Yesterday, for Huffington Post, I wrote a post about virus and bacteria (from a parenting perspective). You can read the article here.

Basically, colds are often (but not all the time) caused by virus and fever by bacteria (again, not all the time). Over simplification, yes, but in the article I wrote that the old adage, feed the cold and starve the fever, appears to have a scientific basis, as work by Ruslan Medzhitov of Yale University on inflammatory responses show.

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People often try to engage me in medicine-related conversations – even at dinner parties and in pubs! – and I often smile politely and absolutely refuse to get into heavy discussions.

Because I really, really believe that this subject is much simpler than it is made out to be. There is too much paranoia around health issues and this siege mentality is not helpful at all!!!!!!!! Everything in moderation is fine, and ingesting some ‘bad’ food occasionally (so long as it is not strychnine) is also fine.

And sometimes, falling sick is good because it is like a fire drill for our body. No stress. No need to run to the doctor for antibiotics, painkillers, anti-inflammatories and placebos.

But if you keep falling sick, then aha, something’s up.

Your life, your lifestyle or your mind could be what that’s making you sick. You could start getting herpes around your lips or bowels flaring up. Runny nose, susceptibility to infection, anxiety, fatigue. They whack your cellular and humoral (lymphatic fluid) indicators, and are all immune system-mediated diseases.

That’s what researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania say.  

The long-term effects can be devastating. I have no doubt, the immense stress I was in was one of the major contributory factors to my grave illness late last year.  These negative emotions get trapped in the body, catalysing a chain of hormonal reactions in the body that has detrimental long-term effects.

The cure for releasing these negative emotions that make you sick? Oxytocin and endorphins, the cuddle hormones. These cuddle hormones  trigger cellular changes that improve normal physiological functioning, and that is the best thing ever for the human body.

So apart from cuddles, feeling happy does the trick too ❤ ….. yeah, in moderation!

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The JK Rules:

  1. Be aware of your body. Listen to it. And don’t ignore “complains”. But beware of paranoia though – know what’s real and what’s your monkey brain’s chatter.
  2. Try to figure out what’s going on with your own body. If you are not happy with a professional diagnosis, ALWAYS get a second opinion. And a third opinion. Listen, try to understand. Until it makes sense to you.
  3. Maintain wellness rather than treat illness. Tank yourself up with green smoothies and bone broth. And lots of water.
  4. Workout. YOUR HEART. When your heart goes, you go too.
  5. In moderation. Try to avoid ‘bad’ things like sugar, GMO food, preservatives but don’t stress over it. Have a list of NO food (such as the above) but don’t obsess.
  6. Be happy AND STABLE! Because as the science of neurobiology, immunology, psychology, etc are showing, that’s what that keeps you well. High-octane sex is all very good, but value too the cuddles and the caresses.