Sick People page 4

[mikebike]

Do your best to keep your hands away from your face when around sick people. Generally not big on hand sanitizers but during the cold/flu season I keep one handy at my desk at work. These two things combined with primal diet has yielded no colds in the last couple of years.

[spuggygirl]

This is the first job I've ever had that actually allowed me to use my sick days.

Surely anything else is illegal? If you're sick and unable to work, then what else can you do?

[Sabine]

The thing that helps me get over whatever illness quickly, primal or not, is resting. Real resting. As in lying in bed and only getting up to use the bathroom. A full day of that gives your body a chance to concentrate on healing. I think our society doesn't do enough of it; we have twisted the work ethic into 'work all the time'. Even when people are 'home sick' they are often catching up on laundry, etc. I have only started doing this in the last five years, and now wish I had started when I was a kid. It really helps.

[BestBetter]

Primal can help, but it's not the magic cure-all. I've been doing primal for a couple of years now (and have been gluten-free for more than six) and I still have asthma. I still get colds sometimes.

I think we can really get to be self-righteous about our lifestyles and think that we know the solution to everyone's health issues, but the truth is that even the best nutrition and lifestyle won't cure everything, and even the most awesomely primal person can still get sick. It doesn't make you bulletproof, and lecturing people on their diet just makes you look like a jerk.

Definitely.

I've been gluten and dairy free for about 6 years, but in the last 6 months I've been adding back real cane sugar and starches (which includes some grains like white rice and GF oatmeal and quinoa) and I've not gotten sick, in spite of being around a bunch of people who were.

So I don't believe that sugar and grains deserve the blame here...there are A LOT of factors that create a healthy immune system.

For example, if you believe the hygiene hypothesis, you could just as easily blame our overly antiseptic germaphobic behaviors for weakening our immune systems and making us more suseptible to viruses and bacteria, since we are less and less exposed to them. But if I told people to stop using hand sanitizer all the time, they'd probably think I was crazy or gross.

The thing that helps me get over whatever illness quickly, primal or not, is resting. Real resting. As in lying in bed and only getting up to use the bathroom. A full day of that gives your body a chance to concentrate on healing. I think our society doesn't do enough of it; we have twisted the work ethic into 'work all the time'. Even when people are 'home sick' they are often catching up on laundry, etc. I have only started doing this in the last five years, and now wish I had started when I was a kid. It really helps.

I think this is true. Some people will not fully relax and rest unless they are forced to, so I think that getting a good flu is the body's way of forcing a person to take some much needed downtime.

[RitaRose]

Surely anything else is illegal? If you're sick and unable to work, then what else can you do?

It's only illegal if they get caught.

I worked for one company when I was quite young and stupid that would give you an ungodly amount of daily work to do, then expect you to stay late to finish it. When I asked about pay, they said you would definitely be working "O.T." Except their definition of "O.T." was "Own Time". In other words, without any pay at all. They also had me wash down the store's walls with paper towels and windex, but only on days when I wore heels (so... I stopped wearing heels).

I also worked for a company that only had 2 holidays - Christmas Day and Easter, both of which were on a Sunday that year. We weren't open on Sundays. They eventually fired me so they could hire someone else for minimum wage, which was their right, but then they lied and said it was for incompetence so they wouldn't have to pay unemployment. It was 2 weeks after telling me I was the best worker they had.

There are some really awful employers out there. I'm a lot more likely to report crap like that now, but I'm also a lot less likely to work for someone else next time I'm looking.

[RitaRose]

For example, if you believe the hygiene hypothesis, you could just as easily blame our overly antiseptic germaphobic behaviors for weakening our immune systems and making us more suseptible to viruses and bacteria, since we are less and less exposed to them. But if I told people to stop using hand sanitizer all the time, they'd probably think I was crazy or gross.

Honestly, I think my immune system is a lot like a muscle. It needs to be a little challenged fairly often or it gets weak. Too much of a challenge and it's going to hurt.

I only use hand sanitizer when I know I've been around human feces (alleys, etc) or pigeon poop and I'm about to grab a handful of food with no water around to wash my hands. I stay pretty healthy in general.

[paleo-bunny]

BestBetter is talking a lot of sense IMO.

And RitaRose too.

Our immune systems are in place for a reason. Use them or lose them, but avoid eating poisonous things and overstimulating them!

[spuggygirl]

It's only illegal if they get caught.

I worked for one company when I was quite young and stupid that would give you an ungodly amount of daily work to do, then expect you to stay late to finish it. When I asked about pay, they said you would definitely be working "O.T." Except their definition of "O.T." was "Own Time". In other words, without any pay at all. They also had me wash down the store's walls with paper towels and windex, but only on days when I wore heels (so... I stopped wearing heels).

I also worked for a company that only had 2 holidays - Christmas Day and Easter, both of which were on a Sunday that year. We weren't open on Sundays. They eventually fired me so they could hire someone else for minimum wage, which was their right, but then they lied and said it was for incompetence so they wouldn't have to pay unemployment. It was 2 weeks after telling me I was the best worker they had.

There are some really awful employers out there. I'm a lot more likely to report crap like that now, but I'm also a lot less likely to work for someone else next time I'm looking.

I'm shocked - or perhaps I'm just being naiive. I'm obviously very lucky - 25 days holiday, 9 bank holidays (UK) and a boss who believes that if you're sick you should rest until you're better. He also promotes a very healthy workplace - every member of staff without exception is physically active, and we're all treated well. As a result there are very few sick days - I've had 3.5 days this year, a few weeks ago when I had an exceptionally painful tooth abscess.

[spuggygirl]

Oh, and I agree with BestBetter too. Just look at the number of children with allergies etc...when we were kids we used to play out in the mud every day. You never heard about peanut allergies etc then.

[texas.grok]

Honestly, I think my immune system is a lot like a muscle. It needs to be a little challenged fairly often or it gets weak. Too much of a challenge and it's going to hurt.

I'm in 100% agreement with this. I was a paramedic for almost 20 years. I was exposed to almost everything you can imagine including active TB. I never get sick, even before primal, I was sick maybe 1 time every 2-3 years that would cause me to use a sick day. I'm think this is because my immunity system has become damn near bulletproof.

George Carlin said it the best. And this is George, he uses bad words, don't complain.