Germs good for my kids: Gwyneth Paltrow

Los Angeles: Actress Gwyneth Paltrow says she cannot shelter children from germs and actually thinks it is beneficial for kids to be exposed to muck.

"When they get home from school, I ask them to wash their hands but I think it`s good for them to be in dirt and germs because that`s how you build an immune system - by getting sick," contactmusic.com quoted Paltrow as saying. "I mean, if someone has the flu, I don`t put my kid in their face, but it`s an inevitable fact of life," said Paltrow, who has kids daughter Apple, eight, and son Moses, six with her husband Chris Martin. After starring in 2011 film "Contagion" as a woman who contracts a deadly disease, the 39-year-old realised she was borderline OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), describing herself as a constant hand washer, but she has now seemingly had a change of heart. She also used to follow a macrobiotic diet but now eats a more varied menu which includes poultry, fish and alcohol. "I am not vegetarian, I don`t eat red meat, I haven`t eaten red meat in a long time, but I eat fish and birds. I drink, I smoke once in a while - when in Rome, you know what I mean? "I don`t count calories, but that`s because I exercise like a fiend. You can`t have one without the other," she said. IANS