication that diet and lifestyle change are needed.