Do you think we have become a society where we are afraid of germs and cross contaminations??
And I am not referencing cold season or H1N1.
What I am referring to is this: I have just made a simple hamburger dinner, with most fixings .... and I must have washed (with soap and hotwater) my hands at least 20 times! no lie!! After handling the cracked egg, after unwrapping the meat, before crushing the croutons, etc .... you get my drift. (No wonder I go thru so much damn liquid soap in the kitchen!)
When I grew up - and it wasn't the Depression time or remotely close (and obviously, my siblings and I never died) .... my mom wouldn't have dreamed of doing what I just did in the kitchen, and she was a nurse!!
So .... have we become overly clean do you think? or maybe that isn't the right question .... but I can't be the only one who does this ....
Is it the brainwash of the media/advertising guys, or the health people or what? Who is winning? Maybe I am rambling - but man, I have clean hands!!
Van
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Germs and stuff
Active Ink Slinger
Germs can kill you, I believe that, so I don't think it's just a media brainwash. But at the same time, I think we as a society are weakening our immune systems. If we use anti-bacterial soap, and anti-bacterial wipes after everything, our bodies will lose their ability to fight bacteria, and we will be more susceptible to germs. Also, with greater exposure to anti-bacterial sprays, etc, the bacteria develops resistances and becomes stronger as well. When I cook just for myself I am not very worried about cross contamination, but I do respect others, so I am far more careful when someone else will be eating the food too. I've used the same bowl to mix my eggs and milk as I used to have my cooked scrambled eggs in later. And that didn't make me sick. Maybe I get lucky, but I continue to believe that my immune system is better for me not being quite so careful.
Active Ink Slinger
Van, I'm a total germaphobe. I wash my hands with soap and scolding water every time I enter my house. I have bottles of Purell on every room. And I wash my hands after I "handle" my own children. My husband makes fun of me all the time, but you know what: I get sick less often than he does.
Lollipop Girl
I am almost always washing my hands, or im sanitizing them. I get sick very easy so i try not to touch a lot of things if i can help it...Its hell at work because of working in retail, but im still always sanitizing and then i put lotion on cause my hands get so dried out..arh!
"Haters make me FAMOUS!!!"
Sassy
Sassy
the majority of sewer systems eventually return to rivers or lakes after being cleaned. A lot of the chemicals from our soaps end up in those rivers and lakes. I'm not saying to never wash up but that we should avoid the needless over washing when possible. Just a thought.
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Matriarch
I think we're too sterile, and it's making our immune systems weaker. Children these days seem terrified to play in the mud even, overprotective parents are largely to blame.
Having said that, be careful when eating eggs in Iowa: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/30/eggs.salmonella/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=nJtU_p0_hgi&wom=false
Having said that, be careful when eating eggs in Iowa: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/30/eggs.salmonella/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=nJtU_p0_hgi&wom=false
Lollipop Girl
Quote by nicola
I think we're too sterile, and it's making our immune systems weaker. Children these days seem terrified to play in the mud even, overprotective parents are largely to blame.
Having said that, be careful when eating eggs in Iowa: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/30/eggs.salmonella/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=nJtU_p0_hgi&wom=false
Indiana has a few eggs on recall as well...
"Haters make me FAMOUS!!!"
Sassy
Sassy
Matriarch
More than a few!
Rodents, piles of manure, uncaged birds and flies too numerous to count were found by investigators at Iowa farms at the heart of the recall of more than half a billion eggs, the Food and Drug Administration reported Monday.
Active Ink Slinger
I saw a couple of bugs in my noodles the other day and just flicked them out and kept eating. Just protein. But I am a vegetarian so thought I would let the little critters live.
Matriarch
Quote by rxtales
I saw a couple of bugs in my noodles the other day and just flicked them out and kept eating. Just protein. But I am a vegetarian so thought I would let the little critters live.
Those are actually part of the ingredients Rx, you're in Thailand aren't you?
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by nicolaQuote by rxtales
I saw a couple of bugs in my noodles the other day and just flicked them out and kept eating. Just protein. But I am a vegetarian so thought I would let the little critters live.
Those are actually part of the ingredients Rx, you're in Thailand aren't you?
Yes only for a few days. Have to fly back to the UK in a week.
When I was in Bangkok I did try scorpion and crickets. Crispy and unexciting.
Alpha Blonde
Quote by nicola
I think we're too sterile, and it's making our immune systems weaker. Children these days seem terrified to play in the mud even, overprotective parents are largely to blame.
I totally agree with this. I have some purell in my car, but I don't obsess over sanitizing everything. I think society has gotten germ-obsessed in recent years. Our immune system is meant to handle a certain degree of bacteria. Unless you have a compromised immune system or special health issues, then obeying the basics of washing your hands with soap and water when necessary should be just fine. I've always been that way and I'm rarely sick. You can't live your life in a bubble.
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Dancing_Doll
I totally agree with this. I have some purell in my car, but I don't obsess over sanitizing everything. I think society has gotten germ-obsessed in recent years. Our immune system is meant to handle a certain degree of bacteria. Unless you have a compromised immune system or special health issues, then obeying the basics of washing your hands with soap and water when necessary should be just fine. I've always been that way and I'm rarely sick. You can't live your life in a bubble.
This works...until you have kids. And they go to school and bring home every single illness. If I get sick, then there's no one to take care of them.
Alpha Blonde
Quote by SweetPennyQuote by Dancing_Doll
I totally agree with this. I have some purell in my car, but I don't obsess over sanitizing everything. I think society has gotten germ-obsessed in recent years. Our immune system is meant to handle a certain degree of bacteria. Unless you have a compromised immune system or special health issues, then obeying the basics of washing your hands with soap and water when necessary should be just fine. I've always been that way and I'm rarely sick. You can't live your life in a bubble.
This works...until you have kids. And they go to school and bring home every single illness. If I get sick, then there's no one to take care of them.
I have heard that kids who go to daycare get sick more often but that it builds a more robust immune system. Kind of like how doctors are around sick people all day but don't get sick constantly because their immune system has become stronger over time.
But yeah, I agree in theory. Pretty much everyone I know who has young kids is constantly dealing with one thing or another.
Constant Gardener
I'm more in your camp, Van. I'm a bit of a clean freak. Heheh, I won't even purchase hamburger as I am fairly certain that those fuckers at the groceries of the world and especially in the slaughterhouses sure don't practice the best sanitation with their 'product' but especially with ground beef.
Anyway...
In my late teens and early twenties, I lived the life of a young slob in community around 22 other young slobs for a few years. Sanitation and cleanliness was on the low rung of the priority ladder. Except on those evenings when I wanted to get laid (but I never, never, ever brought women back to the dorm...lol).
When I am in the kitchen preparing meals anymore, I am just as tediously clean when cooking for myself as I am when I have guests. It is force of habit. I have different cutting boards for different food groups. And all get thoroughly washed. I might wash my hands two to half a dozen times when prepping my food/ingredients.
I think I like clean hands. I live alone and have for most of my adult life, sharing my residences for perhaps a total of ten out of 30 years, with other women. I don't have children, but I have and do have pets and I do sometimes handle them.
I don't want their cat ass or dog nut germs on my fingers when I absent-mindedly rub my eyes, or handle a snack or touch the tv remote or - my keyboards. Ugh - is there anything more unsanitary at the work office, than keyboards, door-knobs, push-plates for entry doors...I can go on.
I wash after every restroom visit and then will use the paper towel I've dried my hands with to grab ahold and open the exit door, tossing the moist towel into a trashcan at my desk, after opening any doors I might need to pass through to my work area.
I get some odd looks, for sure...but none any more odder than those I will sometimes make a point of leering at ... those of you who grab your cock and shake it during your piss or you come out of stalls after wiping...then go over to the mirror/sink and adjust your hair and don't even look at the sink or gasp, the sanitary soap.
Some germs are our friends (we have loads of bacterial colonies inside our digestive systems to help break down food to be easier digested) but some germs, I try to lessen from the fight against my white blood cells.
I haven't been an unsanitary slob (except when rather fucking drunk - and that's not often) since the early 1980s.
Anyway...
In my late teens and early twenties, I lived the life of a young slob in community around 22 other young slobs for a few years. Sanitation and cleanliness was on the low rung of the priority ladder. Except on those evenings when I wanted to get laid (but I never, never, ever brought women back to the dorm...lol).
When I am in the kitchen preparing meals anymore, I am just as tediously clean when cooking for myself as I am when I have guests. It is force of habit. I have different cutting boards for different food groups. And all get thoroughly washed. I might wash my hands two to half a dozen times when prepping my food/ingredients.
I think I like clean hands. I live alone and have for most of my adult life, sharing my residences for perhaps a total of ten out of 30 years, with other women. I don't have children, but I have and do have pets and I do sometimes handle them.
I don't want their cat ass or dog nut germs on my fingers when I absent-mindedly rub my eyes, or handle a snack or touch the tv remote or - my keyboards. Ugh - is there anything more unsanitary at the work office, than keyboards, door-knobs, push-plates for entry doors...I can go on.
I wash after every restroom visit and then will use the paper towel I've dried my hands with to grab ahold and open the exit door, tossing the moist towel into a trashcan at my desk, after opening any doors I might need to pass through to my work area.
I get some odd looks, for sure...but none any more odder than those I will sometimes make a point of leering at ... those of you who grab your cock and shake it during your piss or you come out of stalls after wiping...then go over to the mirror/sink and adjust your hair and don't even look at the sink or gasp, the sanitary soap.
Some germs are our friends (we have loads of bacterial colonies inside our digestive systems to help break down food to be easier digested) but some germs, I try to lessen from the fight against my white blood cells.
I haven't been an unsanitary slob (except when rather fucking drunk - and that's not often) since the early 1980s.
The same GQP demanding we move on from January 6th, 2021 is still doing audits of the November 3rd, 2020 election.
Active Ink Slinger
While going through cancer treatment I was obsessed with washing my hands but now that I am finished with all that I have calmed down. Wash before I eat and shower before bed.
Get on Get in Enjoy the ride
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by VanGogh
So .... have we become overly clean do you think? or maybe that isn't the right question .... but I can't be the only one who does this ....
No, I don't believe we have become "overly clean," and you're certainly not the only person who washes his or her hands several times while preparing food. Things are different than when we were kids, and such measures are necessary, unfortunately.
Quote by VanGogh
Is it the brainwash of the media/advertising guys, or the health people or what? Who is winning? Maybe I am rambling - but man, I have clean hands!!
In my opinion, it's because of where our food comes from these days and how it was raised. The family farm is practically a thing of the past. Unless we grow it ourselves, we can't trust the source, so we have to mitigate the potential for harm by scrubbing our hands raw and cooking our food so that it resembles a hockey puck. And the problem isn't limited to meat and eggs; some of the biggest recalls and warnings have been for vegetables or fruit.
The health folks and the media are only reacting to and reporting the problem of tainted food, not causing it. Edited to clarify: I'm thinking of the U.S. in this response. It's different elsewhere, I'm sure.
~ Rascal
Maggie R
Active Ink Slinger
From George Carlin:
"I never get sick, never get colds, do you know why? because I've got a good, strong immune system, and it gets a lot of practice. I grew up in New York, and we used to swim in the Hudson River, you know, to cool off, and that river was filthy, with raw sewage floating in it, we were tempered in liquid shit! But no kid I knew got polio or anything else because our immune systems were strong! My immune system is equipped with grenades, automatic weapons, and we've recently added cluster bombs and low yield nuclear warheads. Some unlucky germ shows up in my body and they go out and wax the motherfucker, no Miranda warning, no probation, they wax the fucker and deposit him neatly in my color for removal."
And he's right. I keep a clean house, but I'm not a clean freak with sanitizer everywhere, and we....don't get sick very often. However, a co-worker who avoids germs with an insane level of phobia, when she gets a cold, it lingers for weeks because her system isn't used to working very hard. Ours probably have to kill a few germs every day, so when a tougher one shows up, the system is ready to handle it.
"I never get sick, never get colds, do you know why? because I've got a good, strong immune system, and it gets a lot of practice. I grew up in New York, and we used to swim in the Hudson River, you know, to cool off, and that river was filthy, with raw sewage floating in it, we were tempered in liquid shit! But no kid I knew got polio or anything else because our immune systems were strong! My immune system is equipped with grenades, automatic weapons, and we've recently added cluster bombs and low yield nuclear warheads. Some unlucky germ shows up in my body and they go out and wax the motherfucker, no Miranda warning, no probation, they wax the fucker and deposit him neatly in my color for removal."
And he's right. I keep a clean house, but I'm not a clean freak with sanitizer everywhere, and we....don't get sick very often. However, a co-worker who avoids germs with an insane level of phobia, when she gets a cold, it lingers for weeks because her system isn't used to working very hard. Ours probably have to kill a few germs every day, so when a tougher one shows up, the system is ready to handle it.
"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere." - Groucho Marx
Quote by Dancing_DollQuote by nicola
I think we're too sterile, and it's making our immune systems weaker. Children these days seem terrified to play in the mud even, overprotective parents are largely to blame.
I totally agree with this. I have some purell in my car, but I don't obsess over sanitizing everything. I think society has gotten germ-obsessed in recent years. Our immune system is meant to handle a certain degree of bacteria. Unless you have a compromised immune system or special health issues, then obeying the basics of washing your hands with soap and water when necessary should be just fine. I've always been that way and I'm rarely sick. You can't live your life in a bubble.
Doll you have been on such good behavior since you won your award.There you go again and steal my thoughts. Clean yes, but not obsessively.
Divine Rapscallion
This column was on the New York Times web site today, and thought it was relevant to this discussion.
Like the woman quoted in the article, I feel it's probably safer to eat food that comes from a farmers market, but I don't have any proof of that. Anyone else?
~ Rascal
In the Age of Recalls, Tips for a Pathogen-Free Kitchen
There is good reason to be scared into action. Every year, 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur, leading to about 300,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. Young children, pregnant women, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system are most at risk for getting a severe or life-threatening case of food poisoning, but anyone can get hit hard. Survivors of serious cases can have long-lasting health issues like kidney problems.
Like the woman quoted in the article, I feel it's probably safer to eat food that comes from a farmers market, but I don't have any proof of that. Anyone else?
~ Rascal
Maggie R
Quote by castlequeen
From George Carlin:
"I never get sick, never get colds, do you know why? because I've got a good, strong immune system, and it gets a lot of practice. I grew up in New York, and we used to swim in the Hudson River, you know, to cool off, and that river was filthy, with raw sewage floating in it, we were tempered in liquid shit! But no kid I knew got polio or anything else because our immune systems were strong! My immune system is equipped with grenades, automatic weapons, and we've recently added cluster bombs and low yield nuclear warheads. Some unlucky germ shows up in my body and they go out and wax the motherfucker, no Miranda warning, no probation, they wax the fucker and deposit him neatly in my color for removal."
And he's right. I keep a clean house, but I'm not a clean freak with sanitizer everywhere, and we....don't get sick very often. However, a co-worker who avoids germs with an insane level of phobia, when she gets a cold, it lingers for weeks because her system isn't used to working very hard. Ours probably have to kill a few germs every day, so when a tougher one shows up, the system is ready to handle it.
This is exactly how I feel. I do wipe the grocery carts with a sanitizing wipe when I go. We get a lot of tourists and snow birds that bring their sniffles and cooties from all over the country and world. I/we don't get sick very often either.
I'm careful in the kitchen because of being schooled in food borne illnesses but that's it.
Constant Gardener
heheh, George Carlin was my God.
But ya gotta realize he was paid to make you cringe and laugh.
I have swam in farm ponds and creeks which run through cattle country, which means cowshit will get washed into said water.
But I stay the fuck out of public pools and I haven't used a pay phone since 1984.
Cowshit in pond water = sufferable.
People poo in rivers (along with all the other garbage we flush down the drain, antibiotics, time of the month waste, hospital garbage, slaughterhouse effluent) = bad, bad, bad
Okay, pardon me while I go find a place to vurp.
But ya gotta realize he was paid to make you cringe and laugh.
I have swam in farm ponds and creeks which run through cattle country, which means cowshit will get washed into said water.
But I stay the fuck out of public pools and I haven't used a pay phone since 1984.
Cowshit in pond water = sufferable.
People poo in rivers (along with all the other garbage we flush down the drain, antibiotics, time of the month waste, hospital garbage, slaughterhouse effluent) = bad, bad, bad
Okay, pardon me while I go find a place to vurp.
The same GQP demanding we move on from January 6th, 2021 is still doing audits of the November 3rd, 2020 election.
I tend to find other people's bad habits hard to cope with, rather than mine ha ha. For instance I can't stand it when a person does not use the green scourer to remove the tea/coffee stains on a cup Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr hate that haha.
My family can't make a sandwich without spraying the worktop with some anti-bacterial spray, I'm sure soap and water does the job just as good and also - the only reason the anti-bacterial trolls that buy all these in the first place is that the science media people scare us into pessisim of false hope that something bad will happen to you if you don't.
There is also something else that bugs me ha ha scuse the pun, but arn't we meant to not use chemicals because there bad for the environment as yet people use all these chemicals while on the other hand where recycling everything in sight and not using to much water by not wasting it.
There are other natural food stuff that we can use tp clean things with rather than have a tropical can of chemicals that may have carcinogenic substances that may make us even more ill than the germs in the first place , then when you do get the cancer you won't fight it off because you have no resistance then. Well that's my grumble for a Saturday morning ha ha
time for a brew now!
My family can't make a sandwich without spraying the worktop with some anti-bacterial spray, I'm sure soap and water does the job just as good and also - the only reason the anti-bacterial trolls that buy all these in the first place is that the science media people scare us into pessisim of false hope that something bad will happen to you if you don't.
There is also something else that bugs me ha ha scuse the pun, but arn't we meant to not use chemicals because there bad for the environment as yet people use all these chemicals while on the other hand where recycling everything in sight and not using to much water by not wasting it.
There are other natural food stuff that we can use tp clean things with rather than have a tropical can of chemicals that may have carcinogenic substances that may make us even more ill than the germs in the first place , then when you do get the cancer you won't fight it off because you have no resistance then. Well that's my grumble for a Saturday morning ha ha
time for a brew now! This is a subject that there is a lot of misconception about.
There are many different kinds of bacteria in the world. The vast majority are harmless. Just think about the millions of little guys that are crawling all over your body right now.
But we do need to protect against the harmful ones. If you work in a hospital or in food service, then you should take every precaution.
The prevalent use of anti-bacterials in every day life is not needed, and actually only works to develop the immunity of harmful bacteria to those substances.
Washing your hands is the best way to prevent the spread of infection. Using anti-bacterial soap is not needed and actually has very little effect. (I actually did an experiment on it.) Most of the commercially available anti-bacterial soaps have very little effect on bacteria. The ones that do, are hardcore, industrial brands.
Normal soap has no effect on bacteria either. Soap is a lipid based substance designed to removed other lipid based substances.
Hot water does not kill most bacteria or viruses. I've heard this myth over and over. If water was hot enough to kill most bacteria or viruses, it would be burning the skin off your hands.
What does work is the mechanical action of washing your hands. This is the best way to remove bacteria and viruses and prevent the development of anti-biotic immune bacteria.
There are many different kinds of bacteria in the world. The vast majority are harmless. Just think about the millions of little guys that are crawling all over your body right now.
But we do need to protect against the harmful ones. If you work in a hospital or in food service, then you should take every precaution.
The prevalent use of anti-bacterials in every day life is not needed, and actually only works to develop the immunity of harmful bacteria to those substances.
Washing your hands is the best way to prevent the spread of infection. Using anti-bacterial soap is not needed and actually has very little effect. (I actually did an experiment on it.) Most of the commercially available anti-bacterial soaps have very little effect on bacteria. The ones that do, are hardcore, industrial brands.
Normal soap has no effect on bacteria either. Soap is a lipid based substance designed to removed other lipid based substances.
Hot water does not kill most bacteria or viruses. I've heard this myth over and over. If water was hot enough to kill most bacteria or viruses, it would be burning the skin off your hands.
What does work is the mechanical action of washing your hands. This is the best way to remove bacteria and viruses and prevent the development of anti-biotic immune bacteria.
well, from my observations ... many of us have VERY clean hands, whether it is in the kitchen or out-and-about. These current generations are very much aware of how easy it is to spread disease (mild in the western world) ... and awareness is part of the battle.
no more handshakes (though that is a tough one to change in business) .... and way more "air" kisses ....
Waves ....
Van
no more handshakes (though that is a tough one to change in business) .... and way more "air" kisses ....
Waves ....
Van
There is another thing I forgot to mention...Colds are caused by viruses and not bacteria. Anti-bacterial agents will do nothing against the cold virus. But washing your hands will.
And don't sneeze into your hand! This is quite possibly the worst habit that people are guilty of. I am still amazed at how prevalent this practice is...even among health care professionals.
And don't sneeze into your hand! This is quite possibly the worst habit that people are guilty of. I am still amazed at how prevalent this practice is...even among health care professionals.
Active Ink Slinger
Ahem, Damon.... 
Sneezing into your hands is an acceptable last resort to minimize the spray caused by a sneeze from hitting your fellow man slap bang in the face. May the saints preserve me from the inconsiderate s.o.b. who dares to sneeze upon me or my own without at least making some attempt to contain the blast!!!
Rather you wash your hands than leave me to wipe your phlegm from my daughters face.
Other than that, dude, you make a lot of sense.
Sneezing into your hands is an acceptable last resort to minimize the spray caused by a sneeze from hitting your fellow man slap bang in the face. May the saints preserve me from the inconsiderate s.o.b. who dares to sneeze upon me or my own without at least making some attempt to contain the blast!!!
Rather you wash your hands than leave me to wipe your phlegm from my daughters face.
Other than that, dude, you make a lot of sense.
"Whoa, lady, I only speak two languages, English and bad English." - Korben Dallas, from The Fifth Element
"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience?" - George Bernard Shaw
"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience?" - George Bernard Shaw
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by roccotoolHot water does not kill most bacteria or viruses.
So boiling water to sterilize really doesn't work in any Third-World country, right?
We boiled water in a lot of places to prevent stomach issues that we would have gotten by drinking tap water