Don’t Be Bamboozled By Bamboo!

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The 10almonds Team

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝How do we eat bamboo❞

For context, this question came via our feedback widget on Sunday, and was in response to our This or That segment:

Bamboo Shoots vs Onion – Which is Healthier?

…in which we picked the bamboo, as it outshone onions in every category.

However, culinary traditions vary a lot from place to place, and bamboo is certainly more popular in some areas than others.

First things first: when we say bamboo shoots, we really do mean the shoots, young and healthy. We do not mean:

  • Dried bamboo canes of the kind you might use in gardening
  • Old bamboo carved like wood, as is often seen in bamboo-based kitchen utensils
  • Anything else like that

Think of it like flax; flaxseed is a great source of fiber, protein, and healthy fats, but you wouldn’t eat your bedroom linen (made of the same plant, if it is literally linen, in any case), would you?

Or hemp; hemp seeds are also very nutritious, but you won’t want to eat that hemp-based tote bag you carry your groceries in.

So it is with bamboo: it’s a plant with a lot of uses, and only some of those uses are culinary, and you might be more used to seeing it in the non-culinary uses!

Now, with that in mind, and without further ado…

How to eat bamboo

If, like this writer, you don’t live in a region where bamboo isn’t very popular, fresh bamboo may be hard to find. If that’s the case, you probably find canned bamboo in the Asian foods section of your grocery store, and that’s totally fine and is just as nutritionally good, sometimes even better than fresh.

However, if you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere it is more popular, and/or sometimes go to a city that will have a more cosmopolitan selection of foods than your local stores (this writer lives out in the sticks, and we know we have many readers in rural areas), then fresh bamboo provides a lot more versatility of use.

First, the basics:

  1. Take freshly harvested bamboo shoots
  2. Peel off the outer sheath
  3. Clean the soft inner part with water

And then, either:

  • Cut in small pieces, soak in water overnight, discard the water and wash 3–4 times, use the shoots as you like, or
  • Slice into small pieces, wash and soak in water for 2–3 hours, boil or fry with meat/fish items, or
  • Boil in water for 30–40 minutes, discard water and wash 2–3 times, cut into small pieces, boil or fry with other vegetables

The difference between the latter two is because the other vegetables will take much less cooking, so you need to parboil the bamboo first.

Bamboo is most traditionally used in in stir-fries of various kinds, but really, you can use it however you like, it’s just another vegetable, that can be used much like you might use asparagus, it just takes more prep, that’s all.

And as for the “why”,

You may be wondering: why don’t I just use asparagus then, if it’s better and easier?

And the answer is: by all means, enjoy asparagus, but as we often say, plant diversity is critical for good health in general, and gut health in particular.

See also:

Besides, bamboo has some great beneficial properties of its own, including, for example::

For more on that latter, we highly recommend:

Fermenting Everything: How to Make Your Own Cultured Butter, Fermented Fish, Perfect Kimchi, and Beyond – by Andy Hamilton

Enjoy!

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  • LGBTQ+ People Relive Old Traumas as They Age on Their Own

    Judith Graham

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Bill Hall, 71, has been fighting for his life for 38 years. These days, he’s feeling worn out.

    Hall contracted HIV, the virus that can cause AIDS, in 1986. Since then, he’s battled depression, heart disease, diabetes, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney cancer, and prostate cancer. This past year, Hall has been hospitalized five times with dangerous infections and life-threatening internal bleeding.

    But that’s only part of what Hall, a gay man, has dealt with. Hall was born into the Tlingit tribe in a small fishing village in Alaska. He was separated from his family at age 9 and sent to a government boarding school. There, he told me, he endured years of bullying and sexual abuse that “killed my spirit.”

    Because of the trauma, Hall said, he’s never been able to form an intimate relationship. He contracted HIV from anonymous sex at bath houses he used to visit. He lives alone in Seattle and has been on his own throughout his adult life.

    “It’s really difficult to maintain a positive attitude when you’re going through so much,” said Hall, who works with Native American community organizations. “You become mentally exhausted.”

    It’s a sentiment shared by many older LGBTQ+ adults — most of whom, like Hall, are trying to manage on their own.

    Of the 3 million Americans over age 50 who identify as gay, bisexual, or transgender, about twice as many are single and living alone when compared with their heterosexual counterparts, according to the National Resource Center on LGBTQ+ Aging.

    This slice of the older population is expanding rapidly. By 2030, the number of LGBTQ+ seniors is expected to double. Many won’t have partners and most won’t have children or grandchildren to help care for them, AARP research indicates.

    They face a daunting array of problems, including higher-than-usual rates of anxiety and depression, chronic stress, disability, and chronic illnesses such as heart disease, according to numerous research studies. High rates of smoking, alcohol use, and drug use — all ways people try to cope with stress — contribute to poor health.

    Keep in mind, this generation grew up at a time when every state outlawed same-sex relations and when the American Psychiatric Association identified homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder. Many were rejected by their families and their churches when they came out. Then, they endured the horrifying impact of the AIDS crisis.

    “Dozens of people were dying every day,” Hall said. “Your life becomes going to support groups, going to visit friends in the hospital, going to funerals.”

    It’s no wonder that LGBTQ+ seniors often withdraw socially and experience isolation more commonly than other older adults. “There was too much grief, too much anger, too much trauma — too many people were dying,” said Vincent Crisostomo, director of aging services for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “It was just too much to bear.”

    In an AARP survey of 2,200 LGBTQ+ adults 45 or older this year, 48% said they felt isolated from others and 45% reported lacking companionship. Almost 80% reported being concerned about having adequate social support as they grow older.

    Embracing aging isn’t easy for anyone, but it can be especially difficult for LGBTQ+ seniors who are long-term HIV survivors like Hall.

    Related Links

    Of 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, about half are over age 50. By 2030, that’s estimated to rise to 70%.

    Christopher Christensen, 72, of Palm Springs, California, has been HIV-positive since May 1981 and is deeply involved with local organizations serving HIV survivors. “A lot of people living with HIV never thought they’d grow old — or planned for it — because they thought they would die quickly,” Christensen said.

    Jeff Berry is executive director of the Reunion Project, an alliance of long-term HIV survivors. “Here people are who survived the AIDS epidemic, and all these years later their health issues are getting worse and they’re losing their peers again,” Berry said. “And it’s triggering this post-traumatic stress that’s been underlying for many, many years. Yes, it’s part of getting older. But it’s very, very hard.”

    Being on their own, without people who understand how the past is informing current challenges, can magnify those difficulties.

    “Not having access to supports and services that are both LGBTQ-friendly and age-friendly is a real hardship for many,” said Christina DaCosta, chief experience officer at SAGE, the nation’s largest and oldest organization for older LGBTQ+ adults.

    Diedra Nottingham, a 74-year-old gay woman, lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment in Stonewall House, an LGBTQ+-friendly elder housing complex in New York City. “I just don’t trust people,“ she said. “And I don’t want to get hurt, either, by the way people attack gay people.”

    When I first spoke to Nottingham in 2022, she described a post-traumatic-stress-type reaction to so many people dying of covid-19 and the fear of becoming infected. This was a common reaction among older people who are gay, bisexual, or transgender and who bear psychological scars from the AIDS epidemic.

    Nottingham was kicked out of her house by her mother at age 14 and spent the next four years on the streets. The only sibling she talks with regularly lives across the country in Seattle. Four partners whom she’d remained close with died in short order in 1999 and 2000, and her last partner passed away in 2003.

    When I talked to her in September, Nottingham said she was benefiting from weekly therapy sessions and time spent with a volunteer “friendly visitor” arranged by SAGE. Yet she acknowledged: “I don’t like being by myself all the time the way I am. I’m lonely.”

    Donald Bell, a 74-year-old gay Black man who is co-chair of the Illinois Commission on LGBTQ Aging, lives alone in a studio apartment in subsidized LGBTQ+-friendly senior housing in Chicago. He spent 30 years caring for two elderly parents who had serious health issues, while he was also a single father, raising two sons he adopted from a niece.

    Bell has very little money, he said, because he left work as a higher-education administrator to care for his parents. “The cost of health care bankrupted us,” he said. (According to SAGE, one-third of older LGBTQ+ adults live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.) He has hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and nerve damage in his feet. These days, he walks with a cane.

    To his great regret, Bell told me, he’s never had a long-term relationship. But he has several good friends in his building and in the city.

    “Of course I experience loneliness,” Bell said when we spoke in June. “But the fact that I am a Black man who has lived to 74, that I have not been destroyed, that I have the sanctity of my own life and my own person is a victory and something for which I am grateful.”

    Now he wants to be a model to younger gay men and accept aging rather than feeling stuck in the past. “My past is over,” Bell said, “and I must move on.”

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

    This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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  • Speedy Easy Ratatouille

    The 10almonds Team

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    One of the biggest contributing factors to unhealthy eating? The convenience factor. To eat well, it seems, one must have at least two of the following: money, time, and skill. So today we have a health dish that’s cheap, quick, and easy!

    (You won’t need a rat in a hat to help you with this one)

    You will need

    • 3 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
    • 2 zucchini, halved and chopped into thick batons
    • 2 portobello mushrooms, sliced into ½” slices
    • 1 large red pepper, cut into thick chunks
    • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
    • 2 tsp garlic paste
    • 2 tsp thyme leaves, destalked
    • 1 tsp rosemary leaves, destalked
    • 1 tsp red chili flakes
    • 1 tsp black pepper
    • Optional: 1 tsp MSG, or 1 tsp low sodium salt (the MSG is the healthier option as it contains less sodium than even low sodium salt)
    • Optional: other vegetables, chopped. Use what’s in your fridge! This is a great way to use up leftovers. Particularly good options include chopped eggplant, chopped red onion, and/or chopped carrot.

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Put the olive oil into a sauté pan and set the heat on medium. When hot but smoking, add the mushrooms and any optional vegetables (but not the others from the list yet), and fry for 5 minutes.

    Note: if you aren’t pressed for time, then you can diverge from the “speedy” part of this by cooking each of the vegetables separately before combining, which allows each to keep its flavor more distinct.

    2) Add the garlic, followed by the zucchini, red pepper, chili flakes, and thyme; stir periodically (you shouldn’t have to stir constantly) for 10 minutes.

    3) Add the tomatoes and a cup of water to the pan, along with any MSG/salt. Cover with the lid and allow to simmer for a further 10 minutes.

    4) Serve, adding the garnish.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • How many vegetables influence brain waves and control brain states?

    Is it OK if my child eats lots of fruit but no vegetables?

    Yasmine Probst, Olivia Wills and Shoroog Allogmanny – University of Wollongong

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Does it seem like most vegetables you serve your children end up left on the plate, or worse, strewn across the floor? But mention dessert, and your fruit skewers are polished off in an instant.

    Or maybe the carrot and cucumber sticks keep coming home in your child’s lunchbox untouched, yet the orange slices are nowhere to be seen.

    If you’re facing these struggles with your child, you’re not alone. Many children prefer fruit to vegetables.

    So if your child eats lots of fruit but minimal or no vegetables, is that OK? And how can you get them to eat more veggies?

    Children have an innate preference for fruit

    The Australian Dietary Guidelines’ recommended daily intakes for vegetables and fruit depend on a child’s age.

    A chart showing the serving amounts of fruit and veg for ages 4-18.
    Fruit and vegetable serving sizes by age. The Conversation.
    National Health and Medical Research Council, CC BY-SA

    Consumption among Australian children falls well below recommendations. Around 62.6% of children aged over two meet the recommended daily fruit intake, but only 9% meet the recommended vegetable intake.

    This is not surprising given children have a natural preference for fruit. At least in part, this is due to its sweetness and texture, whether crispy, crunchy or juicy. The texture of fruit has been linked to a positive sensory experience among children.

    Vegetables, on the other hand, are more of an acquired taste, and certain types, such as cruciferous vegetables, can be perceived by children as bitter.

    The reason children often prefer fruit over vegetables could also be related to the parents’ preferences. Some research has even suggested we develop food preferences before birth based on what our mother consumes during pregnancy.

    Balance is key

    So, a preference for fruit is common. But is it OK if your child eats lots of fruit but little to no vegetables? This is a question we, as dietitians, get asked regularly.

    You might be thinking, at least my child is eating fruit. They could be eating no veggies and no fruit. This is true. But while it’s great your child loves fruit, vegetables are just as important as part of a balanced eating pattern.

    Vegetables provide us with energy, essential vitamins and minerals, as well as water and fibre, which help keep our bowels regular. They also support a strong immune system.

    If your child is only eating fruit, they are missing some essential nutrients. But the same is true if they are eating only veggies.

    Fruit likewise provides the body with a variety of essential vitamins and minerals, as well as phytochemicals, which can help reduce inflammation.

    Evidence shows healthy consumption of fruit and vegetables protects against chronic diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

    Consumed together, fruit and vegetables in a variety of colours provide different nutrients we need, some of which we can’t get from other foods. We should encourage kids to eat a “rainbow” of fruit and vegetables each day to support their growth and development.

    What if my child eats too much fruit?

    If your child is eating slightly more fruit than what’s recommended each day, it’s not usually a problem.

    Fruit contains natural sugar which is good for you. But too much of a good thing, even if it’s natural, can create problems. Fruit also contains virtually no fat and very little to no protein, both essential for a growing child.

    When overindulging in fruit starts to displace other food groups such as vegetables, dairy products and meat, that’s when things can get tricky.

    6 tips to get your kids to love vegetables

    1. Get them involved

    Take your child with you when you go shopping. Let them choose new vegetables. See if you can find vegetables even you haven’t tried, so you’re both having a new experience. Then ask them to help you with preparing or cooking the vegetables using a recipe you have chosen together. This will expose your child to veggies in a positive way and encourage them to eat more.

    2. Sensory learning

    Try to expose your child to vegetables rather than hiding them. Kids are more likely to eat veggies when they see, smell and feel them. This is called sensory learning.

    3. Have fun with food

    Use colourful vegetables of different sizes and textures. Make them fun by creating scenes or faces on your child’s plate. Add edible flowers or mint for decoration. You can even serve this with a side of veggie-based dip such as hummus or guacamole for some bonus healthy fats.

    4. Teach them to grow their own

    Teach your child how to grow their own vegetables. Evidence shows kids are more inclined to try the food they have helped and watched grow. You don’t need to have a big backyard to do this. A windowsill with a pot plant is a perfect start.

    5. Lead by example

    Your child learns from you, and your eating habits will influence theirs. Ensure they see you eating and enjoying veggies, whether in meals or as snacks.

    6. Practise persistence

    If your child refuses a particular vegetable once, don’t give up. It can take many attempts to encourage children to try a new food.The Conversation

    Yasmine Probst, Associate Professor, School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, University of Wollongong; Olivia Wills, Accredited Practising Dietitian, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong, and Shoroog Allogmanny, Accredited Practising Dietitian, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Hungry? How To Beat Cravings

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    The 10almonds Team

    The Science of Hunger, And How To Sate It

    This is Dr. David Ludwig. That’s not a typo; he’s a doctor both ways—MD and PhD.

    Henceforth we’ll just say “Dr. Ludwig”, though! He’s a professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center.

    His research focuses on the effects of diet on hormones, metabolism, and body weight, and he’s one of the foremost experts when it comes to carbohydrates, glycemic load, and obesity.

    Why are we putting on weight? What are we getting wrong?

    Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Ludwig says, weight gain is not caused by a lack of exercise. In fact, people tend to overestimate how many calories are burned by exercise.

    A spoonful of sugar may make the medicine go down, but it also contains 60 calories, and that’d take about 1,500 steps for the average person to burn off. Let’s put this another way:

    If you walk 10,000 steps per day, that will burn off 400 calories. Still think you can exercise away that ice cream sundae or plate of fries?

    Wait, this is interesting and all, but what does this have to do with hunger?

    Why we get hungry

    Two important things:

    • All that exercise makes us hungry, because the more we exercise, the more the body speeds up our metabolism accordingly.
    • Empty calories don’t just add weight themselves, they also make us hungrier

    What are empty calories, and why do they make us hungrier?

    Empty calories are calories that are relatively devoid of other nutrition. This especially means simple sugars (especially refined sugar), white flour and white flour products (quick-release starches), and processed seed oils (e.g. canola, sunflower, and friends).

    They zip straight into our bloodstream, and our body sends out an army of insulin to deal with the blood sugar spike. And… that backfires.

    Imagine a person whose house is a terrible mess, and they have a date coming over in half an hour.

    They’re going to zoom around tidying, but they’re going to stuff things out of sight as quickly and easily as possible, rather than, say, sit down and Marie Kondo the place.

    But superficially, they got the job done really quickly!

    Insulin does similarly when overwhelmed by a blood sugar spike like that.

    So, it stores everything as fat as quickly as possible, and whew, the pancreas needs a break now after all that exertion, and the blood is nice and free from blood sugars.

    Wait, the blood is what now?

    The body notices the low blood sugar levels, and it also knows you just stored fat so you must be preparing for starvation, and now the low blood sugar levels indicate starvation is upon us. Quick, we must find food if we want to survive! So it sends a hunger signal to make sure you don’t let the body starve.

    You make a quick snack, and the cycle repeats.

    Dr. Ludwig’s solution:

    First, we need to break out of that cycle, and that includes calming down our insulin response (and thus rebuilding our insulin sensitivity, as our bodies will have become desensitized, after the equivalent of an air-raid siren every 40 minutes or so).

    How to do that?

    First, cut out the really bad things that we mentioned above.

    Next: cut healthy carbs too—we’re talking unprocessed grains here, legumes as well, and also starchy vegetables (root vegetables etc). Don’t worry, this will be just for a short while.

    The trick here is that we are resensitizing our bodies to insulin.

    Keep this up for even just a week, and then gradually reintroduce the healthier carbs. Unprocessed grains are better than root vegetables, as are legumes.

    You’re not going to reintroduce the sugars, white flour, canola oil, etc. You don’t have to be a puritan, and if you go to a restaurant you won’t undo all your work if you have a small portion of fries. But it’s not going to be a part of your general diet.

    Other tips from Dr. Ludwig:

    • Get plenty of high-quality protein—it’s good for you and suppresses your appetite
    • Shop for success—make sure you keep your kitchen stocked with healthy easy snack food
    • Nuts, cacao nibs, and healthy seeds will be your best friends and allies here
    • Make things easy—buy pre-chopped vegetables, for example, so when you’re hungry, you don’t have to wait longer (and work more) to eat something healthy
    • Do what you can to reduce stress, and also eat mindfully (that means paying attention to each mouthful, rather than wolfing something down while multitasking)

    If you’d like to know more about Dr. Ludwig and his work, you can check out his website for coaching, recipes, meal plans, his blog, and other resources!

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  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – by Mark Manson

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    The 10almonds Team

    You may wonder from the title: is this book arguing that we should all be callous heartless monsters? And no, it is not.

    Instead, author Mark Manson advocates for cynicism, but less in the manner of Scrooge, and more in the manner of Diogenes:

    • That life will involve struggle, so we might as well at least choose our struggles.
    • That we will make mistakes, so we might as well accept them as learning experiences.
    • That we will love and we will lose, so we might as well do it right while we can.

    In short, the book is less about not caring… And more about caring about the right things only.

    So, what are “the right things”? Manson bids us decide for ourselves, but certainly has ideas and pointers, with regard to what may or may not be healthy values to pursue.

    The style throughout is casual and almost conversational, without being overly padded. It makes for very easy reading.

    If the book has a weak point, it’s that when it briefly makes a suprisingly prescriptive turn into recommending we take up Buddhism, it may feel a bit like our friend who wants us to join in the latest MLM scheme. But, he’s soon back on track.

    Bottom line: if you ever find yourself stressed with living up to unwanted expectations—your own, other people’s, and society’s—this book can really help streamline things.

    Click here to check out The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and put your attention where it makes more of a positive difference!

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  • What immunocompromised people want you to know

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    Ro White – Public Good News

    While many people in the U.S. have abandoned COVID-19 mitigations like vaccines and masking, the virus remains dangerous for everyone, and some groups face higher risks than others. Immunocompromised people—whose immune systems don’t work as well as they should due to health conditions or medications—are more vulnerable to infection and severe symptoms from the virus. 

    Public Good News spoke with three immunocompromised people about the steps they take to protect themselves and what they want others to know about caring for each other.

    [Editor’s note: The contents of these interviews have been condensed for length.]

    PGN: What measures have you been taking to protect yourself since the COVID-19 pandemic began?

    Tatum Spears, Virginia

    From less than a year old, I had serious, chronic infections and have missed huge chunks of my life. In 2020, I quit my public job, and I have not worked publicly since. 

    I have a degree in vocal performance and have been singing my whole life, but I haven’t performed publicly since 2019. I feel like a bird without wings. I had to stop traveling. Since no one wears a mask anymore, I can’t go to the movies or social outings or any party.

    All my friends live in my phone now. It’s a community of people—a lot of them are immunocompromised or disabled in some way. 

    There are a good portion of them who just take COVID-19 seriously and want to protect their health, who feel the existential abandonment and the burden of all of this. It’s really isolating having to step back from any sort of social life. I have to assess my risk every single time I leave the house.

    Gwendolyn Alyse Bishop, Washington 

    I was hit by a car when I was very young. I woke up from surgery, and doctors told me I had lost almost all of my spleen. So, I was always the sickest kid in my school.

    When COVID-19 hit, I started working from home. At first, I wore cloth masks. I didn’t really learn about KN95 masks until right around the time that COVID-19 disabled me. [Editor’s note: N95 and KN95 masks have been shown to be significantly more effective at preventing the transmission of viral particles than cloth masks.]

    I actually don’t get out much anymore because I am disabled by long COVID now, but when I do leave, I wear a respirator in all shared air spaces. My roommate and I have HEPA filters going in every room.

    And then we test. I have a Pluslife testing dock, and so we keep a weekly testing schedule with that and then test if there are any symptoms. I got reinfected [with COVID-19] last winter, and a Pluslife test helped me catch it early and get Paxlovid. [Editor’s note: Pluslife is a brand of an at-home COVID-19 nucleic acid amplification test, which has been shown to be significantly more effective at detecting COVID-19 than at-home antigen rapid tests.]

    Abby Mahler, California

    I have lupus, and in 2016, I started taking the drug hydroxychloroquine, which is an immunomodulator. I’m not as immunocompromised as some people, but I certainly don’t have a normal immune system, which has resulted in long-term infections like C. diff.

    I started masking early. My roommates and I prioritize going outside. We don’t remove our masks inside in public places. 

    We are in a pod with one other household, and the pod has agreements on the way that we interact with public space. So, we will only unmask with people who have tested ahead of time. We use Metrix, an at-home nucleic acid amplification test.

    While it’s not easy and it’s not the life that we had prior to COVID-19’s existence, it is a life that has provided us quite a lot of freedom, in the sense that we are not sick all the time. We are conscientiously making decisions that allow us to have a nice time without a monkey on our backs, which is freeing.

    PGN: What do you want people who are not immunocompromised to know?

    T.S.: Don’t be afraid to be the only person in a room wearing a mask. Your own health is worth it. And you have to realize how callous [people who don’t wear a mask are] by existing in spaces and breathing [their] air [on immunocompromised people].

    People think that vaccines are magic, but vaccines alone are not enough. I would encourage people to look at the Swiss cheese model of risk assessment. 

    Each slice of Swiss cheese has holes in it in different places, and each layer represents a layer of virus mitigation. One layer is vaccines. Another layer is masks. Then there’s staying home when you’re sick and testing.

    G.A.B.: I wish people were masking. I wish people understood how likely it is that they are also now immunocompromised and vulnerable because of the widespread immune dysregulation that COVID-19 is causing. [Editor’s note: Research shows that COVID-19 infections may cause long-term harm to the immune system in some people.]

    I want people to be invested in being good community members, and part of that is understanding that COVID-19 hits the poorest the hardest—gig workers, underpaid employees, frontline service workers, people who were already disabled or immunocompromised. 

    If people want to be good community members, they not only need to protect immunocompromised and disabled people by wearing a mask when they leave their homes, but they also need to actually start taking care of their community members and participating in mutual aid. [Editor’s note: Mutual aid is the exchange of resources and services within a community, such as people sharing extra N95 masks.]

    I spend pretty much all of my time working on LongCOVIDAidBot, which promotes mutual aid for people who have been harmed by COVID-19.

    A.M.: An important thing to think about when you’re not disabled is that it becomes a state of being for all people, if they’re lucky. You will become disabled, or you will die. 

    It is a privilege, in my opinion, to become disabled because I can learn different ways of living my life. And being able to see yourself as a body that changes over time, I hope, opens up a way of looking at your body as the porous reality that it is. 

    Some people think of themselves as being willing to make concessions or change their behavior when immunocompromised people are around, but you don’t always know when someone is immunocompromised. 

    So, if you’re not willing to change the way that you think about yourself as a person who is susceptible [to illness], then you should change the way that you consider other people around you. Wearing a mask—at the very least in public indoor spaces—means considering the unknown realities of all the people who are interacting with that space.

    This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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