Cold-Proofing Your Home and Your Diet

Over the past several weeks I have been coming face to face, hand to hand, with a great number of people who have colds and the flu.  It is unavoidable, it seems.  Everywhere I go, shopping, to work, at the library… people are sniffling, and coughing and sneezing.  It seems that being ill doesn’t keep people at home anymore.  And there has been a lot of H1N1 flu in my city this year.  Scary.

It makes me want to hole up at home and not go out until Spring and the warmer temperatures settle in… unfortunately, that is not practical or anywhere close to realistic.

So far, both The Captain and I have managed to avoid coming down with something ourselves.  I think it is because we are so careful… yes, to the point of being obsessive sometimes, trying to avoid bringing these germs home.

The most important thing we are doing, I believe, is washing our hands… EVERY time we come into the apartment from an outing… even if it is just to the laundry room or mail boxes in our own building… we wash our hands with soap and water, and dry them.   And yes, I am changing and laundering the hand towels very often these days.  And going through lotions by the quart!

And yes, I am I doing my best to keep my hands away from mouth and nose and eyes…

I have been reading a lot about keeping our immune systems healthy and we have adopted some easy and healthful habits.  We try to get lots of exercise, fresh air, sleep and eat good foods as a matter of course, but this time of year we are even more careful.

There are some particular things that we do at home, such as:

• drinking green tea
• drinking freshly squeezed lime and lemon juices, with water
• taking our vitamins and supplements including extra zinc
• eating colorful fruits and veggies, and when The Captain is not getting enough he supplements with North Coast Naturals Daily Greens
• eating lots of garlic and onions (good thing we both love them)
• getting ample sleep
• taking rest days between runs
• taking rest days between strength workouts
• sanitizing door knobs, telephones, tv remotes, and light switches

And at work, where I am encountering many other people face to face, as well as handling their documents:

• using hand sanitizer between clients

If I shared a telephone or office equipment with other people, you can bet I would be sanitizing those things too.

Overdoing it?  Perhaps, but … knocking on wood… neither of us has been sick yet.

What do you think?  Are colds and flu running rampant where you live, too?

Are you taking special steps to avoid them?