Food Hygiene Essentials

With your kind permission I would like to momentarily break away from the theme of this blog, food hygiene, to address an issue which has been going through my mind for a very long time.

The subject about what I about to write involves the hundreds of millions of destitute and homeless children around the world. I suppose that this could be termed as sociological subject matter and I hope that you will find the read both enjoyable and mind opening as per the possibilities of solving this most urgent issue.

(At this point I would like to ask you to send the link to this article to you friends if you have enjoyed reading it and feel, like me, that it needs to be read by as many people as possible if it is to do any good).

I would like to start by stating that I am very sceptical about the possibility for really changing anything to solve this problem because I believe that the human race is simply not capable of rising above both the collective and individual ego. At the same time I really do hope that something will be done to give these blameless children the hope of a more normal life.

Now we all know that there are many charitable organizations that work day and night to try to do something for the less fortunate of the world. Their work is a clear sign that there exists caring, compassion and empathy in the human race but unfortunately it only really exists in a very small minority of people. But does charity really do anything to change the reality behind such issues? My contention is that it doesn’t, indeed it only makes things worse.

I say this because the fact that regimes have become used to charities turning up to help those in most need is used as a cop out for the politicians in countries where such issues are rampant. I would like to put to you that the only way to change any reality is to put a fully integral system in place which will provide a clear benefit for all those who exist within that system.

Let me explain a little further, what I mean is that if the benefit is only a temporary benefit for the children it won’t be sustainable but if everybody benefits right down from the benefactor to the children then and only then can a sustainable reality be a viable option.

So, now you have read the word benefactor! I guess you’re asking yourself who could they possibly be? OK, here goes. Did you know that the world has hundreds of millions of multi millionaires and billionaires? Well it does. And did you know that the majority of these billionaires and multi millionaires write off hundreds of billions of dollars for tax purposes? Yes they do. And did you know that in spite of writing off all these billions of dollars to charities at charity dinners and benefits, the world feels very little benefit because nothing is actually done regarding the reality in which the poverty exists.

So what can be done to change the reality of child homelessness that has become a major issue in most third world and some western world countries? I would like to propose that a United Nations institute, such as UNICEF start a program to erect hostel homes for homeless children around the world by receiving large tax deductible donations from the ultra rich who’s job it will be to erect hostel(s) or orphanage(s) in the name of that benefactor. Furthermore it will be the job UNICEF to train and send staff to run these homes alongside locally employed teachers, carers and administrators. Such projects do exist as I’m sure you have heard about but they only exist in very small numbers and they don’t even amount to the tip of the iceberg.

So, you may be asking, in that case what are the benefits for the benefactors? First and foremost a tax write off, secondly the immense happiness that is gained from the knowledge that you have created a better reality for someone else and by taking a step that will truly mean that you (the benefactor) have left your footprint upon the earth in a very special way. In addition to all that it will help the world economy. Lets examine the facts. As already stated there are hundreds of millions of homeless and destitute children around the world. To home, feed, cloth and educate all of these children will take a great deal of logistics. Logistics means business, trade and jobs.

So you see, what goes around comes around, both in the bad sense and in the good sense. By writing off tax to help these kids the major industrialists will be getting a very welcome boost in business because these kids will need a whole range of products and services. Personally, I would estimate that the potential economic boost could be compared to several new countries appearing on the world scene. This is how integral systems work and we should not be put off by the fact that the rich will profit. In the integral order all must profit to some degree, that’s just how it goes.

This is just one example of how a major problem can be solved. By investing in these homeless kids we will be ensuring a better future for ourselves in every way. What will destroy such a plan long before it starts is the fear of exclusion on the part of the rich. Firstly there is the fear that they will be shunned for doing something to help those who are typically ignored. Secondly they could be shunned for doing something that could be interpreted as manipulative in that it forces the hand of others and lastly the super rich are rebound for holding to the assumption that money creates happiness because the alternative of not having money will lead to exclusion due to loosing control on ones destiny. So you can see the rich often exist in a vicious circle of fear and insecurity that keeps them trapped in a false world of pretense and this condition almost ensures that they will never be happy. As Jesus Christ said, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye if the needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. (When you think about it, only those who create happiness through the creation of integral reality find eternal happiness and those that don’t are destined to come back again and again until they do).

Very few people would contest the health benefits of oatmeal porridge. Porridge has been a staple diet of a fair few civilizations through the course of history and today more and more people are turning to oatmeal porridge for its health benefits.

I would like to bring light onto the subject of how can you give a huge boost to something which already seems to be doing quite well on it’s own. Well you can and here’s how.

The first thing to do with oatmeal porridge is to add a little more oat bran together with a teaspoon of wheatgerm. The next thing to do is to throw in a handful of cranberries and a handful of blueberries (frozen will do just fine). Then add a desert spoon of grounded wall nuts and a quarter teaspoon of ground black cumin seeds. Personally I like to add three parts water to one part milk with this recipe. Now you can cook your porridge.

After you have poured your porridge out, sprinkle the top with a desert spoon of ground sesame seeds and with a desert spoon of ground flax seed. I personally like to sweeten my porridge with a teaspoon of Honey and royal jelly mix, just for that extra healthy something.

I have purposely avoided going into any of the health benefits of the ingredients that I have mentioned but I will tell you this, they all have fantastic health benefits. I invite you to read up on all of them and agree with me that this recipe will turn out to be the healthiest thing you ever ate.

For more than a decade, doctors have known that some compound in grapefruit juice interacts with a small number of drugs to triple the amount of that drug absorbed into the bloodstream. While the compound has remained a mystery, doctors simply tell their patients to avoid grapefruit juice while on the medication.

In a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, however, Paul Watkins, MD, and his colleagues, finally tracked down furanocoumarins as the active ingredient in grapefruit juice causing this unusual reaction. Watkins, the Dr. Verne S. Caviness distinguished professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, explained that furanocoumarins block an enzyme called CYP3A4 in the wall of the intestine.

“This enzyme normally chews up certain drugs when they are absorbed,” he says. “When you inhibit the enzyme, however, it doesn’t chew up the drug, which means that more of the drug gets absorbed into the bloodstream.

“Research shows it can boost levels of the drug three times. That’s like taking three pills instead of one. This is an average. Some people would not be boosted as much. Others, however, would be boosted more.”

As startling as this sounds, Watkins points out that of the hundreds of different medications that people are treated with, there are only about 10 with any kind of warning about grapefruit juice in the labeling.

“Fortunately, these drugs are safe enough that boosting absorption for most people will be of no consequence. It appears, however, that a rare patient may have adverse symptoms — for example, muscle tenderness with certain cholesterol medications.

“To my knowledge there have been no confirmed reports of deaths occurring as a result of patients taking their medications with grapefruit juice.”

Classes of drugs that interact with grapefruit juice.
Watkins, who is also director of UNC’s General Clinical Research Center and who led the research team, says that grapefruit juice interacts with four major classes of drugs. One class includes some of the medications used to control anxiety.

Another class comprises a minority of drugs used to lower blood pressure, called calcium channel blockers.

Yet another class are those cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins — particularly Nevacor, Zocor and, to a lesser extent, Lipitor.

Finally, grapefruit juice interacts with immunosuppressants — predominantly Cyclosporine A — which is used mainly to prevent transplanted organs from being rejected.

“Grapefruit juice clearly boosts the absorption of these drugs,” says Watkins, again commenting on the general safety of the drug, so the boosting effect for most individuals is not an issue. The only exception to this blanket cloak of safety might be for individuals taking Cyclosporine A, he adds. “Kidney transplant patients, for example, will be taking this drug.”

Identifying furanocoumarins
It was originally assumed that the ingredients responsible for drug interactions were the flavonoids that give grapefruit juice its bitter taste, Watkins says.

“What we did with our study with the Florida Department of Citrus, however, was to remove the furanocoumarins, leaving in the major flavonoids to see if that got rid of the problem — and it did.

“This is the best evidence, to date, that the active ingredient causing drug interactions is not flavonoids, but these compounds called furanocoumarins that appear to be tasteless and are present in very low amounts in grapefruit juice.”

The story doesn’t end here, because each discovery opens doors to other possibilities, one being that it is now technically possible to market furanocoumarin-free grapefruit juice to patients who would otherwise have to avoid grapefruit.

Much more important, it may be possible to add furanocoumarins to the formulations of certain drugs that tend to be poorly or erratically absorbed to improve their oral delivery.

Watkins explained that if you are a drug company and you develop a drug and only 10 percent of it gets into the body, then you do not have a very good drug, so you usually stop developing it.

“The market for adding furanocoumarins to these pills would be primarily for drugs that had been abandoned in development, or given only by intramuscular injection or intravenously, or promising drugs that might be developed in the future.

“Since furanocoumarins are in grapefruit, it seems reasonable to assume that they are safe, so this should be a safe way to improve oral delivery of drugs.”

Safety: The bottom line
“I personally feel that if you have been taking medicine with grapefruit juice every morning, and the drug is working fine, and your physician is happy, then there is no reason to change.”

According to Watkins, there are many people who enjoy grapefruit juice. And there are others whose economic well being depends upon making it. With the hurricanes the south has experienced over the past couple of years, in particular, the citrus industry is really in tough shape.

“The reality is that a rare patient would get into trouble because of the interaction between a drug and grapefruit juice. This is not a public health issue.”