Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Tag: health

• That’s Salad a Salad

  Posted at 3:05 pm by kayewer, on October 18, 2025

  Food shopping for one can be complicated. Heck, shopping for certain numbers of diners can be complicated. A family of five can have two hotdogs apiece, but does a single person want to have one hotdog a day? Or two hotdogs a day and one spare? And what about those rolls?

  Occasionally I purchase single serve heat and eat meals for myself, prepared by the store, and they work a treat. The advantages include portion control and a balanced serving of everything you need nutritionally. The downside is the cost, which can often be more than either frozen dinners or what you would pay buying larger quantities of all the fresh ingredients and breaking them down into daily meals.

  For example, a multi-pack of chicken breasts can cost a few dollars a day when you sort them into one per freezer bag and break them out when you need them. Even if you have an entire can or more than the serving size of frozen vegetables, you’re still ahead money-wise and are eating healthier by having seconds on the veggies rather than the protein.

  So for around $11-$13 each, I can have a nutritious dinner instead of drive-thru fat and sodium.

  This past weekend I found a new selection of salads at my local grocer for $9.99 each. They were presented right next to those prepared dinners I usually purchase, and so I bought one of each and tried them over three days, just to see what effect eating more Mediterranean would do for me.

  The results were promising.

  I discovered some new taste sensations, including kimchi, which I mentioned last week in my Korean lunch post. One of the salads included the zingy cabbage, harissa, farro and couscous. Another had thin-sliced beef, and the third included salmon. The dressings were tasty, the proteins flavorful, and the greens fresh and crunchy. What remained was to see the aftereffects, if any, and whether I would still feel hungry after going so light on my meals.

  The first positive thing I noticed was sleep. I went through more stages of sleep and even had dreams, which have eluded me lately. I was able to go back to sleep more easily, too. There were no digestive issues, and I wasn’t craving a bag of chips, nor did I supplement the dinner with dessert.

  This is something worth investing some time in, and I think I will spend a few weeks exploring this idea to see where it leads me. I may lose weight or gain energy. Maybe not, but trying something new opens doors and allows the spirit to get out of the mundane state of apathy. That’s something we could all use.

  This week I plan to get a few more salads and mix them in with my regular and prepared dishes. The cost per meal may go up slightly, but the advantages to my overall wellbeing may be worth it.

  Don’t tell my friends at the drive-thru.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged dinner, food, health, prepared-meals, recipe, recipes, salads

• Korean Chow

  Posted at 3:22 pm by kayewer, on October 11, 2025

  Sometimes my social media feed presents interesting content which I didn’t ask for. Recently I began getting videos of what Korean office workers eat for lunch.

  I haven’t had a lunch in a workplace cafeteria since March 2020 when our building shut down and we began working from home. Our cafeteria was accommodating and offered great choices, and I have the late middle aged girth to prove it. Our staff would conduct barbeques outside the cafeteria for special occasions and grill chicken, burgers and hotdogs, while inside we would have actual dinner fare for lunch. This probably stemmed from the amount of time most people would be stuck in traffic going home in the evenings, to prevent them having dinner at 8:00 at night.

  Apparently Korean office staff are fed by their company at no or little expense to the employees. That’s a plus. The lunch privilege is often part of hiring contracts and something they are proud of, especially when costs are making it harder to meet such expenses.

  The videos I have seen show somebody picking up a multi-compartment tray of nearly a dozen indented shapes and approaching a rice cooker filled with the day’s selection, often multi-grain or even purple rice which one self serves with a paddle resting nearby in a bowl of water. Next often comes kimchi (fermented cabbage and/or radish) or a variant. Next would come bulgogi, which is marinated meat thin-sliced and cooked on the grill or stir-fried. Vegetables are plentiful and may include a variety of leaves, shoots or salad greens; in fact, I have yet to see a clip without a healthy green salad accompanied by a ladle of pastel dressing of some kind.

  Proteins can be squid rings, fish cakes, chicken or even pork. They all looked beautifully presented and came in fork-sized servings, though the only tools the person in the video used were a long-handled metal spoon and chopsticks. Everything is apparently washed, and with the exception of drinks, there is little to no paper waste.

  One food item that piqued my curiosity was acorn jelly or dotorimuk, which is as you would expect from a savory gelatin; acorn starch is dissolved in water, with salt added, solidified and served in blocks with an optional dipping sauce. It’s supposed to have a simple, nutty flavor.

  Another popular selection is stew or jjigae (gee-gay), cold soups, and spicy broths with the option to add ramen style noodles and heat over an individual hot plate. The tray filled up with what we might consider an extended flight of samplers but actually serve as a way to eat a little of everything and receive the nutritional values of each without going overboard.

  The beverages were often small (think five ounce sized) and consisted of teas infused with peach or another fruit. No ice. Not a lot to eat or drink, but apparently just enough for lunch.

  The obesity rate in South Korea is at a third of the population, especially for men and older adults, which seems odd considering the healthy fare I saw in the videos. There was nothing I would not be willing to try were I to find myself in a Seoul office building at lunchtime. Even an anchovy dish looked worthwhile.

  The selection of lunch line videos has been inviting, especially when the OP has submitted so many of them that I won’t see a duplicate for some time. And when I am not drooling over kimchi, I can watch a rug cleaner, a sheep shearer, or a cow farrier relieving a bovine of nails in their hooves. Or watch more Universal visitors get insulted by Megatron.

  What do they think of me in that social media algorithm mindset? I may never know. But keep feeding me.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged food, health, korean-lunch, recipe, travel

• Cut To The Chase Already

  Posted at 3:24 pm by kayewer, on September 20, 2025

  When I first began posting on this blog, I wanted to be sure I didn’t make my entries feel like interminable cliffhangers. So much on social media prompts viewers to “click for more,” and I don’t want to be one of “those” people who strings readers along without a reasonably timely payoff.

  Here, therefore, are some of the things you may have been lured into by social media like Pennywise trying to grab a child from under the sewer grate, without any suffering involved. Also included are some quick pieces of (what I hope is) sage advice. Nothing wordy. Just the advice parts.

  Pink Himalayan sea salt mixed with lemon juice and water is not a dietary kick starter, and definitely not a substitute for injectables or proper diet and exercise. What it may do is provide hydration similar to Gatorade(R) or other such beverages. Don’t waste your time, and ask your doctor or a dietician.

  There is a diet personality named Dr. Gundry who pooh-poohs the idea of eating oatmeal for breakfast because of lectins, which supposedly affect your gut health. Oats are for horses, he says. Many experts tout oatmeal, particularly the steel cut variety, as having great heart benefits and the ability to control diabetes and cholesterol because of another substance called beta-glucan. If you have digestive issues, ask your healthcare provider for personalized advice on what to have for breakfast, rather than watching a soapbox-standing barker on social media. I have eaten three-minute steel cut oatmeal daily for years, and my lab numbers are just fine.

  The best way to deal with procrastination is to not put off the entire project, but to start on a piece of the project you can handle, and work your way up from there. I managed to declutter with this method.

  Before becoming entrenched in a new series on a streaming service for which you would have to pay, check on social media for people who have already watched it and listen to their opinions. You may decide, as I did, not to get started on a show because it obviously was not what I had hoped it would be.

  I received negative feedback from somebody, and it really hit me hard. I recently found that somebody else had a similar experience with the same person. So it wasn’t just me, and I wish I had asked about it sooner. Not only am I re-committed to what I was going to give up on, but my being ticked off is fueling my rebound. That’s not a bad thing.

  If you need a restraining order, you need to get that person away from you with more than just a piece of paper. Somebody that desperate to cling to you is dangerous. Not convinced? Look up some of the people who are no longer with us because the restrained person simply did in the restrainer. Don’t be another one of them.

  Just because somebody posts an opinion doesn’t mean it’s gospel. Who is the person? What else do they support or detest? Do research before you click the like button.

  If a person provides an opinion you don’t agree with, remember all the opinions they gave that you did agree with, and measure against what you like and don’t like. You may simply chalk it up to being human. Humans are flawed, after all.

  Always look at the sender’s email address, especially when it’s delivered as spam. If the email doesn’t resemble an actual business or entity, it’s probably a scam. If they offer something with a series of steps that seems odd, it’s probably a scam.

  We in the US are subjected to more dangerous food additives than in Europe (including the UK), because we don’t ban as many of these chemicals. Their products may be less brightly colored, but they are certainly healthier. That says something for stores that carry imported versions of products, and they may be worth trying. They are expensive, however.

  When you step outside your front door, the world’s rules govern you. When you are inside your home, your rules govern all who enter. Just remember that they also have the option to not stay.

  I hope some of these snippets will benefit you, because I took considerable time to gather and present them in the simplest way possible to save you time, effort and possibly health problems. You are welcome to submit your own or let me know if any of the advice here has benefitted you.

  Excuse me while I prepare my oatmeal.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged breakfast, food, health, life

• Stress Test

  Posted at 3:18 pm by kayewer, on September 13, 2025

  There is a substance called cortisol in our bodies, frequently known as a “fight or flight” hormone we feel when stress is high. Our adrenal glands pump this hormone out in large quantities when we are scared or overstimulated, and if we deal with this type of elevated mood for too long, it can cause health problems. Common issues include abdominal weight gain, poor sleep, irritability, and even a condition known as Cushing’s Syndrome in which the face also gets fat and round, and one gains a hump on the back.

  That doesn’t explain Quasimodo being a hunchback, but he sure experienced a lot of stress as the town victim, subject to their abuse and derision.

  The diet, food and drug industries have been providing lots of verbiage about how to handle cortisol. The diet industry wants us to lower our numbers by eating a certain way, the food industry wants us to eat their products, and the drug industry wants us to regulate everything with their medications.

  I recently journeyed down a rabbit hole filled with factoids and falsities about cortisol. Well-sculpted bodybuilders touted capsaicin pills, while drug salesmen discussed the benefits of ashwagandha in a capsule, and the diet gurus rambled on and on about their health programs to shred pounds.

  At one point I discovered that food companies had once bought out the most popular diet conglomerates. This means that Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Slim Fast were overseen by somebody who sells food that might not be good for us. Imagine that. By the way, Slim Fast is now owned by an overseas nutrition company, Weight Watchers shifted away from Nestle’s ownership and is struggling after a bankruptcy filing, and Jenny Craig succumbed in 2023.

  The difficult part of losing weight is not simply eating less or changing our diets, exercising more, injecting or using a chemical in a pill. It’s a combination of factors such as what foods we eat, what is in them, and what our lives are like when we are not seated at a table or counter at a meal.

  The stresses in our lives cannot be denied as contributors to our levels of cortisol and the obesity problem we have in our country. Other countries don’t seem to have the same issues, and their daily lives are much less stressful. Their foods are also much “cleaner,” with many countries banning a huge percentage of the ingredients we still consume in the US daily. I reported before on additives to crops which have been given the green light by regulatory agents here while being shunned elsewhere. Several of the factors in combination can cause problems. The only way to remove the problem is to remove the causes, and that seems impossible in today’s emotional climate.

  With the number of people having moved out of the country and repatriated to other places, it would be interesting to follow up with any obese or high cortisol patients and see how their stress and body masses have changed in five years.

  I’ll bet none of them will look like Quasimodo.

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• Call It a Disease

  Posted at 9:22 pm by kayewer, on July 26, 2025

  I don’t know how many people have noticed this, but in the past few decades, we have learned the names of countless medical conditions by virtue of online, broadcast and print media. As a little girl growing up in the last half of the 20th Century, I wasn’t bombarded with terms such as tardive dyskinesia, peyronie’s disease, ADHD, wet macular degeneration, thyroid eye disease or rheumatoid arthritis. Advertisements on commercials use pleasant scenes of folks supposedly cured or persons with such ailments whose symptoms are under control, all the while bringing up the side effects and warnings that come with treatment (often headache, diarrhea or abdominal pain). Some even set their ads to happy musical tunes, such as a popular clip about “lowering my A1C” with a diabetic medication.

  One of the biggest causes of common conditions among Americans today is obesity. An estimated 41.9% of adults are considered in an unhealthy overweight condition, according to a Forbes Health article with data gathered by the CDC. Being overweight places stress on the body and leads to other conditions such as bone and joint problems, diabetes, kidney and heart disease, and a shortened lifespan.

  However, obesity has not been classified as an actual disease. It is treated instead as a human frailty which brings on unwanted results, similar to drinking or using tobacco. However, people must eat, and it seems that the foods we are consuming in the US are more processed than ever before, likely because the more unreal ingredients there are in the foods, the more profits can be made for those endowed with golden parachute incentives.

  In the past I’ve brought up the discovery of chlormequat, a chemical introduced into wheat and oat plants to make the sheafs stand up taller for the machinery to cut it better; American cereal companies are allowed to import grains from other places where the chemical is used, though it’s banned in food products here. It has been found to have potential side effects because it interacts with human cells, and rats have experienced health issues when tested.

  Sugar, both natural and artificial, seems to be our common enemy, yet it is being sneaked into our food because it makes things taste better. Supposedly. The truth is that sugar can act as a “feel good” dopamine trigger and encourage overindulging in what is not good for us. That last bag of chips you opened and finished in an hour is one such example, and the ketchup and salad dressing you generously heaped onto your salad plate are two more. Check the ingredient panel, and don’t be surprised to find sugar there. The rule is: the closer to the beginning of the ingredient list sugar appears, the more of it there is in the serving.

  But back to obesity being called a disease. Our forefathers and ancestors were not all perfectly sized, either. Ben Franklin has been portrayed as somewhat broad in the body, and ancient figures such as Bacchus have been cartooned as rotund overeaters. Older woman have often been prone to becoming more pillowy in the middle as they age, but the problem has been trickling down to much younger persons, and from all types of backgrounds.

  The argument that obesity does not warrant aggressive treatment with medications or surgery unless other conditions such as diabetes are present, is cheating patients out of a chance to regain their best physical selves. The sympathetic side of the argument indicates that often obese people are not at fault for their condition, but have become subject to their ancestry, genetics, environment, and a medical community that doesn’t seem equipped to care much about the problem. Follow any severely obese person in the media, and you may see somebody who orders a lot of takeout or prefers chips over carrots, but there is also the financial side of things. Some people are not within ten miles of a simple supermarket with affordable produce and healthier choices; their closest food source may be at best a takeout joint or bodega, and at worst the nearest quick mart.

  Vegetables are too often consigned to landfills instead of being made available to people who could cook and serve them at the dinner table. We waste an estimated 60 million tons of food each year, according to the FDA, about 325 pounds of unused food per person.

  There is a cause and solution to the problem of obesity. Starting by classifying it as a disease may start treatments for people who need help, but pinpointing the cause of the surge in fat in America is another one our medical community may be loath to explore. It’s better to sing about the treatments than to not need a songwriter in the first place.

  Excuse me while I have my tea. Black, no sugar.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged diet, health, nutrition, obesity, weight-loss

• The Real Iron Maiden

  Posted at 4:31 pm by kayewer, on June 14, 2025

  Vaccines have done much to eradicate deadly and crippling diseases from our planet. Whether you are for or against the concept of helping your body recognize and ward off attacking biological threats, it is impossible to deny the living examples of what life was like before immunizations.

  Polio has been considered an eradicated threat thanks to the thriving number of vaccinated people who will never know the disease, but for a time it was the terror of the medical world. Hospitals were filled with people suffering paralysis from polio. Some were rendered unable to breathe on their own and were placed in an assisted breathing device called an iron lung, which is a type of cylindrical full-body pressure system. A person using an iron lung is confined to it, often for life, with only their heads visible as they lie inside the negative pressure device which stimulates inhaling and exhaling in cases of full body paralysis.

  Until recently, three people were still using iron lungs. A man named Paul Alexander was able to live a fulfilling life even as he was mostly confined to one room inside his device. He received a bachelor’s degree and became a lawyer with a “work from home” practice. He was six years old when overtaken by polio, and at nearly 72 years of confinement was considered the longest surviving person using an iron lung. He passed away in March 2024 at the age of 78.

  A woman named Mona Randolph needed the device after contracting polio at age 20 but was able to emerge from it for a while, only to need it again when post-recovery symptoms overtook her years later. She also used CPAP, which is a common method of treating sleep apnea. She died in 2019 at age 82.

  The last known surviving iron lung user is Martha Lillard, who may have contracted polio when exposed at her own birthday party at an amusement park, where she was around throngs of people who may have had the disease and been asymptomatic. She tried alternative products but chose to remain in the device for life, feeling it keeps her healthy. She has beagles and spends time painting and watching classic movies. Now in her 70s, she said in an interview that replacing parts on the device is her biggest concern (insurance does not cover it).

  Once during a blizzard, her power went out and the back-up generator failed. She was unable to reach emergency services for some time until the cell towers produced a signal. Her determination not to give into panic saved her. She remains an example of how far we have come from days when getting sick was more often than not a death sentence. When she leaves this world, a chapter from medical history will be closed, but let’s hope we have learned something from it.

  Afghanistan and Pakistan are the remaining places in which polio is still considered a threat, after Nigeria experienced its last case in 2016. Today most of us have likely not been shown what polio did to victims in the last century and beyond, but rendering the virus extinct will permanently mark the death of the iron lung as well.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged health, history, polio, vaccine, vaccines

• Completely Mental

  Posted at 3:18 pm by kayewer, on May 3, 2025

  May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The event has been ongoing since 1949 and was originally started by Mental Health America to promote recognition, compassion, and resources for everybody. This not only helps those with issues affecting their mental health, but provides information for people who may not understand what it entails. Awareness removes some of the stigma surrounding it, leading to a more harmonious world in which everybody can find balance in their lives. President Harry S. Truman signed the National Mental Health Act into law in 1946.

  The official color for Mental Health Awareness is green, symbolizing fresh starts, like the greenery growing all around us during the month of May. Whether you wear a shirt or ribbon, participate in local events or donate to MHA, there are many ways to contribute to bringing mental health into the light and helping learn more about improving the lives of millions who suffer from conditions such as depression, substance abuse or thoughts of injury to themselves.

  The latest rankings by MHA (based on 2022 research) find that Connecticut and New Jersey rank the two lowest in the prevalence of mental illness. Colorado and Oregon are at the bottom of the list, showing the most incidents of adults and youth suffering from issues affecting their mental health. Among adults, those states with the highest rankings, and ten others, were found to have better access to healthcare than the bottom ranking states (including the states in the bottom two, plus Montana and Wyoming).

  Mental health has some roots in biological or hereditary history, but can come from a variety of causes, some of which we still don’t know enough about. Research shows an estimated one in five people may experience mental health issues in a given year. Depression is listed as the leading cause of disability in people ages 15-44. Mental health is one aspect of physical health: when your mind is not what it should be, your body can suffer for it. Often stigma prevents individuals from seeking treatment, even though medications and therapy are as helpful as your nightly statin or NSAID. Fear of being labeled (or mislabeled) prevents too many people from looking for the answers they need to heal.

  The past five years have been tumultuous for everybody, and there is nothing wrong about being stressed by the bombardment of negativity all around us. This is the month to focus on what mental health entails and what we can do to improve our own well-being.

  Here’s hoping you will show your support, compassion, and the knowledge that this post has given you. Excuse me while I break out my green tee shirt.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged anxiety, depression, health, mental-health, mental-health-america, mental-health-awareness-month, mental-illness

• Cause and Effect

  Posted at 8:59 pm by kayewer, on March 29, 2025

  When my primary care doctor recommended I see a foot specialist, I felt no urge to protest. I hadn’t had any major issues with my feet for a long time, so I was likely overdue for a check-up. The appointment was set, I went and met my new best friend who would help my feet carry me into my golden years in good health.

  She examined my tootsies and prescribed a cream to help with dry skin, and I immediately began using it. Over the time I’ve been applying it, my feet have never looked better, and for that I’m grateful.

  However, any time you use something to get rid of one problem, other problems can take their place.

  Anybody who watches prescription drug commercials here in the US and New Zealand (the only two places in the world where they are allowed to air on public TV networks) knows that the most common side effects of most prescriptions are headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Other side effects we often hear about are pain at the site where a medicated injection is given, tiredness, or even thoughts of taking oneself out of the picture permanently (usually grouped under “thoughts or actions,” as if one who is past the ready and aim stage and are ready to “fire” whatever end means they plan to employ are going to interrupt it to think “Gee, it might be that new medication”).

  My side effect is that my feet are so devoid of the protection from that dry skin, that today I managed to kill my heels. My better shoes, used for trips to the theatre and more mature activities which call for leaving the sneakers at home, betrayed me by not only leaving color residue on my nylons, but chafing both heels to the point of blisters. I needed to walk around like that this afternoon, then come home and apply the giant-sized adhesive bandages to my poor aching peds. It will be days before they are healed.

  My heels are healing.

  Which leaves me with an interesting quandary. Do I enjoy soft feet, or do I allow for the protection of calluses? How will my new doctor take the news, I wonder. I certainly don’t want to give up nice shoes, but considering years of the awkward growth of my wide feet (which makes shoes expensive), damage from pointe ballet in my youth and weight gain in old age which can put a burden on those important transport body parts, maybe I need to compromise.

  Fortunately I got enough walking done that I won’t be at a deficit on my weekly step count, but boy are my feet sore. No marathons in my future.

  Oh, and as part of my day’s routine, I picked up two new pairs of shoes.

  And the circle in the life of my feet comes around once again.

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged fitness, health, hiking, lifestyle, shoes

• Now Lowering

  Posted at 3:51 pm by kayewer, on December 14, 2024

  Corporate America is a tangled mess, and we are all aware of that. The origins of the bizarre methodology by which we make some folks rich and others less so also have a complex story to tell. Big companies are often associated with overpaid CEOs, and in our imaginations we see those people in expensive suits, driving expensive cars and parking them in expensive mansions on expensive real estate. The rest of us, however, get clothing from the discount bin, drive pre-owned clunkers, park them on the street (where they are often stolen altogether or at least deprived of their hubcaps) and plug air leaks in our homes with chewing gum.

  Because the majority of us look upon the corporate ladder as a roadblock to attainable financial security, we tend to hold grudges against the people who are at the top already. We feel they don’t deserve to be there, and in some cases that may be true. After all, a loaf of bread still costs the same whether you have funds left over for butter or go home without and prepare plain toast.

  The recent loss of a healthcare company head, therefore, was not met with much sympathy; in fact reports say that social media is not showing any sense of human grief, and the arrested suspect is looked upon as a pioneering vigilante. The unspoken hope is that the healthcare industry will learn from the incident and start caring more about the people whom they offer or deny medical treatment, to avoid further homicides.

  Brian Thompson, the victim, is survived by a wife and two sons. His total 2023 compensation (note, this is not outright pay, but incentives to be realized over time, including retirement) was around ten million dollars, which is small considering he was responsible for a $562 billion company. He had been with the company for two decades and was pushing for “value-based” healthcare, which stresses doctors helping healthy people stay that way instead of needing to reverse the damage from poor health. A sensible approach to improving the quality of human life, if you ask me.

  Big corporate salaries and incentives are negotiated with the same finesse as the school cafeteria lunchroom sandwich swap; I’ll see your PB&J and raise you a bag of Doritos and, okay, a share of my not off-brand soda. Companies pay big benefits for expertise and guaranteed financial gains, which the CEO must then struggle to obtain and retain. In the case of healthcare, every claim expense eats into that stability, and in some cases the funds may be wasted if the claimant doesn’t improve their health or keep to healthy habits. Picture the lung cancer patient still demanding the right to smoke for an example.

  Some smart big money-earners don’t cling to their wealth and donate to charity or give large bonuses to the employees. Sure, they still have money left over for the good butter on their bread, but the folks who are keeping the CEO up to the standards set for them by the hiring board are sharing in the advantages, and they can also afford splurging occasionally. Not all companies are like that, but it doesn’t help to look upon some services like healthcare as the enemy, nor to not feel something for a CEO taken out unexpectedly by an assassin.

  Changes can be made, but they also start with our attitudes toward big companies and our part in what they do. We each bring something to the total picture, even to our own healthcare. Who are we to say removing an executive in this way is the solution, when there are alternatives even the victim had in mind?

  We should all be ashamed of ourselves for not caring, for him or ourselves, and expecting others to do the hard work for us. What are you bringing to your workplace, and what is it truly worth?
  

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged health, health-insurance, healthcare, insurance, news

• The Poison Field

  Posted at 7:04 pm by kayewer, on February 17, 2024

  This past week, news was released about a chemical which is present in nearly all of us (four in five Americans) and is commonly used in grain fields. The ingredient is called chlormequat. The grain in question, oat plants, apparently tend to grow tall enough that they bend, and the harvesting equipment is not made to deal with this, so the chemical is applied to stunt the growth of the stem in height and makes it thicker instead, so it doesn’t bend and eases the harvesting process.

  Since when do we alter the food instead of the tools we use on them?

  Anyway, chlormequat has been found to cause altered growth in animal embryos and affects post-natal health as well. It’s known as the first plant growth retardant, having been discovered in the late 1950s. It is forbidden to be used on crops in the US, but it is permitted to appear in imported grains from other countries which do use it.

  That way of thinking reminds me of the Cabbage Patch Kids craze in the 1980s; some Americans who had trouble finding one of the squeezable tyke figures simply went abroad to buy them, and that is exactly what our cereal suppliers have done. Some of the foods we have trusted for generations contain the building blocks of a chemical that can affect human fertility.

  Two of the big cereals concerned are General Mills’ Cheerios and Quaker Oats (Quaker is owned by Pepsi). The issue affects both regular and organic versions of the nation’s most popular oatmeal. Oh, and Cheerios has appeared in past articles about using a type of coating for their little round oats which is considered shellac. A weed killer chemical was also found in them years ago.

  Many of us embrace a healthy lifestyle and try to incorporate foods which are good for us. I have taken to eating steel cut oatmeal because it is considered the best choice. Steel cutting preserves the nutritional value of the product. After reading about this new chemical scare, I took a look online to find an alternative steel cut oat product certified to be chemical-free, and found none.

  Before that, I ate Cheerios. Never look back, they tell us.

  So it looks like our food suppliers are going to feed us whatever chemicals they want, and other than extreme limitations of what we eat (which seems useless), our choices are only as broad as what we will tolerate. I would think it would be better to figure out how to better harvest the plants the way they actually grow in nature, which means changing the harvesting tools.

  Don’t poison the mouse; build a better mousetrap.

  But who am I? Just one of the “hungry masses” cereal companies make money and profit from. I’m glad my fertile days are over, but I cringe now when I see a cereal ad and think of the future of people who think that grains are a harmless basic of existence. The field has been tainted, and the “amber waves of grain” may soon glow under black lights.

  No wonder so many people have given up on breakfast.

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  Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment | Tagged breakfast, cereal, cheerios, chlormequat, food, health, oats, quaker-oats

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  	Eden on And Her Shoes Were #9
  	Eden on The Poison Field
  	Eden on Final Tally