Egg Recall and Update on Weight Loss
I knew it was gross, but I didn’t think it was this gross. The egg recall…have you heard? One thousand-five hundred people ill, because of contaminated eggs.
After watching Food Inc a few weeks ago, I decided for the last time, I was never, ever buying non-organic animal products as long as I live. And now, I’m never, ever, EVER buying non-organic animal products as long as I live. And neither are you.
I’ve read the actual seven-page inspectors report, because that’s what I do…investigative reporting. Here are the highlights (???). I’m not making any of this up.
Chicken manure piles up to 8 feet high (not 8 inches…8 FEET). In some cases, the manure was blocking the entrances to the chicken houses and forcing the doors open.
Un-caged birds (birds that had escaped) using the manure piles to access the egg-laying area.
“Dark liquid” manure seeping through the concrete foundations of the hen houses.
Over two dozen live rodents spotted and counted in the hen houses by inspectors.
Live and dead flies “too numerous to count.”
Live and dead maggots “too numerous to count.”
Wild birds living among the egg-laying hens, sitting in and eating their feed (bird flu anyone?).
Feed grain containing “meat, bone meal and Avian-like feces.”
Keep in mind: This is from a post-outbreak inspection. No one caught these problems BEFORE it was determined which farms were at the center of this problem. This situation is completely out of control. Our food industry needs an overhaul in a big way, before we kill anymore people.
Please, for the love of all that is right and good, spend the few extra dollars on your groceries to buy organic or local. Especially, if you are feeding children. If you aren’t convinced after this, there is nothing I can say. Except all the cool people are doing it. And you’d so NOT be cool if you didn’t do what I did.
Now, onto other cool things I’m doing…
A quick update on the progress of my “Fitness Initiative” a.k.a my quest to lose 18.8 pounds of weight-gain due to Lexapro, an antidepressant.
First, I don’t know about you, but I am getting so sick of keeping this darn food log. I find myself getting to the end of the day and seeing all I wrote was “5:00 am, coffee” at the top. And rather than trying to recount the whole kitten-caboodle, I scrap the day and just start fresh in the morning. That said, I’m still right on track with my eating. I don’t really have an eating problem. I am a genetic freak who actually enjoys healthy food. I’m only keeping a food log because it is supposed to help expose hidden calories or something.
Second, speaking of coffee, I ran out of half-and-half yesterday, so I had the brilliant idea to stop drinking coffee altogether. I decided tea with almond milk and honey would be better for me than coffee with half-and-half and agave nectar. So, at 5 am, I brewed my tea and set about my day. At 7:45 am, I was slipping into a semi-dream state. The problem was that I was driving a vehicle at the time. Not good. At 8:00 am, I was in REM-level sleep on my couch, while Elliana watched “Hotel for Dogs.” At 2:30 pm, I was at Costco, buying a full half gallon of half-and-half. And at 5 pm, I was blissfully drinking coffee.
Third, my daughter is raising money to build a new band room at her school. Thus, she is wearing a pedometer for the next week to track the number of steps she takes in a day, and then soliciting pledges-per-step. She is currently all jazzed about walking in the evenings, which coincides perfectly with my Fitness Initiative. Thus, (I love saying “thus”) I am adding another 30-60 minute walk to my already established workouts, plus, I get to walk each night with one of my favorite people. Cha-ching.
Fourth, all that said, I have not lost one single pound in the last two weeks. In fact, I had a few days this past week where I suddenly gained 4 pounds, and shot up into a “weight decade” I have not seen since I was 7 (SEVEN!!!!) months pregnant. I stayed there for 3 whole days. Which would have brought my total weight gain to 20 pounds. I slowly came back down. But by “back down” I mean, to the point where I’ve only lost 1.5 pounds this entire month. It’s like “happy and sad” all rolled up into one.
Fifth, I’m still feeling some mild withdrawal symptoms from the Lexapro. Therefore, I’m certain this drug has not yet left my body and is therefore still prohibiting me from losing this weight and therefore making me completely insane, therefore, thus.
Sixth, I am giving myself one more month doing what I am currently doing, which will allow my body to rid itself of the Lexapro completely (hopefully) and beat my metabolism into submission. The only things I’m tweaking are my “free meals.” Currently, I allow myself 2 free meals a week, usually on the weekend. That is where I allow myself dessert or a glass of wine (or three) and larger portions of something yummy. I’m going to cut that down a bit. Just not be quite as “free.” It’s all subjective. I don’t know. Don’t listen to anything I’m saying. I buy half-and-half in bulk. What do I know?
Thanks for cracking me up (no pun intended), after the disgusting egg news.
Fondly,
Glenda
Thanks for the Egg and chicken information…After I had my hardboiled egg for my mid-morning snack. Yuck.
Monday is the official start date of my new lease on life and eating to get healthy and look fine fine fine. LIke a friend of mine said, "you can do it for health and vanity's sake". Yes, I might be doing it more for vanity than for health but I am sure the health will benefit from the vanity. After all, I am carrying around 25 unwelcomed and unwanted lbs that have deposited on my body.
So I will be having my 5 to 6 small meals consisting of lean proteins, and right carbs. I will be drinking 100 oz of water/fluid. And eliminating sodium (can Fitness Friday Girl research the benefits of eliminating sodium?). I will also be finding the time to do my cardio walking 5 times a week and will make the time for my fitness training. Yes, I am a woman on a mission!
That "half and half in bulk" was hilarious. And, yes, I'm so with you on the eggs. Gross!
I am ignoring the first half of your post, because I would rather NOT be cool and buying organic or local is a financial impossibility in these parts.
One thing I noticed in the second half of the post is your weight-tracking. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that "you may have a problem with your scale." By that, I don't mean that it's broken. I think you should ask Jon to take your scale from you and hide it for two-four weeks.
You are weighing in so frequently that the constant stress is probably creating a bunch of extra cortisol in your system, THUS keeping the weight on. 😉 In all seriousness, fluctuations on a daily basis are NORMAL in women – I know you know this. So instead, look for progress over time – at least two weeks. In the in-between time, stay off that nasty scale, girl!
Ugh and double ugh on the whole "chicken and egg" thing. At this point, does it matter what came first? They all sound gross! And to think I was planning on going downstairs to make chicken taco salad after this…..I do have a can of organic pinto beans that I will add to mine instead. My husband (who couldn't care less about gross meat because is somehow able to put all of that out of his Irish meat-and-potatos mind) can have the rest of the grilled chicken. I so want to buy only organic meat and just eat less meat in general (I could go mostly vegetarian and be fine with it) so I'm trying to make more dinners where meat is an ingredient rather than the main course.
But I do buy my half-and-half by the half gallon as well….and usually organic! (Now if I can just pony up the 6.00/gallon for organic milk….I'm working on it!
Blessings and give your scale a rest this weekend…:)
Hey Sandy, have you ever thought of drinking your coffee BLACK?! It's yummy! 🙂 (But I totally laughed out loud at the end of your post.)
Oh, honey, I can relate so much to what you are going through with the weight, but my problem may be a bit more permanent–menopause. Ugh. I'm way too young for this, but I can't do a whole lot to stop it. I've put on a few pounds this year, so this week I decided to sign up for Weight Watchers online. It's a lot of what you already do–writing everything down. Kind of a pain, but I've done it once and it really worked. I just hate that it's come to this. 🙁
I'm new to your site… so maybe somebody already mentioned this, but two areas you haven't mentioned on the weight gain are sleep and blood sugar. Those two got me in the same predicament. I was on a strict diabetic diet (with no cheating) and walked hard (sweating profusely) for an hour a day and did not lose a single pound for ten weeks! I could hardly believe it, and the nutritionist I saw did not believe it. Her words were, "If you could just manage to follow this diet and lose five pounds…" She basically thought I was lying to her.
But I digress… The point is I was getting up twice a night with my baby and the fatigue (plus blood sugar issues I'm sure)was preventing my body from losing the weight. You mentioned needing coffee, so I'm thinking a little extra sleep may do the trick for you. It sure made me think sleep was more important!
Hope this helps…