O young boy died while on canoe trip someone in the

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Young boy died while on canoe trip, someone in the kitchen used a knife that had
been used on peanut butter on cheese and the boy died
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Stories of someone who is allergic to peanuts can have a reaction by kissing someone
who ate peanuts
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Turns out it is not likely to be true
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No doubt that vey small amounts of peanuts can cause a reaction
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Remarkable how quickly that reaction can be turned around
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By injecting with epinephrine or adrenaline, lives can be saved
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Anyone who is known to have a serious reaction needs to have an epipen in
reach because they don’t have much time once it starts
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EpiPen buys time
 Still have to go to hospital because reaction can reoccur
 Must be looked at by physician
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You can be allergic to almost anything
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Some are allergic to corn, which is found in many foods (including some
macaroni)
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Allergies can be triggered by trace amounts of substances
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People argue that allergy business is overplayed and that there psychogenic components
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People think they’re allergic when they’re not
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In fact, not the case
 Food allergies are very real
 But, imaginary reactions are possible (nocebo effect)
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Book by Richard Mackarness “not All in the mind”
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“how unsuspected food allergy can affect your body and mind”
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Hypoglycemia
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Low blood sugar
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Another body chemistry problems
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Relatively rare
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Symptoms:
 Sweating, shaking, palpitation, confusion, lightheadedness
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The only way to diagnose hypoglycemia is to do the appropriate experiment

 Given sugar solution, and then blood is drawn periodically after ingesting
it and tested for sugar
 If there’s a sudden drop in blood sugar after a few hours, that is indicative
of hypoglycemia
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Answer is to have very small meals, can usually be fixed by diet
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Myths associated with hypoglycemia
 Sugar causes hyperactivity and is linked to hypoglycemia
 Not the case
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Hypoglycemia is a real condition, however hyperactivity linked to sugar is not
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People think that if you eat sugar you become hyperactive
 Sugar actually has probably the opposite effect
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“Twinkie defence”
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Occurred in California
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Crime was committed, and the murder claimed it was the Twinkies that caused
mental disturbance
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No real science behind it
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“Sheriff puts prisoners on ice cream diet” to calm them down
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Simple carbs like sugar can have a calming effect – how?
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What happens in the nervous system when carbs are ingested
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Comes down to how certain amino acids are absorbed into the bloodstream
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When we eat the protein, the bond between those amino acids gets broken
 Either absorbed into brain/nervous system or muscle tissue
 Tryptophan is not well absorbed into the brain, rather muscle cells
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When you eat a diet that is high in sugar, that causes insulin releases which
enhances the absorption of the competing amino acids into muscle tissue leaving
more tryptophan to be absorbed into the brain
 Tryptophan is the bodys precursor to serotonin, which has a calming
effect
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