• No mid-run snacking on the goods! Advise your children that they should wait until they get home and an adult has inspected their loot... before chowing down on their sugary snacks!
• Feed the little ones a light meal before heading out to pillage the neighborhood so they'll have less desire to eat along the way.
• Let your children know that it is MORE than acceptable to say, "Thank you, but no thank you." to any house that offers them a treat that does not come commercially wrapped. And certainly don't eat anything that's not store bought, either!
• Not all households have (or in some cases understand!) small children so make sure to remove small choking hazard items such peanuts, hard candies, marbles, BB's and/or small toys from sacks of sweets belonging to small children.
• While performing inspections, if the candy looks suspicious or you just plain think it appears 'sketchy' in any way, play it safe and toss it in the trash!  Any signs of potential tampering (i.e. unusual appearance or discoloration, tiny pinholes, or tears in wrappers, etc.) warrants an immediate trip to the trash!

Now get out there, grab all the goodies you can, and have a great Halloween!

 - Water Testing Blog & Water Test Kit Store

Some negative effects of not enough water in a person’s diet include developing of excess body fat, loss of muscle tone, gastrointestinal difficulties, issues with kidney function, increased blood pressure, joint discomfort, and cramping of muscles.

Many researchers believe that despite the well-known effects of dehydration, a great many of us go about our lives not taking in a sufficient amount of water to prevent the ill effects of dehydration.

• Water helps flush out waste products that if left in the human body would certainly poison a person.
   
• Water aids in digestion by helping to dissolve much needed nutrients so they can get carried throughout the body and delivered to locations where the body needs them.
   
• Lack of water in the body means the body has a reduction in its ability to cool itself via perspiration.
   
• Water acts as a lubricant in the body and allows joints to glide freely during motion.
   
• Replacing one’s normal mealtime beverages with water can have a pronounced effect on the waistline by knocking the calories associated with one’s normal mealtime beverages off his or her daily tally of calories consumed.
   
• Though not proven, necessarily, by any scientific study (that we know of), water consumed with a meal can also act as an appetite suppressant by providing ‘filler’ for a person’s stomach, making a person feel full sooner, and causing them to therefore stop eating sooner than if they had drank nothing with their meal.

Unsure if you consume enough water? If you find yourself experiencing low urine quantities, darker or more highly colored urine, pungent smelling urine, or not having to urinate all that often during the day you may suffer from some level of dehydration.

Other dehydration symptoms may include becoming fatigued easily, headaches starting out of the blue and apparently for no reason, faster than normal heart rate, an unusually dry mouth, difficulty concentrating on tasks at hand, trouble remembering things, and/or dizziness spells.

Tips for staying hydrated?

• DRINK WATER.
   
• Rather than keeping a soda or other beverage handy, replace that beverage with a container of water.
   
• Substitute water for your usual at-meal beverage.
   
• Sports drinks serve as an excellent way of replacing electrolytes after a good workout (or weekend of heavy alcohol consumption…) but for everyday hydration needs water may work far better since the body really should not need extra electrolytes on a daily basis and would therefore attempt to flush them out — thus defeating the purpose of drinking a sports drink simply for hydration purposes.
   
• Keep containers of clean drinking water in your fridge instead of sodas or other beverages. If it will take longer to prepare a non-water beverage than simply grabbing a glass of cold, refreshing water… then most of us will opt for the water.
   
• And finally, DRINK WATER.

Moral of the story?

Some say an ounce of prevention goes a long way… so just IMAGINE how far 64 ounces of water a day can take you!

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]]> http://watertestingblog.com/2013/10/31/are-you-drinking-enough-water/feed/ 0 http://watertestingblog.com/2013/10/31/important-information-about-listeria/ http://watertestingblog.com/2013/10/31/important-information-about-listeria/#respond Thu, 31 Oct 2013 13:03:33 +0000 http://watertestingblog.com/?p=7708 Ordinarily we discuss contaminants that affect water supplies but today, in light of the recent recall of around 22,000 pounds of meat as a result of possible Listeria contamination, we decided to digress a talk a bit about Listeria.

Hey, if the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) says millions of people each year in the United states alone get sick because of bacteria and other nasty contaminants on food, then we figure we ought to pay attention to the problem every once in a while.

How does one contract Listerosis?

The condition Listerosis (a serious infection) occurs when a person consumes food products contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.

Facts about Listerosis?

• An estimated 1,600 cases get reported each year; approximately 17% of them result in a fatality.
   
• Older adults, pregnant women, very young children, and those with compromised or suppressed immune systems stand the greatest chance of becoming infected.
   
• Note regarding pregnant women diagnosed with Listerosis: Infections during pregnancy may lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, and/or passing of the infection on to the the newborn child.
   
• Symptoms usually include fever, muscle aches, and gastrointestinal conditions including, but not limited to, diarrhea.
   
• More severe symptoms may include headache, confusion, and convulsions.
   
• The majority of patients diagnosed with Listerosis reported their illness to medical professionals only after the infection had already affected areas of the body beyond the gastrointestinal tract.
   
• Basic proper food handling, cooking, and storage methods serve as the absolute best means of keeping one safe from infection by Listerosis. Keep raw meats away from fresh fruits/vegetables, cook all meats thoroughly, and wash hands/utensils/countertops after encounters with uncooked or undercooked meats
   
• For additional information on Listerosis, such as a timeline of notable outbreaks in the United States, please take a look at the source article on the CNN web site

In a nutshell, basic food safety practices can drastically reduce one’s risk of infection. According to what we have read over the years, most cases of food poisoning did NOT have to happen and would not have happened if people had handled raw goods properly, kept raw goods away from other goods that would not get cooked, cooked meat products thoroughly and to the recommended internal temperatures, and stored raw or cooked goods properly.

Keeping one’s kitchen, cooking, food prep, and food service areas clean and clear of debris that could harbor potentially harmful bacteria, etc. also helps!

Products to test disinfecting and/or sanitizing solutions?

While at home most people would not usually test the strengths of cleaning solutions used to keep surfaces bacteria and germ-free, food production facilities and food service establishments DO have to test for things like chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine dioxide, ozone, iodine, quaternary ammonia, etc.

We hope you enjoy and please DO have a safe and Happy Halloween this and every year!

+ + + + + + + +

We simply LOVE Halloween each year and hope all of you do, too! Most important thing to remember, though, deals with surviving THIS year’s Halloween to enjoy next year’s Halloween, too!

So, without further ado, please enjoy the following Halloween safety tips we found on the CDC (Center for Disease Control) web site using all the letters in the term ‘Safe Halloween’… (with our comments in parentheses!):

• S – Swords, knives, and similar costume accessories should be short, soft, and flexible. (Think of it as.. do not run with scissors, pencils or other sharp, pointed objects because falling on them would SUCK!)
   
• A – Avoid trick-or-treating alone. Walk in groups or with a trusted adult. (Scary Halloween spirits and fellow Halloween revelers w/ bad intentions tend to avoid large groups and trusted adults!)
   
• F – Fasten reflective tape to costumes and bags to help drivers see you. (If they cannot see you, then they cannot avoid you. Getting crushed by a car on Halloween – or any day! – would SUCK!)
   
• E – Examine all treats for choking hazards and tampering before eating them. Limit the amount of treats you eat. (Wait until you get home and look over your candy stash carefully w/ an adult before diving in. No need to get sick or worse by ingesting candy whose wrapper has come open by accident or on purpose!)
   
   
   
• H – Hold a flashlight while trick-or-treating to help you see and others see you. Always WALK and don’t run from house to house. (See previous comment about not getting crushed by a car!)
   
• A – Always test make-up in a small area first. Remove it before bedtime to prevent possible skin and eye irritation. (Not all makeup undergoes the same testing before hitting the market… and some may cause unpleasant acne, bumps, rashes, etc!)
   
• L – Look both ways before crossing the street. Use established crosswalks wherever possible. (You should look both ways and use crosswalks whenever possible EVERY day and not just on Halloween!)
   
• L – Lower your risk for serious eye injury by not wearing decorative contact lenses. (Prescription lenses require a prescription not just because of their ability to alter/correct a person’s vision, but also because prescription lenses must also meet specific quality criteria… and non-prescription contact lenses available in costume shops, online and in convenience stores do not!)
   
• O – Only walk on sidewalks whenever possible, or on the far edge of the road facing traffic to stay safe. (Again, see earlier reference regarding not getting crushed by a car… because that would SUCK!)
   
• W – Wear well-fitting masks, costumes, and shoes to avoid blocked vision, trips, and falls. (Having the ability to SEE where you’re going and also not have to worry about tripping over a loose-fitting costume makes Halloween safer and MUCH more enjoyable!)
   
• E – Eat only factory-wrapped treats. Avoid eating homemade treats made by strangers. (Commercially wrapped Halloween treats in sealed packaging offer the best protection against accidental, incidental and intentional tainting!)
   
• E – Enter homes only if you’re with a trusted adult. Only visit well-lit houses. Don’t stop at dark houses. Never accept rides from strangers. (These rules ought to apply EVERY day and not just on Halloween!)
   
• N – Never walk near lit candles or luminaries. Be sure to wear flame-resistant costumes. (Fire and flames do not take a day off because of Halloween so steer clear of them both and keep your costume away from them, too!)

We want everyone to have lots of fun on Halloween — just like we will! — but we also want everyone to survive the frights and scares of Halloween 2013 so they can get frightened and scared all over again next year!
 

– Scary Frogg
 

P.S. : Below you’ll see scary Frogg in his Sasquatch Suit! Photo taken last year (2012) on Halloween Night!
 

Scary Frogg in His Sasquatch Suit, Halloween 2012

( source )