Dining with death

Your wine may be under threat from certain foods.

THEY say one man’s pleasure is another man’s poison. And you don’t have to look further than your neighbourhood supermarket or your favourite restaurant. Dangerous foods are everywhere – they might even be in your pocket right now!

Let’s just first interpret the word “dangerous”.

Some foods can be dangerous to consumers because they are allergic to it. A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a food protein. Consumption of these proteins can trigger reactions from hives to anaphylactic shock and even death in some individuals. Certain foods can also be dangerous for your wine but thankfully, not in a life-threatening manner. If you are planning to serve an expensive and much cherished wine, there’s the danger that the food can ruin the taste of the wine, essentially killing it. Read on to find out what could be deadly for you and what foods can literally murder your wine!

Peanuts

About 1.3% of the world’s population is allergic to peanuts. Peanut allergies affect 7% of siblings with the allergy. Peanuts are the leading cause of severe food allergic reactions, followed by shellfish, fish, tree nuts and eggs. As many as a third of peanut-sensitive patients have had severe reactions, from merely imbibing a nut or two. No wonder then that few airlines will serve peanuts on board, preferring to hand out packets of other kinds of salty snacks instead.

With wine, however, peanuts aren’t the best partners except when served plain before meals. Roasted peanuts and a nutty, sweet sherry make good flavour companions. The salt in peanuts is a good contrast to the sweet alcoholic drink.

When serving gado-gado or satay with peanut sauce, a sherry works. However, if you are looking for a lively pairing, look no further than a creamy New World Chardonnay.

Chocolate

Dog lovers know not to give chocolate to man’s best friend because they cannot metabolise a certain alkaloid – theobromine – in the chocolate. This compound becomes poisonous to them (and some domestic animals) even in moderate quantities. The chocolate can cause epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks, and eventually death in dogs.

What a lot of us don’t know is that theobromine can also be toxic to humans. Indulging in chocolate in huge quantities especially by the elderly can lead them straight to the emergency room!

Chocolate has earned the nickname, the Wine Assassin.

However, chocolate is extremely dangerous for wine – so much so that it has earned the nickname of The Wine Assassin. This is because many wines have a delicate balance of sweetness and acidity, and subtle flavours. All these are often wiped out by the assertive tastes of chocolate – the astringency, the sweetness, the texture and the bitterness lurking beneath the sugar. In most cases, chocolate just makes wine tasteless.

There are, however, some wines that can stand up to chocolate and the experience of tasting the wine with chocolate can turn out lively and palatable. These are the sweet wines of Tokaji, Trockenbeerenauslese, Pedro Ximinex Sherry, Port and other late harvest wines. The rare sweet red wine such as a fortified Tempranillo (such as a Dulce Benauides from Spain that I tried the other day), seemed to work with dark chocolate.

Blowfish (Fugu)

A much-admired dish at the dining table in Japan, this puffer fish is served sashimi style – sliced thinly and arranged like the petals of a chrysanthemum flower on a plate.

However it contains poison – a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin that is found in large quantities in the liver, the ovaries, and the skin of the fish. If not properly prepared, the poison, supposedly 1,200 times more potent than cyanide, can paralyse the muscles. In essence, the victim is unable to breathe, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. Although there is no known antidote as of yet, sashimi diners opt to take their chances with this dish.

Fugu sashimi is a delicate-tasting fish and the expert chef leaves in just enough poison to tingle the diner’s lips and numb the tongue. Fortunately, the version I tried was as lifeless as a dead fish, so that I was able to enjoy a refreshingly crisp vintage Moët & Chandon with it. A good Airen or Pinot Grigio is an alternative.

Crab

Horseshoe crab is popular in Vietnam and Thailand. Called Maengda Talay in Thailand, this dish is composed of the eggs of horseshoe crabs found in the Gulf of Thailand. There are two species of horseshoe crab in Thailand – the triangle-tailed horseshoe crab and the round-tailed horseshoe crab. Too often, diners dine with death when they eat the tetrodotoxin-laden eggs of the round-tailed horseshoe crab.

Folklore dictates that heat can destroy these toxins, which scientists refute venomously. Most “poisoned” diners complain of numbness in the mouth, the extremities, weakness, dizziness and nausea. Others have developed total paralysis, opthalmoplegia (paralysis of eye muscles), respiratory failure and suffered worse effects.

I have dined on two occasions on horseshoe crabs in Phuket and thankfully escaped grievous harm. Cooked in the Thai style and presented as a salad called Yum Maengda, the dish was smoky with the distinctive taste of herbs and spices. It did cross my mind that the slight tingling in my mouth could have been caused by the toxin and not the chilli in the dish. However, I washed everything down with some Sauvignon Blanc and lived to tell this tale!

 

Mired in malaise

Hypochondriasis is a mental disorder characterised by excessive fear or preoccupation with a serious illness.

IN the movie, The Sixth Sense, a little boy possesses extrasensory perception and communicates with spirits.

Most of us do not have such a “gift”, yet mere shadows can appear as apparitions. Have we not, at one time or another, experienced situations where we were scared out of our wits by our own heightened perception of things that are not, shadows that became apparitions of doom?

One stormy night, I remember staying alone in an old bungalow by the beach. The rustling of leaves and percussion of branches rattling the window pane (orchestrated by a howling wind) sent my imagination running wild. Haunting images from movies and ghostly scenarios from novels drove rational logic out of the window that night.

Fortunately, sanity returned with the rising of the morning sun.

Some poor souls are cursed with an intense gut feeling and intuition that they have a sinister disease. For them, their gloomy world is engulfed in darkness and surrounded by fear. They are preoccupied with a fear that they have a serious ailment, yet to be discovered.

It is estimated that about 5% of patients who seek a physician’s advice suffer from hypochondriasis (chronic and abnormal anxiety about imaginary symptoms and ailments).

Topsy-turvy: Just like Madagsacar’s Melman, the distress felt by hypochondriacs is not an act. Although they are not really seriously ill, their reactions to minor bodily changes and discomfort cause them to reel out of control.

Student of worry

Students of medicine are often overwhelmed when they learn about new diseases for the first time. On occasions, one or two may succumb to mental indigestion, leading to the “Medical Student Syndrome”.

Bombarded by disease information, that little mole appears like skin cancer, that headache could be a growth in the brain, that itch around the butt must be due to little creepy-crawlies depositing their eggs … get the picture?

Once, burning the midnight oil and going through a chapter on lymphoma, I came to the section on “How to detect abnormal lymph nodes”. Upon self examination, I was horrified to find the tiny lumps in my neck. Anxiety worsened as the next chapter described the staging of the cancer. Laying flat on the couch, I could feel fairly big “tumours” in the abdomen.

That night, I resigned my fate to terminal malignancy! Fearing for dear life, I scuttled up to the professor’s office the next morning to get a “second opinion”.

With great relief, he pronounced that my time was not up yet and subsequent psychological counselling reassured me that my reaction was a common phenomenon among stressed out students struggling to navigate the turbulent waters of medical literature.

With advancing technology, the gates of the information highway can be opened with just a tap of the finger. Search engines bring us to the doorstep of a plethora of health and disease sites, some trusted, and some of dubious content (and intent), all on the same page.

Surfers on this route have carved out a new niche for themselves, and they have become known as “cyberchondriacs”. These folks develop highly misplaced concerns over information that is browsed from the Internet, and subsequently become computer-generated hypochondriacs.

Distinct profile

Categorising a person to a particular condition in itself can be damaging as the label bestows negative implications. A person harbouring hypochondria traits is not suffering from a serious illness in the first place, but shouldering the tag makes him an ill person, in the mind, at least.

For that reason, the diagnosis is only made after a person exhibits persistent and disproportionate fear of “hosting” a disease, for a period of at least six months.

The typical hypochondriac is often well read and has done some research into certain health issues, particularly pertaining to some vague symptoms. Sometimes, the perception of illness is simply the result of an over-exaggerated response to what is otherwise normal.

The disease may be imagined, but the fear and anxiety are not.

The afflicted person soon embarks on a journey to uncover the mysterious illness, often hopping from one doctor to the next, setting off on a trail of “doctor shopping”.

It is perfectly fine to get a second opinion, but dissatisfied with one physician’s interpretation and reassurance, they continue their search. The sufferer is convinced that certain tests need to be done, leading to an array of unnecessary and hazardous investigations.

As results are often unrevealing, patients are driven to the point of frustration. Some eventually land on the lap of alternative therapists who, in all fairness, may actually offer some recourse for their discomfort and fear. Unfortunately, a few fall victims to touts of quackery.

Many hypochondriacs require constant reassurances from the doctor, family and friends to ease their torment, while others prefer not to share their troubles as they fear that their incessant complaints will fall on sceptical ears.

Often, as the quest for confirming the illness ends up a blind alley, another unrelated symptom takes centre stage. The merry-go-round continues at the expense of the sanity of self, not to mention diminishing wealth as the barrage of medical tests do not come with a discount based on the number of symptoms.

These sufferers are real people in deep distress. Although they are not really seriously ill, their reactions to minor bodily changes and discomfort cause them to reel out of control.

Embroiled in turmoil, they are crying for help.

A word of caution: Hypochondriasis may be the ugly head of a more sinister body of underlying co-existent psychological conditions like anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive personality, and depression, which may escape notice.

Challenging as it may be, the physician would have to tease out the decoy distractions and run the necessary tests to exclude possible disease states. Overindulgence in investigations and treatment fuels the disease philosophy, but a dismissive attitude leads the frustrated sufferer to seek answers elsewhere.

Professional psychological evaluation is indispensable in identifying the root cause of such behaviour. The subsequent modification therapy is beyond the scope of this discussion. Co-existing ailments are treated accordingly, and in certain situations, anti- anxiety and antidepressant medication can offer some reprieve.

It is certainly a good measure to understand more about the health challenges that we face from time to time, if we know what we are looking for. If, after the search, the feeling is one of empowerment with a sense of relief, then that is an accomplishment. However, after taking in all that information, anxiety and fear ensues, then confusion may turn into conviction that one is indeed afflicted with a disease.

This article describes an extremely common dysfunctional state which can cause significant debilitation in the affected individual. The mind of a hypochondriac is akin to a fertile garden that can sprout good or bad seeds that land on it.

If weeds take root, the wild grass will crowd out the flowering plants, choking the garden, just like wild imaginings overruning cohesive logic.

 

Prevention is (really) better than cure

WHILE anti-viral medications can help control the spread of the influenza virus in a person’s body, it is not a cure. Our best bet is still to prevent getting influenza or prevent it from making us very sick.

This can be done through vaccination.

According to the WHO, influenza vaccines can prevent 70% to 90% of influenza-specific illness among healthy adults. Among the elderly, the vaccine reduces severe illnesses and complications by up to 60%, and deaths by 80%.

The production of an influenza vaccine starts with an ongoing information gathering by the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network on circulating influenza strains and epidemiological trends.

The organisation also recommends annual vaccination for nursing-home residents (the elderly or disabled), elderly individuals, people with chronic medical conditions, and other groups such as pregnant women, healthcare workers, those with essential functions in society, as well as children from ages six months to two years.

However, vaccination is only the first step.

As people can also be exposed to influenza viruses that are not included in the seasonal flu vaccine, ways to minimise the transmission of influenza viruses through air droplets and contact are equally as important.

These include staying away from people who are coughing and sneezing, covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing, and washing your hands before you touch your eyes, nose or mouth.

“One of the issues with influenza is that the fever comes on very suddenly,” said Dr Marsberg. “You are most contagious not when you are actually flat on your back, but just before. That’s when people are out and about, feeling fantastic, mixing with their colleagues, kissing their family members,” she added.

Often, people do not think they need the vaccination. Some are afraid of needles or worried about the side effects. Others believe in the misconception that a flu shot can actually give them the flu.

“That is a very common misconception,” said Dr Marsberg. “You can’t get the flu from a flu shot.”

Even when healthy individuals can survive the flu, they may contribute to herd immunity when they get themselves vaccinated.

“A certain number of people need to be vaccinated in order to reduce the general burden of disease. So, for you and I who are healthy, it is still important for us to get back into the general pool so that the number of influenza carriers is reduced and those who are more vulnerable don’t get it,” Dr Marsberg explains.

Besides preventing a serious bout of illness that will take you off work for a few days, vaccination can also prevent your loved ones – your grandmother, mother or pregnant wife – from ending up in hospital.

 

Cars That Thieves Don’t Want

The Highway Loss Data Institute recently released its annual list of the most- and least-stolen vehicles,  and a perusal of the top 10 most stolen cars list indicates thieves still favor large pickupsand SUVs. The No. 1 stolen car of the year, for instance, was the Cadillac Escalade, a large luxurySUV. Thieves are also going for large cars known for their power (or Hemi) engines, including theChrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Nissan Maxima.

Conversely, the cars appearing on the least-stolen list tend to be small or midsize vehicles that are more sedate in appearance and, as senior vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute Kim Hazelbaker says, in some cases just not worth going to jail for.
“It’s a mixed bag of vehicles,” Hazelbaker says. That mixed bag includes some unexpected vehicles.

Measuring the madness
The Highway Loss Data Institute bases its ranking on data provided by insurers representing about 80% of the market for privately insured vehicles.

That means it doesn’t include information on thefts of uninsured vehicles or vehicles insured by non-reporting companies. It also doesn’t address whether the theft was of the entire vehicle, vehicle parts or vehicle contents, instead identifying which cars are most often targeted by thieves across the board.

Claim frequencies are determined per 1,000 insured vehicles and form the basis of the ranking. Vehicles are from 2008-10 model years unless otherwise noted.

2011 Mini Cooper Clubman

Mini Cooper Clubman

Claim frequency: 0.7
Average loss payment per claim: $1,883
Vehicle size/type: Mini two-door car

Chevrolet Aveo (2008-2010)
Claim frequency: 0.6
Average loss payment per claim: $7,642
Vehicle size/type: Mini station wagon

BMW 5-series

.
BMW 5 series 4WD 

Claim frequency: 0.7
Average loss payment per claim: $12,200
Vehicle size/type: Large luxury car

Hazelbacker explains that one of the reasons BMW‘s 5 series and (spoiler alert!) two other luxury vehicles popped up on the list of least-stolen vehicles is that these types of cars have excellent ignition immobilizers, which prevent vehicles from being hot-wired.

“It’s a technical issue,” he says, explaining that one of the reasons pickups are popular amongst thieves is that, until recently, they didn’t have immobilizers as part of their standard equipment package.

Saturn Vue 

Claim frequency: 0.6
Average loss payment per claim: $3,747
Vehicle size/type: Midsize SUV

Lexus RX-350

Lexus RX 350 (2010) 

Claim frequency: 0.6
Average loss payment per claim: $6,084
Vehicle size/type: Midsize luxury SUV

Chevrolet Equinox 4WD (2010) 

Claim frequency: 0.6
Average loss payment per claim: $4,870
Vehicle size/type: Midsize SUV

Volkswagen CC

Volkswagen CC (2009-10) 

Claim frequency: 0.6
Average loss payment per claim: $7,098
Vehicle size/type: Midsize car

Chevrolet Equinox (2010) 

Claim frequency: 0.6
Average loss payment per claim: $2,069
Vehicle size/type: Midsize SUV
(The Chevrolet Equinox and the Chevrolet Equinox 4WD are the same car with different features.)

Mercury Mariner 

Claim frequency: 0.5
Average loss payment per claim: $1,970
Vehicle size/type: Small SUV

Audi A6

Audi A6 4WD

 

Claim frequency: 0.5
Average loss payment per claim: $16,882
Vehicle size/type: Large luxury car

In addition to having better immobilizers, Hazelbaker attributed Audi‘s disfavor to its appearance; along with its luxury counterparts the LexusRX350 and the BMW 5 series, availability issues also prevent theft. For instance, he says, these cars “are more likely to be spending the night in a suburban garage” than on a city street.

 

The Story of Life

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be (possibly your roommate,neighbor, coworker, longlost friend, lover, or even a complete stranger) but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life, and the success and downfalls you experience help to create who you become. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones. If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious when you open your heart. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things.

Make every day count!!! Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything that you possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people that you have never talked to before,and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don’t believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you. You can make of your life anything you wish. Create your own life then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets.

*MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!* If you LOVE someone tell him or her, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store!!!

 

Heart broken

Love is just a feeling that you get when two people really like each other, and personally I found it. On the other hand when you lose the one you love it’s a terrible feeling. Losing love is like losing a heart or a very important thing. Now when I look back on the things in my life I really didn’t find love it found me and I just lost it. Now for yall other teenagers out there when you fall in love don’t ever do anything stupid. Guys stick to talking to yall homies, and girls stick to talking to yall girlfriends. It’s the best thing to do, in my case I didn’t do that and I messed my relationship up and it hurts me badly to tell yall about it but like I said don’t mess it up it’s the best thing to do. If you love someone to death you will take my word, follow it, and spread it. This is just part of life, I watch all the happy couples and wonder why my relationship aint like theirs. Then I found out why it aint I got a problem of now sticking to one person that I love. But I found her and I’m going to do everything I can to get her back in my life. So teens just hear me out don’t ever be like me. Thanks for listen.