First off, let me point out that I am not a doctor, and that everyone should consult a licensed physician if you have any symptoms that are consistent for more than a week. I am, however very educated about basic health and the common colds and flu. I'm also very familiar with homeopathic medicine and learning how to let the body heal itself. With that said, I can honestly say that I never go to the doctor anymore. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those old-fashioned tough guys that feel that a man should just "ignore pain" or "tough it out" when you have other symptoms or physical problems. As a matter of fact, those around me used to think that I was quite a hypochondriac because I was sick so often. What I'm going to attempt to do in this article is give you every detail as to how I went from always being sick to never being sick.

The good news is that I made this change almost overnight, and after nearly 7 years, I still never get sick. The bad news is that it may be hard for some of you to accept the fact there is no secret potion, or diet, or exercise plan, and that it is mostly about how you think. That's right. How you think directly affects you physically. This is for better or for worse. Now, I did make some other personal changes that I'll go into detail about soon, but honestly, it was my mindset about getting sick that really was the main factor. Here's how I used to be...

I'm a singer. No, I'm not a rock star or anything, but I'm very serious about singing, and obviously getting sick has a huge effect on your singing voice. I also used to be very depressed, and hated my day jobs. So, first of all, if you really hate going to work everyday (especially if you get paid for sick time), then it gets very easy to "get sick" and stay home in bed all day. I'm not talking about faking it. I legitimately had a painful sore throat quite often. Many times, I would even see the doctor to see if I should get antibiotics or something. The point is that when I felt the first signs of a sore throat, I would automatically assume that the worst is inevitable and that I'll be forced to stay home a few days to get better and also to "not infect my co-workers".

This reminds me of another important point. Do not ever worry about "infecting everyone else". First of all, it is not your responsibility to keep the entire human race healthy. And second of all, it's actually not your fault if they do get sick. Here's a very basic and brief description of how this works. As humans, our bodies are constantly in battle with all kinds of viruses every single day. When we get sick, it's because our body has lost one of these battles. So basically, when someone gets sick, it's because they let their immune system get weak through their own bad habits (mental and/or physiological), which then allowed the viruses to win the battles. They essently "let the cold in" via the weak immune system, rather than "catch a cold" from you being near them. Now obviously, it's not good to go around coughing on people or doing anything to purposely expose them to your virus, and one should definitely avoid contact with infants and the elderly when you know that you're sick. They have weaker immune systems. Now here's the other reason that it's not your fault that others get sick: Viruses are most contagious before the host (the sick person) actually shows signs of being sick. So, if you're sick on Friday, then your co-workers were probably already exposed on Wednesday.

I'm actually getting ahead of myself here. If you actually do get sick, then you should get proper care (if necessary) and you should get rest, and drink lots of water, and do whatever you need to do to let your body heal. This article is actually about how to not get sick in the first place. Now, I'm going to break it up into the three main componants of my health: My personal habits, my mentality, and my lack of doctor visits.

Don't go running to the doctor with every sniffle or sore throat.

First of all, again as a safety precaution, if you have a sore throat consistantly for more than 3 days, you probably should see a doctor to make sure that it's not Strep Throat. That can actually be very serious, but 9 times out of 10, a sore throat is not Strep, but rather a viral infection that will take care of itself. That is why going to the doctor is way overdone in this society. First of all, it cost money to see a doctor. Even if you have insurance, there is usually some type of co-pay that you still have to come up with. And then there's usually a prescription that you'll have to pay for as well. This is all in addition to any time off of work that you may have missed. Most doctors will give you a prescription so that you feel that you got your money's worth because now you will have medicine to "fix" the problem. Well there's actually a "problem" with that. If you actually have a bacterial infection, then you'll need antibiotics to get better, but if you just have a typical viral infection or cold, then antibiotics will not only have no effect on the virus, but they will then be less effective the next time you actually do need antibiotics. I'm not going to get into all the technical details about this, but basically, you want to avoid antibiotics until you absolutely need them. The body should always be encouraged to "heal itself", and the more that it does, the better it gets. I even stay away from over-the-counter cold medicines because, again, they don't actually heal you, but they simply mask some of the symptoms. Plus, most have alcohol in them, which will contribute to dehydrating your body more, which does not help the body heal itself. If you absolutely need some kind of medicine for pain or discomfort in order to get a good night's sleep, then once in a while, it's ok. Just try not to reach for the Tylonol or Nyquil everytime you feel a little sick.

My personal health habits are basic and inexpensive. Although there's plenty of potions and pills and drinks on the market that claim to keep you healthy (and some of them are actually good products), I have been doing quite well with some pretty basic stuff. Now everyone is different, and some people require different things, but I have absolutely felt the change in my own life with these habits. Let's start in the morning. I typically have a healthy breakfast consisting of 100% whole wheat toast, and a glass of orange juice. Then I take 3 vitamins: 500mg of Vitamin C, 400iu of Vitamin E, and a Men's Multi-Vitamin. I try to have a healthy lunch, but it doesn't always end up that way. But I do drink lots of water all day long. I try to drink at least 64 ounces per day. (That's eight 8oz glasses). I try to avoid coffee and soda, but again, no one is perfect, so occasionally I'll have something besides water. There are entire books about why you should drink lots of water, but for now, let's just say that it's very important to basic health. The only other "supplement" that I take is a glass of V-8 Splash everyday after work. Regular V-8 is probably better for you, but I personally hate the taste, so I opt for the V-8 Splash. You can buy them in a 64oz bottle at most stores so it's cheaper than buying multiple 16oz bottles. Now as far as exercise goes, I'm also pretty basic. Keep in mind I'm in my early 30s and I'm definitely not overweight (and I've never had a single cigarette). All I do for exercise is a little cardio several days a week. I like riding my bike, so when the weather is nice, I'll ride for about an hour at a decent pace. During the winter, I'll ride a stationary bike for 20 minutes at a more aggresive speed. One last thing here. I'm certainly not compulsive about it, but I do try to wash my hands regularly throughout the day to at least minimize my exposure to viruses.

And now for the big one: Mental attitude.

Back in the beginning, I mentioned that I am a singer. Well that definitely comes into play here. The old me had two things going against me. One was that hating my job and being depressed made me almost like being sick, since it was an excuse to stay home from work. The second thing was that being a singer, I was always worried about getting sick. This is why I was a hypochondriac. I was always afraid that everything was going to make me sick: the weather, having too many beers on Friday night, shaking peoples hands, not getting enough sleep, being in a smoke-filled bar, etc. The basic law of attraction states that we attract whatever it is that we give all of our attention to, so constantly thinking about getting sick resulted in me constantly getting sick. So the more that I worried, and the more that I thought I was doing to prevent it, the more I still got sick, because mentally, I was giving all my energy to "getting sick" instead of "being healthy".

I can't tell you how to make this mental change overnight, but I can tell you how it happened for me. Basically, I got a new job, that on one hand was great because I actually enjoyed doing it. But, on the other hand, calling in sick really wasn't an option. I was a real estate appraiser, so if I wanted to call in sick, I would have to call the customer at home to cancel and reschedule the appointment, and then I would obviously lose a day's pay. Not to mention that quite often, the customer's mortgage company was always in a hurry to get the appraisal report, so if I had to reschedule my appointment, it could potentially blow the whole deal by missing rate-lock deadlines etc. So once I became an appraiser, I simply told myself that I cannot get sick. And it worked. Then, the longer that I would go without being sick, the more confidence it gave me to support the fact that I could control this with my mind.

I'll admit that I do occasionally get a little headache or the first tickle of a sore throat, but I handle it differently now. Before, I would feel the first symptoms of a sore throat on Monday, and basically condemn myself to being home in bed by Friday once it kicked in completely. But now, when I get the first signs of anything, I just tell myself that I'm not having it, and that when I wake up in the morning, it will be gone. My body will finish the battle fighting the virus while I sleep. Please keep in mind that I would also take care of myself by getting extra sleep, drinking extra water, and sometimes taking an extra Vitamin C pill. So it's not 100% mental, but it's definitely a huge part of my defenses.

So that's basically how I avoid getting sick. This is not to be confused with those people that get sick, and accept it, and then just push through the day in pain or discomfort because they believe that they have to. These people are actually causing themselves to get sick more often by not addressing the causes (mental or physical). This is the difference between people that don't miss work because they are troopers, and people that don't miss work because they are healthy.