Canteloupes: Tainted By Fear, Not Listeria

Chances are, you aren’t buying canteloupes these days, scared off by the latest scare in food-borne illnesses. Canteloupes from a Colorado farm were found to be contaminated with Listeria, and have now sickened hundreds of people and killed 29, the highest death toll ever from a food-borne pathogen. The problem is, this is just the tip of a truly enormous iceberg. And canteloupes are the least of your worries.

According to one report, the CDC estimates that 245 people are actually killed by listeria every year — but these deaths are never linked to a specific outbreak so they don’t make the news. And not buying canteloupes does you absolutely no good — the canteloupes currenty in the stores have absolutely nothing to do with those that caused the outbreak. The Colorado canteloupe season is over; the current crop comes from California (my home state), where customers’ refusal to buy the fruit has desperately hurt the canteloupe farmers. They’re are leaving whole fields of fruit to rot — and leaving farmworkers without jobs — because it’s not worth the labor costs to pick them when there’s no market due to public perception.

The problem is, public perception is based on misinformation. These canteloupes are perfectly safe, while listeria lurks undetected in a host of other foods, from fruits and vegetables to meat and packaged foods. Here are the worst culprits when it comes to listeria contamination.

• Canned and raw seafoods. When the FDA conducted a safety test of many types of food for listeria, number one on the list was smoked seafood; of the 7,855 samples tested, 12.9 percent contained listeria. All types of dried and preserved fish also tested high, as did raw seafood.
• Fruits of all kinds. Melons can pick up the listeria bacteria, but so can any fruit. Most commonly, the listeria pathogens are carried in the soil or in water used to spray or wash the fruit or in the soil. According to the FDA, more than 11 percent of all fruits sampled tested positive for listeria. But here’s the thing to remember, the listeria is on the outside of the fruit – it doesn’t spread throughout the flesh. So if you wash fruit as soon as you buy it with an antibacterial fruit and vegetable wash or, in a pinch, with antibacterial dish soap, you should be fine. Wash it again before you eat it, or better yet, peel it.
• Foods that are refrigerated for long periods of time. Unlike most food-borne pathogens, listeria can continue to grow under refrigeration. So refrigerating food does not prevent the growth of listeria once it’s introduced. Some types of cheeses test high in listeria, particularly aged cheeses such as brie and camembert.
• Preserved and smoked meats. Hot dogs, sausages, salami and all manner of preserved meats eaten cold are potential listeria transmitters. According to the FDA, listeria was detected in 6.4 percent of sausage samples, 4.8 percent of hot dogs sampled, and 6.5 percent of pâtes and meat spreads.
• Root vegetables and ground-grown vegetables like squash. Vegetables that grow in the soil, like beets, carrots, and potatoes can come in contact with listeria in the soil, as can those that grow on low-lying vines like zucchini and other types of squash. Lettuce and spinach have also tested positive for listeria. But no way should you avoid veggies, which are healthiest foods in your diet, out of fear of listeria. Instead, wash all veggies thoroughly and peel wherever appropriate. Wash both before and after you peel to prevent the bacteria being transferred on your hands.

What is Listeriosis?

The Listeria bacteria causes a systemic condition called listeriosis, which can take up to two months to show up. Once a person becomes ill, it’s usually with meningitis and encephalitis, brain infections that are often fatal or severely disabling. If your immune system is healthy, it can usually fight off the slow-growing listeria bacteria, but the elderly, people with compromised immune systems, and pregnant women are at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the disease and its complications.

Who knew: cherries are high in melatonin

When you open the cupboards in search of a midnight snack, it helps to be aware that some foods can bring on insomnia, while others help you sleep more deeply. So choose carefully! Here are five foods proven to help you drift off:

1. Toast.

Carbohydrate-rich foods cause a spike in blood sugar levels, triggering the body’s production of insulin to bring them back down. This is why you often feel a burst of energy in the first few minutes after eating carbs, then a “crash” of tiredness. At night, this sleepiness can be very useful, making toast the perfect midnight snack. Along with insulin comes a release of tryptophan and serotonin, two relaxing brain chemicals that send you peacefully to slumberland.
2. Oatmeal.

Like toast, a bowl of oatmeal triggers a rise in blood sugar, which in turn triggers insulin production and the release of sleep-inducing brain chemicals. Oats are also rich in melatonin, which many people take as a sleep aid.
3. Cherries.

Cherries are one of the only natural food sources of melatonin, the chemical that controls the body’s internal clock to regulate sleep. Fresh cherries, dried cherries, and cherry juice (especially tart cherry juice, which contains less sugar) are thus wonderful sleep aids. Researchers who tested tart cherries and found high levels of melatonin recommend eating them an hour before bedtime or before a trip when you want to sleep on the plane.
4. Bananas.

Potassium and magnesium are natural muscle relaxants, and bananas are a good source of both. They also contain the amino acid L-tryptophan, which gets converted to 5-HTP in the brain. The 5-HTP in turn is converted to serotonin (a relaxing neurotransmitter) and melatonin.
5. Warm milk.

Like bananas, milk contains the amino acid L-tryptophan, which turns to 5-HTP and releases relaxing serotonin. It’s also high in calcium, which promotes sleep.

A Paddle Diva hits the water

Recently I wrote a feature on how to learn a new sport for The Motherboard, a website serving readers of all the Meredith women’s magazines, which include More, Family Circle, Parents, and many others — many of which I write for as well.

It was super fun to report because I got to interview fabulous women who are deeply immersed in the sports they love, including kayak and stand-up paddle (SUP) guru Gina Bradley, owner of Paddle Diva, surfer extraordinaire Lexie Hallahan, who runs Northwest Women’s Surf Camps, and internationally known golf pro Cindy Reid.

And of course, as often happens when I write these stories, I over-reported and ended up with all sorts of great tips and info that landed on the cutting room floor, so to speak.

To get the full story on each sport, I highly recommend reading the story itself — the “s slide show” format makes it easy to quickly jump to the sport you’re interested in. But here, for the generalist, are some truly helpful suggestions from these great gals in the know.

1. Learn from a woman. Sorry guys, I know this is going to rattle some chains, but it’s the truth. Women do pretty much everything differently, and learning is one of them. Every single teacher I interviewed made the point that male teachers have trouble teaching women effectively, especially first-timers, because they have less understanding about women’s bodies, and what they can and can’t do easily. Also, if you have any kind of “irrational fear” such as a fear of dark water (mine) or a fear of heights (also mine), a guy teacher just isn’t going to “get it” as well and help you work through it.

Happy smiles at NW women's surf camp

2. Learn in a group. And, preferably, a group of women or a group that includes plenty of women. There are a couple of exceptions to this one; practicing your golf swing may well be better done one on one. But in general, learning in a group is the best way to conquer intimidation, overcome beginner jitters, and just plain make it all more fun. Plus, when you take a class you’re almost certain to meet other like-minded women who can then become your sports buddies when you pursue your sport of choice on your own.

3. Rent, don’t buy. For starters, you want to be on the best possible equipment; showing up to a class or lesson with an out of date bike or a surfboard not properly sized is going to immediately sabotage your experience. But you don’t want to pay for said equipment until you’re sure you like the sport in question. So start by renting; if you take a class, it’s likely equipment is provided, or rentals will be available on-site, often for a discounted rate. With a sport like rock climbing that may not be possible, but the teacher will recommend an equipment source and provide a list of what you need.

4. Don’t skimp on equipment. When you’re ready to buy, you’ve already developed a passion for your sport and sufficient commitment to pursuing it on your own. Honor that passion and commitment by getting the right stuff. With many sports, like mountain biking, SUP-ing, surfing and others, gear changes quickly and a bike or surfboard that’s five years old may already be out of date. Craigslist is great, but if you go that route, be prepared to look long and hard, and check sizing and quality of materials in person before committing to buy. The consequences of using poor equipment are much more serious than most people realize; riding a bike that’s even a small amount too small can wreck your knees, for example, which I found out from personal experience.

But most of all, make it fun! Whether you’re signing up for a one-day class or heading off on a week-long vacation adventure, this could be the start of something really big in your life. It’s worth getting excited about! Treat it as a commitment, not an indulgence. (A weakness of us women when it comes to fitness.) Find buddies who love your sport as much as you do, and set up a regular schedule of outings so you’re not always pulling out calendars. Then keep at it! Remember, it has absolutely nothing to do with how “good” you are at your sport of choice; it’s all about what you’re getting out of it.

SUP-ing in comfort with Athleta

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ve heard me rave about Athleta before. This company, founded locally in my home county of Marin, makes my favorite travel and fitness clothes of all time. Think bathing suits that don’t ride up, so you can actually swim, surf, and kayak in them rather than lie around looking ornamental. And hiking pants and shorts (and skorts, my personal fave) that truly have enough pockets so all you have to carry is your hip pack. Then there are the groovy travel-friendly dresses and yoga clothes cute enough to wear out for coffee afterwards.

In fact, I love Athleta’s yoga pants so much I highlighted them in a post about my favorite double-duty travel clothes; I’ve worn my Athleta yoga pants topped with a gauzy shirt to countless formal dinners all over the world and no one’s been the wiser.

A couple of weeks ago I got an exciting email notifying me that www.Health-Conscious-Travel.com was chosen to be featured on Athleta’s Chi Blog — a blog I follow devotedly — as one of five fitness and travel blogs selected for a giveaway. The prize? A $100 gift card to be used on all that Athleta gear you’ve been coveting! So, here’s what you need to do. Comment on this post, telling me what sport or activity you’d use your new Athleta gear for and why it’s important to you. Bonus points for actually naming an Athleta item you’d use your gift card for. And even more bonus points for signing up via email or RSS feed to follow posts from Health*Conscious*Travel.com. And please include your email address so I can notify you if you win.

May the most devoted Athleta fan win!

Yikes! Turn out the light!

It turns out, it’s all about the light. Sleep researchers studying shift workers have long known that light is the enemy of healthy sleep. But more recently, studies have shown that the light from backlit computer screens and iPads — and to a slightly lesser extent, TV — are seriously sabotaging modern sleep habits.

The science behind this conclusion makes perfect sense. Our bodies are governed by a sleep-wake cycle that starts with our eyes. When our eyes register darkness, they send a signal to the brain to start producing melatonin, the hormone that makes us feel sleepy. When light shines in your eyes, it tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. Over time, this can seriously mess up your sleep-wake cycle.
Portable screens are particularly problematic, since they’re backlit and shine directly in our eyes.  Even worse, this type of light is at the blue end of the spectrum, and blue light only occurs naturally during the day.

Here’s are the tips and tricks I learned while embarking on a campaign to banish light from my sleeping environment. The tune that kept running through my head? Simon & Garfunkle’s Sound of Silence. “Hello darkness, my old friend…”

• Dim the lights gradually starting a couple of hours before bedtime.
• Put away laptops, iPads, cell phones and turn off the TV at least an hour before you go to sleep.
• Don’t have a TV in your bedroom, and banish laptops from bed.
• Read in bed, instead. Books are great, of course, but if you prefer tech, choose a basic Kindle, which doesn’t have a backlit screen.
• Use the smallest clip-on reading light you can get away with and direct the light onto the pages — or the device — and away from your eyes.
• Check your bedroom for extraneous sources of light, no matter how miniscule.
• Are there streetlights outside your windows? Use blackout curtains or shades and make sure they fit the windows tightly so no light seeps in around the edge.
• Charge laptops, phones, cameras, and other devices in another room.
• Banish night lights, even from the bathroom.
• Use an alarm clock without a lighted dial, or turn it to face the wall.Need to get up during the night?
• Keep a flashlight next to your bed and use it to go to the bathroom or let the dog out. (Point it away from yourself so you don’t look into the beam.)

Basically, for that last hour before bed, pretend you’re camping or in a pioneer cabin on the prairie. Remember how well you slept last time you were off the grid?

Be strict with yourself for a few weeks and see if your sleep improves. If you find yourself feeling more rested and relaxed, you’ll probably conclude it’s worth it to record episodes of Parenthood and The Good Wife and watch them the next day.

When you travel, three things are at a premium:
• space
• weight
• versatility

You want to bring things that weigh almost nothing, take up little space in your suitcase, and do double-or triple-duty as part of a multitude of different outfits.

In the past eight months, one item has come with me on every single trip, and that’s my beloved go-anywhere, do anything Icebreaker leggings.

Made of 150-denier merino wool, they’re so lightweight they take up less room than cotton leggings, but they’re oh so much warmer and more windproof. And here’s the kicker: they don’t wrinkle or bag after multiple wearings, and they dry in just hours when I hand-wash them in hotel sinks.

This fall, winter and spring, my Icebreaker leggings kept me warm in the Canadian Rockies in January, made it possible to stroll Edinburgh and Glasgow all day despite the late October chill, and allowed me to pay homage to Stevie Ray Vaughn in Austin and visit Chimayó, New Mexico in the midst of frigid December weather.

A photo album of my Icebreaker leggings around the globe:

Surprisingly, even though they’re made of pure New Zealand wool, these leggings aren’t for winter only. In fact, who knew that wool could keep you cool in summer, too? This spring my Icebreaker leggings not only took me to New York City, they went to the Yucatan and to Santa Barbara, too.

I’m not a big touter of products, but I love these leggings so much I want everyone to know about them. Yes, the price tag ($60) is steep. But I’m a great believer in paying for quality when it’s one of those perfect items you can’t do without. And these leggings are so durable, after a year of hard wear, they still look brand new. I have many other pairs, and they stay home in my drawer. But when it comes to these babies, I never leave home without ‘em.

Well, I’ve got the answer: Santa Barbara. And the explanation is simple: Thanks to a “banana belt” climate caused by warm air currents, Santa Barbara gets an average of 300 days of sunshine a year. Yep, that means just 65 days a year when it’s NOT sunny, folks!

And of course warm weather + beach = lots and lots of outdoor activities await.

Here’s a sampling of the outdoor fun to be had in Santa Barbara:

Peddling the beach

1.  Peddle the beachfront boardwalk. Rent a beach cruiser or deuce coupe from Wheel Fun Rentals, with two convenient locations right on the boardwalk. Whether you want a two-person or four-person cruiser, or serious road bikes for an all-day ride, they’ve got what you need, helmets included. We did both; one day we took a coupe for a leisurely peddle down the beachfront, then the next we took cruisers and ventured south past the spectacular Biltmore Hotel and on to quiet Montecito Beach, where we had the waves almost to ourselves.

Hotel Oceana’s sunny patio

2. Stay in a beachfront hotel with palm groves and a fabulous pool.Hotel Oceana (pictured in the collage above and to the left) has everything you — or your kids — could want, from a free breakfast complete with waffles, to a rack full of beach cruisers available free for the taking. The bougainvilla-bedecked garden includes several patio areas for picnicking and a huge kidney-shaped pool with a bubbling hot jacuzzi to soothe your sore muscles after a day of climbing cliffs with no gears.

The daily catch

3. Eat fresh-caught crab or lobster right off the boat. At the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, in a nondescript shack at the very end of the municipal pier, you choose your lunch or dinner from amongst the fat and happy crabs swimming around in a tank and watch them boil it right up for you. Not for the faint of heart, but the freshness can’t be beat.

4. Kayak the harbor. Kayaks are for rent on the wharf just past where you catch the water taxi. Santa Barbara Kayak Company has ocean kayaks, hobies, and paddle boards too. Newbies can paddle around amongst the yachts and stay sheltered, while the more adventurous can venture out to the open water, where sea lion and dolphin sightings are common.

There’s another reason why Santa Barbara’s perfect for active travelers: The city has made a major commitment to going car-free, with bike lanes all over town and a free shuttle between the beach and downtown that lets you bring bikes onboard. A website, Car-Free Santa Barbara, makes it easy to access all transportation options and figure out how to get wherever you need to go. So you can park your car at your hotel and not use it again the entire time you’re here. Given how car-dependent most of California is, this really sets Santa Barbara apart.

 

Santa Barbara Vacations

I’ve been in the Nehalem Bay area for just two days, and already I’m planning my next visit. (I’m hoping to come back in a month or two, when it warms up enough to kayak without shivering.) Rarely do I stumble upon a getaway that has everything I need, everything I want (two different things) and no gaggles of people around to disturb the perfection.

Here to tempt you is a photo tour of the area in the form of a wish list, sharing just a few of the highlights that make this such a great place to chill.

Wish list item #1: The perfect hotel. Wish no more, here we have it, the Old Wheeler Hotel. Just  two years under the loving stewardship of new owners Katie Brown and Greg Nichols, and this historic hotel has the kind of quirky elegance and warm hospitality you might expect to find in Provence or Tuscany. Reasons we love it:

• Cozy touches like a personalized greeting on the door
• Hot chocolate, tea, and hot cider any time you want them
• Lovely, restful decor that takes it’s cue from a Parisian flea market
• Big comfy king-sized beds
• Great selection of movies and popcorn to go with them
• Super deep Jacuzzi tub big enough for two
• A piano available to play any time
• All day aromatherapy thanks to Votiva candles burning in the halls
• Continental breakfast included that’s not just pastries and coffee

Wish list item #2: A fab restaurant you want to go to again and again. This one’s a true find: the Rising Star Café in Wheeler, which serendipitously happens to be just across the street from our hotel. In most small beach towns, there aren’t a lot of options for well-prepared, locally sourced, veggie-friendly food. (Unless you like fish and chips and pizza, you’re usually out of luck.)

But all it takes is one great chef and you’re set, and he’s here in Wheeler, having relocated from top restaurants in various coastal settings, including Cape Cod. Both nights we ate there, the tiny dining room was packed with diners who couldn’t stop commenting on the freshness and creativity of the dishes. Ron, Pepi, and their grown children run Rising Star like a community project, with $10 pasta nights on Thursdays and movie nights in which diners can take their meals across the street to the family’s other business, the Treasure Tea Room.


Wish list item #3: Great sunset views. Yep, here they are, right out the window of the Old Wheeler Hotel, which is on the second floor directly overlooking the bay.

Wish list item #4: Lots of outdoorsy things to do. Well, heck yes.

• Nehalem Bay is like a playground for kayakers; just enough current and waves to make things interesting but protected from the stiff winds on the coast.

• Nearby Manzanita beach is seven miles of rolling surf and squeaky clean sand scattered delicately with sand-dollars and shiny black stones. Dogs are allowed off-leash, too.

• Looming Mount Neah-kah-nie is a stout climb up pine-shrouded slopes to one of the best views on the Oregon coast.

• Nehalem Bay State Park has yurts you can camp in, horseback riding through the dunes, miles of hiking trails, world-class birdwatching, and the chance to spot elk grazing.

Wish list item #5: A massage at the end of the day. Between the three tiny towns of Wheeler, Nehalem, and Manzanita, you have not one but two spas and a number of independent massage therapists to choose from. Spa Manzanita is a full-service day spa where I had an anti-aging facial to rival those at world-class resort spas. Groovy new Rainbow Lotus Healing Center, newly opened in Nehalem, offers seasonal treatment packages using all-natural herbal therapies.

With the Old Wheeler Hotel to host your stay, Rising Star Café to feed you in style, and the river, sea, and mountain to keep you busy, this tiny triangle of towns is destined to be the new “undiscovered gem” of the Oregon Coast. I highly advise discovering it before others do.

I’m posting this from the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, now known to most visitors as the Riviera Maya. Yes, this is one of those carefully coined tourism catchphrases, but at least in this case it’s not too far-fetched.

One glance at the photo to the right and you’ll see that the sun, sand and turquoise water are indeed Riviera-like. And truly, Mayan history and traditions permeate every aspect of the Yucatan’s colorful personality.

Take, for example, Gabriel Bolio Argaez, the ecological guide at Xpu-Há eco-park, a protected reserve of low-lying jungle that includes the Xpu-Há Palace hotel where we’re staying.

Gabriel and one of the rescued birds he cares for

Gabriel is Mayan by ancestry, a botanist by training, and a healer as well as a protector of wildlife by calling. He cares for all the rescued critters at Xpu-Há, which include flamingos, turtles, crocodiles, white-tailed deer, spider monkeys, and an aviary full of brilliantly plumed birds like military macaws, great curacao — even a toucan rescued from exporters who could have charged $7000 on the black market.

Gabriel describes himself as the animals’ “master chef,” preparing different fresh dishes for each species, including special diets for injured animals he’s nursing back to health.

Within ten minutes of meeting our group, Gabriel was offering us traditional Mayan medicinal cures for one common ailment after another. Gabriel’s carefully annotated recipes — he’s already prepared the index for a book he plans to publish – feature herbs and native plants he’s cultivated himself and leaves and bark from the native trees in the park.

A rescued “black market” toucan

A few of Gabriel’s Mayan healing recipes:

• Alfalfa tea: lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, cures diabetes and gout

• Oyster plant, or Boatilly: a tea made from the leaves has hypoglycemic properties and prevents diabetes; an ointment in a coconut oil base cures skin cancer

• Combination of oyster plant and broccoli: Prevents and cures prostate inflammation

• Eggplant: prevents insomnia

• A tea of avocado, lemon, and native Mexican oregano: antiviral, antibacterial and anti-hypertensive

• “Chicle”: a gum made from the bark of sapodilla trees (yes, this is where William Wrigley got Chiclets chewing gum) cures dental infections and inflamation

Curious about the science behind Mayan healing methods, I did some quick research when I got back to my room and quickly came up with a wealth of interesting research backing up pretty much everything Gabriel had to say. For example, I found a botanical monograph by Ralph L. Roys (not available as a link), The Ethno-Botany of the Maya, that lists 10 Mayan herbs and plants demonstrated to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, including.

Also found an older book, Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Mayan Healer, by Rosita Arvigo, that made me want to drop everything and head for the rainforest for further study.

Once almost completely eradicated from the U.S., bedbugs are back with a vengeance. First spotted in hotels on the east coast, they’re now making themselves at home in movie theaters, office buildings, apartments, public buildings, and college dorms all over the country.

Recent bedbug attacks:
• New York: Abercrombie & Fitch, Niketown, several major movie theaters, and Google’s headquarters were shuttered to eradicate a bedbug infestation
• Chicago; citywide alerts issued and task forces convened
• Bloomington, Indiana; a bed bug infestation is so extreme the city bought new equipment that fries bedbugs with heat
• Toronto: bedbugs infested many major public buildings including Etobicoke Hospital
• Los Angeles, infestations are turning up all over the city, primarily in residential neighborhoods
• Denver; bedbugs got so bad that the public library had to destroy a rare book collection
• Boston; colleges and universities have students on alert when moving into dorms
•All over Ohio; the state convened a special task force of the EPA to look for solutions, including an excmption to allow the indoor use of a banned pesticide, propoxur (the exemption has failed so far)

I’ve been asked to narrate some videos about how to fight bedbugs, so in preparation I’ve assembled my best tips.

Bedbug art adorns a NYC street

The best way to protect yourself from bedbugs is not to get them in the first place. And the way to ensure your home stays bedbug-free is not to bring them home with you.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to avoid bedbugs if you don’t know what they look like. Check for tiny critters about the size and color of a sesame seed. They are often almost transparent so they can be hard to spot.

You can best spot bedbugs in your home by taking the sheets off the mattress and looking for telltale signs of their presence such as dark spots around the edges.

Even if you don’t see any signs of bedbugs, take steps to protect yourself and your stuff. When you travel, use a luggage rack to keep your suitcase off the floor, and pull the rack away from the wall.

Don’t leave clothes draped over chairs or on the floor or bed. I keep my clothes and other belongings inside ziploc plastic bags in my suitcase just to be sure.

When you return from a trip, wash all clothes and dry them in a hot dryer and leave your suitcase outside for a couple of weeks or enclose it in a plastic garbage bag.