Fruit juices diluted with water (50:50) help

With winter coming soon, colds cannot be far away. The common cold may give you the same familiar symptoms but it has many more causes than most diseases — any one of 250 different types of viruses can result in the common cold.

This sheer diversity makes it difficult to develop a vaccine that would protect against colds.

But there may really be no need for a vaccine. Colds may bring infections to the nose, sinuses, and throat, but they stay only a few days and soon go away without leaving any serious complications. Colds are so minor, yet they do make you miserable.

Although there is no cure for it, there is such a thing as a diet that helps you fight the common cold. The only real weapon you have against colds is a proper diet.

Eating the right foods, having regular exercise and getting enough rest will boost your immune system, helping you fight infections from cold viruses and reducing the misery of stuffy noses and aching throats. Eat right and you can put up a fight. Here are some guidelines:

* Have plenty of nutrient-rich foods to strengthen your immune system and fight infections.
* Drink plenty of liquids. Water, tea without caffeine, fruit juices diluted with water at 50:50 combination, or broth-based soups will do you fine. The liquids will loosen mucus and make it less viscous, thus easier for the body to dispose. Hot soups help move germs out of your nose.
* Avoid consuming drinks with caffeine (coffee, tea, and soda drinks). Caffeine causes your kidneys to excrete more water from your system, that is, you lose more fluids.

A possible anti-colds menu:

Breakfast: oatmeal made with water, mixed berries, whole-wheat toast, orange juice.

Lunch: mixed green salad, a non-dairy soup (say, a chicken vegetable soup), tomato juice, sections of mandarin orange.

Dinner: a non-dairy soup, steamed mixed vegetables, whole-wheat pasta with tomato sauce, some fruit.

In all meals, you can add hot decaffeinated tea if you wish.

For the more intrepid, a very effective approach is to go on a fast for two days when the common cold strikes. Nothing should be taken during these two days except warm water mixed with some lemon juice and honey; alternatively, you can use fruit juice (especially pineapple juice) and hot water. The fruit juice diet helps to bring the acid condition of the blood back to neutral or slightly alkaline state.

After the two-day juice fast, you can go on a three-day fresh fruit diet. This means all three meals in a day should consist of fresh juicy fruits. Avoid eating bananas and fruits that have been dried, stewed or canned.

After the three-day fresh fruit diet, you may then gradually return to a well-balanced diet. Make sure the diet supplies you all the vitamins and minerals you need, especially vitamin C (found in citrus and green leafy vegetables).