Mercury in Fish

My girl asked me one day:

"Mummy, is fish smart?"

"Hmm.. I don't think so. They have very small brains."

"Then why did Grandma say I must eat fish to be smart?"

That really cracked me up! ;D

The old wives' tale that eating fish is good for brains has its place. 

I am, however, more concerned about the level of mercury in fish as nowadays, our rivers and seas are superbly toxic what with oil spills, toxic waste and chemicals conveniently dumped into our global waters. I have a friend who used to work off shore on an oil rig and he said that whatever liquid chemicals that weren't needed anymore were poured into the sea-- on a daily basis!

What is considered a dangerous level of mercury in our bodies?

"Most non-exposed people have mercury levels of 0 to 2 (all blood measurements are in micrograms of mercury per deciliter of blood, or ug/dl). Levels above 2.8 ug/dl are required to be reported to the Health Department. This test can be influenced by eating fish, because fish (particularly certain deep sea fish) may contain mercury."

Source: Mercury (read more for the side effects on health)

So I compiled a list of fish which has the lowest to the highest content of mercury as a guideline. Hope you'll find it helpful.

LOWEST MERCURY

Eat 2-3 servings a week (pregnant women and small children should not eat more than 12 ounces (2 servings):

• Anchovies
• Catfish
• Clam
• Crab
• Crawfish
• Flounder
• Haddock
• Herring
• Mackerel
• Mullet
• Oyster
• Perch
• Pollock
• Salmon
• Sardine 
• Scallop
• Shrimp
• Sole
• Squid
• Tilapia
• Trout
• Whitefish

MODERATE MERCURY

Eat six servings or fewer per month (pregnant women and small children should avoid these):

• Bass
• Carp
• Cod
• Halibut
• Lobster
• Mahi Mahi
• Monkfish
• Perch
• Snapper
• Tuna (Canned Chunk light)

HIGH MERCURY

Eat three servings or less per month (pregnant women and small children should avoid these):

• Bluefish
• Grouper
• Sea Bass
• Tuna (Canned Albacore, Yellowfin) 

HIGHEST MERCURY

Avoid eating (everyone):

• Marlin
• Orange Roughy
• Shark
• Swordfish
• Tilefish
• Tuna (Ahi)

More: Mercury Levels in Fish 

          Mercury in Malaysian Fish

_{Sources:
Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Mercury Levels in Commercial Fish and Shellfish
Food and Drug Administration (FDA). What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish
National Resource Defense Council. Mecury Contamination in Fish.
Centers for Disease Control. Public Health Statement for Mercury. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.}

_{Carpe Diem, ladies!}

_Becky

Would You Give Your Family Supplements?

There are three things in life we cannot escape:  

Death, Taxes..................................................... and the Direct Salesman! 

(Cymbals clang... "Thank you, Thank you! Yes, I love cheese...")

Honestly, if you're not an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) distributor, you would have at least been approached by a stranger, friend or a relative who is one. Every company would claim that theirs is the miracle product, helps you lose weight, can cure all sorts of illnesses, beautify you from inside out, prevent dread diseases and etc etc etc. Some of the direct salespeople that have approached me and my family are from brands like Amway, Melilea, Cosway, Herbalife, Forever Living, Transfer Factor, Usana... to name a few. 

Although we have tried some, my husband is a stubborn skeptic while I sit on the fence on this matter. We have always maintained that as long as we eat a healthful and balanced diet, we should be doing alright. Right?

So I asked some friends of ours over dinner last night. They are mature parents with three kids. Straight away they gave a resounding "YES! Health supplements work!" The husband said that due to his less-than-healthy lifestyle when he was much younger, he should be stricken with some form of illnesses by now. But unlike some of his friends who are either sickly, unhealthy-looking, balding due to a lifestyle of excess, he claims that he is in good health (well, he is certainly healthy looking). He believes that if he were to stop taking these supplements, all illnesses would surface. His wife opined that our natural food is no better nowadays what with all the growth hormones injected into meat, pesticide-laced vegetables, chemical-ridden imported foods..etc. Plus, depending on how meticulous we are, vegetables also tend to lose their goodness during the course of preparation and cooking. Also, people tend to eat out a lot more due to work and convenience.  

Hmmm.....

Then, an article I came across got me wondering if we should perhaps balance our food intake with supplements after all. Check out Bizzarre Effects on Teens.

According to Dr Alice Prethima, she is seeing many cases of abnormalities in male and female teens due to the food chain and diet e.g. girls with too much hair where it shouldn't be and boys growing breasts (pic), a condition called gynecomastia. She further elaborated that we're eating too much meat and meat contain growth hormones previously injected into the animals. 

Besides that, bad oestrogens enter our bodies from:
a) Plastic materials e.g. fizzy bottled drinks
b) Polysterene containers when we pack food
c) Plastic bags/wrappers which are used to wrap food e.g. roti canai, curry, laksa...etc
d) Pesticides, insecticides and other bad oestrogenic substances in the environment.

It is a scary thought isn't it? That the food we take could potentially cause our sons to have breasts and daughters to be hairy.

Perhaps supplements aren't such a bad idea after all? Unless you're a farmer or you grow your own vegetables, it seems 'natural' foods nowadays aren't so natural: Meat with hormones, vegetables with pesticide, fish with mercury, dairy products with melamine...etc. I worry for our children!

What do you reckon?

More on:
Why Supplements are Good for You. 
Are Vitamins and Mineral Supplements Good for You? 
Safety of Herbal Supplements 

Man Talk - Jared

Name: Jared

Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Age: 27
Married for 20 months (AGES!!!!!! hahaha)

1) "To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not understand her at all." What is your take on the above statement?

Jared: I don't really agree with this statement. I've heard something similar in that men would rather be respected more than loved which I think can be true in some sense, and for a lot of men this may be the case. However, I think these 2 things (love and understanding/respect) go hand in hand. To be able to truly love my Wife in the capacity she needs and deserves, I need to understand how she works/thinks (as hard as that may seem sometimes haha), how she feels loved, and how I can best show that to her.
Likewise, if my wife understands me, yet does not love me, then she would just be the same as any other person who has taken the time to get to know me. Many of my friends understand me, that doesn't mean they want to be married to me.

2) Which part of the wedding vow do you hold especially dear to your heart? Why?

Jared:  The part of our vows which I hold dear is "I will ... always seek your good with all my strength and all the strength God gives me". In Ephesians 5:22 it says " Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church...". Quite often guys will jokingly quote this scripture, perhaps sometimes with some degree of belief, making the point the the wife should do whatever the husband says. Rarely do they carry on from that where it says in verse 25:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy ... in this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies."

To me this is the real challenge is. To love my Wife with the same level of commitment, dedication and passion that Christ showed to me by laying down his life. That whatever decisions are made, they are in her best interest.

3) Under "Money Issues..", an Anonymous who is a husband commented "...I would want to think that I am the main breadwinner, providing everything including frills for the wife. Trust me, most men, real men do..."
Do you think most men, including yourself, really share the same sentiment or should equality reign in couples in this day and age?

Jared: The topic of money is one that I think that has numerous and varied opinions. I think at the heart of most men there is that 'hunter and gatherer' mentality that we want to be able to provide for all of our wife's/families needs. At the end of the day though, every couple is different. Everyone (men and women) have their own desires and dreams for what they want to accomplish in life. I think that the topic of money needs to be something that is discussed by a couple early on, so that both sides are aware of the expectations each other has.

I personally think that being married, my Wife and I are a team. Whatever we do, it is for each other's benefit. Money is only one of many aspects of our marriage. If my wife earns more than me, then I wouldn't feel less of a man, or that I'm not a 'real man' as Mr Anonymous may suggest. No one should feel that they are defined by how much they earn. There are far more important things in this world.

4) We discussed a lot about love languages under "Five Love Languages", 1/7/2010. How do you feel when your wife speaks the right love language to you?

Jared:  This follows on from my point in answer #1. It's important  to know what your spouse's love languages are, to be able to ensure their 'love tank' is full. Luckily (or not so luckily) for me my wife has ALL 5 of them!! Oh the choices =)

As for me, when my wife speaks my love languages, not only do I feel loved, but I know that she understands how I work and that she makes the effort speak love to me in a way that I understand. For me my main languages are quality time and gifts of service. So when she does something like doing a chore for me that I usually do even though she doesn't like doing it (the reason I usually do it), then I am not only grateful, but feel loved that she did something that made me happy, and not her.

Appreciation: Many thanks, Jared, for sharing your heart with us on Carpe Diem Mamas! It's good to see the other side of a coin once in awhile. Mamas, do your husbands share Jared's opinions on the above issues? If you're a husband/male reader, we'd like to know what you think too....

My Brother, My Sister.... My Friend

I attended a cousin's wedding recently. She is the only girl among five siblings. Yet, she and her brothers are close and care deeply for one another. When we joked that the groom-to-be had to be 'cross-examined' and approved by the brothers first, the eldest brother candidly replied, "Of course! No one can bully our sister--- but us!"

How wonderful to have siblings looking out for you..

On the other extreme, an intensely bitter sibling rivalry between two brothers in Sabah ended with one murdering the other. This happened quite recently on 1st April 2010. The mother said the two fought often over petty issues which she believed was due to jealousy and unhappiness. The father said the two sons had been at odds with each other ever since the younger one was 3 years old. (Source: Sibling rivalry ends in murder)

Tragic, isn't it? -  that children from the same womb should hate each other so much!

Although sibling quarrels are normal and part of growing up, as a mother, I want my children to get along well because at the end of the day, no matter what happens, blood is thicker than water. It should be your family that stands by you when the chips are down. I think it would break any mother's heart to see the children she gave birth to mired in strife and hate.

What factors contribute to the quality of sibling relationships?

a) Sex and Temperament

- Sibling relationships are more likely to be warm and harmonious between siblings of the same sex (Dunn & Kendrick, 1981) and when neither is temperamentally emotional (Brody, Stoneman & McCoy, 1994).

b) Age

Sibling relationships generally improve as the younger one approaches adolescence because they begin to perceive each other as equals (Buhrmester & Furman, 1990)

c) Parents' treatment of children

Siblings more often get along when they believe parents have no 'favourites' but treat all equally (Kowal & Kramer, 1997). When parents exalt one child's accomplishments while ignoring the other, children will notice and the sibling relationship suffers.

d) Parents' relationship with each other

A warm, harmonious relationship between parents often makes for positive sibling relationships; conflict between parents is associated with conflict between siblings (Volling & Belsky, 1992). When parents don't get along, they no longer treat their children the same, leading to conflict among siblings (Brody et al., 1994)

[Source: Children and their Development, Robert V. Kail]

The implication we get from the above is that we as parents can influence sibling relationships for the better if we are loving towards each other, and be equally affectionate, responsive as well as caring towards all of our children.

From your experience, how have the above factors influenced your sibling relationships? And how do you improve on those factors to enhance your children's relationships with one another?

 At the end of the day.....

 A brother (sister) is a friend God gave you; A friend is a brother (sister) your heart chose.

-Proverb

Carpe Diem, ladies!

Becky