Stuff That Matters In Life

I know it seems like I’m taking a lot of stuff, yet to me it just seems like 3-4 pills. But I guess you wouldn’t have to take even one pill if you are perfectly healthy. Nowadays though, it is not unusual to take some supplement – a probiotic, a vitamin, an antioxidant or omega-3 seems to be well-accepted. In modern living we want “quality of life” and possibly “extend our life” by the use of supplements to prop up our physical body. Sometimes I wonder if that’s really the best for us. I spend so much time and energy with health concerns recently that it’s been a big distraction. God is telling me to focus on him, not on solutions without him. To be a good steward of the body that God has given us, and to trust him no matter what is the proper balance of perspective.

With that said, here’s continuing with my list of supplements:

Turmeric – This is probably the superfood of the year. Every year there is a superfood that everyone takes. There was omega 3 fish oil, and green tea, and gingko nuts. I am jumping on the turmeric bandwagon. It’s an anti-inflammatory. Inflammation is the culprit of a lot of illnesses, they say.  My MIL said her friend’s got her high blood sugar under control when she took organic turmeric. I bought both the powder and the capsule. I tried “golden milk” with turmeric and coconut milk, but it didn’t seem to agree with me. So I make it with water like tea, and drink about a cup a day. I also take one capsule a few times a week. My friend takes 2 capsules a day for her arthritis. If I have any inflammation in my digestive system, including throat inflammation from LPR, I figured the turmeric would help. As with all natural supplements, you cannot expect to see immediate results. I was discouraged when I first started with these supplements. I thought it’d be like medicine, when you take a Tylenol, your headache immediately goes away. But natural supplements promotes a slow healing process. It’s not a lot of money to spend and I figured, it can’t hurt…and maybe in the long run, I’ll feel better.

Evamor alkaline water – I read that our modern diet tends to be acidic – fast food, red meat, fried foods, soda, etc. and we don’t eat enough alkaline food such as veggies. So drinking alkaline water will bring down the acidity in our body. Now, I have a B.S. degree in nutrition…and my diet is healthier than the average American. I never drank soda, alcohol, or coffee. I don’t eat out a lot, and I don’t even like fried foods that much. I hardly ever snack, and never buy chips for our home. I eat a good amount of veggies, especially leafy green chinese veggies. So is my body acidic? I don’t know, but since I have symptoms of acid reflux, it wouldn’t hurt to drink alkaline water. I also read that LPR is caused by pepsin (a stomach acid) refluxed in the throat that shouldn’t be there, thereby causing damage typical of LPR. While you can’t get rid of the pepsin, alkaline water can deactivate it.

To make this story long, I will go into the details of looking for alkaline water. With our pH kit to test our pool water, I tested the reverse osmosis filter water that we usually drink at home. It was about 7.4. Then I tested our tap water and it was a little over 8! But I read that Evamor is all natural, no added chemicals or ions to make it alkaline, it naturally has a pH of between 8.8-9.1. I searched Amazon for the cheapest seller, and it still comes out to .069 cents an ounce. If I drank that exclusively I’ll be spending about $5 a day for water. That’s too expensive to keep up. I drank it exclusively for 4 days to give it a chance to work on me. That’s already close to $20! Now I only drink Evamor in the morning and sometimes after meals. Mostly I am drinking boiled tap water now (boiling takes out some of the chlorine).

To be continued.