Have you had your first post season cold yet?

[adrian]

[quote="Andrew G"]
I'd have thought saying Scotch for a Scottish anything was asking for a beating. As in Scottish whisky is known as Scotch, not Scotch whisky.

I shall consult the bottle later.

[Ian A4size]

After every ride i now ..... take a vit C, zinc, and an L glutamine tablet.

If someone i know has a cold ,or i am working with someone who has one - i then round it off with a course of ecinacea for a few days.

This seems to work for me, but i do advoid stuffy trains/buses/tubes and offices, in fact most people if i can.

I bet the cafe in winter is a hot bed of germs and sweaty oiks.... blah blah...........

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Not that sort of clinic, surely

[huw williams]

"I bet the cafe in winter is a hot bed of germs and sweaty oiks.... blah blah..........."

To that end anyone wishing to join us on an anti-social, non-cafe stop extra 30min loop - there will be one this saturday.

30mins extra riding or tea and cakes - there's a challenge

[Snoop Doug]

Every day Vit C, multi vit, echninawossname (2 of those) and some fish oils. The only thing that's got to me this year was a bout of post club class lurgy from the flight back from honkers. I work a lot in London and like Mister A1 size I avoid the underground - walk wherever possible and I get trains either pre or post rush hour. Other bloody people - it's all their fault!

[Michelle]

Snot, yes I got it, and a painful cough with some lovely green bits coming out. Ewwww!

Therefore self medication consists of
4 x 500mg vit C slow release
4x echinacea
1 x zinc
1 x selenium

and quite a few paracetamol

plus lots and lots of cups of tea and hot water with lemon

all to be taken daily (and orally).

If you just take the Ech for a few days it doesn't seem to get rid of colds just wards them off and they come back with a vengence when you stop taking it. So make it a rule now to take it for at least a week.

Will be buying some glutamine tomorrow ( thanks to Hus's work's advice)

Oh and after looking at Marco's stuff reckoned could not do much worse than garlic - so just had about 5 cloves of garlic and about 2 mushrooms on toast.

Luckily Keith has eaten the same.

From....the falling one...

[Stu Merckx Man]

last year i went the whole winter without so much as a sniffle (touch wood same this year). although i did get rather ill in the spring with my compilobactor entiritus and all

this is what i did-

8-10 bits of fruit and veg a day. mainly apples and oranges and bananas

lots of salmon and trout. (3-4 times a week)

lots of milk- couple of glasses a day.

usually only used brown bread, brown rice etc etc.

didnt share drinks with people at parties, stayed clear of family members with colds, and had a hot bath after every cold ride i did.

im a bit sceptical of taking the supliments.

when i do get a cold i just increase my fruit intake and drink lots of tea without milk, because i heard somewhere that adding milk to tea neutralises the anti oxidents inside the tea. i also cut down on my sugar intake as i heard (again) somwhere that it reduces your immune system.

[MJ_1993]

[quote="Stu Merckx Man"]

8-10 bits of fruit and veg a day. mainly apples and oranges and bananas

lots of salmon and trout. (3-4 times a week)

lots of milk- couple of glasses a day.

[Stu Merckx Man]

thats reassuring to hear.

if it works for the pros and cross channel swimming brothers it should work for me

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]Snot, yes I got it, and a painful cough with some lovely green bits coming out. Ewwww!

[huw williams]

Stu - well done, you haven't got much to worry about with a diet like that. I'm amazed, its usually the younger riders who pay least attention to their diet but that's impressive

I used to suffer from debilitating colds/infections/pneumonia really badly but turned things around completely, largely by working with a nutritionist on improved diet and recognising and treating symptoms before they get too serious

Lots of milk is of little value to most people but younger riders can benefit as it helps improve bone density in formative years so I'd continue with that - if you can switch to organic Soy milk even better - it's enriched with digestable calcium and vitamins and sweetened with apple juice so is much better in tea for example as it sweetens it without the aid of synthetic sugars. Some people don't like the taste but I love it - especially to make porridge with.

Best winter breakfast in the world: Bowl of porridge made with organic soy milk, chopped fruit and nuts on the top and a drizzle of honey over the lot

Don't be scared of vitamin/mineral supplements - even with high intakes of fruit, veg and fish, modern lifestyle/food production methods/pollutants etc mean its still really hard to get enough through natural diet - and supplememts are essentialy only highly concentrated food substances anyway - nothing sinister there so a good quality muti-vitamin and particularly mineral supplement is a good idea.

Also, don't underestimate the role of carbohydrates - especially for people riding as much as you are. This from the training guide...

"Immunosuppression occurs in response to conditions of low blood glucose and depleted muscle glycogen, making carbohydrate the first weapon in the battle against colds. Make sure you are properly fueled up before rides, take on energy during rides and eat well to recover afterwards. Recent studies have shown that maintaining blood glucose levels during exercise, by consuming a carbohydrate drink for example, can reduce or even prevent the immunosuppression often seen after prolonged exercise."

That said there's still a big wide "infection window" open after a long or hard ride especially in bad weather - so stay clear of people for an hour after riding and if you do hard training groups through the winter, trust no one and STAY OUT OF THE CAFE - you might be healthy but I wouldn't trust everyone else

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

When I was eating to lose weight at the end of last year, was taking on board about 5 pieces of fruit, a handful of nuts and raisins a sandwich and yoghurt and a small evening meal and NEVER even got a sniffle - and very low on carbohydrates, combined with low intensity rides.

I now have that bunged up feeling as does everyone else in the damn office, so I think the diet can help, but cannot totally protect you.

BTW washing hands at least 5 times a day is also recommended.

[quote]8-10 bits of fruit and veg a day. mainly apples and oranges and bananas

lots of salmon and trout. (3-4 times a week)

lots of milk- couple of glasses a day.

usually only used brown bread, brown rice etc etc.

didnt share drinks with people at parties, stayed clear of family members with colds, and had a hot bath after every cold ride i did.

im a bit sceptical of taking the supliments.

when i do get a cold i just increase my fruit intake and drink lots of tea without milk, because i heard somewhere that adding milk to tea neutralises the anti oxidents inside the tea. i also cut down on my sugar intake as i heard (again) somwhere that it reduces your immune system.

[huw williams]

"BTW washing hands at least 5 times a day is also recommended."

This morning I went to the local potuguese coffe shop for my regular cappucino. Woman served me and she had a cold, all bunged wen she spokeand turning here head away to sneeze into a hankie. - I gave her the money, she gave me the change with her hankie hand - plus germs.

Paul's right - wash your hands as often as poss.

Knobs are the largest culprit (Doorknobs that is)

[George]

Just be anti-social, stay indoors all day, don't go to work, don't see your friends, have an injury which makes you forget about a cold.
Hang on a sec I know someone...............