Work Conditions [Was: Coffee]

[Guest guest]

Jeri,

Your description of your husband's working conditions make it a

prime candidate for an OSHA investigation. I know, OSHA is

notorious for lack of enforcement and their total lack of

recognition of our needs. But when certain thresholds are

reached they can be very powerful. Temp and humidity are

primary ASHRAE " requirements, " high absenteeism is an

indicator of SBS, and the suspicion of fecal matter is a gross

concern (pun intended).

Why do they suspect fecal matter? Was there a sewage leak or

backflow? There are public health criteria for basic sanitation

which may also be applicable.

I don't mean to create unease or overly expand this topic but your

husband's situation illustrates many of our recent themes:

Avoidance, but how to cope if you can't avoid; valid reasons for

not leaving a bad situation; basic environmental requirements for

human survival, functioning, and thriving; the responsibilities of

authorities and how to get them to take action; possible masking

of symptoms until the impact of exposure becomes too great;

psychological techniques to tolerate conditions; improving health

and nutrition so the body can tolerate the intolerable, etc, etc.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

Thanks :-) My path has led me to review the very basics we should have

learned in our educational system and as part of our cultural upbringing

including the basic nature of foods since all indigenous cultures

considered

" food " as " medicine " .

The 6 major taste groups of foods are sweet, salty, sour, bitter, astringent

and pungent. I suspect here in the American society that other than

sweet

and salty, many of us don't get enough diversity in our food tastes (and

most are over-processed anyway). I'm learning to cook with more variety

from all the taste groups, " bitters " especially since they are generally

used for Detox. In soups, stews, chili, etc - wow! The flavors of all the

foods are really enhanced!

Some " bitter " foods include astragulus, radicchio, spinach, kale,

eggplant,

zucchini, dandelion, grapefruit, turmeric, fenugreek - very oddly the very

foods I've been drawn to in recent years but I didn't understand the

WHY

until I learned about bitters.

I found by working with the diversity of food tastes I'm now less prone to

" sweet attacks " and other food cravings. I think much of my previous

food

cravings (and hence obesity) stemmed from a lack of eating from these

diverse taste groups. Btw, I came to the conclusion about the detoxing of

those foods and the weight gain problems of not focusing on a balance of

the

6 tastes - then as I learned more it was confirmed / reinforced by a

number

of sources in the literature and alternative health / oriental medicine

practitioners.

Here's a great introductory article:

http://www.eattaste heal.com/ETH_6tastes.htm

I'm following the itchy / rash / internal detox discussion very closely -

it's answering a number of riddles I've encountered these past few years

in

my journey of leading a more holistic life and detoxing from the previous

30+ years of blindly living the typical American Lifestyle.

My journey has led me to use supplements while I'm overcoming the

decades of

toxic living and as I learn to utilize the diverse properties of FOOD with a

goal that I should be able to taper away from most of the supplements

and

get what I need through proper nutrition all the while becoming

healthier

than I have ever previously been...

My husband has joined me on this journey - he works in a very sick

building

that is in no hope of being rectified anytime soon (to begin with we're

99%

certain there is fecal matter in the ceiling... and considering his portion

of the building is entirely underground the humidity is often above

85%...

in the infinite wisdom to save HVAC money the building is controlled in

the

summer to not cool lower than 80F; the vast quantity of electronic

equipment

in their office has a very high fail rate due to the extreme environmental

conditions). He seems to be able to tolerate the sick building much better

now since he joined me on this journey. His co-workers are often ALL

very

sick - 50% or higher absentee rates after particularly humid days are not

uncommon, yet he's been better able to cope with his toxic environment.

I

have to wonder if it's not the addition of the other food tastes in our

healthier lifestyle, particularly bitters, which has benefited him.

Jeri

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[Guest guest]

Carl, you have completely hit the nail squarely on the head in every

paragraph.

We value his job or else this fecal matter situation would perhaps be put on

the media fan. It's in a building that HOUSES hundreds of people so this

could definitely affect a number of people in our community were the whole

situation to hit the limelight. It's okay, until very recently if/when

there was a power-outage, hundreds of people were confined / trapped into

the building with absolutely no means to evacuate them no matter how large

or small the emergency. He has nothing to do with the other occupants of the

building, they simply share the same physical building. The entire building

and others on the street around it are all owned, managed and run by the

same entity - the same employer.

Please feel free to contact me off-list if you have any ideas how to rectify

our situation.

Jeri