Whether you're worried about the swine flu or you think it's being blown out of proportion, taking a few extra steps to keep yourself as germ-free as possible is always wise. The gym is no exception -- when you're working out, it's wise to keep hygiene in mind. Here are a few tips:

• Wash your hands. Before heading out to the gym floor, wash your hands well. Cleaning your hands before using gym equipment is a courtesy to other members. You may want to consider using hand sanitizer during your workout as well.
• Don't touch your face. Just think of all the times you brush a strand of hair away from your face or wipe off a bead of sweat. It might be hard, but resist the urge to touch your face. Your hands are great germ carriers; you don't want those germs coming in contact with your face.
• Wipe down equipment. Wipe down equipment with a clean towel before and after use. (It's not a bad idea to bring your own clean towel, either.) Some gyms also provide antiseptic spray bottles and paper towels.
  
• Bring your own bottle. Avoid the gym's drinking fountain; bring your own water bottle that you filled up at home instead.
• Bring your own mat. Instead of using the gym's yoga mat, bring your own. At a bare minimum, be sure to wipe down the gym's mat well before using it.
  
• Shower. Before leaving the gym, take a shower and scrub down well. (Be sure to wear flip flops in the shower.) If using a public shower isn't your thing, change into clean clothes and wash your hands well before leaving.

Not only will these simple steps help prevent contracting some other gym goer's nasty bug, it's just good gym etiquette.

When it comes to hygiene/etiquette, what is your biggest pet peeve about other gym members?

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There's no denying it -- some people seem to be prone to every kind of illness out there, while some are healthy as a horse. I tend to fall into the latter category -- besides one doozy of a cold I had last January, I haven't been sick in ages. But trust me, I'm exposed to just as many germs as anyone else, be it at the office, at the gym, at school and just about any public place I frequent.

AOL Health recently listed the healthy habits of women who never get sick, including these:

• Get regular massages (I really like this one!)
• Wash your hands
• Sip ginger and honey for stomach and bowel issues
• Take cold showers
• Get your fill of garlic, vitamin c and zinc

As for me, I find that the old adage an apple a day keeps the doctor away really works! How do you stay healthy?

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If you've ever had a case of food poisoning, you'll know why it's so important to keep cooking surfaces clean and to properly wash your food. Every step you can take to minimize the spread of bacteria and viruses is well worth it. All You Magazine has 7 steps for germ-free cooking:

• Use separate cutting boards. Use one cutting board for meats and another for fruit, vegetables, and anything else. Avoid wooden cutting boards as they can trap bacteria. Be sure to clean your cutting boards thoroughly after each use.
• Scrub fruits and veggies. Even if it says pre-washed, take the time to scrub fruits and vegetables off. A good scrub will help remove traces of pesticides (if you don't buy organic) and any other residue on the produce. It's even a good idea to wash fruits that you peel (bananas, oranges, etc.) to avoid transfer of pesticides or bacteria.

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My son is 11. Part of the job description of being a pre-teen boy is to be dirty. Almost constantly dirty. When he's home for the summer, it's easy for me to remind him to wash his hands. But school is starting in a few short days and hand washing habits will become even more important.

Henry the Hand is a great site that makes hand washing a fun, simple activity for kids. It promotes some simple principles:

• Wash your hands whenever they're dirty and before eating
• Don't cough or sneeze into your hands
• Don't put dirty fingers near your eyes, nose, or mouth.

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'Do you mind if I double dip?' a friend of mine asked over shared appetizers and wine at one of our favourite restaurants. I replied as I always do: Of course not. I'm not a germaphobe, and even if I was, double dipping doesn't spread many germs, does it?

Well, actually, it does. According to this article from Prevention Magazine, double dipping deposits thousands of saliva bacteria into the dip, hundreds of which can be transferred onto the next clean chip or cracker. Yuck.

Still, a little bacteria won't hurt you if you have a normal immune system, but if you're concerned about germs, it's good to know what you're putting into your mouth.

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I typically like to address my Stress Less installments to everyone, but this one is for parents of preschoolers who are potty training. That's because I've noticed potty training tends to cause the most stress amongst my fellow parental cohorts. I'm not going to offer magic tricks for how to get your kids to use the potty. But I will aim to ease minds about doing so in public restrooms.

I actually find it strange that parents allow their kids to romp without a care on pesticide laden grass in public parks, identified as such with those handy little flags, but freak out if their child touches anything in a public restroom. Fifty percent of American women won't sit on a seat and they teach their kids to do the same. But in an ABC News test, the toilet turned out to be the cleanest thing in the public restroom. As the subsequent report points out, you're not going to get germs from your backside. You're going to get them from your hands.

There really is little need to worry anyway. At least not about genital herpes or HIV. But you might worry about staph infections. It's possible to contract an infection from potty seats, but it's not as likely as you might think. The bottom line: as long as you wash your hands after a trip to the bathroom, you and your kids will likely never acquire anything by way of the public potty.

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Protect yourself in the outdoors, says The American Cancer Society (ACS) -- read all about it here -- and protect your picnic food too, say the cancer experts who are sending me an electronic monthly newsletter all about healthy living.

Warm weather poses a big threat of food-borne illness, according to the ACS. So: Keep bacteria away at your next outdoor feast with these five easy steps.

• Wash your hands before cooking and again after cooking, especially after touching raw meat. If you aren't near a faucet, grab a wet napkin or hand sanitizer -- they'll reduce the number of germs on your hands.

• Keep hot food hot. Hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken should be kept at 140 degrees F or warmer.

• Keep cold foods cold. Even if you've got your food packed in a cooler, tuck it in a shady area. Keep at 41 degrees F or cooler.

• Wash melons before cutting them. This way, less bacteria will slip into the flesh from the rind when you slice them.

• Bring extra plates to cut down on cross-contamination. Use some to handle raw foods and others to handle cooked foods.

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The point of going to the gym is to get healthy, not sick. However, when you take into account what types of germs and viruses are stuck to gym equipment (from respiratory syncytial virus to strep bacterium), one can't help but wonder if being fit is worth not being healthy.

Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to make your gym visit safer. No, I'm not talking about refraining from making a crack about the gigantic guy in the MC Hammer-style balloon pants -- although, keeping your opinion to yourself will definitely make things safer. Rather, I'm talking about much more pedestrian ways of safeguarding your health, such as cleaning each workout station before and after using it. Most gyms provide spray bottles of disinfectant and paper towels for this very purpose.

Another option is to carry around a clean towel with you and use it to create a barrier between your body and a piece of equipment. For example, you can drape it over a bench before lying down to perform a set of presses. Just be sure to dump this towel into the laundry basket -- along with your gym clothes -- as soon as you get home from the gym (providing that the towel wasn't the property of the gym, in which case you've just stolen a towel ... a dirty one, at that).

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Germs are all around us all the time. Try as you might to keep yourself free from them, save for living in a plastic bubble, there's really not much you can do to provide 100 percent protection. Wear rubber gloves? Wear a face mask? Wear an entire Haz-Mat suit? Go for it if it makes you feel "cleaner." Truth be told, however, measures of this kind are no more effective at preventing the spread of germs than much simpler methods.

For starters, keep your fingernails clean. Germs are found in the most abundance underneath your fingernails, so you'd be wise to thoroughly wash your hands throughout the day. And, as you'd probably expect, don't bite your fingernails, either. One would assume that everyone washes their hands, but it's actually not the case. Women's Health recently reported that a 2006 international survey found that two-thirds of American adults admit to not washing their hands properly (falling right behind the appropriately-named Germany). Another simple way to help keep as germ free as possible is to not shake hands with someone who you just heard coughing up a lung. Germs can hang around on human skin for two hours, so when Coughy McCo-Worker extends his or her hand, you may want to tactfully and respectfully decline.

Look, it's almost impossible to stay completely germ free. But, there are steps you can take to at least minimize your exposure, such as those mentioned. Feel free to add more suggestions of your own in the comments section below.

I will never forget a TV special I saw several years ago about household germs. They claimed that germs could "jump" from a toilet bowl and surfaces such as doorknobs were just breeding grounds for virtual colonies of little beasties.

Now the new germ-haven is your computer keyboard. Makes sense. Most people may remember to wash their hands before eating, but who thinks to wash their hands before using the computer? And, other than a perfunctory wipe down, my guess is there aren't too many people who really clean their keyboards.

Research from Great Britain indicates that computer keyboards may have more germs than toilet seats. The study was somewhat limited -- swabs were taken from 33 keyboards, one toilet seat, and one bathroom door handle. Several keyboards were dirty enough to be health hazards and one of the keyboards had five times the germs found on the toilet seat.

But even though the findings are a bit gross, there's no reason for alarm. The solution is simple: wash your hands before starting to work and clean your keyboard regularly. You may also want to consider minimizing the amount other co-workers use your keyboard.

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A little over a week ago I took my son out for a celebration of sorts. I brought him to one of those video game/pizza places. He'd been begging to go for months and I kept putting it off by saying "that's not an every day place -- that's a special occasion place." So, when a special occasion rolled around I couldn't exactly get out of it.

My son had a blast. And I'm glad. I, on the other hand, didn't enjoy it at all. I was troubled when I picked up our food tray and it was sticky. I was bothered by the station with puddles of spilled soda. And our pizza ... well, it looked good and smelled good, but some smarter part of my brain told me that something wasn't right. Unfortunately, my stomach spoke louder than my brain on that day, and I ate the pizza. And later on, well ... let's just say I wish I had listened to my brain.

Food poisoning, a type of gastroenteritis, is a pretty common affliction. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, shivering, and fatigue. Food poisoning is caused by improperly cooked food, spoiled food, or food prepared in unsanitary conditions. There are steps you can take to avoid food poisoning, however.

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We have all heard that pets can help teach kids patience, responsibility, and empathy, but according to a recent study, having a dog in the home during childhood, especially during the first year of infancy, seriously decreased a child's likelihood of developing sensitivities to allergens like pollen. Our own Maggie first broke this story a few days ago but it's worth repeating for those thinking about investing in a canine commitment -- and for those who like photos of cute kids and cute dogs. See gallery that follows.

So the science behind this theory is that dogs bring germs inside on their coats and in their mouths, thus exposing kids to them and boosting the child's immune system. Older generations were often exposed to more dirt and germs as children (you know, because kids used to actually play outside instead of sitting indoors playing video games), and therefore developed a greater resistance to many allergens than kids today.

This study in particular has taken blood samples from 3,000 six-year-olds and will test the samples for hints that the child might become allergic to things like pet hair, dust mites, and pollen. The children will be retested at age 10, but the lead researcher has already stated with confidence that, "Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitization to pollens and allergens."

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I just washed and refilled my single-use water bottles. Put them in the fridge to chill. Will pull them out one by one as needed. Oops. Shouldn't do that, says this TIME magazine article.

Single-use water bottles -- you know, the ones with names like Dasani or Aquafina -- are made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. It's a lightweight plastic used in many drink bottles. But it's not intended for re-use. Here's why: PET degrades with use and its wrinkled surface can host germs. And backwash too.

Should you re-use your bottles, then? Not for drinking. Use them for a flower vase. Or recycle. Just don't wash, refill with water, and chill. Like I just did.

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Do you panic about public potty seats? Many people do. I get it. Just imagining how many sets of buns have been planted on the same exact toilet seat I must use is enough to stir up a little health scare in me. Is anxiety about sharing toilet seats warranted, though?

Well, kind of.

Don't worry about genital herpes or HIV. These diseases can't survive outside the body, says D. Scott Smith, M.D., chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center in California. But you might worry about staph infections. There's a slight risk of picking one up -- you'll know you have one if you develop a mild skin irritation. And if your hands come in contact with germs in a filthy bathroom and you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, the bacteria can enter our body and cause diarrhea.

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