If you read even a smidgeon of this blog you know I am a big fan of beef. I lamented a few weeks ago over the increase in the pathogenic E. coli 0157:H7 in beef. It caused me to pass up an In-N-Out burger which would have been the first fast food burger in my diet in five years. (So you see that the pathogen is doing at least a bit of good work in this household.)
On Friday a friend suggested we go out for burgers at a local cowboy restaurant here in Sequoia National Forest. (I call anything a “cowboy restaurant” that has knotty pine paneling and a lot of people wearing cowboy hats and boots.) I was tempted. Unlike the In-N-Out option, with this burger I would have at least enjoyed the time with a friend and the ambiance of a cowboy restaurant. Had I gotten sick it wouldn’t have been nearly as regretful as getting sick at a fast food place.
Obsession?
All of this pondering about E. coli makes me wonder: Is this my new obsession?
For a person with a history of mental health problems, the obsession part of all of this is probably much worse than the bacteria. I know I must move on and yet the news is being made at my doorstep.
The pathogenic E. coli 0157:H7 is found most commonly in beef and dairy cows. When the cattle poop, the bacteria may end up in manure lagoons and on range land. We have so many dairy cows in the area that their own “emissions” contribute to our poor air quality. For every dairy cow, there is probably a beef cow or steer as well. Because of the sheer volume of cattle poop, I expect I could throw a stone in any direction and hit a colony of E. coli 0157:H7. I live in the belly of the E. coli beast.
To fuel my obsession, the Bakersfield Californian reported a few days ago that lettuce implicated in a 2006 outbreak was contaminated right down the road from here. Dairy cow poop helped fertilize the fields. A few hours north are the spinach fields implicated in other 2006 illnesses. A two hour drive from here is the raw dairy implicated in yet another 2006 outbreak.
My only solace is that I am not the most obsessed. A California Senate Select Committee on Food-borne Illness met today to discuss food safety. E. coli obsessive people like Bill Marler testified. (He does earn a living from his obsession which makes his obsession far more rational than mine.)
Channel the obsession
Like all obsessions, when I realize I’ve got a problem, I do attempt to turn the obsession into something a little more healthy. In this particular case, I have been trying to meet my regular deadlines all the while reading a bunch of E. coli literature from animal science and microbiology. Such madness requires things like coffee. I have missed an hour or twenty of sleep.
The obsession itself is unhealthy but the irony of it all is almost humorous: I am suddenly a walking 0157:H7 outbreak waiting to happen. Coffee plus sleep loss cannot be good for my immune system. Poor immune function means that when I walk out of this house, step in a colony of E. coli 0157:H7, rub my shoe, and then scratch my face, I could end up as a one-woman outbreak. (For the record, it would be considered an “outbreak” if the rest of the household got personal with the shoes too. Then we would be able to sue the shoes for their role in our illnesses.)
Rather than go to the Senate committee hearing today (and I will admit that I did consider it because, of course, an obsessed person would), I headed to the chiropractor. My shoulder and neck are numb from all of the computer time. Now that I am back, I will start working on my food cultures to replenish some of the beneficial bacteria that this coffee keeps killing.
For any fellow pathogen crazed folks out there, here’s my plan:
1) Sleep a lot more. If I count sheep, I will try not to think about the bacteria colonies in their rumen.
2) Cut the coffee. A friend of mine recommends Tylenol for this task. I usually put myself through some sort of obsessive weaning program.
3) Move around a little bit. For numb shoulders and for general health, a wise person once told me that exercise can be healthy. Finger movement at the keyboard is not the best source of exercise.
4) Eat real food. Coffee is not a food group. Salads are a nutritious and easy option. I will keep my fingers crossed that the lettuce was not watered with dairy run-off. (See, there I go again.)
5) Consume foods with beneficial bacteria. When I became ill in a norovirus outbreak I wrote about consuming raw milk in my recovery. I do have some raw milk around and I think I’ll get some ferments lined up on the kitchen countertop.
