Hypochondriacs?

[Chic Rustler]

what's the deal? It seems everyone has food allergies these days. One lady was telling me she and her daughter's get sick if they eat bread. Then she was telling me she gets sick if they eat non organic beans because of pesticides etc.


Why is it so trendy to be so weak today? What's with all these new ailments?


When I was a kid we had one Dr in town. He was 80. He delivered me and took care of me until we moved. When you got sick you went to his house and everyone got the same thing, whether it was a cold or cancer. A shot of penicillin and it worked! We all ate what was on our plate or we went to bed hungry. There wasn't any such thing as gluten free or organic vegetables or all the other new stuff on tv.


Is it all bs? Or is humanity getting weak?

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I think early exposure to the environment- the right kinds of exposure- goes a long ways in creating healthier children. Who hopefully grow into healthier adults. Inoculating against the bacteria and germs that will overpower us if, as children, we are kept sterile. Nothing in life is sterile.
I was the sick little kid of 3 daughters, when I was born. I think my mom got pregnant with me too soon after the last baby. Sister and I are 13 months apart.
Anyway, I was sick, had no appetite, and couldn't handle any of the formula on the market back then. 1962. I know I would have benefited from breast milk. But mom didn't nurse. Again-1962. It was discouraged.
So, after I made it through infancy...I turned into the tomboy. I played outside, in mud, with whatever critters I coud catch. I was horrid. But I ended up the stronger health wise of us 3 girls.
So, my vote is for "yes, expose us to the germs"....and it may just make a difference.

 

[sumi]

It's funny you say this now, yesterday I think it was, I was thinking HOW did we survive our childhoods? Walking barefoot, drinking from the tap, riding on the back of pick-up trucks, eating whatever we found that was edible without a thought of pesticides and/or allergies, or any of the stuff people worry about nowadays… We do seem to be getting weaker, or less healthy. Could it be because we are so far removed from natural foods and the lifestyle?

 

[tortoise]

I believe that some of the cultural trends have caused a lot. There's strong evidence that antibiotics and antibacterial-everything overuse (reduce microbial exposure) results in increased sickness, increased asthma, rash, allergies, and autoimmune disease. (Celiac is an autoimmune disease).

I have a chronic illness so in finding answers for my health, I see a lot of other people with the same and many autoimmune comorbities. Oh my! There's a whole world, and yes, "who can be the sickest" is definitely happening. It's crazy. People who claim they cannot tolerate any medications (research demonstrates that people who claim this are especially susceptible to nocebo effect and benefit from therapy). People who eliminate everything and anything from their diets and grow increasingly less able to eat a variety of food.

Which brings me to the other. New research (like 2015) says that food allergies should be treated with exposure - especially before 18 months of age. What advice have new parents been given for years? Don't give any potential food allergens until after 1 year, or after 2 years if there is food allergies in the family. Uh. i think we have a reason for increases in food allergies?

Then there's that whole separate issue of "non-food" ingredients in the food that the masses consume. Perhaps.... it's not about the organic label and more about reducing the "chemical" food additives. But placebo/nocebo effect is strong and once someone believes it's the "pesticides" or whatever... good luck convincing them otherwise.

My dad has undiagnosed digestive problems that improve by eliminating gluten. My mom went gluten free too. She started talking about how much better she felt too. Uhh... maybe she felt better because they had stopped eating lunch at McDonald's everyday? My dad's GI troubles didn't end by going gluten free - they only changed. I suspect he has IBS and needs a low-FODMAPS diet. The reason I expect this is because the carbohydrate portion of wheat (fructans) can be an irritant when consumed in large quantities, but they're also in other foods that are hard to eliminate like onion and garlic.

We (as a population) eat a huge quantity of potential-irritant foods and non-foods, all driven by mass agriculture and the constraints of modern society. I wonder how it all plays out. i don't see many happy endings in the next hundred years, unless the back to nature movement becomes huge... or the population declines. IDK. It's unsettling. I try to stop myself from worrying and grow my own food and not buy into all the chronic illness BS.

Not that chronic illnesses are BSy. The one I have is not life threatening or life shortening, but so many people with it are running to the ER over "normal" symptoms that are not an emergency - just uncomfortable. Dare I say "get used to it" "Learn to deal with it" "it could be a heck of a lot worse". "What do we really have to whine about" ???

 

[Hinotori]

We read labels and opt for the least ingredients. Helps that I understand what a lot of it is and is used for.

Example is the black licorice hubby just got. He was "lets try this new one. It's a few cents cheaper." I flipped it over. It had 14 different ingredients, most chemicals. Gave hubby the eye and put it back and grabbed the usual kind that has 4.

I do not eat licorice

 

[Britesea]

I remember my mother mentioning once that when her father (French country) came to visit once in the 50's, she was shocked at how much he stank. She had become used to american hygiene and his total lack thereof was VERY noticeable to her.

Catherine of Aragon is said to have boasted that she only had 2 baths in her entire life- once when she was baptized and once when she married Henry VIII... maybe that's why the marriage didn't work out? lol

At one time, bathing was considered a pagan sin and the church railed against it. Of course, that may have been because of the common practice of communal, coed bathing... probably led to all kinds of fun and games, eh? But even the Romans, famous for their baths, didn't use soap. They rubbed their bodies with scented oils, then used a type of scraper to scrape off the excess oil along with the dirt and dead skin cells, etc. THEN they got into the water and soaked. Trouble is, that doesn't get rid of the bacteria in the moist creases, which is where most of our body odor comes from. Baking soda was unknown until 1843, although the ancient Egyptians used something called natron (which is mostly sodium carbonate) as a type of cleaning agent.

 

[Mini Horses]

I accept that not everything can be non-GMO, organic, etc. Moderation in eating those, staying away from heavy processed foods with all the dyes, unknown chems, washing what we buy in produce & raising what we can as natural as we can, is a way to cope.

There is a difference nutritionally in many foods that are available commercially from both GMO & hybridization. Wheat is one huge element in this as the old types produced a different nutritional makeup from deeper roots, different minerals, no commercial fertilizers and so on.

Try to cook more from scratch. Limit the "other" stuff. Never will get it perfect but, I sure work at my own little simple life. Many people do not eat well, just a lot & nutritionally poor.

I strongly believe the chemicals used in today's commercial food production & processing are the cause of many, many health issues. Just as a decrease in general physical activity is affecting the populations health.

Many people cannot grow their own because they do not know how and do not want to work to do it. It IS A LOT of work! Their choice. My choice. I see people everyday who are 1/2 my age and not 1/2 as healthy.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Read the most interesting book today on an auto-immune disease called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. It's a rare disease in which the body's own immune system attacks the brain. A fascinating read! It's called Brain on Fire. The symptoms start out rather simply and progress through many stages. Symptoms can range from flu-like - progressing to seizures, to mimicking schizophrenia and even causing the afflicted person to go into a catatonic state, and many more. Since I'm into researching brain dysfunction these days I found it an awesome look into a dysfunctional mind.

Anyone who questions whether auto-immune diseases are "real" should give this a look see.

That sounds terrible. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Is it caused by non organic beans or gluten bread?


Sorry jk.

 

[Britesea]

We humans eat a lot of foods that have a certain amount of toxicity in them. Some of them are addressed by the way the food is processed (i.e. rinsing acorns, or fermenting soybeans or cooking taro root). I think this might be the root origin of the phrase "Moderation in all things."

I guess I've been really lucky on the perfume front as no one in our immediate family has been interested in using scents.

An interesting piece of trivia: Louis XIV got headaches from the smells at court-- all those aristocrats trying to cover the fact that they didn't bathe by dousing themselves in different scents. He finally issued a decree that everyone at court had to wear the same scent... if it was Tuesday, for instance, you had to wear patchouli (or whatever). I guess it was better than a cacaphony of smells.

 

[tortoise]

@tortoise I can't remember if you said this elsewhere, but what do you do for hygiene and cleaning instead

Cornstarch for dry shampoo - brush out with boar bristle brush, rubbed coconut oil into my scalp a couple times where it was dry, rinse with water if the cornstarch doesn't come out all the way, one time I used vinegar to rinse my hair. I use hair spray occassionally if I wear my hair curly - it's probably not necessary, but I don't like frizzy hair.

Exfoliate in shower to remove surface dirt/oil/dead skin. Coconut oil for dry skin, or sometimes mix up a oil/salt scrub.

Baking soda for tooth powder. Also for any underarm odor. cornstarch if underarms feel a bit damp but no odor. I had more odor at first, using baking soda almost daily. I haven't used it much lately.

I started this in coold weather, I have no idea if it will be sustainable / unnoticeable in summer.