Cantaloupe Outbreak

 
Food safety is still not safe (although such a complex problem)!  If you haven't heard, there has been a listeria food poisoning outbreak in contaminated cantaloupes, leaving at least 13 people dead amid 72 sickened in 18 states, federal health officials said as of Tuesday, September 27.  This may rank as one of the deadliest food outbreaks in the United States in more than a decade. 

More to come because symptoms of listeria infection can take weeks to become apparent, "we will see more cases likely through October," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told the Associated Press.  The affected cantaloupes, recalled by Jensen Farms on Sept. 14, 2011, were shipped between July 29 and Sept. 10, ABC News reported. 

If I had any cantaloupes in the refrigerator, I would throw them away, I just wouldn't want to take the risk.  And, cook (or pasteurize, as some people suggest) everything else before consuming if you had possible contaminated cantaloupe in the refrigerator. Articles are saying that the the bacteria isn't killed by freezing or refrigeration.

Symptoms?  For many healthy people, symptoms are flu-like, including fever, muscle aches, diarrhea and nausea, and can appear a few days after you've eaten the listeria-contaminated food, to a couple months after you've eaten it, the Mayo Clinic reported. However, if the infection reaches your nervous system, additional symptoms can include headache, convulsions, confusion and loss of balance.  People who are most at risk include ones with weaker immune systems, pregnant women, elderly, people with diabetes or kidney disease.


Another bit of news: Deaths have been reported in eight states, including four in New Mexico, two in Colorado, two in Texas and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. 


I came across this in an msnbc article, and thought it was interesting to note and a good reminder:

Summary of U.S. food poisoning outbreaks with the largest tolls


- Jalisco Mexican Products Inc., Artesia, Calif., January 1985. Mexican-style fresh cheese contaminated with listeria caused 52 deaths, including many stillbirths, although a CDC spokeswoman didn't know how many.

- Bil Mar Foods, Zeeland, Mich., October 1998. Hot dogs and deli meats contaminated with listeria left 101 people hospitalized with infections and 21 deaths.

- Peanut Corp. of America, Blakely, Ga., September 2008. Peanut butter and peanut paste contaminated with salmonella Typhimurium sickened 714, and led to 166 hospitalizations and nine deaths.

- Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Franconia, Pa., July 2002. Sliced turkey and deli meat contaminated with listeria led to 54 illnesses and eight deaths, including three stillbirths.

- Cargill Turkey Products Inc., Waco, Texas, May 2000. Turkey deli meat tainted with listeria left 29 ill and hospitalized and led to seven deaths, including three miscarriages or stillbirths.

- Dole Natural Selection Foods, San Juan Bautista, Calif., August 2006. Spinach tainted with E. coli O157:H7 sickened 238, hospitalized 103 people and led to five deaths.

- SanGar Fresh Cut Produce, San Antonio, Texas, October 2010. Celery contaminated with listeria sickened 10 people, including five who died.

- Jack in the Box, San Diego, Calif., November 1992. Ground beef contaminated with E. coli O157 led to 708 illnesses and four deaths.

- Chi-Chi’s restaurant, Beaver, Penn., October 2003. Hepatitis A infections tied to green onions sickened 565 people, left 128 hospitalized and caused three deaths.

- Raw restaurant-prepared tomatoes. December 1998. Contamination with the rare salmonella Baildon bacteria in restaurant-prepared cut tomatoes shipped to several states left 86 ill, 16 hospitalized and three dead.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Source: www.msnbc.com

Cold Feet and Hands

Cold feet and hands.  Most everyone has experienced this to one extent or another, especially when the weather starts to turn cooler.  I know in the last few weeks, my feet were cold even with wool socks on and it is only September!  But for some, the condition can happen in all seasons and during the winter months, it is really frigid and make a person more prone to getting sick.

Cold feet and hands are often due to poor circulation.  And as we get older, particularly when we become elderly, we need to do things to help our circulation (it just doesn't flow like it used to, haha).

I actually do a hot foot spa at night that really helps get the blood flowing.  All our main blood vessels flow through the feet, so if you feel cold, get some hot water and sink your feet in, you will feel an almost immediate difference.

What we eat makes a big difference for our circulation. 

1) Drink warm fluids and eat hot foods.  I remember how once I was feeling so cold but ate a salad and ice cream.  Dumb.  It takes energy to warm up what we consume to our body temperature.  This is why drinking cold water (with ice) when you feel cold is like taking the long, unnecessary route to work.  Drinking water is absolutely necessary and helps your circulation, but why make your body work harder to use it?

2) Eat arginine-rich foods.  Arginine, an amino acid, is suppose to help produce nitric oxide, which is said to expand diameter of the vessels, allowing more blood to flow.  Foods rich in arginine include peanuts, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, soybeans, pork, beef, chicken, turkey, oats, wheat, barley, chickpeas, salmon, tuna and mackerel.

3) Eat fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.  Food rich in antioxidants (particularly flavonoids) have been shown to improve the health of blood vessels.  Some of these foods include pomegranates, concord grapes, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, cherries, apples, kale, broccoli, parsley, celery, onions, and chiles.  The herb thyme and cinnamon are also beneficial.


Source: 101 Optimal Foods by David Grotto
Related Posts: Cold Remedy II - How to Stay Warm

Sweet Peppers

I took this shot of one of our red peppers from our garden - doesn't it look so interesting?  I love the unique shapes of each pepper, and dependent on where the plant is, each ripen in slightly different shades.  When the peppers initially grow up, they are green.  Dependent on the seed and the sun exposure, each matures and changes color.  The riper the pepper, the greater the nutrition (and the flavor).

Peppers are low in calories - and when organic, fresh and crisp some of the best snacks hands down.  I can just imagine the crisp juice that flies out with each bite.  I eat them in stir fry, salad, and all types of preparations.  If they are super fresh, I don't want it to go to waste, so I eat them raw.

They are high in Vitamin C and A (beta-carotene) and potassium.  They also contain Vitamin K (bone health) and some lycopene (said to lower risk of prostate cancer).

Be aware that bell peppers were on the 2003 list of twelve foods most contaminated with pesticides (Environmental Working Group).  The organization recommends buying them organic, which is probably good if you can, or use a fruit-vegetable wash.  But nevertheless, such a good food and full of nutrition!


Source: 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden

Summer Squash

Summer is now over, and this picture was from a couple of months ago (time goes by so quickly!).  I didn't have such a love for yellow squash, until I started eating it organically grown.  They are easy to grow, and tremendous when sauteed.  I really like the picture I took (above) from our garden, the color of the plant is so crisp and green and complements nicely with the yellow vegetable.  Yellow squash when fresh is sweet and filled with nutrients.

Summer squash is high in heart-healthy potassium.  One cup of cooked squash gives you more than 3x the amount of potassium in a usual supplement.  There is also Vitamin A, beta-carotene, lots of carotenoids that are good for the eyes (yea! I want to be rid of these glasses! haha).

Squash has a high water content and low calories, which is really good for weight loss.  Hence, some people call it a "high volume" food.


Source: 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden

Garden Yield

The garden this year is teeming with interesting yield.  Can't believe it's been a month since my last post (Garden Bounty) of what is going on in my garden world.  Here are a few food pictures of what has been harvested (and delightfully consumed).

A picture of our corn.  So the interesting thing about this corn is that the consistency of the kernel is not juicy but chewy.  I actually am not sure I like the texture as much as the 'selected' corn species we get from the commercial farm, but I bet this corn is far more nutritious and fibrous, which is not what most healthy people today connect corn to.  Also, there are hundreds if not thousands of species of corn, so hope to be trying other varieties in the future.

The following is our very own watermelon!  Notice the holes, it is a big overgrown (sorry should have taken plastic wrap off before shooting a picture).  But if you pick your watermelon at the right time, the flavor and crispness of the fruit is DELICIOUS.  Wish I could share bites of this over the internet.

These are our vine ripened tomatoes.  They are a beauty (except for that traumatized one on the right).  They take a long time to grow (and water), but so well worth it.  Especially when you make it into a tomato sauce.

Lastly, check out our bitter vegetable.  I think it looks so cool.  However, I really don't like eating these because it is spicy and bitter!  It is used in Chinese cooking, although a cool looking specimen and packed with nutrients, I am sure, but I usually can do without it...

Pizza Dough Recipe

I have been making quite a few vegetable pesto pizzas lately with our abundant organic vegetable harvest coming out of our garden.  The vegetables burst with flavor, and the homemade pesto complements nicely.  If you follow my blog, I tend to limit my refined flour intake; however, every once in awhile, particularly with our vegetable yield, this pizza is a delicious meal to enjoy and savor.

My pizza in the picture is a bit messed up because I started cutting before realizing that I wanted to take a photo!  Alas, it is what it is, I guess I will just have to make more pizzas to get a better photo.

Some people have asked about my pizza dough recipe, and unfortunately, I don't really have a recipe for this!  But, this one below by Jamie Oliver is pretty close. 

Jamie Oliver's Pizza Dough

• 7 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour or 5 cups strong white bread flour or Tipo "00" flour, plus 2 cups finely ground semolina flour
• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
• 2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

The directions can be found on the foodnetwork website: Jamie Oliver's Pizza Dough

I would do a third of this recipe if making one pizza.  I explore with my recipes, so just use it as a starting point.  You never know what you might discover!

One of my past posts on refined flour: Two Culprits to Low Energy and Burgeoning Waists

Got Milk?

Most of us in the US grew up drinking milk, unless your mom figured out you were lactose intolerant from some allergic reaction.  Milk, in its raw, organic, unpasteurized, nonhomogenized state from grass-fed cows are full of nutrients and fat that we need to stay healthy.  However, what is typically sold in the grocery store is nothing close.  This is what I want to talk about.

Conventional milk typically has tons of antibiotics, steroids and hormones because of the way they "factory" the cows by putting them in areas, where they almost touch, stand still, row after row, many times in the dark, and milk the cows on unnatural schedules in order to maximize the milk production.  This maximization causes the dairy cows' udders to become very painful, heavy and infected.  In response, producers have to put these poor animals on more drugs to lessen the pain, reduce disease, and keep that milk production going around the clock.

This terrible cycle causes large doses of antibiotics and hormones in the milk and meat.  On top of that, they typically pasteurize and homogenize.  Both procedures destroy vitally important health-giving compounds in the milk, destroying enzymes, vitamins, vitamins B12 and B6, and promote pathogens.  However, unpasteurized milk may harbor harmful bacteria (thanks friends for point this out!), as the FDA states, so certain processes may be necessary. 

There also has been talk about a link between milk and cancer, including ovarian cancer.  According to research published in November 2004 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, some Swedish researchers concluded that "our data indicate that high intakes of lactose and dairy products, particularly milk, are associated with an increased risk of serious ovarian cancer, but not of other subtypes of ovarian cancer."  Although we really don't know what kind of milk they were drinking or have multiple, multiple studies, but it should cause us to think about it (especially for those who drink conventional milk with cereal for like every meal--I was one of those in college).

The other thing to really question is why kids hit puberty SO MUCH earlier than people 50+ years ago.  Girls are wearing their first bra at younger ages.  My theory, and personal opinion, is that this abnormality could be very seriously linked to the impact of all the hormones and antibiotics industry uses.  Kids are fed milk from a very young age.  I am sure multiple factors, but this might be one (and potentially big one).

It is vital to know where your food is coming from.  I do drink milk every day for the most part, although I have learned that I can get calcium from many other foods such as kale and other vegetables.  Remember cheese also comes from the cow, so this same practice also impacts the nutritional value of it (to learn more: Is That Really Cheese?).  I drink Organic Valley milk.  From my research, Organic Valley is a co-op of farmers who really care about pasturing their cows and don't use hormones.  In addition, I have switched to whole milk; I was fat free for years.  Since my diet has changed, I now use milk to get some of my saturated fat.




Source: 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden