Flu Shot

[Kerry F]

I am curious how many of you get the flu shot and how much you think it helps to keep you from catching the flu.  I have never gotten them and I do seem to catch the flu, although knock on wood, I seem to get lighter cases of it.  I have just always been of the opinion that immunizations, while they have certainly protected against awful diseases back in history, they ultimately weaken the immune system. 

[Emily Erickson-Sandstrom]

Never put organic matter (food, spices, supplements, etc.) in oil and store it - in any way.  Has to be used right away.  Like making whipped butter with ginger, garlic, chives and marjoram; like making olive oil with ginger and garlic, etc. to put in ground rump roast for flavored burgers.  Anaerobic bacteria of a potentially deadly type - tasteless, no sign of it - can develop in the lack of air in the oil.

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

Yeah, Mary, whitening teeth is one of the many alleged benefits of oil pulling and why I'm afraid to stop!   I should start using it for more cooking.  I sautee with cooking water from cooking beans but the coconut oil sounds like a good thing to add to that mix.  Re the flu, I don't want to give myself bad luck so I'll just say it hasn't been too bad at all!

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

This email was sent to me by a friend yesterday.  Since it's about this discussion, I thought I'd share.  It's sort of interesting:

ONIONS ~ MAYONNAISE

PLEASE READ TO THE END: IMPORTANT In
1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that
visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu.
Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died. The
doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very
healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was
different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a
dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then).
The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the
onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he
did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed
the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy. Now, I heard this
story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of
her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her
customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in
her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work..
Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the
flu. Now there is a P. S. To this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon
who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied
with this most interesting experience about onions: Thanks for the
reminder. I don't know about the farmers story.. But, I do know that I
contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very
ill.. I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion
put it into an empty jar...placing the jar next to the sick patient at
night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs..
Sure enough it happened just like that.. The onion was a mess and I
began to feel better. Another thing I read in the article was that
onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black
plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic
properties. This is the other note. Lots
of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame.
Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the
reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu's
and is the very reason we
shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time after it has been cut open. LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of Mayonnaise. Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist. The
guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. Ed is a chemistry expert and is
involved in developing most of the sauce formula. He's even developed
sauce
formula for McDonald's. Keep
in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone
asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always
worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed
said that all commercially- made Mayo is completely safe. "It
doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but
it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is
set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He
then talked about the
quint-essential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the
table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick. Ed
says that! When food poisoning is reported, the first thing the
officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those
onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise
(as long as it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's
probably the onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES. He
explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked
onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He
says it's not even safe if you put it in a
zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator It's
already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit,
that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions
you put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!) Ed says if you take the
leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if
you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking
for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad,
will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise
will even begin to break down. Also, dogs should never eat onions Their stomachs
cannot metabolize onions. Please
remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook the
next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and
creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections
because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning.

[Keith Rowan II]

Sorry, Kelli, but yet another myth.  Anytime you receive anything by email, it's 99.9% of the time false.  Google it or check Snopes.com.  Here's this one for you --

http://www.snopes.com/medical/swineflu/onion.asp

[Laurie H.]

Boy, if this was true I'd be dead ten times over.  I can't count the number of times I've left an onion out on the stove or counter overnight, thrown it in the 'fridge, and then used it in something later.  I've always got a cut onion in Ziploc in the 'fridge as we're huge onion eaters here.  Total hogwash.

[Kellie Zollars]

yeah, me too.  I forwarded this same thing a few weeks ago, then realized it couldn't possibly be true for the same reasons as you, Laurie. 

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Since you all are chatting a food, you can get food poisoning from lettuce.  And I don't mean just a little tummy ache food poisoning.  I know. 

[Emily Erickson-Sandstrom]

That onion story circulates Facebook especially.  I have been using the onion from a few days back all my life.  It's hooey.  And onions don't turn black.

Re lettuce:  Field hands wipe their butts with lettuce leaves to spite the people who buy them.  People in that business, or who know field hands, tell the story of the laborers saying this.  When I learned about this from someone I consider a good source, I now buy only whole heads of lettuce.  Just in case.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Bummer, I was hoping it was true.  I was going to put onions by the bed just for good measure!

I was meaning more about the part that if you leave a onion by the side of your bed or around the house, you won't get the flu.  That was the part I was most interested in.

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/04/zinc-...

Great info and I strongly recommend signing up for Dr. Joseph Mercola's daily email.

[Emily Erickson-Sandstrom]

Yes, there's a world of information there.  Just remember he is there to sell you stuff.  Some years ago, when I wrote him about grapefruit seed extract, he wrote back saying he could not profit from it, and therefore would not report on it.  Don't know whether he eventually did.  The stuff he sells is expensive, and of course he claims it is better.  But the same companies tend to make these supplements.

His daughter also has a site about pet health that has some good information.  Again, the prices are high there.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I lose respect for anyone that only reports on something to make a profit; you lose all credibility because you're only saying what you're saying because you're getting paid.  That's disappointing.