Jonathan Ball wrote:
>>> Tell us why you don't think crummy diets contribute to the common cold.
>>
>> Your claim wasn't about generically "crummy" diets. People who eat
>> junk foods are acquire illnesses, no doubt. So do people who eat
>> healthful diets. I know people who eat meat and consume dairy and
>> wheat -- so-called mucus-forming foods according to you and Ehret --
>> but who are seldom if ever ill. I know raw vegans who are always
>> suffering from something, including occasional bouts of food
>> poisoning. Your thesis is ****ed by science and by anecdotes.
>
> My diet varies but little. I eat meat in moderation, very little dairy,
> starches, vegetables, and some (probably not enough) fruit. I drink
> lots of coffee, some beer and wine, the very rare soda. Some years I
> get several colds; other years I don't get any.

There are a lot of possible explanations, including already having antibodies
for prevailing bugs, stress, etc. Your experience may change a bit when your son
starts school and brings home new bugs from his classmates.

> In the early 1990s I
> got enough colds that a then-girlfriend thought I was basically "sickly"
> (despite getting on my bicycle and riding in and finishing the Solvang
> Century with no training whatever.)

I'm impressed.

> From 1996 up to about 2000 I think
> I had maybe one cold. I have no idea what caused the difference, except
> that I ditched that toxic girlfriend.

Stress is a big factor; I don't know if she caused you any, or even if you
perceived it as a stressful relationship (a lot of people do feel better after
dumping Mr or Miss Wrong). It's also possible she was a Typhoid Mary of sorts,
especially if she worked around sickly people herself.

> A diet that is unbalanced and doesn't provide what are recognized to be
> important, if not essential, nutrients will probably make one more
> susceptible to colds; that doesn't mean it "causes" colds.

Correct. Coleman, though, will only dodge around that as he's already done by
stating that there are other factors. What a dumb ****.