If you listen to the “health tidbit du jour” on any popular news broadcast, it can be quite confusing. One day coffee will kill you and the next week another study reveals that coffee is THE panacea for all our bodily ailments. Still, sometimes these studies do give pause for consideration and when personal and practical research is done, they can help us to edit the things we choose to put into our bodies.
Dave and I were discussing just this matter last evening when he asked out of the blue why I do not consume any soda products. We’ve been together for 11 years and still there are things we do not know about each other. I explained that my decision to avoid all soda beverages was initially based on medical advice from my Nephrologists. Since my kidneys do not function properly there are two qualities of cola-like drinks that are problematic for me. One of the carbonation, and the other is the oxalic acid…the microscopic crystalline forms that cause cola to be dark brown, coffee black and tea it’s golden hue. Since my kidneys do not filter fluids correctly, these crystals quickly turn to kidney stones. This alone is reason enough to never drink a sip of soda again. As a side note, I have also been advised repeatedly to also avoid the aforementioned tea and coffee. But some things are simply beyond the realm of the merest consideration.
Giving up on fizzy drinks was not at all hard for me. I was raised as a Kool Aid kid, so once I made the decision that was it. There are plenty of other beverages in the world. No more six packs and two-liter bottles in my fridge and I’ve never looked back. This started me thinking of other things that I have completely eliminated from my diet or daily use.
- Potato Chips and 99% of bagged snacks
- Processed luncheon meats
- Any products containing Sorbitol and most other artificial sweeteners
- Any processed foods containing Nitrates
- Any products containing Lactic Acids…thank God for Lactose Free Milk
- 99.9% of Ice Cream
- Most foods that contain any sort of oil or grease like product that solidifies in it’s natural state
- 99.9% of Perfumes or Colognes, especially those made with a base of Orris Root ( this can be hard to determine without trying some product) I am HIGHLY allergic to Orris Root so I can instantly tell if a product will bother me.
- Anything that smell even vaguely like Vanilla AACCCKKKKKKKK
- Anything coated in Teflon, Silverstone or any variation thereof
- Any food cooked in Lard…although I was raised on it and LOVE it.
I’m sure there are more but at this point I have to start thinking, and that is simply too much trouble at this point in time. Suffice it to say that I made these decisions based on things that I either believe or have yet to decide, but just felt that it is better to avoid than to take a chance. What items have you given up? It’s sort of an interesting list to make.
In another realm of giving up on things, I was notified today that my Internet Company will no longer be offering e-mail service and that my e-mail account will be permanently deleted in 8 days. I am stymied and shocked. I simply do not know if I can manage to notify all of my business and personal contacts and enact a change in that amount of time. From banking domestically and internationally, to e-bay, paypal and countless download and social networking sites….I’m just a wee bit panicked.
If I can find a suitable alternative here in the bucolic but isolated mountains of East TN. I think I might just add my Internet provider to the list of items of things I have voluntarily given up.
