It sounded like a good idea at the time

Just because something sounded like a good idea at the time, doesn't meant in the long run it will be. I am sure we can all think of many of these in our lives - we have all done them and then after said to ourselves 'Doh! What was I thinking?'

Here is a prime example, and explains something to me that I never understood (I'm claiming chemo brain here as I think everyone else probably already knew this): Where did MRSA come from? As we should know MRSA is a nasty anbiobiotic resistant form of staph infection that can easily be fatal. It started in humans and was treatable but now can kill us off:

"The strain, Staphylococcus aureus CC398 started in humans and was still treatable with antibiotics, said Lance Price, director of the Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona.

It  spread to livestock, which are usually pumped with antibiotics, to keep them healthy. “The lineage appears to have undergone a rapid radiation in conjunction with the jump from humans to livestock, where it subsequently acquired tetracycline and methicillin resistance,” according to the study.

Methicillin and tetracycline are among the most common antibiotics used to treat staph infections.

The problem is in the way animals are raised and pumped with antibiotics, said Price, the lead author of the study.  He said that farmers and ranchers give millions of pounds of antibiotics to farm animals to make them grow faster and to prevent - rather than treat - diseases."

Well, doh! If the meat we eat is full of antibiotics its no wonder that the infections have become resistant to it as they are already over exposed. Okay, now I want organic meat. I also don't want antibiotics unless I really need them. Icky poo. Just because it helps farmers grow healthier, fatter beef faster, it doesn't mean there won't be problems done the road for other people. Just another idea which sounded like a good idea at the time.

Obesogens

What are obesogens? They are nasty chemicals like BPA found in lots of things that cause muscle and other cells to change into cells that store fat. They mess up our hormonal systems and do all kinds of bad things to us. Traceable amounts of them are found in 93% of Americans. Yucky.

The first round of advice is to buy organic and avoid pesticides and chemicals. Well that's what they have been telling us for years - eat organic. But the chemicals are found in everything from non stick pans, children's toys, plastic shower curtains, to plastic bottles, canned goods and cosmetics.

The second round of advice, also contained in the article, is that Congress should change laws getting these chemicals out of the system.

My advice is vote with our feet and avoid chemicals. If I could afford it I would buy all organic food but its just too expensive to be perfectly honest. I would also throw out my non stick pans and buy stainless ones. I would skip canned food and buy all fresh. I don't use a lot of canned food these days other than canned beans (because the dried ones take forever) and canned tomatoes to put in food I'm cooking. (A question: if I buy canned organic tomatoes and beans does the organic part get canceled out by being put in a can?)

Could I eliminate plastic in my life? I carry a refillable plastic BPA-free bottle of water every day. This is filtered tap water which goes through a Brita filter (plastic) and put in a plastic pitcher in my fridge. I don't use plastic toys because I am a little old for that but I do use plastic knitting needles and plastic crochet hooks. I could throw those all out and buy bamboo ones. The cat has plastic food dishes. He's 16 year old (or 82 in cat years) and at this point his food dishes will probably outlast him (sadly). Does he need new dishes? These are the first dishes he has had that he can't push across the floor and are the right size for him.

And everything that gets thrown out will, at least partially, end up in a landfill or get recycled and reused in a third world country - and when that happens we are just sending our problems to someone else. That's sort of like sending the garbage in New York to a landfill in New Jersey.

But back to obesogens as I have completely gotten off the topic and how to avoid them. I guess I'll try the organic route so more. I will also reevaluate all my plastic stuff and replace what I can when it wears out. Maybe I'll write my congressman too.

A conundrum: organic doesn't equal healthy.

Organic doesn't mean healthy. Why are we buying organic food if it isn't healthy? Because its healthier. Regular food which is processed can contain pesticides or hormones or bad fats or other things that aren't very good to eat, or ones that we wouldn't assume are in it.

Why is there sugar in your peanut butter? Why is there corn syrup in your salad dressing? Why are there hormones in your meat, cheese, and milk? Because food manufacturers discovered ways to get things to market faster or to make them taste better by ladening them with salt.

If we go over to the organic section, you might find food that is natural and not full of sugar, fats, chemicals, etc. But its full of what it was meant to contain. A root vegetable is full of natural sugars. If you roast some, they will have a natural sweetness from the natural sugar. Organic potato chips which are made from organic potatoes and fried in organic oils are still full of fats. The bad kinds.

If you want to eat healthy, go to the organic section and read the label. The label is still the most important part. Look at the ingredients, the calories, the fat, the cholesterol, the sodium. Organic foods can be just as bad for you as regular food, minus the chemicals and hormones.