staying healthy on the road this winter

[Qxxx]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I am interested in what people have been doing to stay healthy when on the road. Not about exercising (there is a parallel thread for that) or "carrying" (there are many many threads for that), but general precautions for staying well and not getting sick, like winter time diets, supplements, etc.[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]#1. for example, this time of the year colds and flus are rampant. And statistics shows that most people don't die of the flu per se, but from catching pneumonia as a result. [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]#2. last winter, many in the youtuber tribe community were sick with flu in their vans, largely I think due to so much communal hugging and handshaking and friendly greeting kisses, whatnot.[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]#3. I've been leery of flu shots, as the past couple of years, they seem to have been making the wrong brews, which have been somewhat ineffective, and they don't figure it out until too late.[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]#4. I am also interested in what people may know about "chronic inflammation", as that seems to be a distinct cause of all sorts of disease, according to articles in AARP bulletins.[/font]

 

[bullfrog]

For us because we live remote and seldom are exposed to illness we do fine till we go to town for yearly tests and checkups! Because of low resistance I guess from not having all the little sniffles and colds ours are usually bad. We do take vitamins and supplements that seems to help but every 3 or 4 years it seems we get a dandy infection that usually ends with lots of congestion in our chests and antibiotics and steroids for a month or so. I can definitely understand how as we age it can be a problem.

 

[WanderingRose]

I have gotten a flu shot every year the past 10 or so because my primary care doctor tells me to.

I also got the pneumonia vaccine series, for the same reason.

I’ve never had pneumonia, and don’t get the flu, but prevention particularly as one gets older is a good thing.

Wash your hands often and thoroughly, and don’t put them in your mouth.

Keep a bottle of hand gel handy, and use it when handwashing is inconvenient.

Stay hydrated, keep some jugs of water in reserve in case you get sick and can’t get out for a few days.

 

[Qxxx]

"we live remote and seldom are exposed to illness".

I think most of YARC camp came down with the flu last january. (FYI, in case the passes open and you do get down there). Living in the cities, we get exposed a lot more, but probably also build up some immunity too, as a result. So then, yer like a native american when the Spaniards came, frog.

 

[Qxxx]

"I also got the pneumonia vaccine series, for the same reason".

I did that too for the same reason (doc kept insisting), and afterwards found out that "viral" pneumonia is more common than bacterial, and the shots don't protect against viral.

"Wash your hands often and thoroughly, and don’t put them in your mouth".

Where I live, the grocery stores courteously provide hand wipes next to the cart area.

 

[highdesertranger]

the YARC camp is hardly remote. by some estimates the population of Quartzsite in the winter is as high as 1.5 million in January and February highdesertranger

 

[MrNoodly]

For most of my adult life I've done nothing special to avoid/prevent colds and flu. Once every three or four years I'll catch what's going around, feel like crap for a day or two, mostly congestion, maybe some puking, then return to normal. So I've been lucky.

 

[Cammalu]

Nope. We sure aren’t remote here!

 

[Qxxx]

I was just checking Pandamonium's channel. Big party of thanksgiving day's revelers, closely packed and hugging and mugging at Blue Water Casino. Small wonder the flu runs rampant through communities.


Better to be a lone wolf away from the mobs to help prevent passing of bugs?

 

[Troutbum]

As for your inflammation question I actually found this forum, bought a van and will be "seasonally" relocating due to debilitating inflammatory problems which in my case are caused by environmental allergens like pollen/mold.

My lifetime of unscientific study seems to indicate inflammation is the leading cause of many/most illnesses and appears that it is caused from our own bodies "fighting cells" that go into hyperdrive and then get mixed up and attack our own body.   I am 100% sure of it. Especially heart disease which they admitted is not caused from eating steak and eggs.

I first read about Mastocytosis sp? 30 years ago in an English medical journal which is your bodies Mast cells that normally attack foreign invaders like flu or allergens but in some people like me having prolonged and repeated allergen exposure the Mast cell army overdoes it and grows to be too big and turns on my own body by mistake.  When I get a seasonal allergy my nose runs like a faucet which isn't so horrible but it overdoes it and some ends up being plumbed down into my lungs and causes all sorts of problems needing antibiotics causing all sorts of other problems.  My neighbor worked medical trauma room for 45 years and also noted that high strung patients seemed to have it the worst as the body was also in overdrive and of course this relates to heart attacks, etc. with people being too mentally wired. It's all related.

Also during allergy season my joints freeze up like arthritis from the inflammation caused by the Mast cells invading them supposedly leaching out calcium to feed the army. My grandmother suffered debilitating rheumatoid arthritis after simply breaking a bone in her youth and the army attacked her joints horribly the rest of her life and she couldn't walk after the age of 30.     It's all directly related to inflammation.

As a kid I didn't believe she could predict the weather by her joint pain but now I know what she meant the high pressure is very painful and also causes the trees to pollinate usually around the full moon cold fronts which are corellated to it(when the pressure changes the most) as the trees survival instinct to cast seeds before the storm comes further aggravating the problem. I feel like a 25 year old till the inflammation kicks in then I feel like I'm 85.

Oddly most allergists don't understand this yet and they just want to inject with more dust and mold supposedly to desensitize your resistance but of course it makes it worse. A natural analgesic like coffee is my best remedy as I can't take antihistamines for other reasons.  It seems to be far down the road before inflammatory response is understood and the medical community is in no rush as they make a fortune selling meds to mask the symptoms.  Sorry for the long post maybe it will trigger a spark in somebody else to help them out.

 

[Qxxx]

Hello Troutbum, you're right on. Things like allergies, asthma, and rheumatoid everything have long been related to inflammation. However, new research appears to indicate that "chronic low-level inflammation" is linked to many different diseases, and pretty much everyone especially, the elderly, have this.

I've planned to make some more posts in this area. The AARP bulletin had this report last month.
https://www.aarp.org/health/conditi.../lowering-inflammation-to-improve-health.html

The report indicates that high sugar and fatty foods especially contribute to generation of bad bacteria in the gut that attacks the gut walls and leads to what they call "leaky gut", where the bad bacteria get into the bloodstream and produce chronic inflammatory responses.

I also made some preliminary posts in another thread, but was told I was being OT lol... Several posts, starting here.
https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=38830&pid=478107#pid478107

EDIT: btw, a few years ago, I went to a (highly reputed at the time) allergist, and he was all about doing exactly what you mentioned. I refused the shots despite his basically berating me, but did end in the hospital due to his over prescribing of meds. Hopefully allergists nowadays are not such out of date quacks.

 

[Troutbum]

Thanks for linking that article. Most striking to me is it's like reading a page from 1980 and that virtually nothing new has been learned.
I recently had a conversation with the leading cough cough genome doctors in the U.S. and they admitted that the workings of even the most basic bodily systems are almost wholly unknown.

 

[badmotorscooter]

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper in 8 ounces of warm water everyday. Fantastic for fighting inflammation and great for cardiovascular health, plus many other benefits.

 

[ByeBye]

I avoid large crowds and vaccines.

 

[Qxxx]

Thanks for linking that article. Most striking to me is it's like reading a page from 1980 and that virtually nothing new has been learned.

Sounds like you've done a lot more research than a lot of us. You'd expect the article to say a lot of common-knowledge, common-sense things about sugar and fats and processed food. However, the emphasis on inflammation due to the leaky gut mechanism and its relationship to certain foods is not something I've heard much of, despite having watched tons of PBS "health" programs over the years.

Also of interest is how NSAIDs like ibuprofen have the exact wrong effect, since they enhance leaky gut. We've always heard how they can cause bleeding in the gut, but previously, big deal, so what. I hadn't seen that as a serious problem. 

The other thing was about triglycerides, which apparently trigger immune responses. My levels have always been high, and the doc says it's mainly due to too many carbs (eg, he recently said "just one slice of bread a day"), but now I'm wondering more about it.

The article also says vegetarian diets are not really good, especially for older people, as you generally won't get nearly enough protein. 

And then there's the popular **** diet. 
https://www.insider.com/****-diet-mistakes-2018-10#youre-not-eating-enough-fat-3
"For most people to reach ketosis, Dixon suggested getting at least 85% of calories from fat". I don't see how one can even do that without taking in loads of bad fats. 

I've long thought the Mediterranean diet is probably the best well-balanced diet, but am now looking at it in the context of this inflammation business.

 

[Qxxx]

I avoid large crowds and vaccines.

Best don't come to Quartzsite, Parker, Lake Havasu, or YARC camp this winter. Or worst of all .... RTR (duh).

 

[Troutbum]

Fat get's a bad rap as do cholesterol numbers since they were fabricated by Big Pharma with the blessing of your elected officials since the payoff is big $$$.
Nothing harms and kills as many people as Lipitorwhatever.  I have seen many people miraculously recover from horrible ills after getting off that stuff that eats your muscles up and dumps it in your liver and cripples you up. 

Any heart doc who has been putting cameras in peoples arteries for 30 years will tell you in private after few beers that there is no...zero....nada correlation between your cholesterol numbers and the amount of blockage you have.  In fact mine orders WHOLE COWS from the local farmers and eats tons of grass fed beef as do all his doctor friends. Also he says that people that eat "healthy" with these diets of tofu and tree bark are harming themselves!!!

 

[DLTooley]

I’m a bit skeptical about vaccines as well, at least their efficacy isn’t all that great. I’ve read it’s less effective than vitamin d. I prefer the natural type, from sun exposure. It doesn’t take much.

Inflammation is important, I do 5-10 grams a day, available in bulk from Amazon or Natural grocers. It’s great in soup, popcorn, eggs, and golden milk.

Fat consumption isn’t bad, but it needs to be healthy fat. I eat smaller quantitiesThe of quality meat. California Olive Ranch makes a good quality olive oil, available at Walmart. They have an avocado oil I’m liking a lot too. There’s an organic section in the cooking aisle that carries it. The organic chocolate is great.

The **** diet didn’t work for me, but ample healthy fats on quality produce is really tasty, and filling.

 

[jacqueg]

I have diagnosed myself with Irritable Bowel Syndrome - self-diagnosed, because to get formally diagnosed, I'd have to eat a significant amount of wheat in order to rule out celiac. No way I'm doing that. Nevertheless, if I follow a LowFODMAPs diet, my symptoms go away, so...

I don't eat many special foods, like gluten-free foods or foods with sugar substitutes or soy cheese or instant anything. The biggest issue for me when I travel is avoiding those oh-so-convenient pre-packaged meals and doing some actual cooking with some actual food from the produce section and the beans-and-rice aisle. I do eat meat on occasion, but I'm not planning on carrying it around myself - restaurants work fine.

So, to get to the OP's question, eating right will be my biggest challenge.

 

[Intrepidnomad]

Hi. A Zinc supplement can be beneficial if taken consistently. Hydrate well.
Inflammation is a huge subject, for me avoiding Sugar and Flour are key. I use Erythritol, Xylitol, Monk fruit to sweeten.  Carbs from veggies & fruit are far better than from pies, cakes, pasta, rice, etc. 
Enjoying a piece of cheesecake won't harm if you aren't doing it daily. Be well & enjoy life. ☮