So how do you like your eggs? Sunnyside up or not at all?
As if decades-long concerns about high cholesterol in eggs wasn’t enough, now we’re in the midst of probably the biggest egg recall in history. I’m sure you’ve read about all the fuss over salmonella risks associated with, oh, something like half a million egg this last week.
So far I haven’t heard or read anything about final numbers on the egg recall. But the numbers I saw earlier today said about 450 million eggs. (I ran onto one source that said, as of 2007, Americans consume about 6.3-6.5 BILLION eggs annually. Wow.) And I don’t think I’ve read about food detectives having found the potential source of the salmonella infection.
Just as a little FYI: You cannot clean the eggs to remove salmonella risks. That’s because the infection — if a particular egg IS infected — is on the inside of the shell, not the outside. I believe, however, very thorough cooking would kill any risk of salmonella in an egg. (Bad news for those of us who are “over-easy” egg fanatics.)
In recent years, it seems that we’ve had a lot of food recalls over risks of salmonella and other food-borne diseases. Remember the spinach scare of a couple of years back. And there was a major peanut butter recall either just before or just after that. It speaks poorly of the safety of our food system that I can’t exactly recall which came first, the spinach or the peanut butter. (I am trying very, very hard to resist all temptations in this article to make jokes about which came first, the chicken or the egg — that sort of punny stuff is below me.)
What’s the answer to all these food risks? Probably it’s time for us to take the advice of many seriously and start looking for more of our “raw” or perishable food closer to home. In some cases, shipping distances lead to poor quality food. Above all else, we need to hold food producers seriously accountable for the safety and quality of our food supply.
After all, if we can’t get safe food and safe water supplies, what sort of living can we do??
Medical problems continue to challenge our family
Medical problems related to my wife’s heart continue to challenge — or “plague,” depending on your perspective, I guess — our family as summer starts to cool and wind down. I doubt the hot summer we’ve been having had much to do with it, but certainly it’s easier to face daily or weekly crises when you don’t feel like you’re face is melting off your body.
A few months ago, I mentioned that my wife developed atrial flutter, i.e., some of the “wiring” in the upper chamber of her heart is firing crazy and causing the heart muscle to flutter around instead of beating steadily and firmly as it should. She’s been on three heavy duty medications to control the condition.
Until just over a week ago.
At that point, she developed a strange slowed heartbeat that would jump in erratically every few beats. This slow beat or almost “heart pause” (my term for it; not medical) was making her very weary and somewhat nauseous. A quick trip to the emergency room led to a three-day stay in our favorite hospital again.
The cardiologists took her off the three medications she was on and put her on two new ones. Case resolved by medical magic one more time. They indicated if this medication doesn’t control the issue she’s probably going to need a pacemaker.
About an hour ago she came home from her part-time job feeling very, very tired and she’s in taking a long nap now. Stay tuned …
Autism rate in America seems astonishingly high to me
I was doing some research trying to understand more about autism, when I came across an article indicating that the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now puts the rate of autism nationally at one in 110 children.
The article I read wasn’t exactly clear on what that number really means, but I found it astonishing that one in 110 children are autistic, whether that’s one in 110 newborn or one in 110 developing children, or whatever.
I confess I’m pretty ignorant about autism, but I do realize it covers a wide range of behaviors and wide range of functionality, varied treatment and care needs, the whole ball of wax.
My son dated a girl when he was in high school whose sister was “autistic.” I don’t know exactly what that meant in her case, though I saw it meant she had some attention issues, some “loudness” problems, and some physical awkwardness. I also know she had a good sense of humor and was easily engaged in what was happening around her. Her mom (single parent situation) had worked with her a lot, and had gotten her regular medical and therapeutic help.
But I know, too, that many parents of autistic children face a lifelong struggle to help their children and cover the medical and therapeutic expenses their children need.
Why is the rate of autism so high? I don’t have any idea what it used to be, but what I’ve read indicates it seems to have risen a lot in recent decades. Why is that? Are pregnant women getting adequate prenatal vitamins and nutrition to maximize their health and the health of their babies? Do nutrition and health issues related to the mother and the unborn child even have anything to do with autism?
All of this is in the realm of mystery to me. I certainly hope and pray that medical research and concerned parents will gain a foothold on autism and everything surrounding it for the sake of kids and families everywhere!
‘Real Subliminal’ products
