Friday, June 25, 2010

Mercury Rising

Safe among the vegetation: Jason Trachtenburg from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and the Pendulum Swings strikes a pose with me and my Mercury t-shirt at the 4th street Food Co op.


For the past couple of years I had cut out all meat except for fish. this was going well i was feeling healthy (with the exception of a strange lung thing that wasn't going away and and an itchy feeling all over that my doctors could not find the origins of or proof I was even feeling this.) was I going nuts? then it dawned on me puritis is a symptom of mercury poisoning so is insane thinking. so I got tested. I got a phone call from my doctor while i was on my way to buy more white albacore tuna in water for i only had 7 cans left an was in constant fear of running out (insane thinking) He asked how much fish do you eat. I said 7-12 servings a week over about a year. He asked if I could pare it down to 2 times a week and not eat tuna. (I was still trying to figure out ways I could sneak in some tuna into my diet until I realized that was insane thinking) .5 nanoliters of mercury in your blood is ok I had a whopping 29nl in my blood I received a letter from the Department of Health and spoke to the person in charge of Mercury. They also have one for Lead and other elements he informed me. He said when I got tested, anybody who hits over a 25nl of mercury on their blood sets off a red flag and he interviewed me to see if I had been exposed to anything like neon lights and other things. i told him how much fish I ate and he ran down a list of what I was not to eat

HIGH MERCURY Eat three servings or less per month:
Bluefish, Grouper, Mackerel (Spanish, Gulf), Sea Bass (Chilean) Ive had it, Tuna (Canned Albacore) a staple to my eating, Tuna (Yellowfin) no more sushi!,

HIGHEST MERCURY Avoid eating:
Mackerel (King) holy mackerel!, Marlin, Orange Roughy, Shark (I had it in Hawaii), Swordfish (I had it twice), Tilefish, Tuna (constantly)

this list can be found http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp plus a list of fish you can eat (Wild caught salmon is ok farm ones has PCBs) but considering the current oil situation maybe I will stick to advice from Jason Trachtenburg of the 4th street food co op. (open to the public) and roll cruelty free. Here is a list of top 10 vegetarian protein sources. http://www.womenfitness.net/protien-option.htm

Personally, I enjoy quinoa (Inca red or plain) with beans is considered a complete protein.

Incidentally when I stopped messing with the mercury laden items, the itching and lung thing both went away. the insane thinking is still up for debate.

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