All around me people are falling prey to a nasty type of gastric flu ... and yesterday afternoon I started feeling rather dreadful. It's not too bad yet but I'm very worried about what effect this will have on my new improved lifestyle. People have been bedridden for a week or more with this.

Illness has been my downfall before. I start eating the wrong things: bread is bland and easy to digest and I don't have the energy to stand in the kitchen preparing fresh veg. Exercise goes out the window and the resulting decline in fitness makes it tough to get back into it. After I recover I just don't go back to how it was before.

So the question is: how do I handle getting sick without it ruining my new routines and throwing me off track?

I was just sick last week and wondering the same thing! I felt so gross just sitting on my butt all day. Smoothies are great because they are easy to prepare in the blender and you can just feeeeeel all the good nutrients coursing through your sick body. Also, that thick and cold consistency feels really good on your sore throat. As far as exercise? Pilates, maybe?

Kat

@Kat - Mmmmm, smoothie. Good idea, Thanks!

up your vitamin C and zinc, try and get some extra glutamine (it's an amino acid, supports the immune system, comes in meats and things, but sometimes you need extra, check your local sports nutrition store), and think healthy thoughts

When you're sick, your body is busy fighting and repairing, and many times exercise only makes things worse, as now you're asking your body to repair that too.

What I do when I'm sick (haha, I typoed sick as suck, and it sums of my feelings exactly) I go ahead and eat maintenance (or try, usually I don't eat enough, for lack of appetite and fear of puking) and try to keep it relatively clean. I let myself have juice (normally I don't), get lots of cans of soup (low cal, easy on stomach, I don't need to worry about sodium) and drink whatever I can (usually flavored water, because normal water is nasty when I'm sick).

As I start to get better, I take a couple minutes and either go for a slow walk or hop on the elliptical for a slow bit. Mainly, this is to work the gunk out of the lymph nodes, since your lymphatic system can't circulate itself. I do it as soon as I can, without getting myself into trouble and falling off. Before I can do that I usually massage all my nodes once or twice a day. I chill, make decent choices on what kind of icecream, pudding (protein pudding is awesome here), jello, etc I eat. I don't make many "bad" choices, but certainly I'm not being overly hard on myself.

As I feel better I do more as my body allows.

Protein pudding:
1.5-2 cups low/no fat milk
1/2 packet sugar free instant pudding
2 scoops protein powder

deelish!