Are you avoiding places because of the flu?

[ricksrealpitbbq]

I agree Nan. I'm a woodworker / carpenter by trade and I credit that with my ability to keep going. Physically I can still outwork guys half my age. If I had a desk job or one with little activity, I'd probably be in terrible shape right now.

[Keziah]

It's being forced to work in close proximity to people in centrally heated offices that are unhealthy.

Fresh air, flowing though is the answer, no, no to air con. A Good stiff breeze blowing through open windows is far better.

Wearing an extra cardigan is better than closing a window.

[Mama Mangia]

I am not trying to be paranoid - but - there are many ways to catch this flu or any flu or cold. WASH YOUR HANDS. And don't forget - you grab a cart in the grocery store and you are touching that, touching things in stores and markets, touching your steering wheel, touching your keys, and if you purse was in the shopping cart, and you used your credit/bank card. And of course the cell phone. Then you go home and touch door knobs, cabinets, etc. putting things away. You place refrigerated items in the fridge - and bacteria is just everywhere.
I Lysol everything I can - and I do remember to wash my car steering wheel and the inside of my car as well. I don't do it daily - but I do it.
We can't live totally germ free - it's impossible (or we'd be living like Monk on TV) but carrying hand sanitizer in the glove compartment and a roll of paper towels helps some. Especially if you are out and about and stopping for a burger. You touch doors, counters, etc. that others have touched or put their snot rags on. That's a sure way to pick up anything.

[Mama Mangia]

Also - I don't care how bad the weather is - get outdoors and walk or just sit and freeze if you have to. It's the best way to build up your resistance to colds. Do it everyday and eat a cup of your favorite yogurt each day - do it for a month and let me know how you feel.

[The Ironic Chef]

I have worked construction all my adult life. I contribute my good health to being in the outdoors, plenty of fresh air, lol. I very rarely get sick even when those around me get whatever bug is going around.
My wife and kids get sick left and right from being cooped up in confined spaces. I think the several showers a day, the antibacterial soap and cleaners, the hand wipes, the sprays and antibiotics and evrything else being usede today is wiping out the imune system.
Going out and facing a bug and fighting it off naturally is the best thing. Here in NJ the State advertised that if you catch the Swine Flu, don't go to the ER or your doctor. don't go to work, stay home. Get rest. If symptoms get to severe then go to the doctor.
I was suprised to actually hear this. Sounds like advice my grandmother would have given. Of course my grandmother would have had chicken soup in the advice.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Great points Nan- and all...

Speaking of keeping fit as we age... I'm a huge man- over 300 lbs. Even being so big I always worked a very demanding work-day in kitchens... 12-16 hours, sometimes 7 days a week... sometimes many weeks w/ no day off. And 99% of the job was ON MY FEET. Even as a huge man- this kept me fit and well-conditioned in a weird way.

Now? I work a 40 hour sit-down job at a desk, and in 2 years I've really noticed a difference in my level of fitness- my flexibility, my pain thresh-hold, my ability to be limber, and even the distances I can now walk. I have had to greatly reduce my food intake just to maintain the same weight. And losing? Lord- I've have to dwindle my diet down to nothing! Yet, I want to stay on this earth as long as I can, so I know these are changes I definitely need to make.

Anyway- just some observations of a fat guy. Without gaining or losing a pound, I have seen my body go thru the gammit as far as fitness-level. And it's teaching me a lot. Interesting stuff!

[jglass]

Jon has gone down to eating nearly nothing trying to loose weight before. Once he hits a certain weight he can never get below it. He gave up lol. Some how his weight and every digestive disorder he has is related to my cooking according to him lol.
His Dad is super active but really has to watch what he eats or he gains weight fast. I should watch what I eat more but dont. I could stand to loose weight myself.

[scubalaydee]

Well I am 55 and still going, can't seem to slow down, have to keep busy, it makes me feel young, so I do all sports as much as I can. About the flu I am from a family of 9, if more than one of us had the flu, how would we avoid each other, and even now when I am exposed on the subway, in the office, while shopping, I just deal with it, you can't just walk up to someone and say, "can you cough or sneeze somewhere else" I think that is rude, because when I am sick especially with a cough, and I go to the drugstore to get cough medicine, and I feel the cough coming, and I try my best to suppress it, but then I cannot take it anymore, and I cough a real bad cough with tears in my eyes feeling sorry for myself the last thing I want to hear from a stranger is "take that cough somewhere else are you trying to get everyone sick". Everyone gets sick sometime or the other we just have to be more sensitive when it is needed, and deal with it.

[jglass]

I never meant people should stay in and not go and get their meds or groceries. But when you have sick children who could stay in with Mom or Dad while the other goes and runs errands then they should. When I am sick and have a cough I still have things I need from out and about. It is not like I can send Jon to the store. But always cover my face out of courtesy to others and simple manners. Rednecks are the worst. In front of the stores here in town you have to watch your step to get around the nasty wads of chewing tobacoo people have spit out right in front of the stores.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Rednecks are the worst. In front of the stores here in town you have to watch your step to get around the nasty wads of chewing tobacoo people have spit out right in front of the stores.

Janie you are just so honest, and it isn't funny; but it sort of made me chuckle at the very though of all those chewed up wads laying around in the parking lots in your part of TN how disgustingly horrid, yet it would take an act of congress in the state of KY (home of the tobacco growing industry for the US) to try and pass a law prohibiting spitting wads out in public places! Heck in your neck of the woods it is probably still legal to smoke in many establishments, or at least not enforced! One of the agents I work with dips and he keeps spit cans in his office e-w-w-w-w, the owner (his brother) always makes despairing remarks (in vain) about him getting his spit cans out of his office! I really just keep myself immune to it for the most past and try not to notice it and let it roll off my shoulders! To me it is alot better than smelling cigarette smoke.