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Jan. 29th, 2014 12:43 pm
The most dangerous room in the house
I'm afraid the GWO and I got into a bit of a tiff as I was leaving the house yesterday. I'd made the bigos the evening before and told him it probably need "about four hours" on the stove before we could eat it, so I was surprised to see it on the burner already. I warned him that letting it cook the whole day would turn it to mush and he reassured me he's turn the heat off before long. That had the opposite effect, because now it meant that the food would be sitting out at near room temperature most of the day. But I didn't have time to debate further, so I just said, "Whatever!" and left.
Naturally, I regretted that almost immediately. When I got to work, I sent a conciliatory e-mail and he replied asking what I wanted him to do differently. I grabbed some links from various websites and sent them on, learning in the process that I have to learn to do things differently myself. For instance, I didn't realise that the recommended temperature for reheating leftovers is 165°F. I don't like to waste energy or time, so my habit is to warm just until they're pleasant to eat. It'll go against my grain to heat them more and let them cool, but I'd rather nothing in them survived to make me sick. I also may have to give up some of the variety I'm used, since generally we have two or three different meals ready for warming so we can avoid having the same thing for a couple days. But again, the recommendations are that nothing should sit in the fridge more than four days, so that may mean having the same thing a couple days in a row or at least every other day.
I know that everybody ignores best practices like these much of the time and suffers no ill consequences as a result. But my experience over the past several months suggests to me that my dependence on proton pump inhibitors has impaired my body's ability to resist common food bacteria. Germs that would perish instantly in the acid of my friends' stomachs may be surviving too long in mine and making it on to the next stage. For that reason, my GE guy suggests skipping the meds periodically. I tried it once, though, and I just can't see it as a viable solution unless skipping a night's sleep periodically is also a good thing for your immune system.
Naturally, I regretted that almost immediately. When I got to work, I sent a conciliatory e-mail and he replied asking what I wanted him to do differently. I grabbed some links from various websites and sent them on, learning in the process that I have to learn to do things differently myself. For instance, I didn't realise that the recommended temperature for reheating leftovers is 165°F. I don't like to waste energy or time, so my habit is to warm just until they're pleasant to eat. It'll go against my grain to heat them more and let them cool, but I'd rather nothing in them survived to make me sick. I also may have to give up some of the variety I'm used, since generally we have two or three different meals ready for warming so we can avoid having the same thing for a couple days. But again, the recommendations are that nothing should sit in the fridge more than four days, so that may mean having the same thing a couple days in a row or at least every other day.
I know that everybody ignores best practices like these much of the time and suffers no ill consequences as a result. But my experience over the past several months suggests to me that my dependence on proton pump inhibitors has impaired my body's ability to resist common food bacteria. Germs that would perish instantly in the acid of my friends' stomachs may be surviving too long in mine and making it on to the next stage. For that reason, my GE guy suggests skipping the meds periodically. I tried it once, though, and I just can't see it as a viable solution unless skipping a night's sleep periodically is also a good thing for your immune system.
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