What follows is an email I’ve just received from the brilliant Internet Marketer, Tony Shepherd. It is, like many of his emails – a sales pitch wrapped in a story. Read the email and try to stop. I dare you!
It’s simply a story leading to promotion of one of his products in the PS. Enjoy!

Oh – don’t misunderstand me, Pufferfish IS dangerous.

In order to serve Pufferfish (Fugu) a Japanese sushi chef must undergo a licensing and training process that takes three years.

And that’s because one slip of the knife can leak tetrodotoxin in the meat which results in the eater feeing tingling in the mouth, quickly followed by paralysis and death in 20 minutes.

Worse though is the fact that the victim will remain conscious throughout.

But there are other things you can eat that can dramatically shorten your life expectancy (in a matter of hours!) and a couple of them really surprised me!

If you’re of a certain age and went to a British school you’ll almost certainly have eaten tapioca pudding. The horrible gloopy desert is made from Cassava, which to be fair is perfectly harmless when cooked.

But if you eat it when raw, you’re consuming a toxin called linamarin which your body converts into cyanide.

In the west the roots are peeled, boiled, dried, soaked and rinsed, but in less developed parts of the world, rushed processing has resulted in numerous deaths.

Even closer to home, back in Yorkshire I’ve frequently enjoyed home-made elderberry wine and jam on numerous occasions and the berries are safe when cooked.

But raw unripened elderberries can result in severe diarrhoea and seizures (can you think of anything worse than having diarrhoea and seizures at the same time??) so they’re particularly dangerous for the young and elderly.

Worse, the leaves, twigs, branches, roots, seeds and flowers of the plant are highly toxic and contain large amounts of cyanogenic glycosides.

So if the berries you pick have any of those mixed in with them, you’re in a for a very bad day.

Lastly (in Korea) there is a something called San-nakji which many people believe is a live octopus dish and some people find very disturbing.

Fans argue that in reality it’s a recently killed baby octopus whose tentacles continue to wriggle when they come into contact with sesame oil or soy sauce and only make the dish ‘look’ like its alive.

Hmmmm.

Either way it frequently gets its revenge.

Apparently when you eat a live (or dead but still twitching) octopus the suction cups still work and while some connoisseurs enjoy the sensation of having their food crawl back up their throats, a significant number of people die when their airway is blocked by a struggling tentacle.

Karma.

Reminds me of a great scene in British werewolf film ‘Dog Soldiers’ when one the tough army lads is grabbed by the huge hairy monster who is about to eat him.

He looks the werewolf squarely in the eye and says:

‘I hope I give you the shits!’

🙂

Best

Tony Shepherd

P.S If you’d rather just make a living from home where you can eat safe foods and chill in the garden then read on…