Keep Your Pet Safe on July 4th and Safe Food Handling

The 4th of July is coming up quick. I don't know about your dogs, but mine will be a quivering mass by the time the night is over. My two brave 80 pound German Shepherds will be totally convinced that they are lap dogs. I put in a link for tips to help your dogs during this noisy time, just look below.

I am also giving you a link for a wood carver site. I have never seen anything like this.

Couple of tips on avoiding food poisoning. The consumption of fruits and vegetables is up all over the USA and I hope the rest of the world. People are trying to get healthy. However, the way fruits are grown in most places leaves you open to serious intestinal upsets.

According to Daily Health News....Produce-borne illness is also on the rise and has now surpassed meats, poultry and eggs as the cause of large-scale outbreaks of food-borne illnesses...Produce grows in nature where it could be exposed to bird and animal feces and sometimes polluted water. Furthermore, much of the produce today undergoes additional steps on its journey from the field to the table. Heads of lettuce are wrapped, many are shredded and bagged, some are put out as part of a salad bar. Fruits get peeled, chunked and tucked into plastic containers. And unfortunately, the more food is handled, the more opportunities there are for contamination from nature or from human hands.

Check produce carefully before you buy it and avoid any that is cracked. Tomatoes and Melons especially absorb toxins through those cracks. Wash all produce before you eat it by rinsing thoroughly under running water -- this includes melons and bagged greens even though the label says they are prewashed. DO NOT USE Dishsoap. Dishsoap is one of the most toxic things under your sink. However, do not just soak your salad greens or fruits. If you stick everything in the sink to soak, you simply allow any nasty stuff to spread to everything in the sink.

Use safe handling practices just as you would with meat or chicken. Use a clean knife and a clean cutting surface. Wash your hands. Remove the spots or brown areas from fruit. Those spots are areas that have begun to decay.

Once you have cleaned all that lovely fresh produce----store it in the refrigerator. Any pathogens that might be left cannot grow in the refrigerator.

Now you might be thinking that you are going to peel that fruit or just slice the melon and not eat the rind so why wash. Picture this. The rind has pesticides all over it. You don't wash it clean. You cut the fruit and just push the pesticides into the fruit simply by cutting into the dirty rind. Now you stack the cut fruit on a plate and the exposed fruit bumps up against another piece of fruit rind and you have more contamination.

Don't tell me that in the old days you didn't have to do that. My grandmother washed every piece of fruit and every vegetable that came into her house.

Car Talk: "The rather interesting new field of auto-carving"

Keep Your Pet Safe on July 4th: "To protect your pet on the Fourth of July, take these precautions:

Resist the urge to take your pet to fireworks displays.

Do not leave your pet in the car. With only hot air to breathe inside a car, your pet can suffer serious health effects, even death, in a few short minutes. Partially opened windows do not provide sufficient air, but do provide an opportunity for your pet to be stolen.

Keep your pets indoors at home in a sheltered, quiet area. Some animals can become destructive when frightened, so be sure that you've removed any items that your pet could destroy or that would be harmful to your pet if chewed. Leave a television or radio playing at normal volume to keep him company while you're attending Fourth of July picnics, parades, and other celebrations.

If you know that your pet is seriously distressed by loud noises like thunder, consult with your veterinarian before July 4th for ways to help alleviate the fear and anxiety he or she will experience during fireworks displays.

Never leave pets outside unattended, even in a fenced yard or on a chain. In their fear, pets who normally wouldn't leave the yard may escape and become lost, or become entangled in their chain, risking injury or death.

Make sure your pets are wearing identification tags so that if they do become lost, they can be returned promptly. Animals found running at-large should be taken to the local animal shelter, where they will have the best chance of being reunited with their owners. "

Have a safe and happy 4th.
until next time --- smile
Sharon
copyright (C) Answers For Your Health

Attn Pet Owners Dog Food Recall

WSAZ | Dog Food Recall: "Simmons Pet Food Ol'Roy Dog Food can linings have separate from inside the cans. If you have any of the cans, take them back to Wal-Mart for a full refund.

Ol Roy Chicken, 22 oz. Can
Code Date: All
UPC: 0068113189762
Item Number: 849593

Ol Roy Beef, 22 oz. Can
Code Date: All
UPC: 0068113189763
Item Number: 849600

Ol Roy Hearty Chipped Beef, 22 oz. Can
Code Date: All
UPC: 0068113189770
Item Number: 849852

Ol Roy Hearty Loaf, 22 oz. Can
Code Date: All
UPC: 0068113189771
Item Number: 849859

For more information call Simmons Pet Food at 1-800-232-9880"

Battle of the Rats and the Survival Guide To Living With IBS

Survival Guide To Living With IBS is the new section at the home web site. Excellent information on this very common problem. AND a personality test that is just fun.

June already, how did it get to be June already. Graduation is over and the youngest daughter is now summer job hunting. The oldest daughter and the grand kids are in Florida visiting with her boy friend. My mother-in-law is here until mid July when the oldest daughter and the grand children will return. It is so QUIET without the children.

Cleaned the garage yesterday. Chased out 4 rats. They could have just as easily chased me and my part was mostly screaming and jumping up and down. My daughter was yelling don't kill them and my husband was doing his best to do just that. They all 4 escaped into the yard next door. I am sure we looked very dangerous with broom, shovel and fire place poker. My mother-in-law stayed well back and gave directions.

The dogs are now confined to the yard so we can set some traps in the garage as I am sure we did not get them all. My husband had to add a piece to the bottom of the door from the garage to the yard to seal it off. The dog door is closed so no rat gets in or out. I think the dogs had decided to live in peaceful co-existence with the vermin. Probably because they had no more luck catching them than they do catching the squirrels.

I have been making notes of good resources for you to check out on various subject and I have been putting up new pages on my home site Answers For Your Health

I may be posting more than once today to try to get caught up.

Answers For Your Health Survival Guide�-�Survival Guide To Living With IBS: "Common Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
One major discomfort that will occur due to IBS involves lower abdominal pain.
Many people describe this as a cramping that occurs at different times of the day. This is usually due to lower intestine cramping and not being able to digest foodstuffs properly."

Salon Books Machiavelli personality test: "Machiavelli personality test
Are you a cutthroat or a pussycat? Find out, if you dare."

until next time - smile
Sharon
copyright (c) AnswersForYourHealth/IBS

New publicity for old cures Lemons and Honey

Drinking lemonade could help prevent painful kidney stones, new research shows, as reported by Health Day News.
Regular consumption of the refreshing drink - or even lemon juice mixed with water - may increase the production of urinary citrate, a chemical in urine that prevents the formation of crystals that may build up into kidney stones.
So conclude two studies presented at the American Urological Association annual meeting in Atlanta.
Kidney stones develop when minerals from urine crystallize and build up on the inside of the kidney. Although the results of these two studies indicate that lemonade therapy may offer a simple alternative treatment to people with kidney stones who can't tolerate taking potassium citrate, much more research needs to be conducted, the study authors concluded.

My 2 cents worth.
Don't drink that canned sugary powdered stuff. Lemons are cheap this time of the year. Go to the store and buy some fresh lovely lemons. After you squeeze that lemon into a glass of fresh water, put the rind down the garbage disposal and freshen it as well.

My grandmother used to make fresh lemonade with honey from her own hives in the garden. She also put in a single egg white and them whipped the lemonade. It was so light and frothy and just sweet enough. Too bad, these days I would not put a raw egg in anything unless it was going to be cooked before it went into my mouth.

Check out this link on a report on the benefits of buckwheat flour. Hey go to the health food store for some fresh buckwheat HONEY.


Entrez PubMed: "High protein buckwheat flour suppresses hypercholesterolemia in rats and gallstone formation in mice by hypercholesterolemic diet and body fat in rats because of its low protein digestibility."

I have started the blog on ADHD but have no sign up form yet. I should get the rss buttons uploaded today and then will put a sign up form. ADHD Trials and Triumphs

Missing my little grandkids so very much but my mother-in-law is taking up much of my time. Nothing like an extended visit from your mother-in-law to give you a lesson in all the things you are doing wrong with your family. Everything in life is a lesson and you must learn the lessons or they just keep repeating. And she is right about one thing. I do not cater to my husband's every wish and whim. He is perfectly capable of getting up and getting his own drink and he would not ask me to stop whatever I was doing and get him a drink. 4 more weeks.

until next time smile
Sharon
copyright (c) Answers For Your Health