Poisoned By Food

We need food to survive.  It gives us nourishment, energy, and overall keeps the body working.  Eating is a social activity as well.  Traditions are born around food.  Memories are made out to dinner.  Good conversations are had over the dinner table.  But what happens when the food you're eating wreaks havoc on your body?  What happens when the very thing you enjoyed is now poisoning you?

The other day I went out to dinner to celebrate some big news.  It was at a restaurant that I frequently visit and have always had a positive experience.  I ate a garlic shrimp pizza-- which I had ordered before-- and I drank a glass of white wine.  (Since I work in the wee hours of the morning, I generally do not drink on weeknights.  If I am out to dinner, though, my general rule of thumb is no more than two drinks and no drinking past 9 p.m.  But like I said, I rarely drink on weeknights.)  Well, four hours later I woke up to excruciating abdominal pain and just moments later projectile vomiting.  Had I consumed too much food and this was the body's way of warning me not to overeat?  Or was something much worse happening?  I quickly realized it was the latter, after spending the next 17-20 hours fighting to keep anything in my system, and that I got hit with a severe case of food poisoning.  My body was working overtime to flush out the toxins, while rejecting anything else from coming in.  It's interesting to think that it knows that these certain bad things shouldn't be in your body, and it tries to get rid of them.  But it's horrifying to wonder what it is that's polluting your system.

Because I couldn't even keep water in my body, I became seriously dehydrated.  I couldn't stand up without feeling faint, and I had no energy to move.  So we went to the hospital.  It took three full IV bags, morphine and some other drug to help with nausea, and six hours before I was finally able to feel slightly better than before.  I went home and finally slept for the first time in nearly 24 hours.  It's hard to sleep when your body is fighting to remove things from it.

I am still recovering a day later, but I'm not back to normal completely.  My throat hurts from vomiting so much and my body is incredibly sore.  And while I'm advised not to eat anything but bread and crackers, I have no desire to eat-- not just physically, but mentally.  It is disturbing that what I ate at that restaurant caused such a bad reaction.  And it bothers me to my core that we could eat something, trust what we're eating is safe, and then end up in the hospital with an IV.  I can undoubtedly say that I will never eat at the restaurant again, and that's fine.  Right now, I'm hesitant to eat anywhere.  I'm sure that will change eventually, but I'm feeling very skeptical about food, how it's handled and what it gets exposed to.

According to government statistics, nearly 50 million people in the U.S. get sick from food each year.   The CDC reports more than 125,000 people are hospitalized and 3,000 people die.  I don't wish the pain I had yesterday on anyone.  Yet 1 in 6 Americans deal with this every single year.

I think the scary thing is that we need food.  It's not like we can just not eat.  So we trust what we eat and what we put into our bodies, and we hope that we're making smart, healthy decisions.  But then something happens and you wonder just how safe the process is.  And you wonder if there's any way you can truly avoid any of it.

BBQ Black Bean Pizza

The other day I stumbled across some recipes on Eating Well, and the one that intrigued me the most was the Smoky Corn and Black Bean Pizza.  First, it seemed so easy to make.  Second, it uses barbecue!!  I freaking love barbecue.  And as I've mentioned before, it's hard to incorporate BBQ into vegetarian food.  (See: Feelin' Saucy),  So whenever I see an easy recipe using my favorite ingredient, I have to try it.

I altered it a little by skipping the cornmeal and adding peppers and onions.  Also, I don't have a grill, so this was made simply in an oven.  (Who grills pizza??).

Mix together a diced tomato, a cup of black beans, a cup of corn kernels, diced peppers and onions in a bowl.  Take pre-made organic whole-wheat pizza dough and spread 1/3 cup of barbecue sauce on it (as if it were marinara sauce).  I prefer Dinosaur BBQ straight from Syracuse, NY, but since I didn't have much left, I went searching for a similar version in the store aisles.  I luckily found an All Natural Three Little Pigs BBQ Sauce in Kansas City Spicy (it wasn't spicy), that does not contain corn syrup, worchestershire, or "natural flavors."   Put a layer of BBQ on the dough, then cover it with the corn and black bean mixture and throw it in the oven.  After about 15 minutes, take out the pizza and cover it with a light layer of thinly shredded mozzarella cheese. The recipe calls for smoked mozzarella, but I couldn't find that.  Keep the pizza in the oven until the cheese melts.

The pizza was delicious! It's enough to feed two hungry people.  Why would anyone want to use marinara when you can use BBQ?  It's such a better alternative.