Discussion Board

In the article on Swine Flu, Dr. McDougall wrote, "The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which killed 20 to 40 million people worldwide, began with a mild wave of infections in the spring, but the virus returned a few months later in a far more dangerous form." I'm just recovering from the flu (I don't know if it was the H1N1 flu or not, but a case was diagnosed in our small community of 11,000 people just this month, so it could have been). My question is whether or not people who have had the N1H1 flu will be immune to it next fall/winter? Hopefully, Dr. McDougall will read this and respond.

Hi, Birdy--
I have done some reading on this and I can tell you that I heard about an Australian study of military personnel before, during and after the 1918 pandemic. What they found is that those who contracted the earlier, milder flu were a little less likely to contract the more deadly strain. The interesting finding though is that the mild-flu veterans had a much greater survival rate when they got the later flu.
In other words, getting the milder version did not do much to prevent you from getting the deadly one, but it did offer some protection from dying of it.

However, a BIG however, is that we don't know anything about how this new virus is going to behave. We have studied only three pandemics in history, only the most recent ones (1918, 1957, 1968), and they were all different. We can't predict what will happen based on what happened in 1918. We can, however, be warned about what COULD happen and try to be prepared.

I like to think that any antibodies that I've built up over the decades from illnesses and from shots, might (or might not) give me some edge in the future. I think of it as building up a library of virus information.

Were y'all able to print out the newsletter in PDF form? I can't seem to do so. Didn't know if the problem originates with my computer or not. Thanks.

In the May newsletter re swine flu and stocking food, there's a reference to the March 2008 newsletter ("Cutting Food Costs in These Times") and under "Should You Store Food for an Emergency" is a link re storage of foods. For potatoes it says 6 months. When I store potatoes (in a dark, cool place) they sprout within days. I'd love to store potatoes for an emergency . . . anyone know how it's done? Thanks.

It works on my computer. Hope you can figure out the problem.

Will you be going to PA this summer?

Actually there are four requirements for longer-term storage of potatoes. Dark--that's easy. Cool--this means 40 degrees. Air circulation--they are alive and need air and will rot if sealed up in plastic. Loose in bins or crates is the way to go. And, humid--that is 90 to 95% humidity!!! In previous times many people had a dank basement that was perfect for potatoes. Nowadays many of us don't have basements, or if we do they are nice and dry, and probably too warm.

Sometimes a garage can provide the right environment for potatoes, unless it freezes in the winter. You don't really want them going below 36 degrees. Any warmer than 40 degrees and they will tend to sprout sooner, but that isn't always a problem if you use them up soon enough. If your garage is cold but above freezing, try putting some potatoes in a styrofoam cooler (a cheap one that is permeable to air) with the lid on and a glass of water inside for humidity. You could also sprinkle them just a little for moisture but don't let them sit in water, they will rot. I have been able to store beets and carrots that way really well.

I have an insulated closet built in my unheated garage for food storage. It is against an underground wall. It never goes below freezing in there and the average temperature over the winter is 50 degrees. That's the best I can do for potato storage, as I have no basement. This past year, I remembered to keep the potatoes moist and we did pretty well--the ones that were left in April were still mostly okay. Oh, and my other problem is the garage closet really doesn't cool down until pretty late in the season. I leave the potatoes in the ground as late as I can, because they like it underground (dark, cool, with air, humid). That way they spend less time above 40 degrees.

Thanks Anna. I put my potatoes in a drawer where it's dark and there's air but it's too warm. Also probably not humid enough. I could put a cup of water in the drawer too but it's just not going to be 40 degrees. I don't have any other good place for storage. Potatoes are just not a long-storage item for me then. I'll find other food that stores better.

Thanks AnnaS for your reply. It makes sense that this can't be predicted. I sure hope the scientists are wrong about the strength of the probable outbreaks of flu next year.

That was a most informative post AnnaS.
Thanks
f1jim

Well, they are making an educated guess and trying to prepare people for the worst. It doesn't mean that they 'know' it will be a bad flu. We may find (I hope) that it doesn't work out that way this fall...there are so many factors.

However, the fact is that even if we don't get a bad pandemic this fall, we WILL get one eventually. That is a fact of history, and we are making conditions worse all the time, as the article by Dr. Greger that Dr. McDougall linked to suggests. So we shouldn't feel in a panic about the coming fall, instead we should start preparing for this eventuality in general.

By the way, behind the scenes most communities/counties/cities/states have been making headway in pandemic preparation. It may not be enough yet (our public health system is not what it should be) but it is an encouraging start. You could contact your county health department (or look on their website) to see what's going on there. As an individual, you can not only start preparing for yourself and your family (as Dr. McDougall wrote) but you can also start talking with your neighbors and co-workers about how you can help each other in various scenarios. The more thinking people do ahead of time, the better. Most people do not like thinking about terrible events in the future, so they prefer to just not deal with it. You can help spread information that might encourage them.

--Anna

I think that's a good idea, to find another good source of starch that you can store. If you can eat wheat, wheat berries store almost forever and if you have a grinder you can make bread. My main storage food is brown rice, which doesn't store very long (2 years or so) but we since we eat a lot of rice, we rotate it so what's in storage is still okay.

There is one other factor about potatoes which I should have mentioned, and which might encourage you. It also depends on the time of year! Potatoes have an internal timing mechanism that tells them when spring is here. So, even under the most ideal, perfect conditions, by the spring they will sprout anyway, NO MATTER WHAT. (That is why commercial producers spray chemicals on them to prevent sprouting, which is probably not good for us.) If you buy some potatoes in the fall, these are now dormant and they will store fairly well, even if it's not ideally cold. As time goes on, though, they will think harder and harder about sprouting. Potatoes you buy in the spring are not going to last long.

Look for some good potatoes in the fall--if at all possible buy them from a farmer's market rather than from a grocery store. In the store, the potatoes may have been exposed to enough warmth, light, etc. that their dormant cycle is interrupted. I'll bet you'd have much better luck that way--probably these would keep for you for several weeks.

Thank you Anna for all your good information!

I buy lots of potatoes at the farmers markets in the fall. I store them in paper bags closed with ordinary clip clothespins, on the cool basement floor. It's the coolest I can get. Light can/will cause them to green up, which is not good eats, hence the breatheable brown paper bag. They keep for most of the winter before that internal mechanism AnnaS spoke of kicks in and the sprouting starts. This time of the year they don't keep so well, because they're programmed to grow.