Category: Health and Fitness

Two Letters Re: Radon Poisoning

Jim, After reading a few more snippets about Radon poisoning and checking a few sources via Internet. I hypothesize that this may be another hoax along the lines of “global warming”. There are more medical professionals saying lung cancer is [caused by] diet or smoking and general abuse of the body. If Radon has been present and naturally occurring since God created the earth, then its being blamed for illness is similar to skid-marks being blamed for car-wrecks. Global warming is increasingly being proved a hoax by the most respected meteorologists and climatologist’s who say the minute temperature changes have …


Letter Re: A Warning on Kelly Kettles

Dear Jim, Great Site, Jim! I wanted to warn some folks that may have ordered or intend to order the Kelly Kettle (mentioned in the article “Prepare or Die”, by J. Britely .) After receiving my kettle I rinsed it out with water and soap. I then tested the kettle to make sure it worked, and most importantly, learned how to use it before the situation required its use. I started with paper burning, then put small sticks from the yard in the chimney and that baby really boiled water fast. However, after using it twice and rinsing it out, …


Prepare or Die, by J. Britely

Throughout my life I have been caught unprepared several times and while nothing seriously bad happened, it easily could have.  I have been lost hiking.  My car has broken down in very bad neighborhoods – twice.  I have been close enough to riots that I feared they would spread to my neighborhood, been in earthquakes, been too close to wildfires, been stuck in a blizzard, and have been without power and water for several days after a hurricane.   I managed to get myself out of each situation, I thanked God, and tried to learn from my mistakes.  I could have …


Letter Re: Grandpappy’s Pemmican Recipe – A Native American Indian Survival Food

James, The following information is freely available on the internet at a variety of web sites including the Wikipedia, the USDA, and the FDA web sites. First a simple clarification of the USDA information: Dried meat may pose a health risk if: (1) the meat is improperly dried, and (2) the original meat contained harmful microorganisms or the meat is processed in an environment that contains harmful microorganisms. The original USDA quotation does not mention the addition of sodium nitrite as a solution to this problem. The scientific experiment discussed at this web site evaluated the growth of Salmonella on …


Letter Re: Grandpappy’s Pemmican Recipe – A Native American Indian Survival Food

Sir, I must say that I do not recommend the gentleman’s pemmican recipe. Unless he adds sodium nitrite and brines the meat, sickness can occur. From the USDA: “Salmonella not only survives drying but also becomes more heat resistant with drying and is more of an issue in non-fermented dried meats, such as jerky, and whole meat cuts, such as dried hams. Starter cultures are generally not used in the production of jerky. Microbial hazards include Salmonella, L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, and, for beef and venison jerky, E. coli O157:H7. If the product receives inadequate lethality treatment and is insufficiently …


Letter Re: Home Canning Your Garden Produce and Meat

Hello, I’ve seen several mentions of sealing home canned food with wax, most recently in the email from Troy H. My grandmother did this for jams and jellies, which she put up with enough sugar to preserve them even without canning. The wax seal was intended to keep the jam from drying out, and to stop mold from forming on the top. It would too often fail, and we would find mold growing under the wax. I suspect that it failed to seal more often than the mold grew, too! I would very strongly advise against using a wax “seal” …


Sources for Free Survival and Preparedness Information on the Internet, by K.L. in Alaska

Recent comments in SurvivalBlog provided excellent advice on using the public library. You can gain lots of knowledge with no expense, then purchase only those books you want to keep on hand for personal reference. Also, many colleges and universities loan to local residents, so you can use them too, even if you aren’t a student. If your local libraries participate, a great resource is Worldcat. It lets you search for books from home, then go check them out, or get them through interlibrary loan. What will happen to the Internet when the SHTF? There’s no guarantee it will survive. …


Four Letters Re: Sprouting Techniques

Mr. Rawles, I saw the post about Nick B. looking for help on the subject of sprouts. Maybe I can help. Earlier this year I was checking things out on a couple of preparedness sites. Some of the readers may know about these,but I’ll pass the links along for those who may not have seen them. This one Survival And Self-Sufficiency Links has a lot of useful resources, and I found this one for sprouts: Sprouting: a brief overview. It has a few links above the section on beekeeping. There may be others that I have forgotten, or just may …


Letter Re: Hunkering Down in an Urban Apartment in a Worst Case Societal Collapse

Hello, In the event of a disaster (I live in New York City) I intend to shelter in place until all the riotous mobs destroy each other or are starved out. I am preparing for up to six months. I have one liter of water stored for each day (180 liters) and about 50 pounds of rice to eat as well as various canned goods. I have not seen on your site anything about heat sources for urban dwellers who intend to shelter in place. I’m assuming that electricity would go first soon followed by [natural] gas and running water. …


Two Letters Re: Ladies’ Supplies for Preparedness

Jim: Just a note to follow up on what a previous poster said about The Diva Cup and The Keeper: I have tried both and I prefer The Diva Cup by far, it seems to be a little more compact and therefore easier to use than The Keeper. I tried the SouthCoast Shopping link that was given a couple of times (and they have had the price of $17.50 for a long time now) but I usually seem to have some sort of problem on the site when I try to check out. Just be cautious. If you use www.mysimon.com …


Coping With Inflation–Some Strategies for Investing, Bartering, Dickering, and Survival

Statistics released by the Federal government claim that the current inflation rate is 4.3 percent. That is utter hogwash. Their statistics cunningly omit “volatile” food and energy prices. The statisticians admit that energy costs rose by more than 21% since last December. They also admit that Finished Goods rose 7.2%, and “Materials for Manufacturing” rose a whopping 42% , with a 8.7% jump in just the month of November. When commodities rise this quickly, it is apparent that something is seriously out of whack. Meanwhile, the buying power of the US Dollar is falling versus most other currencies. Not surprisingly, …


Four Letters Re: Extended Care of the Chronically Ill in TEOTWAWKI

Jim, One more suggestion (maybe it has been made already and I missed it) is that everybody should get up to date on their tetanus shots right now. If things get difficult, it would not be hard to imagine getting cut/puncture wounds in all sorts of ways, from all sorts of things in all sorts of circumstances. And these shots are good for 10 years, so you’re covered for a while. – Mike in Seattle   Jim, Pfizer announced that they will no longer make Exubera, the inhaled insulin powder due to massive marketing failures. Its a good product but …


Four Letters Re: Extended Care of the Chronically Ill in TEOTWAWKI

Mr. Rawles: Every once in a while, at topic comes up that I feel somewhat qualified to comment on. I’ll offer some miscellaneous comments on Dave T’s letter and your thoughts on medicine WTSHTF, as posted on SurvivalBlog. This is not meant to be exhaustive, and of course may not apply to your particular situation. Since I can’t see you, its hard for me to diagnose you or give you specific advice. Disclaimers all ’round. Chronic renal failure: It may be worth learning to do peritoneal dialysis if you may have to help someone deal with this condition in a …


Letter Re: Extended Care of the Chronically Ill in TEOTWAWKI

Hello Jim, I am a 10 Cent Challenge subscriber and have looked at your site daily — great job! I have a medical background and would advise readers to consider what gear they will need if a friend, relative or team member becomes ill, hurt, disabled etc. The basic first aid supplies will not provide the level of comfort et cetera needed. We are talking basic nursing care, not “first aid”. Take care, stay safe and God Bless! – Dave T. JWR Replies: Thanks for bringing that subject up again. Aside for fairly some brief mentions (such as photovoltaically-powered CPAP …


Letter Re: Nutritional Supplements and Preparedness

Jim, There is one thing that I think that would be very helpful to also stock up for WTSHTF, that would be supplements there are several out there and other products just for general health like protein powers / Met rex formulas and so on. I have some experience with these things from the Army – to helping my father fight cancer. Most of these added to a meal would help your body with many things like extra calories, to repairing muscle, blood pressure, vision, heart, to just good general heath. I really do not know of a shelf life …