Comments on: Places in Korea: Samcheok, Gangwon Province

By: Wrenchbender

Wrenchbender — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:11:22 +0000

I usually stay at Chuam beach when I spend the night there. But I ride through there quite often up and down the coast on the bike.

By: JAFO

JAFO — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:49:07 +0000

Good idea on the Brazil nuts.

Brazil nuts, along with toast, juice, milk and Trix, form a complete breakfast that not only meets, but exceeds the recommended daily allowance for aflatoxins and radioactive radium.

Normally, you would have to eat a smoke detector or a Glock night sight to get that kind of nutrition.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:16:17 +0000

You're right, Brian. Losing weight causes PCBs to be released into the bloodstream, where they can cause more harm than being stored away in fat cells. I would guess that the only way to reduce plasma concentrations would be to donate blood periodically and somehow avoid consuming more. Fish isn't the only contaminated foodstuff. In December, testing of Irish pork revealed PCB levels up to 200 times greater than the maximum safety limit set by the EU. I'm guessing the source was fish by-products in the animal feed, yet another reason to eat meat from pastured animals, or at least animals fed a vegetarian diet.

BTW, those fish look fairly large, especially the first one. I limit my fish consumption to sardines, herring, Alaskan wild-caught salmon, US wild-caught shrimp, and occasionally sea scallops. I don't even eat tuna anymore.

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:32:34 +0000

I believe Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world. Fish is a staple there – so I guess a benefit of the PCBs is longer life.

By: kwandongbrian

kwandongbrian — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:35:24 +0000

Sonagi, as I understand it, you won't remove PCBs through weightloss, unless that loss comes from liposuction. As you lose weight, each cell might shrink, but the PCBs (and other lipo-philic or hydro-phobic compounds) merely becomes more concentrated. A woman can decrease her PCB quantities by expressing breast milk, which contains a lot of fats. It's a pretty horrible thought; to purify yourself, you must poison a baby.

I don't know what the GI ate exactly, but if they were smaller, younger fish, they would carry a reduced load of contaminants.

By: raisedbywoolves

raisedbywoolves — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:16:20 +0000

ahhhh my town slow moving indeed. but if you live here in the main city center, you don't experience too much of the older culture.

By: gerry

gerry — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:33:17 +0000

I remember walking the beach in Busan with my mother-in-law, and she found someone selling live eels. I bought one and the lady skined it and cut it up for us for sashimi. It was very good, and my mother-in-law had great fun in introducing me to raw eel.

By: GI Korea

GI Korea — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:50:25 +0000

Sonagi you make it sound like Korean fish is as dangerous as US beef.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:35:16 +0000

When you get back to America, you might snack on some Brazil nuts and season your meals with cilantro, which contains elements that chelate with mercury, lead, aluminum and other heavy metals and are carried out of the body as waste. The chelation process also removes essential minerals like selenium, magnesium, and zinc, which can be replenished by eating Brazil nuts. The PCBs in that fish have now taken up permanent residence inside your fat cells. No way to get rid of them except by reducing your body fat.