irreatable

Summer as Medicine

2009-06-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

While I am sure it is merely my lack of vitamin D in the winter, I always feel healthier in the summer. I get less sleep (and need less), get outside more, and am just happier to be alive. I also eat a lot of strawberries.

The height of strawberry season was last weekend up here and we took full advantage. Abby took an afternoon off to pick a baker's dozen in pounds of berries and for once, I could eat them (although regardless of how great my digestive system is, there is a limit to the amount of berries I can handle). With our early summer bounty, we froze some and made 12 jars of jam. For those who cannot handle excessive amounts of sugar, here is the secret to making tasty jam.

1) Get a bunch of ripe or overripe strawberries (pick your own is the cheapest unless you grow your own).
2) Start a large pot of boiling water to sterilize the jars. Boil jars 10 minutes.
3) In a separate pot, boil the berries with some pectin. While there may be some debate over using or not using pectin, we find it makes a "jammier" jam.
4) Simmer the berries for 5-7 minutes. Turn off heat and then add a few "swigs" of agave nectar. If you can handle sugar, eat some other form of sugar, but agave nectar has a low glycemic level.
5) Transfer berry mixture into sterilized jars. Put new tops on jars.
6) Boil jars for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool. Ensure the tops are sealed.

Digestion on the Rise

2009-06-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

After being unable to digest the lettuce greens I grew indoors back in March, I was hesitant to grow larger amounts of fresh veggies outside. I get nervous when I eat an uncertain or unsafe food. With a weak digestive system, I cannot handle wheat, corn, soy, dairy, sugar, nightshades, and an excessive amount of any grain. But I had a low vitamin-D level, so gardening would only help even if the food is inedible. So when I harvested my own lettuce greens and spinach and had the desire to stuff my face with my spring bounty, I knew the healing process was true.

While I am sure it is a coincidence of time that I am now able to eat the raw greens after tending the garden for over a month, I cannot help but to find a correlation between growing food and feeling better. Michael Pollan says connecting with your food is good for you, and I wonder if I am more mentally sound being outside in sunny and warm weather with a bunch of living edibles. Perhaps gardening is my mental health treatment after being trapped inside all winter with a swollen stomach. I may not be able to digest everything, but at least I feel I could digest everything I grow!

Now that we harvested our first greens and spinach (it has been a slow, cold spring), I am excited to have instant snacks, whether raw or cooked. Below is my recipe for fresh wilted spinach:

2 handfuls of washed spinach
1 tbsp. oil
2 pinches of salt

1) Heat the oil in the pan on medium high.
2) Before the oil starts to really sizzle, but is hot, throw in the spinach.
3) Stir the spinach into the oil and once it is coated, add one pinch of salt.
4) After a couple minutes the spinach will become bright green and soft enough to poke a spoon through (if it still makes a crunchy sound like raw spinach, keep cooking). Remove from pan, and another pinch of salt, and eat immediately!

I Would Pick Corn, Beans, and Dairy

2009-06-09T06:57:00.001-07:00

After about nine months of eating a highly limited diet (no beans, wheat, sugar, corn, dairy, chocolate, many fruits, potatoes...), I am getting antsy. Every week or so I'll wig out and buy grapes or corn chips and pay for it in stomach discomfort. I definitely notice improvements in that I can eat a small amount of sugary fruits like blueberries and be generally fine. I can also eat agave nectar (which I have found to be easier to digest than even raw honey) to sweeten my foods. Yet I am still entirely stuck when I am hungry and want to fit in with everyone else's eating habits.

If friends are eating corn chips and guacamole, I have to worry about the tomatoes in the guacamole and I have to exert willpower not to eat just one chip. In the end, I am probably healthier, but sometimes being healthy is not fun. So if I could choose a few things from my banned list, I would chose corn, beans, and dairy. With corn, I'd be able to eat sweet corn which is flat out awesome and I'm growing some this year. Being able to eat beans would mean that I could have a snack wherever I go and I'd be able to make a filling soup without loading up on rice. The day I can eat dairy again, I am going to gorge on cheese. I miss cheese. I would love to eat it even if it meant I never ate wheat again in my life.

Almost there...

It's Been a Long Time...

2009-06-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

Whew. It has been quite some time since I wrote here. I am not done with this blog and I guess my only excuse for the gap in posting is gardening season and impatience over healing.

If anyone is interested my health, some days I am sure I am getting better and others I still feel like I have a digestive disorder. This uncertainty is creating stress which only makes my digestion worse. But, I will stay positive. When I eat safe foods, I feel well, so I must look at my safe diet as if I’m in a groove and not in a rut.

Gardening season got off to a hot start up here and now some plants are bitten by the frost. The cucurbits are turning white and the tomatoes are a few days away from crying, but even dying living things help my mind. Without any scientific proof, I strongly believe that it helps everyone to witness the life cycle of plants. It may reduce stress, put the world into perspective, or just create some excitement about creating one’s own food, but I see the effects in all school gardens. School gardens can be as small as one raised bed, but providing experiential education is enlightening for students who live in a theoretical lifestyle.

Expect more gardening posts and pictures in the future.

Down the Drain

2009-05-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today I was watering the raised beds at a local school and focusing on the ease of water access when I understood the injustice of water distribution. Even if I must get a key to turn on the spigot, all I do is turn my wrist and out comes clean water! I do not have to put up a political fight, add iodine tablets, or walk further than fifty feet with a bucket of water. Around here, get clean and relatively cheap filtered water to use on things that do not necessarily require clean filtered water.

We also put our waste into clean water (maybe the bowl is dirty, but the water comes in clean) only to create a waste product. Isn't our waste already waste and will just break down without the help of clean water? Fresh water access knocked out most of the need for outhouses or composting toilets.

While we are becoming more efficient in terms of consumption per capita (some of which may be attributed to a more capitalistic model of paying for the value of water), the U.S. still consumes more than three times as much water per capita. Water access is a topic as complex as food access: one that is compliated by politics, weather, the natural landscape, and personal desires. I cannot attribute one cause for why I have easy access to clean water and others do not, but I plant to explore this further. All I know is I must be grateful for the ease of gardening, cleaning vegetables, and washing myself.

Immune System

2009-04-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Reader-friend Shirley from Gluten Free Easily sent me an interesting link to an article that describes how our eradication of lice may cause modern allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disorders. This is a broad-based statement, but the study shows that mice without louse infestation have overactive immune systems. Similarly, now that most humans are mite, tick, flea, lice and hopefully avian/swine flu free, humans have super sensitive immune systems.

The author says this “hygiene hypothesis” was already found to be true for intestinal parasites. Before people in wealthy parts of the world were able to use antibiotics to get rid of parasites, humans had stronger immune systems to prepare for "dirty" environments. Perhaps this is why my body had such a severe reaction to giardia. If I were exposed to more bad things from a younger age, I may not have had such a serious reaction. This is the same theory of why westerners get more parasites when they travel to countries that do not Lysol everything.

Dr. Steven Singer at Georgetown is taking this idea one step further by suggesting that giardia may actually be helpful (for more information on why parasites exist, read this). Dr. Singer is finding giardia itself does not cause inflammation or irritation, in fact it prevents those symptoms. Mast cells are sent to the intensines in an immune response, and these are what cause the inflammation and irritation. These cells are essential in battling the parasite, but Dr. Singer wonders if these cells can do their work without the discomforting symptoms. If giardia actively prevents inflammation, then Dr. Singer ponders the possibility of giardia playing a role in fighting Crohn’s disease. Does this mean I should want to live with giardia?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16997-freedom-from-lice-may-have-led-to-modern-allergies.html

http://www1.georgetown.edu/college/research/30260.html

Ramps, Wild Leeks

2009-04-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

During an unseasonably sunny and 85 degree “spring” day in April, I made my way out of the city to harvest some ramps, or wild leeks. These little leeks pop up through leaves and twigs all across Appalachia, from South Carolina up to Ottawa and Quebec. They create an island of green amidst a land of brown leaves.

Ramps are tasty and perhaps best described as a mild leek with garlic undertones. They have large, captivating green leaves and a small white and purple bulb.

We harvested small amounts from each cluster and somehow ended up with about ten pounds of leeks. Ramps are only available for a couple weeks so we were more than happy to put up a bunch in early spring. After a few hours in the kitchen, we had them all cleaned, trimmed and either pickled or ground into a pesto. With a careful cleaning and cooking, the wild leeks are safe for my unreliable stomach.

Fresh-Pickled Ramps (makes two pints)

100 small/medium ramps (about two handfuls), cleaned and trimmed down to one inch of leaf
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. peppercorns
1 tsp. crushed red pepper (use less if not a spicy fan)
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. coriander seeds (substitute a couple pinches of ground coriander if needed)
1 tbsp. salt (optional if you want them to be just sweet and tangy)

1) Boil jars and tops in water for 10 minutes to sterilize jars
2) Blanch ramps in boiling water for 2 minutes. Move immediately to ice cold water to “shock” them
3) Bring cider vinegar, honey and seasonings to a simmer
4) Place leeks in jars, top with pickling mixture and seal jars. Jars do not need to “pop” or seal. Store in fridge for up to a month.

Ramp Pesto

3 handfuls of cleaned leeks and their leaves
1 handful of pine nuts
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1) Blend the leeks with olive oil until it becomes a paste-like texture
2) Add salt and pepper to taste
3) Add the pine nuts and blend briefly
4) Freeze in clean jars or store in fridge for a couple weeks

Trash Map

2009-04-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I wrote about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Recently, I came across this animation on the Greenpeace website. "Enjoy."

Giardia Vaccine

2009-04-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

Around 15% of people living in the United States have gastrointestinal discomfort, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). That percentage triples in Mexico, where 46% report stomach pain and cramping. Since the diganosis of IBS explains nothing, chances are most of these people have something causing their stomach pain, like my friend giardia. Giardia is a common parasite that causes extreme discomfort, but is cute in stuffed animal form. This little bug has been bothering humans since prehistoric times and now research is leading to a possible vaccine.

Giardia are difficult to abolish because they have 190 "coats" from which to protect themselves for our antibodies. Every time our bodies begin to fight against the parasite, it changes coats and shimmies past our immune system. Now, with the power of science, biologists deteremined how to force the giardia to create and show all of its coats at once. This philosophy is the basis for a vaccine that has been successful in animals (keep in mind around 30% of pets have giardia).

The vaccine could be a huge relief for countries with high rates of parasites and IBS. While I am sure having clean water, food, and politics in these countries would accomplish a similar goal, the vaccine may be far more plausible.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/science/16giar.html?_r=2

Iron Skillet!

2009-04-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

I went to my parents' place for Passover. There, my willpower to upkeep my gluten-free diet was outmatched by homemade matzo balls and fried matzo (think french toast but with matzo- it's actually good). Grammy always knows how to make me eat and cake meal does wonders to the texture of cookies. Luckily, my stomach continues to improve despite the gluten.

While in my childhood town, I noticed my parents switched out their non-stick Teflon pans and I congratulated them on getting rid of some toxics in their life. Non-stick pans are often made from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the longest word you will ever see on my blog. It is fitting that the word itself is scary, because the material becomes toxic when heated above certain temperatures. PTFE contains fluoride, something I wrote about in a previous post.

Stainless steel pans are my pans of choice. A high quality steel pan disperses heat evenly, never leeches into the food, and is the best material for searing anything. My choice for non-stick surfaces is anything cast iron.

Cast iron skillets still exist and they are easier to maintain than you may think. Some new cast iron cookware comes pre-seasoned and many used skillets can easily be seasoned. Any pans that are warped or cracked are not usable, but considering that cast iron lasts for generations- lifetimes even, investing in a new one may be worthwhile. Think about how many 60 year old cast iron skillets exist and then consider if you have seen any of the original Teflon pans from the 1950’s. Exactly.

Cast iron cookware production often requires less energy and is made from rocks. Add in that cast iron cookware can put your excess grease to use, and cast iron becomes the most efficient cookware on Earth. Those who eat bacon can save their bacon fat to season the pan and vegetarians can use excess cooking oil. If you have some dying cookware, the old-fashioned cast iron skillet could be your savior. And in a few decades you'll have a good reason to take up welding to maintain your skillet.

Nightshades, Inflammation, and Why Tomacco Is Not So False

2009-04-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

In response to a comment from Shirley at Gluten Free Easily, I did some research on the health effects of nightshades. Shirley wrote,

“The interesting thing about nightshades and plants poisonous to livestock is they know how to eat around them/avoid them. There is a plant actually called a nightshade they must avoid. Not the same as the family of nightshades you have pictured.

If only we were as intuitive as certain animals ...”

Edible nightshades are not dangerous to the healthy, although when Europeans first saw potatoes, they assumed the tubers were poisonous. The tubers are not, but all of the other parts of the plant are. Perhaps these people were intuitively avoiding dangerous-looking plants, much like cows.

Poisonous nightshades are dangerous because of their high alkaloid levels. Edible nightshades have low-levels of alkaloids which can cause problems for those with arthritis and inflammation. Green spots on potatoes can be harmful to digestion, and even tomatoes have low levels of alkaloids that are cut in half when cooked. Edible nightshades are not inherently perilous, but these plants do come from a family that includes mandrake and tobacco.

Fans of "The Simpsons" may remember “tomacco,” a hybrid plant between a tomato and tobacco that Homer created by fertilizing his crops with plutonium. The hidden joke is that the two plants are not too far off genetically and as ridiculous (and hilarious) as the story line is, the story almost makes ecological sense.

Let My Water be Clean!

2009-04-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Fluoride is a controversial topic and that is how it made its way onto my blog. Scientists have evidence that fluoride prevents cavities in adults^[1], but ingesting fluoride through water may not be so beneficial. Although the Center for Disease Control hails fluoride as one of the “top 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century,”^[2] studies found high levels of fluoride in water can cause dental fluorosis, weakened bones, bone cancer, joint pain, and reduced thyroid activity.^[3] Around 1% of the population is allergic to fluoride with symptoms of canker sores, gastric distress, lethargy, and weakness.^[4] These symptoms are similar to those of a slew of intestinal disorders and I would not be surprised if long term ingestion of fluoride in drinking water can cause stomach issues.

The benefits of fluoride are true as tooth decay rates have dropped worldwide, but ingesting fluoride may be a harmful way to get the “dosage.” In fact, there is no such thing as a dosage. Fluoride is a chemical and is added to water as hydrofluorosilic acid, an industrial by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry.^[5] In some forms, fluoride is a toxin and is also used on Teflon coatings for cooking equipment. Scientists have no way of pinning down a true safe and effective amount of fluoride in water, and some scientists who researched this topic for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences now oppose fluoridation in water altogether.^[6][7]

Dr. Hardy Limeback, a scientist who worked on the aforementioned study and now opposes fluoridation of water, went as far as to say, “A lifetime of excessive fluoride ingestion will undoubtedly have detrimental effects on a number of biological systems in the body and it is illogical to assume that tooth enamel is the only issue affected by low daily doses of fluoride ingestion.”

An article written in a UK journal by Leonard Harley suggests that irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is linked to fluoride. A professor in New Dehli found that in areas where people consume water with high fluoride content, there are more complaints of stomach unrest. These same people found their symptoms disappeared in two weeks after drinking non-fluoridated water (most water has trace amounts).^[8] Not that this is scientific, but I did not have stomach issues until I moved to a city with fluoridated water.

Even with this information, fluoridation of water provides a heated sociology debate. Evidence shows the benefits of fluoride and adding it to water is an economic method to preventing cavities. Opposition studies are worthy, but at this point these findings seem to be pushed aside. One sociological study suggests that the debate on fluoridation cannot be left to the scientists. The conclusion states, “Sociologists need to examine the processes of scientific opinion formation as well as processes of public opinion formation.”^[9]

I know there are more pressing problems in the world, but writing this convinces me to at least try reverse osmosis water with 98% of the fluoride removed.

1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17452559

2) http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/

3) http://www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-2/312103.htm

4) http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/allergy/

5) http://www.fluoridealert.org/faqs.htm

6) http://www.fluoridealert.org/limeback.htm

7) http://fluoridealert.org/health/epa/nrc/thiessen-2006.pdf

8) http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/gi/ibs-2004.pdf

9) http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/89sq.html

Meal of Death

2009-04-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

When my doctor said I may have to go on an anti-inflammatory diet free of nightshades (a large family of plants that includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes), I wondered what my “meal of death” would be. I already have issues with dairy, wheat, corn, soy, and sugar, so adding nightshades to the mix made me laugh at my limited diet.

I realized that if I ate ratatouille (stewed tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions, garlic, and zucchini) I could nearly explode with inflammation! The icing on the cake (which would also cause digestive issues) would be topping the ratatouille with cheese. Throw in an appetizer of bread and a dessert of pixie-stix and then you have my meal of death!

What meal would make your stomach twinge?

Stress Bonuses

2009-03-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to whoever you wish to bash for ruining our economy, stress is becoming a way of life. Two of my uncles lost their jobs and one of them is more uneasy out of a job than working 50 hours weeks. Not all of us have that mindset and from what I hear, many of us are not too fond of our jobs. If not the job itself, then the co-workers, environment, or working hours cause the employee stress.

In a previous post, I discussed the increase in working hours since the Industrial Revolution as a glaring cause of stress. When doctors told me I may have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and that stress aggravates symptoms, I contemplated the cost of workplace stress on people's medical bills. Even if IBS is not a real diagnosis and may not be caused by increased working hours, I found the cost of workplace stress to be eye opening.

A report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) articulates the extreme burdens workplace stress and violence place on employees, employers, and the greater societies. In the most "developed" countries, more than one third of the working population recounts high or extreme levels of stress. Violence, and its often overlooked sub-category of bullying, cause dissatisfied workers and hostile environments.

The study determined that workplace stress accounts for 1-3.5% of GDP, based on research in a number of countries. This means something entirely degrading generates about $40 billion of economic activity in the United States alone. The total includes the cost to companies in sick days and loss of productivity, the amount individuals pay in medical bills, and litigation expenses.

Here is another situation where our increase in productivity and supposed spike in quality of life is costing us in the long-run. There must be a certain point where our increased work hours and toxic workplace environments become a disadvantage as people face stress, digestive issues, and psychological disruption. Haven't we hit our most efficient point as companies have no money to hire more people? Now, with a high unemployment rate and lack of co-workers, each job is responsible for more work than ever before.

To me, a productive society is one where people have the resources they need, and these resources include free time, happiness, and a stable lifestyle. When full time jobs fail to cover an individual's needs and cause additional stress and health problems, we are far from efficient.

Link: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/whpwb/econo/costs.pdf

Sugar: Naturally Degrading to Our Health

2009-03-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sugar cane returns to the western diet, as the NY Times reports companies begin to sell sugar as a natural product in soft drinks, cupcakes, and bread. The negative PR for high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) finally bit itself in the butt and consumers are demanding sugar. Some consumers say sugar tastes better and others express the desire to eat more natural sugars.

The NY Times nailed the truth in denouncing any perceived benefits of sugar over HFCS. Sugar cane is just as harmful as excessive amounts of HFCS and if we truly want to go back to where our diets were, we should stop putting sugar in everything. No matter how “natural” the initial product is, sugar is sugar and it hurts your body in the same way.

In fact, sugar compromises your immune system and hurts your liver much like alcohol can. People who switch from “primitive” diets to more “modern” diets often concede their health. Perhaps the only benefit of sugar is that it is not as highly subsidized with our tax dollars and has a more environmentally friendly process (of course sugar cane production has more instances of slave labor) than HFCS. I have not been able to prove that sugar cane requires less energy to produce, but growing cane requires less fertilizer than GM corn which means less oil. The sugar processing plants are able to use bagasse, the fibrous renewable by-product from processing cane, to power their machines. All signs point to sugar being the environmental champion of the two, but all health signs point to problems with excessive use.

Update: Oddly enough, the NY Times just released an article on sugar and economic "meltdown."

Everything is Coming Up Gardening!

2009-03-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Spring is coming faster than you can say "Sally seeds her sustenance" and the springtime cheer is inescapable. Every day I pass a new bulging bulb and the sun seems to shine endlessly. At a time when the First Lady is planting vegetables and food prices climb monthly, gardening is hot stuff. Two-thousand and nine may be the year where gardening becomes the new consumerism.

In fact, I encourage you to speak of vegetable plants like children speak of toys. If adults said things like, "My Cherokee Purple tomatoes would beat your Crooked Neck Yellow squash in a vegetable fight," I'd be very happy.

Actually, my true goal is to grow digestible food and eat well. Below you see a flat of mixed greens and a few onion seedlings under a grow light. Growing from seed is surprisingly easy and intuitive. For those who are fans of the finance or have financial fears, the initial present value (PV) equals $9 (not including the grow light) and in five months the future value (FV) amounts to $60 at market value. This racks up a return on investment of 566.67%, slightly higher than the Fed interest rate. Even with the cost of the grow light added in, within two years, the annualized rate would be 73.91%

If that financial news doesn't get you to bite, then the taste of your own fresh delicate lettuce will. Imagine coming home from a stressful day to a bed or pot of fresh greens. You get to relax and snip off some of the outer greens in a calming environment. When working with your greens, you have no boss to answer to and everything you do is worthwhile. By taking time with your food, you have the added bonus of proper digestion. Throw on a vinegar-based dressing to your salad and your salads will be even more digestible. Now that I painted you a picture, here is my favorite salad mix and dressing recipe.

Matt's Financially and Intestinally Digestible Salad Mix and Simple Homemade Dressing

1 handful of black seeded simpson lettuce
1 handful of romaine
1/2 handful of smallish sorrel
1/2 handful of smallish arugula

3 tbsp. vinegar (I recommend mid-range quality balsamic vinegar, but red vinegar works when you're saving money)
1 tsp. dijon mustard
6+ tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1) Pick, wash, and towel or spin dry the lettuces. Pick the outer leaves of plants to encourage future growth.
2) Place the vinegar in a blender, food processor, or bowl and mix in the mustard. Add salt and pepper (pinches will do).
3) Slowly add in the olive oil as you vigorously whisk or blend the oil into the vinegar. The more oil you add the weaker the vinegar flavor becomes so adjust to your taste. Adding more oil also creates a thicker dressing.
4) Now the most important part, add two tablespoons of dressing to a large bowl of lettuce. Never overdress lettuce! With clean hands, slowly mix the lettuce by bringing the lettuce at the bottom to the top. Continue until all the dressing is mixed. Add more as needed so that your lettuce is coated and glistens, but is not drenched.

Enjoy!

Haplessly Hopeful No More

2009-03-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

I finished the antibiotics this past Thursday that should rid my body of parasites and four days later I am still struggling to eat what I once knew as nourishing food. I tried potatoes this past weekend which my body clearly expressed is a bad idea, so I started to worry that the antibiotics did not work. “These things will never get out of me,” I told Abby. Without thinking, I added, “I know I'm going to have to take another round of the antibiotics.”

Good thing Abby brought me to reality. I called my doctor who said that I will continue to have food intolerances and digestive issues as my body continues to adjust to a clean environment. She also added that nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant etc.) can agitate existing inflammation and I should feel better in a few weeks.

Whew, we can put away the leeches. I will continue to eat my simple diet of rice, chicken, carrots, eggs, gluten-free bread (I love my french toast), a bit of maple syrup, hemp milk, a few select vegetables and nothing else. This way I can continue to feel okay while my body figures how to fix itself.

As I began evaluating my situation, I reconsidered how lucky I am. I took some pills for ten days, in the comfort of my own home, and did nothing other than swallow them with some water. Similar to my respect for parasites, I feel I must honor antibiotics. As controversial as antibiotics are (they can create super bugs!), I cannot imagine my life without them. Before antibiotics, I would have to wait out or live with the parasites, so as long as this process takes, I must respect the wonderful bacteria. And luckily, antibiotics only create super bugs with misuse, overuse, or underuse, so I followed directions and am trying to stay positive about my imminent revival!

Courts Okay Loss of Yet Another Unprocessed Food

2009-03-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

The headline beneath the monstrous peanut scare and the president's message of food safety is a ruling that U.S. almonds must be pasteurized. Back in 2001 and 2004, there were salmonella scares in almonds and now the farmers must pay.[1]

I do not disagree with the notion of clean food, nor can I really argue against any ruling that protects people. The almonds were contaminated and that should not happen.

What I can argue against is the philosophy of the ruling. Instead of imposing stricter rules on the process of growing almonds, the courts chose cooking the end product so as to keep the current system in place.

This is the same shortcut we use when we found dairy farms to be dirty. The answer to tainted milk was to continue feeding cows non-food items, give the the cows antibiotics and then cook the milk to free it of its impurities.

This makes sense economically. Farms are able to produce tons of milk at a cheaper price and people have access to a variety of foods (in some cases) regardless of income. Yet this economic decision also leaves out the people that demand these untouched foods. If we truly wanted a free market, the government would regulate the farms that wish to sell "potentially dangerous" foods. Besides, we already pay more than the savings we receive from "efficient" agriculture with a loss of environmental diversity and digestive disorders. If you calculated the cost of these losses and pains, the decision to alter our food would not be so "economic."

If the organic almond farmer in the article is losing $3 million a year by selling pasteurized almonds and consumers are willing to spend $20/lb. for raw almonds, then the courts should allow this market to exist. The courts can require raw almond farmers to add a disclaimer on the potential dangers, and thus create a niche market supplied by farmers and distributors who can sell clean raw almonds.

If the courts really wish to investigate this case, then they would also find the systematic implications of large almond farms. There is no scientific proof that raw almonds are better for people, but it is one less food item with an altered molecular structure in the western diet. In terms of genetic diversity, the courts could address the demand of almond production on bees. Hundreds of thousands of acres of almond trees require the work of millions of hives in a twenty day period.

Unlike what you learn in elementary school, as much as bees are hard workers, they do have down times. In order to get geared up for pollinating almonds in February, they require off-hive inputs like corn syrup, sucrose, and human-harvested flower pollen.[2] This is similar to telling a squirrel it is July in January and it is time to harvest! The winter feed for bees causes nausea and diarrhea, and is one theory for why the bee population is dealing with colony collapse disorder.

In the end, we have a multi-step process where the raw end product is not even safe for consumption. Maybe a better solution would be court rulings that incorporate the root of the problem rather than fix the end result. Band-aids treat symptoms, systems thinking creates solutions. Like I said in a previous post, "if the food itself is not enough to stress our intestines, then the process might."

1) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/13/BU0116EAOP.DTL

2) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/14/CM2SS2SNO.DTL

Acid Burns

2009-03-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Oh, how do I make this one fun and tongue-in-cheek engaging? Without a fun name like the Great Atlantic Garbage Patch, there may be no way to euphemize the words “acid sea.” Yes, our emissions of greenhouse gases have turned the sea acidic by lowering the pH value by 0.1. While a small number, this change in acidity could have a huge impact in sea creatures that cannot adapt to the changes.

The scientists suggest shellfish will have the roughest time with the brave new bitter waters. One lab test implies that starfish may be extinct by the end of the century and mussels could be hit hard as well.[1] Talk about economic collapse- how will American tapas restaurants survive without $14 appetizers of mussels in low-grade saffron broth? More seriously, imagine the systematic effect from a loss of two species in the sea. Does nature get an economic bailout package? I am sure nature will not complain about executive pay caps. Perhaps humans can pay the cost with decades of digestive issues from mussels and oysters.[2]

1) "Acid Seas Fuel Extinction Fears." BBC News 11 March 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7936137.stm>
2) Norwegian School of Veterinary Science. "New Variants Of Diarrhea-causing Toxins Found In Seafood." ScienceDaily 3 March 2009. 11 March 2009 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090219095526.htm >.

What Purpose do Parasites Serve?

2009-03-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

In the past, I promised not to have too many "end of the world" posts, but this one is just too intriguing.

After dealing with the heckling from some immature friends for having giardia, a parasite that is endemic to the area we live, I got frustrated and began to research why parasites exist. I remember scratching through the itchiest of southern summers wondering how mosquitoes fit into ecosystems. In the end, no matter how grotesque I view mosquitoes to be, they are required to feed birds, frogs, and fish. When I confronted giardia, I had trouble finding the role they and other parasites play in our ecosystems. As it turns out, some scientists devote their lives to the buggers.

From a traditional ecological perspective, parasites act as regulators of species population and as an indicator of ecosystem health. A new study from Ecological Parasitology at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) suggests that parasites also "drive the flow of energy in ecosystems." The findings show that the sheer biomass (weight or volume of organisms in a unit area or habitat) of parasites far outweighs that of free-living organisms. That means little bugs invisible to our eyes encompass more energy in our ecosystem than the things we often enjoy- birds, frogs, and fishes. Even crazier is the power of these microscopic creatures. Add in the energy hosts use to repair the tissue destroyed by parasites to the weight of the parasites and the effect is alarming. To put this into context one scientists explains,

"... in an estuary there are more kilograms of trematode worms - parasites - than kilograms of birds. If you could see the trematodes with binoculars, you might not bother bird watching."[1]

In my case, I can say I spent months of time and energy to get rid of these suckers, but in the greater scheme of an ecosystem, these scientists urge that we cannot ignore the power of parasites. One friend expressed it best, "Eesh, I don't understand if that means parasites are important, but you gotta respect them." The scientists do report that understanding the abundance of parasites will guide future research on how to protect free-living organisms.

Another report from the same research institute touts the importance of parasites in the food web. The article explains that the "pyramid of life" food web that we learned in kindergarten no longer applies. With parasites, there is a second inverted pyramid. Animals at the top have the greatest vulnerability to parasites which pass through prey from the bottom to the top of the pyramid. The study found that on average, food webs contain more links between parasites and their hosts than predators and their prey. The most loving review of parasites comes from study coauthor Andrew Dobson of Princeton University,

"Parasites may well be the thread that holds the structure of ecological communities together."[2]

Let's all jump on the bandwagon and praise the energy suckers! Truthfully, I am slightly in awe of the bugs in my belly, but I still do not understand how I have a condition my body cannot rid of itself. Did native Vermonters deal with this type of indigestion through their lives or did these people have defenses against the endemic parasite? Is pollution making us more susceptible to parasites? I did find one article explaining that nutrient pollution (soil run-off) could be the cause of a surge in parasites that cause deformities in frogs.[3] Perhaps water pollution and an increase and of parasites could explain IBS and humans' digestive issues. No matter what, you have to respect the buggers.

1) University of California - Santa Barbara. "Parasites Vastly Outweigh Predators In Estuaries: Could Have Significant Ecological Implications." ScienceDaily 24 July 2008. 9 March 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080723140323.htm.

2) University of California - Santa Barbara. "Study Shows That Parasites Form The Thread Of Food Webs." ScienceDaily 13 July 2006. 9 March 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060713081231.htm.

3) Nutrient Pollution Increases Parasite-Drive Frog Deformities

Medicating so I Can One Day Eat Well Again

2009-03-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

I finally started the medication that kills off giardia lamblia, a parasite. There are two antibiotics, Cipro and Flagyl, which create a lovely metallic taste and some nice flu symptoms. Luckily, my doctor is awesome and mastered a regiment of drugs through decades of having patients with the ‘sites (parries would be my other choice for a nickname).

In addition to the Cipro and Flagyl, I am also taking:

1. Probiotics which are straightforward. The antibiotics kill all of the bacteria, so the probiotics reintroduce the good stuff.
2. Digestive enzymes. These help me break down food but more importantly they help me handle the proteins that the giardia leave behind after they die.
3. Fish oil is overused these days but helps in this case as an anti-inflammatory.
4. Vitamin D does not directly help with parasites, but I live in the north and have very low levels of vitamin D which supports intestinal functions.
5. L-glutamine, an amino acid, helps fuel enterocytes, cells that line my small intestine.
6. Reduced glutathione support the normal function of the immune system.
7. Gut flora supplement to reinstall some of the good bacteria that antibiotics kill.

Each supplement or drug has its own function and while I cannot prove it works, I am excited to get sick (at around day 4 on the medication I will develop flu-like symptoms) so these little amoebae can die! Interestingly, one of the clueless original doctors told me that I would be fine in ten days on Prilosec, an acid blocker. Luckily, I kept looking for doctors and now in about ten days, all of the pain and attention spent over the past few months will be history.

Their Fibers Make Nice Skirts Too

2009-03-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

I left the northeast for Florida and remembered that in some parts of the world plants are growing. Most homes have coconut trees but few people pick their coconuts since they do tend to hang over twenty feet in the air. But after a few months of storing a sea of daikon radishes, beets, rutabagas, and turnips in my fridge, I was more than willing to take on the challenge of picking coconuts.

I started with a ladder which brought me fifteen feet off the ground, about fifteen feet from the tropical fruit. Then I used a pole saw which helped me at least touch the giant coconuts (which until last week, I was unaware have a hard green shell). I still could not reach above the coconuts, so I switched to an extremely long painting pole. With this, I was able to poke the coconuts, but I was merely playing piñata like a toothpick smacking brick. Next, I added a paint roller and finally succeeded. The best technique was to get above the fruit and yank the branch until the coconuts fell. You can see me below attempting to pick with the pole saw.

After thirty minutes, I had two whole coconuts in my hands, neither of them out of their shell. Abby’s parents, who helped through all of this, suggested a floor scraper to open the green shell. Sure enough it was the perfect tool to split the outer shell into thirds.

Only at this point did I have something I could recognize. I already worked for nearly an hour and I still had no coconut meat. First we drained the milk by poking the nut with an ice pick. And then we hammered the coconut open to get the meat.

It is interesting to reflect how much time I spent to get two coconuts that I could not even eat (I drank a sip of the milk and got sick thanks to my parasites). I cannot imagine climbing the tree barefoot to pick the coconuts and then trying to crack open the woody shell without a metal object like the natives once did. This connects with my post before the last about work hours and what I will call “surviving” hours. During the process of picking the coconuts, I had fun, was present, got my exercise, and in the end I got food. When I am not on vacation, I work more and with my little free time I purchase the food I need. In effect, I trade work hours for surviving hours. Based on the number of rotting coconuts on the ground in Florida, it looks like I am not alone. With free food everywhere and a scarcity of money, I wonder if this will change.

Allergies on the Rise

2009-03-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

There is a long article in Time Magazine about food allergies. The number of hospital cases for food allergies quadrupled since the 1998-2000 period. Not much time for comment from my end, but you can read the article here and let me know what you think.

Full Benefits w/healthcare and Stress

2009-02-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

Stress can set off and aggravate digestive disorders like Crohn’s and IBS. Luckily I have neither condition (unlike the conventional doctors once told me), but the false diagnosis encouraged me to evaluate my levels of stress. In my life, the most obvious source of stress is my job.
Besides the complete lack of power and control I have over my work, my job eats up much of my time and energy. I often question the value I receive in return for work and wonder if the whole “creation of agriculture” thing was even worthwhile.

Before agriculture, hunter and gatherers worked less hours. The !Kung Bushmen tribe worked about 15 hours a week. These 15 hours only account for paid occupational labor, so the rest of the time they could, I kid you not, play games, gossip and plan rituals[1]. That means that within 15 hours a week the men could find, kill and skin an animal, drain its blood, dry the skin, cure the meat (or whatever the usual was back in the day), and then come home and relax. There was no concept of being lazy for not working “full time” and no notion of feeling guilty for doing anything other than enjoying life. While I am sure life for the hunter gatherers was not as easy as I envision it to be, I am salivating over 15 hour weeks. It is natural after all, right?

As “efficiency” supposedly increased, the Industrial Revolution created the boom in working time with an average U.S. workweek of over 60 hours in 1850. If the Industrial Revolution made our lives easier, it was not in terms of the workplace. Over the next century and a half, this gigantic number pared down to the current U.S. average of around 34 hours per week[2]. With part-time employees excluded, U.S. workers average 47 hours per week.

Traditional economists will claim the decrease in work hours since 1850 is possible because of advances in technology and the use of the free market system. They suggest technology and creativity make “unskilled labor” more efficient, as if meat processors are amateurs (do you know anyone who knows how to slaughter and butcher a cow?). These supposedly “uneducated” positions require knowledge in topics which most Americans have no experience.

Besides, is this really progress? I see the progress in the number of work hours, but as working time begins to increase again (in the past 30 years there was a 3.5 hours/week increase), I wonder if the stress is catching up with us. The modern U.S. worker labors twice as long as hunter gatherers to make their living, and that does not include their weekly trip to the grocery store or hours of labor in the garden. In a sense, we made the system so complex that we have to work more to get lower-quality, labor-intensive food. The !Kung women could harvest three days worth of produce in one day. We may be able to purchase the same amount of food with six hours worth of salary, but the farmer and the earth contribute way more than six hours of time (consider how long it took to create oil).

If the food itself is not enough to stress our intestines, then the process might.

1. Working Time. Wikipedia.com
2. Addicted to Work. Pbs.org

Conscious Eaters Must be Environmentalists Too

2009-02-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

File this under articles that may scare you, and I promise not to write these too often.

Abby went to a woo-woo doctor who said she detected severe plastic poisoning. Normally I refuse to believe these tenuous diagnoses, but because of my experience in the past few months, I am much more open. That, and there are thousands of articles about the problems with heated plastic (read: do not microwave or put hot things in plastic storage containers). Already I was slightly concerned but my fear peaked when Abby mentioned the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is by far the friendliest name for an island of garbage potentially 8% the size of the Pacific Ocean.

You can research the island of garbage online and find facts like the patch is “twice the size of Texas,” or in the patch, “plastics outweigh zooplankton seven to one.” All of these facts are true but these facts are not concrete enough for us to understand. I have no idea what 100 million tons of debris means or the actual result of black-footed albatross eating plastic that messes with their hormones. What I do know is that it is bad and while I pictured an actual island twice the size of Texas, there is not an actual landmass (or trashmass?). In fact, the plastic actually disintegrates into the ocean.

What this means for us is that we may never have “organic” fish, no matter how “creative” the USDA gets with its labeling. Other consequences of this problem could be human hormone imbalances, loss of wildlife, and possibly a connection to digestive issues (I mean what is not related to food issues at this point?).

While I still cannot fathom what any of this means, I can think about the systems of our lives. I know the plastic reaches the ocean because I live and I eat food. Even when I worked on a farm, I harvested produce that went into a plastic bin only to be transferred to a plastic bag. If I go to the grocery store, even if I’m buying local food and use my own bag, I still buy plastic for individual items. The local yogurt comes in a plastic tub and local onions have stickers on them, which means I could in effect, be hurting myself by buying supposedly healthy local food.

While this could depress the smile off the Mona Lisa, I think about the positives. First, we get to live in this awesome lifestyle where everything is convenient and we get to experience so much more than past generations. That may sound sarcastic, which it is not. Never forget that there is a tradeoff; despite the pollution we get some perceived benefits in return- so enjoy what you have. On the side of things changing, there are some dairy operations that now sell milk in glass containers, there is a movement to get out and garden (and harvest without plastic), and bulk food stores are popping up where one can bring glass jars to refill their rice (even if the rice is in a plastic container). Maybe I am being idealistic about people using less plastic, but I prefer to stay positive and laugh at the ridiculous (you know like the image of 7 pounds of plastic versus 1 pound of plankton).

Read more on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch at Wikipedia and mindfully.org.

Please Tell Me It's a Parasite

2009-02-17T18:18:00.001-08:00

I traveled a combined ten hours in the car and four hours on trains and subways to arrive at a doctor's office to test for parasites. After previously seeing three doctors, with a combined 8 hours in doctors' offices, two blood tests, four pointless blood pressure tests, and four tissue samples, I finally arrived to a doctor who was ready to give me a result. I was in and out and within a half hour and was told to call the next day. That day was yesterday, which happens to be the happiest day of winter 08-09. That's right, I have a parasite!

After dealing with dead-end diagnoses of IBS and IBD, which the latest doctor assures me is not a diagnosis, an eighty year old man says assertively that he sees giardia under the microscope. This is quite possibly the happiest depressing news ever! I am still entirely confused how doctors cannot detect giardia through a colonoscopy. I mean, they did take actual samples of my freaking tissue. One of my friends joked, “I’m glad it took American doctors five months to diagnose you… in Uganda doctors would have found it on day one.” At first I commented that doctors do not typically find giardia in America, but I am finding that may not be true.

If one doctor in an unpopulated area can receive over 150 cases of parasites (and the number may be double that as cases often include a partner who also gets the parasite), then they are common. My doctor assures me the lack of diagnoses comes from the fact that giardia and other parasites can cause digestive issues that fluctuate between good and bad. Patients can have giardia for decades and not know. Additionally, the common tests are not entirely effective, especially for people who do not have the glaringly obvious symptoms associated with giardia. The doctors say that some cases of IBS and IBD could be solved with a mucus swab test for parasites.

Now that I have a diagnosis, I wonder if my inability to digest dairy for the past year came from this parasite. Even if the lactose intolerance is a separate case, I assume my issues with sugar and excessive amounts of starchy foods like gluten stem from giardia. It will be interesting to see how I react to food as the parasites leave my body. Will I be able to handle the veggies and legumes I was forced to neglect for months? I will let you know soon enough.

Non-Technical, It May Just Work

2009-02-11T08:07:00.000-08:00

At first I was confused by my doc's suggestion of traveling 6 hours to test for parasites. The local hospital seems to be up to date and I never felt deserted from medicine. I thought past doctors should have found parasites with all of their testing, but then I realized that sometimes western medicine fails.

This does not mean that western medicine never works, in fact, I'm sure it works the majority of the time. The same can be said for neoclassical economics in which most people are able to get the goods they need. Yet both of these systems tend to operate in bubbles. "Conventional" doctors tested for the most common illnesses with the technological tools given to them. Likewise, in "conventional" economics, companies use the means and ideology given to them; make as much money as possible within the boundaries of law. Neither of these processes thinks about the bigger picture and I wonder if they even make sense.

According to my doc, the reason I have to travel to a different region is because most doctors 1) don't like to diagnose people with parasites and 2) often use tests that come back negative. Apparently, I could do a free test through the state, but these stool tests have a low success rate for detection. It turns out the problem with finding parasites in stool samples is that amoeba shed at irregular intervals. Six days out of the week you could test negative and one lucky day you could test positive. If the amoeba are done shedding, they are still inside you and will remain there undetectable to any stool test. Some parasites live in the tissue and blood and will be entirely invisible to any modern tests.

Meanwhile, the less-intensive, non-innovative mucus swab test (recommended by my doctor) has been effective in patients who received negative results elsewhere. The only doctor who still does a mucus swab lives six hours away and I only found one online source explaining its benefits. I'm a bit confused about how something this simple works, but I also grew up believing in western medicine and that more technology is better. If the test results are positive, alternative medicine gets one gigantic point in my book.

Link: Book excerpt on mucus testing

Parasites!

2009-02-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

I may have parasites, although I do not plan to release them on an audience like Bill Gates. Maybe it's because I'm not as engaging in my efforts to spread knowledge about parasites as Bill Gates is, but I'll keep them to myself.

Doc says I need to go to another state for further testing, which is entirely baffling because I already did a stool test. In any case, the test results show that L. acidophilus is nearly nonexistent in my intestines. This could explain my inability to digest dairy, but doc says this is also a sign that I have a parasite that continually destroys any acidophilus my body tries to produce. While I could try reintroducing the "probiotic" back into my diet, doc suggests chances are that whatever is killing off the good bacteria will continue to do so (plus I am already on probiotics).

That would be interesting if parasites could explain some food intolerances or cases of IBS (but please do not take this as a sign that you have a parasite). Doc says parasites may be more common than people think as she's finding people can have digestion problems for years, but because of our healthy diet and clean environment we are able to suppress the symptoms. She says I could get the parasite from traveling, swimming in the lake, or being in contact with people who traveled and got a parasite. While I am not sold on this yet, nothing else has worked so bring on the testing!

How the Inuit Get By

2009-02-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

Used under Creative Commons License at this cool article www.stephennewton.com/2008/02/eu-consults-on-seal-hunt.html

Americans have tried many fad diets and treatments in the past few decades, but still find themselves in a stupor of food-related health issues. These diets fail because they tend to focus on one specific aspect of a foreign diet and neglect the lifestyle, eating habits, and climate associated with the diets. Recently, scientists began touting the benefits of fish oil and omega-3's to any health-conscious American willing to listen. Supposedly, these fatty acids can lower bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, and protect against heart disease. As a result, the Inuit diet of whale and seal meat (high in Omega-3) has gained my attention lately. The Inuit are healthy because of the antioxidants in seal oil, but are we missing the point when we take this diet out of context? I suspect that someone in a temperate climate who has a more stressful life would not receive the same health benefits from eating raw seal.

I began studying the Inuit and their lifestyle started when I moved towards the Canadian border. I often wondered how the Inuit survived on raw seal meat and seal blood.[1] Did they really get enough vitamin C?[2] Why is an Inuit-like diet “safe” for modern eaters with food intolerances? How could an entire village of hunter-gatherers in Greenland have no deaths due to cardiovascular disease as late as 1970?

Much of the research today explains that despite a diet chock full of meat and fat, the Inuit were healthy. Research also shows that the modern western diet, full of grains and omega-6’s, introduced diabetes and glucose intolerance to Greenlanders.[3] If you are interested in the topic of agriculture making hunter-gatherers sick, check out "Hungry Planet: What the World Eats", Michael Pollan’s "In Defense of Food" and Jared Diamond’s "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

Raw meat has enough vitamin C to ward off scurvy and overall the Inuit diet has a healthy balance of omega-3 oils versus omega-6 oils (1:1 versus a modern western diet ratio of 1:50). Interestingly, what made cardiovascular illness virtually absent in Inuit societies is not the abundance of fish in their diet, but rather the predominance of seal and whale. Many cultures eat more fish than the Inuit and yet these cultures have greater rates of cardiovascular illness and high cholesterol. This means there is something in seal blubber beyond omega-3's that allows the Inuit to have lower cholesterol levels and fight free-radicals more effectively than the western diet. If a European went on a diet high in fish oils, the omega-3's alone would not not have the same effect as the anti-oxidants in seal. [4] The Inuit appeared to have no food intolerances or any food-related degenerative diseases.

Scientists will undoubtedly try to find and sell the magic part of seal oil that makes the Inuit diet healthy, but I wonder if taking the diet out of its context ruins its benefits. The Inuit lived in cold climates which speeds metabolism and burns much of the fat in whale and seal. Additionally, the Inuit traditionally had very simple lives that involved much physical work. Even if a modern eater could simulate an Inuit diet or eat an abundance of seal oil, I doubt they would receive the same benefits. Whereas western eaters often have to worry about their cars, ipods, facebook profiles, cancer, heart disease, and exercising enough, the Inuit only worried about staying dry and catching another seal. For the Inuit, there were no advertisements in the snow about a pill to lower cholesterol nor where there movies that depicted the pain of a heart attack. Introducing seal oil into our current lifestyle may promote our health as much as David Beckham elevated American soccer: enough to raise an eyebrow, but not enough to change the system.

1) http://www.beyondveg.com/tu-j-l/raw-cooked/raw-cooked-3h.shtml
2) http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2374/traditionally-eskimos-ate-only-meat-and-fish-why-didnt-they-get-scurvy
3) http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/10/1766
4) http://www.highnorth.no/Library/Culture/or-ea-me.htm

Eat a Sandwich, Have an Allergy

2009-02-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

In Australia, a group called Mothers are Demystifying Genetic Engineering (MADGE) is spreading information about the affects of genetically modified (GM) crops on food allergies. One article on their website explains that children who eat one item with a GM ingredient can develop an allergy for an entirely different food. Cross-priming is the term and the given example is of a child who eats bread and develops peanut allergies.

First, it angered me. Then, I read more of the article and felt better by realizing how much Australians believe in knowing what they eat. In America, there is little talk about labeling GM foods, and while I know there are many more pressing problems, this has just about everything to do with the cost of health care and economic issues we face.

One's diet, something rarely mentioned in concert with health care, could be the number one systematic health cost. Imagine if we could all spend the money now for fresh, "clean" (well clean in the sense of natural, as food is never truly clean by American standards) food and not pay for unnecessary medical costs in the future. Now there is an argument for food stamps.

I have no idea what the cost of an allergy is, but I imagine the cost of GM-derived anaphylactic reactions far outweigh the perceived corporate benefits of selling GM crops. GM products are theoretically cheaper to grow (yet the seeds are more expensive for farmers and taxpayers already paid the bill for the initial research), but the fact that many people cannot afford a GM-free diet is more of a commentary of priorities. Those companies buying GM crops from farmers see big yields/money now and then somehow squeak by without having to write off a penny of the grand long term costs. The companies provide a cheap product to fill a belly and possibly a handful of hospital beds. Now I wonder if it is America's turn to question what is in our food and organize to understand what our processed foods do to us.

Link: Article on GM Foods and Allergies
Link: MADGE (Mothers are Demystifying Genetic Engineering)

White Blood Cell Differential Count for Parasites

2009-01-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

When I first discovered troubles in my digestion patterns, I went to my primary doctor and she drew some blood. The results showed an increased number in white blood cells, so the doctors suggested I test for Crohn’s disease (high white blood cell counts often means there is an inflammation). The end result was again inconclusive, so a new doctor recommended that I get a white blood cell differential count.

The aptly named differential count shows the difference in the levels of each kind of white blood cell. There are nuetrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosiniphils and basophils. Each type has its own function and its own “standard” percentage range in terms of overall white blood cells. Doctors often use this to test for Leukemia, but in my case, my doctor is most concerned with the levels of eosiniphils and basophils. An increase in eosiniphils could mean a parasitic infection (something that a biopsy may not be able to test), and an increase in basophils could mean a hypersensitive reaction to food.

While I’m waiting on these results, she also ordered a stool test to detect parasites (I do not believe it can determine a gluten intolerance). Finally! The other doctors spent so much time invading me without looking at the one substance that could tell them the most. Just when I had enough of doctors prodding me and telling me to drink nasty things, one doctor merely asks me to do what I do. What made this process even more fun (or funny) is that I shipped the sample through FedEx in a “biohazard type b” bag. I am appreciative that it is this easy, but I could not help but to laugh at me being so toxic.

When the results come in, my doctor will then compare the two tests and make an informed decision (gasp!). I am not an expert but I am excited about the possibility of certainty. Updates to come!

I Eat My Cake, and Then “Have” it for Days on End

2009-01-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

I’m Matt and as a kid I had difficulty enjoying cake.

I loved the sugar, but found the flavor and texture of a conventional birthday cake to be undesirable. While unable to explain this at the time, I can tell you now that I didn't enjoy the artificial flavoring or the spongy outcome from the chemicals in cake mixes. I preferred plain chocolate, but by watching others I learned that I was supposed to enjoy the birthday cake tradition, so I did.

My limited childhood diet grew into a varied, gourmand-like diet as an adult. I learned to cook starting with a chicken cookbook my friend gave me for my 15th birthday. Baked chicken turned into stir frys with my dad, complicated desserts with my great aunt, and a grand introduction to fresh food with my college girlfriend's family. Soon I was trying homemade pickled lemons with chicken, every wild mushroom at the farmer’s market, and any wine at every tasting in town. I worked in restaurants, did research projects on food history and the economics of sustainable agriculture, and even kept my own food blog, the now defunct Post-Haste Taste. Tasting was my life and I turned into the guy who could eat his applesauce spice cake and “have” it in memory forever. In fact, my vivid memories often revolve around meals, which are my most present times.

Recently, my digestive track started acting up and screwing with my enjoyment of food. My stomach is distended, I have excess gas, bloating, pain, and everything else that fits the description of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) but may be taboo to speak of in regular conversation. Foods I once loved, onions, broccoli, lentils, beans, and apples are now enemies in my eyes. I could still eat cake, but I would "have" it in my digestive system for days as it tried to find its way through without much luck and with a great deal of gas.

I went to a slew of doctors and dealt with a bunch of tests only to hear that everything is inconclusive. One doctor wants me to test for Crohn’s by taking medicine and seeing what happens. That is not my idea of medicine and anyway if that fails, the diagnosis is IBS, a dead-end illness. IBS has no cure and doctors know no cause. Some speculate a mind-body connection but that is not a widely accepted explanation in the medical community.

Luckily, no matter how depressing the past two paragraphs are, there is no reason to stress. I could spend hundreds of hours reading forums on IBS and intestinal disorders and try to find some theory on how I may have SIBO or giardiasis, but that will get me nowhere. Instead, I pocket my food memories, those times when I am most present, and I am being proactive about finding a solution.

Step one: I found a doctor more suitable to my needs and we are doing more tests. Even if she finds nothing, I can control some of the symptoms with probiotics and digestive enzymes. Step two: I calm the frick down. Nothing is worse than a bloated neurotic individual. Trust me, I was one and I dated one. Step three: I write.

This is why irrEATable is here. Writing may help me deal with the loss of my favorite foods (if I do have to part with them) and helps me be aware that I am still enjoying food. Maybe I will write about how awesome the roasted chicken was last night or how enjoyable growing onions is even if I cannot eat them. I plan to explore the history of human connection with food and any digestive benefits. Why do rice and beans pair together? Who created recipes and was digestion considered in the combination of ingredients? What can IBS sufferers eat? Why do so many of us have food allergies? In this blog, we will explore these issues and discuss any topic related to food and digestion. Happy day one, irrEATable. Have your cake.