I can’t try everything. I am only one person after all. And so it is with great delight that I present to you three experiments lovingly conducted for your pleasure/shock/horror by other people.
Puffer Fish and Real Life Zombies
You may remember me asking if you would try eating a puffer fish – called “fugu” in Japan where the cuisine originated – knowing that there was a small chance it could kill you. Most of you said no. Some of you were more colorful but managed to convey the same message. And then there were a few who said they might if given the opportunity. But one of you actually did. I will let Dr. John Farr speak for himself:
And so, we come to the puffer fish – you’ll probably have guessed – which I’ve eaten on several occasions . Where did you get that statistic of 1 in 1000 from ? It’s way wrong . [charlotte’s note: I got that stat from my Japanese friend who first told me about the fish. I’m guessing he made it up. I was going to fact-check it but… didn’t. Really opinions are way more entertaining when I don’t base them on actual fact.] The fish is called fugu in Japan, and it’s considered a great delicacy. Fugu chefs have to have seven years of training before they can be licensed to prepare it in a restaurant, peculiarly enough, because of General Douglas McArthur . From ’45 until ’49 the people of Japan were literally starving and finding whatever food they could . They went through waste bins outside restaurants and scavenged what they could find, including the discarded remains of fugu .Fugu contains a neurotoxin called teterodotoxin, concentrated in the liver and sex organs of the fish, but also exists in lower concentrations throughout the flesh . One milligram is sufficient to kill – by some estimates, teterodotoxin is a thousand times more potent than cyanide . The chef discards the most toxic parts of the fish, and that is what was retrieved from the restaurant bins to kill a lot of hungry Japanese . McArthur introduced formal licensing because of this, and since the ’70’s there have been only two or three deaths a year, most of those due to people preparing fugu at home . The art of the chef is to prepare the fish so that there is sufficient teterodotoxin in the served fish to produce the fugu frisson, but not enough to harm the diner . If the consumer overdoes intake, the toxin produces gradual paralysis culminating in respiratory arrest and death . Providing respiratory assistance is the only treatment . The poison wears off over a period of six to seven hours, so , of the ten to fifteen cases that occur in restaurants in Japan annually, most survive .Fugu is usually served raw as a main course . The flesh is often still twitching – a tad offputting – and it is quite chewy unless finely sliced . It tastes like sushi (a bit of an acquired taste) and after about fifteen minutes your lips start to go numb with a slight tingling sensation in your mouth . you tend to develop mild tingling in your extremities . If you can handle the oddness of the sensations, they are quite enjoyable, but not everybody’s cup of tea . The effects wear off in about five to six hours .Funnily enough, there’s an arcane connection between the puffer fish and zombies . Voodoo priests use teterodotoxin obtained from puffer fish as part of the potion fed to the poor subject to turn them into zombies – I’ll bet you thought zombies were purely fictional – and we are investigating the use of the toxin to produce suspended animation, in rats at the moment, with a view to using it operatively in humans in the future.
PS> For any of you ladies who are now suddenly intrigued by a man who both writes like an encyclopedia and has the nerve to eat (minorly) death-defying cuisine he answered my third question about flying to meet someone off the internet by saying, “Not yet, but I wouldn’t rule it out.” You’re welcome.
The Delayed Fat Affect
My good friend Personal Trainer D (whom I will NOT abbreviate to PTD both because she does not cause me post-traumatic distress and because the last time I abbreviated “personal trainer” as “PT” I almost caused an anonymous commenter to have a hernia and I cannot be responsible for that kind of turn-your-head-and-cough nonsense) was explaining something to me this weekend that she had noticed about herself. Being an observant kind of girl and having inhabited her body past her teen years, she has discovered a sort-of delayed consequence of her eating habits. To sum it up, when she eats crap it takes about three weeks of daily bad eating to make a change on the scale. Similarly, when she wants to lose weight, it takes about three weeks of daily healthful eating to produce a loss. The cool part about it is that she can literally schedule her treats. “Hmmm… I’ve got nine days left before my three weeks in chocolate heaven are up.”
It is not this way with me. One bad meal (“bad” seems harsh here but “inappropriate” seems pervy and as a teacher I’m morally opposed to “cheat”) doesn’t affect me too much but even one day of mis-eating (ha!) shows up on the scale within 48 hours. Weight loss can be similarly quick for me, if I behave myself.
Of course all this time I thought everyone was exactly like me which it turns out you’re not. So now I’m wondering how long it takes that strawberry cake con tres leches to show up on your hips?
Reason 7,631 Why Steroids Suck
To conclude our round of other-people experiments, I give you this man. A 21-year-old professional body builder took steroids “within the doses that are used among bodybuilders” which resulted in horrific scarring. For any of you reading this in the a.m. you might want to put down your coffee mug or finish your oatmeal now because this will haunt you.
Here he is before, fairly chiseled albeit with slightly strange-looking pecs.
Here is the acne. (Can you even call it acne anymore at that point??)
And because his “skin problems” weren’t enough to deter him, the poor man didn’t stop until “it was found the steroid abuse had also caused a low sperm count and shrunken testicles.”
The real tragedy is that his scarring is so severe that he may never be able to return to weight lifting. So many morals, so many inappropriate punch lines…
Thanks to Turbo Jennie (or not, depending on how queasy you are now) for the tip!
To that last “experiment” can I just say
OH.MY.GOD.
Moving up, I usually have about a week before my mis-eating shows up which can cause all sorts of confusion, especially when I’m working hard that week and *can’t remember* the the mis-eating of the week before.
I made Leslie’s challah this weekend and proceeded to eat half the loaf myself. Please remind me of this fact if I bitch about gaining weight next week!
ahh the glamorous life of prescribing oneself vet steriods.
Dis.Gus.Ting. Nasty. I feel the need to shower now. Thanks!
I am more like your friend, in that bad eating doesn’t really become apparent until a week or two later. So if I eat badly for a week, I don’t suffer any consequences until a couple weeks later. It also seems to take me a few weeks to drop the weight back off. It can be frustrating, but once it starts to come off it does so quickly.
Perhaps CPR training prior to your “date” eating the Fugu would be prudent!
Thanks for another fascinating post!
Okay first: ick.
I can get away with a day of bad eating. But a weekend of bad eating will show up on the scale the next week.
jesus! It’s onlt 7:57 am! Good thing I have strong stomach. Sorry, but a) any food served still twitching and with the warning that “providing respiratory assistance is the only treatment” is off my menu and b) steroids are the dumbest, grossest phenomenon never mind the horrific acne, let’s talk about those grape-sized nipples he got! Ouch!
Self prescribed vet steroids… good call, i think, MizFit. I was going to scream PHOTOSHOP, but I saw “The Lancet” at the bottom.
If I were in Japan, I would try the fish (twitching and all) but not as an entree…appetizer, sliced very thin, of course.
Lastly, “bad” eating… I was just lamenting after a family reunion and 3 days (weekend) home at my Mom’s that I saw the weight gain on Monday (3 lbs) and it took 7-10 days to get back down. So not fair.
That last picture was horrific! That’s a bummer for him.
Charlotte – you make it sound like the guy quit taking steroids because of the low sperm count and shrunken testicles. That’s not exactly what the original article says.
OK, the steroids…gross. Not that taking steroids is ever a good idea, but don’t you think he should have realized that maybe he should stop before the acne got that bad…seriously. What a dumbass.
Very interesting about the puffer fish.
Still think I”m going to pass on the puffer fish. I read a story about someone who got a giant tapeworm from sushi, and it hasn’t stopped me yet, but I’ve been eating less.
Steroids? Gross. Crazy. Apparently my brother-in-law did too many steroids in his youth, and has suffered the effects since his mid-30s. Not acne, but He says he needs his Viagra. Can’t imagine how the sacrifices would be worth it for people.
I have no idea how soon bad eating shows up. Well, we eat like crap when we are away from home, and it shows up right away, but also usually goes away just as fast. Except the 5 pounds I gained this summer, which I’m actively trying to lose now.
I haven’t quite figured out how long it takes bad eating to get through my system. Sometimes I’ll have a bad week of eating and then look at the scale and I’ve lost weight. Then sometimes I’ll have a good week and have gained weight. So mine is probably a multi-week thing too, but I haven’t expended the brain-power yet to actually figure it out…
I don’t think I’d try puffer-fish, even appropriately prepared by a Japanese chef. I’m too much of a hypochondriac at times, and once my lips went numb, I think I’d start to freak out and have a panic attack.
Wow, and I thought that I was actually quite polite, and respectful, when I requested that you not abbreviate “personal trainer.” Apparently that was interpreted as my having a hernia. I’m sorry that my original comment, sent in order to educate you, was taken so harshly.
I’m sorry, but knowing Charlotte she was just joking about the hernia thing – and in my opinion posting anonymously is just weird – especially if you want to be a know-it-all. Just my 2 cents.
I didn’t know that acne could ever get that bad – even if it was chemically induced – how awful!
I’m still going to say no to the puffer fish, I’m more of a shrimp kind of girl, but not so much a fish kind of girl.
Anonymous #1 – the actual quote from the article says, “Dr Gerber added that the man did not stop taking the steroids once the skin problems developed because he was more concerned with losing muscle mass.
He eventually stopped but by then it was found the steroid abuse had also caused a low sperm count and shrunken testicles. ” So, yeah, that’s how I read it. He didn’t stop the ‘roids cause of the acne but because of the sexual side affects.
Anonymous #2 – Colleen’s right, the hernia comment was made in jest:) I wanted to show you that I took your comment quite seriously (have you seen me abbreviate PT ever since you corrected me? Nope!). I am also all about the humor so please don’t take it personally. I love you, anonymous or not, and hope you keep reading and keep commenting!
Not that I watch the Simpsons, but I think there was a Simpson’s episode where Homer eats a pufferfish and thinks he’s going to die from the poison. (Really, it was the one episode I saw! HaHa ) Yep, just googled and found “One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish.”
Now, I wonder if there was one about steroids? Hmmmm….
🙁 Sorry anonymous, I don’t want to scare people away from blogs that don’t belong to me – I shouldn’t have made my comment about you being a know-it-all. Sorry to you too Charlotte!
Charlotte – what about you, would you try the puffer fish?
Good heavens Colleen! Don’t apologize! Seriously! I love that you stuck up for me and you ARE right. As for the puffer fish? If it were properly prepared, yeah I’d do it. Nothing from 7-11 though;)
You are getting such a following Char! I love reading your blogs. Such random and fun stuff. My body probably responds like your friends although I don’t have a calculated 3 weeks or anything. It just seems like it never matters if i eat healthy or not, I don’t get gas from food, I don’t gain weight, lose weight, or even feel the effects of sugar or caffeine… but then after weeks of thinking Im eating healthy, I’ll have put on a few weeks. It makes dieting and understanding my body very hard because it seems like it doesn’t matter what I eat, I still gain weight unless I continually up my exercising routine. It would be much easier to stop if I felt yucky after mis-eating, or healthy after eating good. I guess I need to trust the “people” who tell me what’s supposed to make me feel better.
Puffer fish, probably not. Maybe. Heck I just don’t know!
Steroids=stupid and YUCK! Please, people, I am BEGGING! DO NOT USE STEROIDS!!!!! They cause cancer, along with acne, man-boobs, and the inability to get it up. If you’re a woman, google PBS and look at the recent documentary they did about East German athletes who were unknowingly force-fed steroids in the 60’s and 70’s.
As for weight? Well, I’ve put on a few in the past couple of years. Working on taking them off.
If I am "bad" even one day, it shows up the next (or the one after) on the scale, but it'll take 2 or 3 days to tip the scale in the other direction and lose. >:(.
Yeah… first picture of steroid man was already disturbing… but after that? And he did not stop????????
hm. i have never tried to see the affect of good/”bad” eating and weight loss/gain. i may have to play around with that.
knowing my body though … probably months.
and i still want to try fugu, despite the weird tingly sensations.
Those pictures should hang in every High School locker room in the US.
Right next to the monkey smoking. (Remember that one?)
Charlotte,
I’m with you. A couple of days of bad eating shows up immediately. I ran in a long relay week this past weekend, and therefore ate more carbs than usual. Even though I ran a good bit, I was about 4 pounds heavier on the scale this morning. I’m thinking some of it is water weight as I tend to drink more water when eating more carbs. Or, perhaps it was the celebratory dinner after completing the race. I drank my carbs that night – oops.
I saw the before and after and it looks like horror movie because you can’t tell how this happen. I can’t really imagine that acne is getting one’s life. Much better avoid and prevent from it before it ruin not only your skin even your life would be miserable.
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