My husband found out yesterday that his co-worker was just confirmed as having H1N1. I immediately went into a tirade of questions: How long has he been sick? What did he touch in the workplace? Was he sick before he left work?
My husband assured me that he has been extra vigilant in keeping his hands clean and not touching his face, long before anyone had a chance of exposure. He hasn’t even been in the same building with this person for three weeks.

But my mind has been in a panic ever since.

Ironically, our family has been sick for a week, because of something I failed to do at church last Sunday. We carefully cleaned our hands and the bench, but I still neglected to protect my family. You see, the little kids in the pew behind us had a mild cough. And my daughter managed to snatch a toy helicopter from them. Normally I’m not concerned; their family is also quite conscientious about keeping things clean, and I know they wouldn’t come to church if they were really sick. It shouldn’t have been a problem, except that my toddler still tends to put things in her mouth.

Wham. The common cold virus at work.

Thank goodness it was just a cold. My daughter had a runny nose for a week, but hasn’t done too badly otherwise. (Would you believe that this is the sickest she has ever been?) I had a little cough and a scratchy throat. My mother ended up in bed for a few days, and my husband got the worst of it. He is still struggling while the rest of us have mostly recovered.

Fear of the swine flu has kept us from going out much this year. Well, there are other reasons, too, and we really prefer being at home, anyway. But it has kept me from attending church as often as I’d like. I really need the spiritual recharge, now more than ever. So why can’t I use my education to overcome the risks, and go get what our family needs most every week?

After a day of my thoughts racing over exposure risks, basic protection procedures, and additional precautions I could take, I finally realized what I hadn’t done.

I hadn’t asked if the co-worker was okay.

Have I uncovered some deep character flaw in myself? No, I don’t think so; normally my first thought is for the person in question, before thinking about how it affects me and my family. But current circumstances have affected my priorities so much that I had forgotten what else was important. I’m thankful that I realized what was happening to my thought processes before it really did change my way of thinking entirely. Of course, my immediate family is most important to me. But I need to be careful not to let problems reduce my circle of concern so much that I begin to fail to recognize the needs of my neighbors, as well.

The economy crisis has definitely blurred the line between need and greed. At the very least it has brought it closer to ourselves; many of us have not prepared and have become more selfish out of necessity, not out of lack of sympathy for our fellow man. Little did I suspect that a pandemic could have much the same effect, and intensify attitudes that have already reduced the amount of selflessness in our society.

I’m glad the warning came to me in time. Preparedness has become even more vitally important to protect our well-being; not only physical, but emotional and spiritual, as well.

I’ll be heading back to church on Sunday, this time more aware of others’ needs in addition to my own.

Update: The co-worker is at home and doing well. Knowing the symptoms to watch for removes most of the danger.

The biggest factors that make your immune system stronger are: exercising regularly, eating nutritious foods, getting enough sleep, and maintaining proper weight. I’m sure you’ve heard those phrases a million times, but they are very true. I’d like to share some specific tips that have helped my family.

1. Maintain your proper weight. Determine what you need to lose (or gain), discuss your ideas with your doctor, and get started on a program right away. The Better Homemaking Network is currently developing a meal plan that can be used for weight loss and is Weight Watchers compatible. Stay tuned! In the meantime, these tips for your immune system are all ideal beginnings for weight management.

2. Walk 30 minutes a day. More activity is always good, but this the threshold where the benefits really start to kick in. Try wearing a pedometer and get yourself over the 10,000 mark every day.

3. Vitamins – take a good multi or do some research and put together your own regimen. 500mg Vitamin C every 12 hours is a great place to start. I keep a bottle of chewables in my nightstand and munch on one when I get up and when I go to bed.

4. Eat fruits and veggies! At least five servings, but seven to nine is preferred. Be sure to wash them really well – just think about how many times they have been handled before getting into your kitchen! Wash all of it, even the items that you peel. Dry them off with a paper towel instead of letting them air dry. There are more things in fresh food that prevent disease, many of which we haven’t discovered yet, that we just can’t reproduce in a pill. (Or juice!)

5. Drink water! It helps flush out body waste and anything else that shouldn’t be there. Here are some tips to get the most out of your water.

6. Wash your hands frequently, and avoid touching your face. Sanitizing wipes are a big help. Keep some in the car, and every time you come out of a store or doctor’s office, wipe down your hands, the door handle, the gearshift, and the steering wheel. Remember after pumping gas, too. I try to wipe the baby’s hands since they usually end up touching the floor somewhere!

7. Get enough sleep; an average of 7 hours a day. Your body needs sleep to regenerate itself. Another very interesting thing that happens while you sleep, is the replenishment of certain chemicals in your brain. If you don’t get enough sleep, your brain doesn’t get enough of these chemicals, and it wants them so badly it will trigger hunger cravings! Food can only provide cheap substitutes for these chemicals, however, so it can become a vicious cycle if you do not catch enough of those zzz’s.

8. Chiropractic Care – this can be a controversial option, although I can say that I have personally documented improvement in my own immune system since I started getting adjusted regularly. Imagine your spine as a huge switchboard, relaying all the information your body needs from your brain. So when you are out of alignment, nerves get pinched, switches turn off, and those organs can’t get all their messages back and forth, which impedes healing.

I’d like to note that I used to get sick all of the time.  Since I started doing these things I have only been sick two or three times a year, and I recover very rapidly; usually in less than twelve hours!

How much water should you drink? Approximately 1-oz per 2lbs of body weight. Just don’t drink more than 12 ounces in half an hour very often – it can be a little TOO hard on your kidneys. Hyponatremia is extremely rare though, and I wouldn’t worry about it unless you can’t stop to go to the bathroom for an extended period of time. And while you are exercising, you should try to drink 8 ounces every half-hour.

Try different kinds of water and stock up on your favorite. I personally found that I like plain ol’ distilled water and dislike most others, including the most popular and preppy brands. Deer Park is tolerable, and Sam’s Choice brand (from WalMart) is my favorite. But this is all personal preference, based on your taste for different minerals in your water. I really wish I could get Sparklett’s water on the East Coast!

Find some different and fun water bottles; use what you like best. I use a few of the big Propel bottles – I like the way the cap works and I refill them with my water. I also have a cool purple bottle with a straw from FlyLady.com that I use, too. And my husband surprised me with a sexy-looking Deer Park water bottle when we stopped at a gas station the other day – too bad it fell apart! Make it fun, and it is easier. Don’t worry about BPA leeching out of your bottles! Just make sure they are clean if you reuse them, throw them away if they are worn or cracked, and don’t heat them up in the microwave.

I sometimes add a little bit of flavoring to my water, but I can’t use Crystal Light, I am allergic to Nutrasweet. Weight Watchers JUST came out with their version of the Crystal Light packs, they have raspberry, lemonade, and peach tea, and use Splenda instead. You don’t have to use the entire packet, either; sometimes just a sprinkle is enough. I love just squeezing a lemon or lime into my water. Try an orange or grapefruit!

Caffeine is a diuretic, it will leech out any water you take in – that is why drinks with it don’t count, including coffee, tea, and green tea. Drinking soda does more harm than good with the amount of sugar, sodium, and chemicals (sodium benzoate is baaaaaad for you) so it doesn’t really count, either. Juice, well, it is really high in calories, and eating the actual fruit is so much better for you, and filling, too. But you CAN count it towards your intake. (Be sure it is 100% juice and not a juice drink which is mostly sugar syrup.) You can count milk, too. But… AT LEAST HALF of your recommended water intake is supposed to be just that: WATER.

Drink it COLD whenever you can. Your body has to spend calories to raise the water to your core temperature. Cold is good!

Drinking water doesn’t really “melt” fat, but… if your kidneys don’t get plenty of water, your liver has to help them out, and that takes it away from its primary job of… metabolizing stored fat!!

I drink at least 3 22-oz bottles of water (I refill them from big jugs of distilled which is my preference) and a glass of low-fat milk each day. I treat myself to the occasional natural soda (with REAL sugar, stay away from the high fructose corn syrup). No more than once a week, though; the carbonation isn’t all that great for you, either. I like to call it my “Soda-Pop Sunday”!

You will BE AMAZED at what that magic 64 ounces of water a day will do. I was like, yeah, I’m losing weight just fine, who cares about the water, I drink a little milk and lots of fruit and veggies with water in them… but when I hit a plateau after losing the first 16 pounds, I tried it. The first thing I noticed was how SOFT my skin felt! And how FULL I felt – I wasn’t hungry at all, it was easier to stretch out my points, and for the first time in five months I was able to go without dipping into those extra 35 weekly bonus points! And I just plain feel better!

What has drinking water done for you? Share your favorite tips here!