If you're rarely ill, tell me what you do to stay healthy

[Lottapianos]

I lead a pretty healthy lifestyle, I think. I eat plenty of fruit and veg and cook from scratch virtually every day, drink plenty of water, exercise and generally get enough sleep. I do suffer from depression but not currently. I'm now fighting my third bug in about 6 weeks and I'm sick to death of feeling crappy.

If you're one of those lucky people who are rarely ill, please share your tips and suggestions- I'm so sick of being full of snot!

I dont know I'm not physically healthy. I work in a school so surrounded by illness so I think it's just luck.

By not physically healthy I mean I'm fat and eat crap.

I visualise my immune system being health and strong whilst meditating at least 3 times a week. I was sceptical but it works

www.consciouslifestylemag.com/healing-meditation-mind-body/

My GP said there are things you can do to help (the things you're doing) but ultimately it's just the way you're built, genetics, upbringing etc. I know so many people who are never ill but don't eat healthy, don't exercise, don't sleep much.

I rarely get sick but there is nothing I actively do to this, except for good hand hygiene and trying to breath through my mouth when I'm close to someone coughing or sneezing (the cold and flu viruses get to you through your nose, not your mouth, so I have read it helps if you breath through your mouth) and make sure there's a bit of everything in my diet. I get about one cold every 4 years. I don't remember last time I got sick with anything else.

Also, I don't smoke, I drink a glass of wine sometimes with my dinner, and never more than 2 when I go out, I don't like strong liquors. I don't like heavily processed junk food (I never eat McDonald's or KFC or anything such, not for health reasons, I honestly don't find that kind of food appealing).

I don't actively exercise, as in I don't go to the gym, or run, or do any kind of sport regularly. However I do walk a lot with my dog and I like hiking when i have the chance.

I eat whatever I want and I love chocolate and cakes. In my job I work nights regularly, and during night shifts I don't feel hungry so i usually just have a snack.

I eat everything, I don't follow any particular rules with food.

I am a healthy weight, my BMI is 22 or 23 last time I calculated it. I am 42. I don't remember when I last went to the GP! I think it may have been 2 years ago for a cervical smear.

Apart from that, I can't think of anything else, really.

The only thing I dont do is drink or smoke. As I said my diet is awful.

I have constipation and years ago started having physillium husks stirred into a smoothie every morning for the fibre. I then have more fibre from my food which you’re already doing. I am certain it has helped my gut bacteria flourish which is supposed to be helpful to immune functioning. Touch wood I’ve not had a virus or bacterial infection in 2 years. Before that one cold or bug a year

I think it might just be luck of the draw. I'm very rarely sick, it's been so long that I can't remember when the last time was (5 years maybe?). Thought I was coming down with a cold recently but woke up just fine the next day. I'm always surrounded by someone with a bug but it just doesn't affect me.

I have no secret. I don't lead a particularly healthy lifestyle... I smoke, I drink and apart from housework, I don't exercise. I'm a little bit overweight but not exceedingly so.

But on those rare occasions when I do get sick I go down like a sack of spuds and end up in hospital.

I used to get ill regularly until I made the following changes:

Quit smoking
Quit drinking
Lost weight
Started taking vitamins
Started having protein shakes

I get seriously ill perhaps once a year, everything else is just a mild cold/sniffle which is more of an annoyance more than anything else.

Always been like this since a child, so I presume genetics has a say as my diet is horrendous.

I honestly think it's little to do with lifestyle. My kids are never ill and nor am I, and we don't do anything special, and we all eat normal amounts of junk and healthy food.

Mashed, tell me more about the vitamins you take...

OP do you work in an environment where you are exposed to lots of other people? Or have small children?

Work in education.

Seriously, when I started I got everytging going.

Now I have the immune system of a rhino.

I hover on the borderline of being normal/overweight but I do eat plenty of fruit and veg. I do a fair amount of exercise, my house is mostly clean but not excessively disinfected. I get loads of fresh air and hang around with sticky toddlers a lot. The last time I got ill was 2012. I think I'm just lucky, rather than it being anything I'm doing right.

I’m not sure if there’s anything we particularly do but the things I think might help is that we include soup including chicken soup, in our diet regularly. We have lots of veg. We go out in all weathers and wash our hands first thing when we get in.

I used to work with children under 5. Since the start of this year, I worn in an office environment with only adults, and a very dodgy aircon system (sometimes freezing, sometimes boiling). No.kids of my own, and DP is almost never ill

I wasnt ill for over a decade and it was basically because i could sleep it off when i started to feel a bit down. I had flexible working and no responsibilities and minimal stress.

In my case I'm almost certain that my physical health is affected by my stress levels and depression. Years ago I was suffering from depression and was very very stressed out by my job. I was sick constantly. Colds, flu, stomach bugs etc.

I've now got a job I enjoy and no work related stress. I have other stress in my life (caring for elderly parents and that sort of thing) but I'm very very rarely sick.

I don't drink and have never smoked, that might help actually.

I'd highly highly recommend giving up dairy and see how you feel. I feel so much better since cutting all dairy

If you think about how, say, sickness bugs are spread, no amount of healthy eating, visualisation or vitamins will help block science I never used to get ill but since having young children in nursery I catch 2/3 sickness bugs a year. There isn’t anything you can do really.

I’m very rarely ill but I don’t do anything in particular except as a previous poster stated I’m very aware of hand hygiene & always wash my hands before eating. I also don’t use public transport & I’m the only person in the office where I work so am not surrounded by other people with colds etc which obviously helps. I have 2 DCs but they don’t get ill often either luckily which helps as they aren’t constantly passing bugs to me. I eat OK & get enough sleep. I don’t take vitamins but if I get the start of a sore throat I take a big dose of vitamin C and that normally helps. Apart from that it’s just luck.

I rarely get ill. I'm overweight, eat reasonably healthy most of the time and the only exercise I do is dancing for about 4 hours a week. I get about one cold a year but nothing else, not counting joint pain from my mild arthritis. I had a knee op in January so I did have a week off work and three weeks of part time instead of full time otherwise I probably have a day off sick every five years or so.

Fasting.

I did 5:2 for a few years to lose weight, now 6:1 to maintain my weight - since starting I haven't had a single cough or cold whilst those around me have. It's a wonderful thing