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Why is it that everything I like to eat or drink is bad for me?
Remember when we weren’t supposed to use real butter or whole milk?
And then my doctor eliminated the coffee and rum.
I ignored the scientists that told me butter was going to cause heart disease, but I did quit drinking coffee and most of the rum.
For the past 15 years in Costa Rica I have been enjoying the roasted chicken that is cooked over the coffee wood and now I read that it’s killing people all over the world.
Should we stop eating food cooked over solid wood and buy all our Latino friend’s electric stoves so they can plug in and get sucked into our healthy global economy too?
EarthTrends Update: October 2007 – Solid Fuel Use and Indoor Air Pollution By Lisa Raffensperger
Indoor air pollution causes 1.6 million premature deaths every year and afflicts nearly half of the world’s population, predominantly the rural poor. This makes it the second leading environmental health threat in the world and a critical barrier to poverty alleviation in low-income countries. Yet this issue is rarely discussed outside of public health circles, probably because the health consequences of indoor air pollution are not immediate and can be difficult to trace. Thus, indoor air pollution remains a quiet and neglected killer, with lack of global awareness being one of the primary obstacles to the widespread implementation of existing, proven interventions.
Indoor air pollution is a pressing health threat that, at its root, is really an energy problem. It stems from indoor burning of solid fuels, which include coal and biomass (wood, dung, crop residues, charcoal). Solid fuel burning is very inefficient, so indoor fires and traditional stoves emit a substantial amount of particulate matter and gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and hydrocarbons. Combustion of wood, one of the cleaner biomass fuels, emits 50 times more household pollution than do gas stoves
Solid fuels are the primary fuel source for the world’s poorest people. Over 3 billion people worldwide use solid fuels for cooking, boiling water, lighting, and heating (Rehfuess et al., 2006). These fuels account for more than 95% of domestic energy use in twenty-five of the world’s low-income countries. In contrast, virtually no households in developed regions use solid fuel as their primary energy sourceScientific info tends to scare us into compliance about a lot of things, but I would always take it with a grain of salt and remember how many times that info is later reversed. Our bodies were meant to digest real food not much of the processed food and imitation food we’re sometimes told is better for us. I can show you studies where coffee is not considered bad for you nor some wine and even liquor now and again. I would much rather eat a roasted/BBQ chicken (as long as you’re not making a solid carbon ball out of it) than to eat “food” from a fast food chain. You’re right, wood stoves cause an awful lot of respiratory problems for many families (mostly women & children) of the less economically endowed countries of this world and they also use other fuel forms such as animal waste which can’t be that healthy nor attractive, but it keeps them warm and allows them to cook their meals. The hope would be to provide conditions that allow them to have options that would lead to better health. In Guanacaste there are a group of women that cook with solar ovens in order not to use their wood burning stoves as much and I don’t really know if getting everyone on electric stoves would be the answer environmentally unless they’re solar powered.
As far as indoor air quality it’s not only a lower economic condition, I don’t mean to make light of this problem for others, but I also don’t think I have to tell you that some of the most beautiful houses in the US have been built with such toxic materials that they end up making everyone ill and either having to be remediated or condemned as the proverbial light bulb goes off and the indoor air quality is tested. Everything from insulation, wood preservatives, carpeting and fabric additives to prevent stains, and the list goes on and on. The testing and remediation of indoor air quality has become big business in the US. Thankfully, in CR the climate allows for plenty of aeration and that helps dilute airborne toxins, but I wish we would also become more aware that what may be trendy and pretty may not be that great for your health and the same goes for food. If it’s real food, that has been eaten with good results for a long time–it’s probably good for you and if someone came up with it in a chemical or fast food laboratory–I’ll pass. I hope you will find food that is good for you and that you enjoy eating and sharing with friends & family. It’s one of the joys in life…Pura Vida!
What about the air in all our houses in The Northeast US in the winter. Many of us are either burning oil or wood to heat our homes. When you don’t air out a house for 4-5 months, the quality of what we breathe has to be none too good. Look, I just found another reason to move to Costa Rica.lol
Coffee, good or bad, I still want my three cups a day. I keep myself in denial by thinking I’m loading up on antioxidants.
That’s just how I feel about chocolate Alfred! I take this delicious chocolate drink that is full of antioxidants, has no sugar or cocoa fat, but every now and again I do love to eat a piece of chocolate cake. There are three places that make the most wonderful chocolate cakes, two in Costa Rica (Cafe Mundo and Bread & Chocolate) and one is in Red Bank, NJ (but I think that might have had more to do with the company than the cake :-). For me, chocolate cake is just one of the many reasons I have to move to CR (LOL)….
Then you haven’t tasted my flourless chocolate torte! In every restaurant where I worked as a pastry chef, I couldn’t make enough of these tortes to meet the demand. A friend of ours just opened a new restaurant and recruited me to set up the pastry and bread department and of course produce my now-famous chocolate monster. It’s served with a respberry coulis and a dollop of whipping cream. If it’s this good made with Belgium 65% cocoa chocolate, imagine what it’s going to taste like made with organic Costa Rican chocolate?
OMG, that sounds incredibly scrumptious!!!! You are an amazing woman Maravilla and I’m sure your organic chocolate masterpiece will give all of my old favorites intense competition. Now, you can’t tempt a chocolate lover like myself that way and not say where we can savor a little bit of that heaven in CR…BTW, the date of my next CR trip is a bit uncertain right now so do you FedEx? 🙂 See that, one more reason to hurry up and get to CR….
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