How I Overcame / Forgot Asthma, Pneumonia, Flu, and Colds, And Saved Lots Of Money
Summary
Get rid of all (processed) sugar for at least two weeks.
Background
I am a thin and tall guy who grew up in a cold mountain and has been troubled by asthma, pneumonia, flu, and colds regularly. The flu and colds also trouble other people so that is not so special, except that the cold was sure to last a week if I drink more than one cup of softdrinks. The asthma comes when I don't sleep well or just after having colds or flu, or when the weather is cold, or too hot, or when the environment is dusty. We didn't seem to find the reason for the asthma. The pneumonia came when I forget to use a blanket at night after a chest congestion from cold. I learned how to deal with pneumonia by 1)staying warm, 2)forcing my breath out but not actually letting it out. These ailments were troubling me since elementary thru college and even after. Even after I became vegetarian for a few years the threats were still lurking.
Discovery
I heard that some friends were on a 80% raw diet without any salt, sugar, and additives. I tried it for some two months. I enjoyed it. Except for the no-salt thing, because I experienced cramps when I tried to remove salt. We went to a cold and high mountain and I was amazed that I did not get a cold nor a flu despite the low temperature and me sometimes sleeping outside in the night w/o blanket. Sugar is not good for the immune system -- that was the explanation. Sugar was my enemy.
Negative Validation and Positive Validation
After 2-3 months of no sugar, I tried to eat chocolates every morning and evening for two weeks and only after two weeks did I get a cold. I then stopped all sugar again for at least two weeks and my immune system was back to above normal. I say above normal because though everyone has a cold and a flu, I can just walk around untouched if I haven't had any sugar in any bread, juice, and other food and drinks for at least two weeks.
Why Did It Take So Long To Realize?
Because of the two week long tail. Furthermore we know sugar weakens the immune system but since sugar is sweet, our reasoning doesn't work well -- because we like it. If the effect takes two weeks to observe, who will have the patience to experiment specially denying oneself of sweets?
So What Do You Eat and Drink Instead?
Sugar-free stuff bread for people with diabetes.
Water instead of softdrinks and powder juices. Sugar-free juices.
I look at the ingredients and if I see sugar, I just put it back on the shelf.
Benefits?
Don't need to buy sugar.
Don't need to buy sweets and normal breads.
Don't need to buy softdrinks and juices with sugar.
Don't need to spend many days in the hospital or at home.
Don't need to miss work because of flu.
Don't need to sneeze and puff and huff because of colds.
Don't need to cough.
When I eat some sweets and get a cold it lasts only 2-3 days instead of a week.
Saved lots of downtime and medical/hospitalization bills yearly.
Literature
Get rid of all (processed) sugar for at least two weeks.
Background
I am a thin and tall guy who grew up in a cold mountain and has been troubled by asthma, pneumonia, flu, and colds regularly. The flu and colds also trouble other people so that is not so special, except that the cold was sure to last a week if I drink more than one cup of softdrinks. The asthma comes when I don't sleep well or just after having colds or flu, or when the weather is cold, or too hot, or when the environment is dusty. We didn't seem to find the reason for the asthma. The pneumonia came when I forget to use a blanket at night after a chest congestion from cold. I learned how to deal with pneumonia by 1)staying warm, 2)forcing my breath out but not actually letting it out. These ailments were troubling me since elementary thru college and even after. Even after I became vegetarian for a few years the threats were still lurking.
Discovery
I heard that some friends were on a 80% raw diet without any salt, sugar, and additives. I tried it for some two months. I enjoyed it. Except for the no-salt thing, because I experienced cramps when I tried to remove salt. We went to a cold and high mountain and I was amazed that I did not get a cold nor a flu despite the low temperature and me sometimes sleeping outside in the night w/o blanket. Sugar is not good for the immune system -- that was the explanation. Sugar was my enemy.
Negative Validation and Positive Validation
After 2-3 months of no sugar, I tried to eat chocolates every morning and evening for two weeks and only after two weeks did I get a cold. I then stopped all sugar again for at least two weeks and my immune system was back to above normal. I say above normal because though everyone has a cold and a flu, I can just walk around untouched if I haven't had any sugar in any bread, juice, and other food and drinks for at least two weeks.
Why Did It Take So Long To Realize?
Because of the two week long tail. Furthermore we know sugar weakens the immune system but since sugar is sweet, our reasoning doesn't work well -- because we like it. If the effect takes two weeks to observe, who will have the patience to experiment specially denying oneself of sweets?
So What Do You Eat and Drink Instead?
Sugar-free stuff bread for people with diabetes.
Water instead of softdrinks and powder juices. Sugar-free juices.
I look at the ingredients and if I see sugar, I just put it back on the shelf.
Benefits?
Don't need to buy sugar.
Don't need to buy sweets and normal breads.
Don't need to buy softdrinks and juices with sugar.
Don't need to spend many days in the hospital or at home.
Don't need to miss work because of flu.
Don't need to sneeze and puff and huff because of colds.
Don't need to cough.
When I eat some sweets and get a cold it lasts only 2-3 days instead of a week.
Saved lots of downtime and medical/hospitalization bills yearly.
Literature
"It is not good to eat much honey" Proverbs 25:27
"Carefully consider your diet. Study from cause to effect. Cultivate self-control. Keep appetite under the control of reason." {Ministry of Healing by Ellen G. White, page 323 paragraph 2}
525. Sugar is not good for the stomach. It causes fermentation, and this clouds the brain and brings peevishness into the disposition.—Manuscript 93, 1901 {Counsels on Diet by Ellen G. White, page 327 paragraph 1}
526. Far too much sugar is ordinarily used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams, are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients. The free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided.—The Ministry of Healing, 302, 1905 {CD 327.2}
527. Sugar clogs the system. It hinders the working of the living machine. {CD 327.3}
"Exposure of blood cells to sucralose-containing sweeteners under stimulatory conditions reduced levels of the biomarker of humoral immunity" {The in vitro effects of artificial and natural sweeteners on the immune system using whole blood culture assays. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24063614}
