A reader has started a discussion, and I want to continue it here, bit by bit so that everyone can follow it.
The argument was this: “Vitamins are natural substances, right? All animals produce ascorbate acid in the liver/kidney and there is no difference between this and synthetic one. Not the case for all vitamins (i.e. E) but today nothing is pure.”
Answer: Vitamins are natural substances - as long as they are in the plant or in the meat. What you buy in a bottle, is mostly low-quality stuff.
I do think about vitamins as about sugar: Sugar in plants was a nourishing thing - until mankind was able to refine it and eat it in large quantities. Then it became a poison (responsible for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, arthritis, and many more "degenerative" diseases.
you swallow a vitamin pill (aside from that it might not be healthy stuff in the first place), you flush your system with too much good stuff in too short time - and your body has no clue what to do with it. We are supposed to chew and digest food slowly, so the body can deal with what comes. With vitamin pills, we overwhelm and poison out bodies.
Now, I say this with a grain of salt. In deficiencies, and for a limited time, the replacement of vitamins can be a good thing - under supervision of a physician.
But I have seen too many overdosed people - especially the elderly - who take vitamins to make up for lousy nutrition ... and if one pill helps, two or three might help even better ... Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Water And Energy
July 5, 2011
Driving up to the cabin for the first time this year, in one of the Maine highway restrooms I encountered something new: plain cold water for washing my hands. Finally! I had always wondered why we waste so much hot water and energy for washing our hands. Of course, recently a study had come out that showed that hot water does not remove more bacteria than cold water – the whole effect depends on the detergent and the rubbing action plus the water flow.
So, somebody acted on this new insight. Just think if all the thousands of highway restrooms and all the restaurants would change to plain cold water! We would all be the better for it.
And since I am at it: If you are not elderly and not frail and not sick, please, shut off the air conditioner this year! The Japanese reactor accident has shown us that energy comes with a price – and I guess, not many of us would want to pay with our lives for limitless atomic energy.
When we moved into our house some long time ago, we found, it had a central air conditioner. We tried it one night – and couldn’t stand it.
In the worst of hot, hot summer nights we have a simple fan running in the bedroom. Otherwise: Summer is upon us, and we savor every minute of it by slowing down, relaxing, playing it easy. And sweating. Sweating is the natural, seasonal way to detoxify. I am no fanatic, so I think air conditioners at the workplace are fine. Not that I like them – but they help to concentrate on the work instead of idly looking out of the window. And we are not discussing here possible health disadvantages of air conditioners – I want you to give REDUCING a chance before we are talking COLD TURKEY NONE.
These are the two thoughts for today:
1. Wash you hands with cold water.
2. Do you really need the air conditioner?
And a last thought:
Drink enough water during the heat! Read More