Back Up Before You Crash
How to protect yourself from flu and common colds
By Natalie Forstbauer

Technology is brilliant. I am bit of a techie at heart, pouring my spare time into learning everything I can about technology. Last month I hit the wall. Up until last month I have been blessed exponentially with little to no computer hassles. My computers have never crashed and burned, nor have I ever had a virus. Times have changed.

After installing a program onto my laptop that is supposed to prevent any problems with crashing and viruses I rebooted my computer only for the laptop to "crash". Apparently the program I installed corrupted one of the files. It prevented the laptop to boot up and launch the appropriate programs. Argh! The fortunate part was the majority of my data was backed up on my desktop at home and all my contacts in my database were synced with my palm. Thankfully it was all-good. Or so I thought, until the dark cloud rolled into town and I realized the book I had been working on while on the road was NOT backed up. I was choked. Choked because I had been so lazy and miffed because I had nearly completed the first draft and fuming because I only had the first 3 chapters backed up on my desktop. The other 9 or so chapters were written while I was on the road. They were on my now useless laptop. Yes, my blood was boiling, fire works were going off in my head and hot steam was coming out of my ears. It takes a lot for me to get fired up and choked. This nearly hit the nail on the head.

Taking a nice deep breath, I calmly decided that I would simply re-write the book if need be and trust it would be even better than the first draft. Secondly I began calling my tech friends begging for help. In a short time I learned how to access files through DOS. With the help of my brother, and another computer hero I suavely mastered the art of finding files and saving them to disk with DOS. Thank goodness! My book was safe, but my computer woes were just beginning.

The next day I used my palm to retrieve client information and various contacts. I was giggling to myself at how brilliant I was to have everything backed up on my palm and how resourceful I was to be able to retrieve my book. Life was good. Well, it was good until I awoke the next morning find my palm completely blank. Nothing was on it! My heart sank and my body soured with disbelief. How could this be happening?! No, my batteries were not dead - they were brand new. To this moment, I do not know what happened. For some obscure reason everything was gone off my palm. Everything was erased. Vanished.

Being on the road can be challenging at the best of times, imagine having everything crash on you in a 24-hour period. I am certain you may be able to relate to me. Did I say technology is brilliant? Let me re-qualify that to "when it is working".

Our body is much like the computers we work with. Computers need to be backed up, defragged, cleaned out and updated in order to function at a peak level. When computers crash and we have backed up our data, we can easily rebuild the system. If we have no back up it can be a long and painful task to re-instate and re-acquire all the data we lost. Our bodies are the same. If we back up our immune system and our body with health-full choices it is able to protect itself from a virus that moves through the community much like a computer can protect itself from a virus when it has virus 'protection'. It is arrogant to think that our body would be able to fight off dis-ease, viruses, colds and flues if we are not giving it the tools it needs to be backed up and strong. Like a computer our body needs to be backed up regularly, cleaned out regularly and taken care of regularly.

1. Drink water daily. For every pound you weigh, drink one ounce of water.
2. Make 50% or more of your diet fruits and vegetables.
3. Include as many green vegetables in your diet as possible. They tend to have high amounts of antioxidants in them, which flush out free radical build up.
4. Think "healthy". For example believe and know you are a healthy person by knowing your immune system is strong, fighting off everything that goes through your office or community.
5. Be active. Do anything that gets your heart rate up on a regular basis for 20 minutes. 3-4 days a week is a good goal to be committed to.
6. Include a digestive aid after your meals. Great choices are green tea, chai, peppermint tea, polarity tea or nibbling on fennel seeds. All of these help with digestion and elimination.
7. Practice sleep hygiene. Go to bed at a regular hour and wake up at a regular hour. "Regular" means going to bed and waking at the same time every night and morning.
8. Get outside and breathe some fresh air. Even if it is for 3-5 minutes. Fresh is very healthy. Just go for a brisk walk down the street and back.

Practicing these heath-full habits will ensure your body is backed up and healthy, ready to carry you through long days, and stressful times. Be sure to make time for yourself and choose health first. You will be happy you did.

Natalie Forstbauer is a contributing author to "Expert Women Who Speak, Speak Out!" Watch for Natalie's new book coming out in 2003: "Healthfull Soulutions For The Time-Starved". You can sign up for Natalie's Free E-Zine on Health-E Tips and Workplace Wellness. http://www.dare2feel.com

Copyright © 2003 Natalie J. Forstbauer