Los Angeles, Sep 12 (IANS): 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.