A rather interesting topic.

[liz28]

DANFORTH,

you said, "I'vev* twice in the past 3 months and it hasn't affected me after at all one bit. What I have found is a dietery ALTERNATIVE to sickness."


im sort of curious as to why you got sick twice in the past 3 months.
if you've found the dietary alternative to sickness?

Edited by: liz28

[crimgoddess]

Yep Kim- it is grown in the ground, and can come in contact with animal feces (or infected soil). If not washed properly, you can get sick. That, and if it is stored in room or warm temperatures, bacteria can multiply a lot easier.


I'm not trying to worry anyone- if you wash your lettuce and keep it in the fridge, you will be fine. Also, many fast food restaurants have changed their policy in relation to lettuce to prevent foodpoisoning.


*amber*

[kristi425]

I would rather eat whatever i want to eat and if i get sick then oh well atleast i enjoyed it at the time...thats my opinion.

And you're telling me that that isn't fuelling your phobia? How can youenjoy food which is causing you do the one thing you're fearing? That's a very confusing statement.

danforth - How is it that you are a recovered emet (to echo Kel)?


And why not give tips on how to recover instead of tips about people restricting their diets in certain ways to avoid sickness?


Cure tips would be more useful because if people aren't afraid of sickness, what you've posted about food poisoning wouldn't be much of an issue.


Ever the doubter that I am, I have to ask are you sure that you are recovered? Or have you just decided that you have found a dietary answer to sickness?

This post was to gather opinions from other people. I'vev* twice in the past 3 months and it hasn't affected me after at all one bit. What I have found is a dietery ALTERNATIVE to sickness. I'm not a magician. I never came on here claiming to have some miracle cure or prevention, I'm trying to give people some insight. Teacher's teach at school about things they already know or have experienced, what's the difference with my post?


Anyway, you're all completely missing the point here. I'm not saying it's a CURE or a way to avoid it, in fact I never said that in any of my previous posts.It's simply a mental aid. Knowing that something you're doing isn't contributing or *possibly* raising a risk to v* is putting you a step in the right direction. How some of you aresaying it's provoking being an emet is ridiculous. Isn't recovering from phobias a step by step process? I really don't understand the aura of these forums but I'm sure glad I didn't come on here when I was still an emet.

Ok, you are saying that meat has a high risk of causing food poisoning, so to eliminate that possible fear, we can become vegetarians like you and not eat it anymore. At least that's what I gather from your posts. Am I wrong?


What we are saying, that you don't appear to be reading and understanding, is that we are afraid that ANY foods will cause food poisoning and sickness. We're afraid of vegetables and fruits and everything else. The problem isn't solved by eliminating foods from our diets. That is not a step in the right direction.


The solution you are suggesting, at least as I understand it, is that we stop eating something and have the peace of mind that we will not get sick from eating it. So what about those of us who are afraid of dairy? Stop eating that too? So now we're vegan. Ok, what about fruits? Food poisoning can be caused by fruits and veggies. So peace of mind by not eating those anymore, correct?


See, I am not sure how you got cured from emet, but in my opinion you don't eliminate all possible food groups. The goal is to eventually not be afraid of v-. The goal is being able to eat what we want, not just "safe foods" because we understand v- is a natural and okay thing to do and that we're going to be alright. So I don't understand how becoming a vegetarian helps with this goal...


If you could explain yourself in a way that makes sense, then you wouldn;t feel like you were being attacked. We're just trying to get what you're saying.

[kel12347]

I second that 100%, Kristi. Adjusting our diets to avoid anxiety just feeds the phobia. Our goal should be to eat whatever we want, and not worry (or care) about the fact that we may get food poisoning. Of course, I'm not suggesting that we all start eating raw chicken (eww!), but we should at least be able to limit our diets based upon our health choices and our tastes, not our fears.

[happyteacher]

I'm with all of you. I love to eat and I take pleasure in it (especially a good hamburger and a cold Coke)!

[californiagirl]

Here's my opinion on this subject, and an interesting analogy:


OK, the only "safe sex" is to abstain completely-don't have sex. OR, since people enjoy sex, like they should be able to, they do have sex, but take all the precautions available and use common sense.


Same thing with food---I will not eliminate foods I like, I wanna enjoy them, but take necessary precautions to ensure that I lessen my chances of FP as much as possible, but won't STOP eating the foods I enjoy.


This makes sense if you really think about it.[img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

[tcsarah]

I've been vegetarian for around 16 years now and have never been ill from something I ate. That only happened once about twenty years ago after I ate fish. I didn't become vegetarian for any other reason than I love animals and can't bare the thought of eating them. I have to admit I would be a bit more careful if I did eat meat especially if seafood was involved (known quite a few people who have had fp from things like prawns or scallops) - so to be on the safeside I'd never risk it whilst dining out for example. My dad and step-mum actually had a really nasty bout of food poisoning from ready cooked rice from the local supermarket a couple of years ago, and as others have mentioned, other non-meat food stuffs can cause it, so vegetarians and vegans can still be effected.


Just wondering with the lettuce causing illness, could it have been the pre-washed lettuce you buy in salad packs - these have to be eaten within a certain time and once open should ususally be consumed within 24 hours, sometimes people don't realise that(one of my friends opened one such pack and ate it all week - he was ok though!).

[angel13]

Yep, veggies should always be washed before being eaten - especially if they weremn't prepackaged. People in supermarkets pick up fruit and vegetables, then put them down again and move on - they could have been touching anything before that. They might be ill themselves. They might not have washed their hands after using the toilet. Who knows!


But anyways, I digress! I suppose what I mean is that it's all about the care you take in food preparation. You only need to worry when things have been left out, or not cleaned, or cooked properly, or are like, 2 years after their use-by date, lol.


No way am I going to let emet win by cutting out some of my favourite foods from my diet. No. Way. You have to be wary, yes, but not overly wary. Dan, I'm sure you've done some serious thinking about this, so if you feel it's the right way to go, then go ahead =) we're all tackling emet in different ways, so none of us are going to stop you, if this is what you want to do.