These are my food concerns, narrow them down for me :)

[HowsitGonnaBe]

I should have posted it here in the first place. I posted it on a scrapbooking message board and most people just said that i needed mental help.

So what do you think?

Ok to anyone or everyone who has alot of knowledge about food, please tell me what the follow is true and which is false, and the things that are ok and not ok. By the way I don't cook, and I can get pretty creativity with my grub worries
You can also thank this health food freak person whom i used to work with got me all paraniod, but she got fired for stealing

Is cottonseed/ oil bad for you?

How bad is partialy hydrogenated oil, or hydrogenated oil of palm, cotton seed, rapeseed, or do i have to go on, isn't anything hydrogented bad for you? Will a little hurt? I even see it say on boxes "No hydrogenated oils!" as a sell tactic, so it must be bad right? When ever i pick up a box of snacks and i see it in the ingredients i always put it back. So far I have found nothing of Keebler without it

Artifical flavors and perservatives: they say it on the boxes too who don't have it, and kraft has changed thier dressing to more natural.
So it try to stay away from those, but my boyfreind actually loves that stuff So sometimes i'm stuck buying it, so how much can you have, how bad is it? I know theres alot of different stuff, but mayeb if you know of the worst ones. And if it ever says 2% it's ok?

Sweetner substitutes:
I heard all of them are bad, and aspartame is the worst, so whenever i see foods or drinks that say sugar free i stay away.
I have gum tho that has aspartame in it, only 2% it's that new trident that strengthens your enamel. Wheneever i chew it i don't swallow the wet stuff i just spit it out

For food safety cook theorly: ok since i never buy anything like that i don't have one to go by to spell therough correctly
So what happens if you don't cook it all the way? food poisoning?
I use my toaster oven for baking frozen cassoroles and stuff, but how do i know it's cooked all the way. I don't realy have a thermometer, my roomate has one for the meat we bbq, but i don't want to use that, just incase it wasnt washed all the way last time it was used (did i warn you about me being this bad? )
I test the bakeness by digging in it a little and see if steam is coming out. I also got these veggie burgers that say cook thouroughly (am i close? )
There is no meat, just veggies, so why cook thoroughly?
(ahh that looks about right )

If i take a plate out of the cabinet and see a spot, back in the sink it goes. My room mate doesn't use the dishwasher for her dishes. so i make sure never to use hers.
Her motto is the opposite of mind "That pot will be clean again when you heat it up on the stove"
Seeing tid bits of egg leftover on a skillet while frying up pot stickers is not very appitizing, i don't care if it's safe, it's gross

I don't realy like skillets cause theres teflon underneath.
Are there pots,pans, skillets, woks you can get that are teflon free, so no matter how much you scrape it, it's still safe?
Same reason i hardly use my can opener.
Metals scare me, i heard aluminum foil is bad for you? but theres nothing else i can use in my toaster oven.
And i use aluminum cans all the time.

do dishes realy need to be scrubbed before being put in the dishwasher?
I'd rather just rinse them off till i don't see anymore color specks.
(yes i'm lazy )
I read something in a college cook book, the food safety chapter
probably not the best thing for someone like me to read
But they said, there's a difference between a clean dish, and a sanitized dish. I couldn't agree more.
My room mate can have her clean dishes and eat off of them too

I don't realy ever cook any meat cause my fear of salminela or eccoli...etc
not to mention if it's undercooked
I would like to cook meat tho cause it's the missing food group.
I'm not a vegitarian.
I always think of what to make for dinner, and i always come up with a veggie like peas, a grain like rice, or potatos, and then theres.... oh yeah can't do that, so maybe i'll just get some good ole processed chicken
I would love to roast a big tom turkey or meatloaf
I just need to be assured that it's not as easy as i think to get food borne illnesses.

Thats all i realy need for any of my food paranoia.

So when it comes to cooking (and i use that term ever so lightly )
Would it be bad if i cooked speghetti every night for a week as long as it was different, like lassagna monday, fettichine alfredo tues, spegehtii and meat balls (oh wait, cancel the meat balls, i'll get the prego sauce wed...etc, or have a different soup everyday?
And for lunch it's always either turkey and cheese , or peanut butter and jelly.
So if we just lived off all the foods in the food groups , but only had a variety of 5 in each group, is that not like eating the same thing everyday, or is it nessissary to change it around, and have every veggie, every fruit, every meat, every bean...etc?
Since i don't like cooking, i don't realy dedicate myself to try alot of different things to make.
Whenever i think of what to make for dinner my mind is blank, i don't see many options, like when i'm at the store.
Theres very little meat: chicken,turkey,steak or burger (never will i make those 2 ) meatloaf and porkchops.
And i hate those little foam trays they come in, i use gloves to touch them (that is when i'm shopping for the bbq my roomates making )

Then your normal everyday veggies: peas, carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli, salad
anything else i'm foreign to.
Grain: potato, rice, pasta (wow only 3? that will make good combinations) feel free to add to my list

So if i just use only those to make meals is that enough variety, or should i bite the bullit and dedicate myself?
If i know it would be healthier, i'll probably be motivated enough to

I can realy change the perception of food for thought
or food critic

I probably have plenty more worries about food, but nothing else comes to mind, and i think i covered my extreme worries, tho i know must of them i know are pointless to worry about.

Oh theres one more: The Microwave

Legend has it that it puts radiation in your food, so i never use it unless theres popcorn involved, or just water.

Thankyou if you made it this far, i realy appreciate it, i'm so sick and tired of being food cautious, i hope one day i can ease up enough to make something from scratch (hmmm maybe not )

Thanks!

[Guest]

I think you have way too many fears. I think the on extremely serious things on that list see hydrgenated oils because doctors say it's almost like putting plastic in your arteries, which can be detrimental to the health of your heart if you eat the too much. I think you need to learn to cook. Anyways, I think evrything else in moderation is okay.it sounds like you have OCD in a big way. Maybe seeing a therapist isn't such a bad idea.

[Malikye]

Howsitgonnabe:
It sure appears as though you would profit from a course in nutrition. Actually would be good if you combined a nutrition couse with cooking school. It would be good if you could learn some of these things for yourself.

Also you may want to continue working the program so as to get rid of some of those fears. You don't have to carry all those fears
about sanitation around with you. It really isn't that hard to keep a kitchen and utensils safe to use. If you took a cooking class they would probably mention this quite a bit.
Good luck!

MJ

[Guest]

lol I'll return the favor because you posted on my thing. Firstly I would not say that you are crazy or any weirder then the rest of us, We've all got some interesting and incredibly intricate fears, most of them we may not realize because it's a habit. Lately it feels like all of this is just my life, If I drop the worry over one thing it makes me worry about another, so think of which one you could work on first, something you're ready to confront or drop without disrupting yourself too much, one step at a time!
Things such aspartame,oils,teflon, yes these are things that aren't good for you but what scientists and news reporters usually leave out is that these are things that could effect you negatively after a long portion of time. If you were to use artificial sweetners, drink diet pops, chew on gum, for a good part of the day every day, then It would be something you want to lower a little bit. Meats, if you would like to eat real meat without it being a health hazard, Buy from a Country Locker or Natural Farmer. Organics are certainly not a bad choice, waaaay less chance of food bourne illnesses, pesticides, there's no gross hormonal injections, or chemicals, and perhaps when using a meat thermometer, have something like a bleach wipe that you can clean it with, or a disinfectant. With veggie burgers the only reason they say things like "Cook Thorougly" is because it is frozen, and if it you didn't cook it right through, then the quality of their product wouldn't taste as good, my sister and I eat those quite a bit. The majority of the time, those guidelines are put there for quality reasons.