
I think a case of tendonitis this past spring finally caused me to accept the fact that I'm no longer 29 years old. It's not that I'm unaware of my chronological age, especially since at every hair coloring appointment my stylist laments that I have the most stubborn gray hair in the universe to cover. But in my mind, I often feel postively girlish, and up until recently, the mental image I had of myself was stuck in, oh...about 1989, minus the shoulder pads. I don't really worship youth like so much of this country does, though. In fact to me, it's waaaay overrrated. Looking back, I particularly regret the fact that what others thought of me powerfully shaped my own opinion about myself. I spent nearly an entire decade trying to be someone that I don't even like!! No, I don't long for that part of youth, but rather prefer the confidence and self-assurance that we seem to acquire after our fortieth birthday, give or take a few years. What I do long for are the days when it was no big deal if I injured myself. It didn't matter if I fell down the steps or pulled a muscle or banged my leg against the desk because in less than a week, I'd be good as new. Bygone days for sure.
One thing I know for a certainty--my appreciation for healthy food choices and dietary supplements grows by leaps and bounds with each passing year...well, with each passing day, for that matter. Last night my husband and I were discussing the correlation between how we feel both physically and mentally with what we eat the night before. Although both of us are borderline sugar and carb addicts, we are now beginning to associate these foods with pain, inflammation, itching and low energy. In fact, last night we ordered Domino's pizza (against our better judgment, I might add), yet we each ate only one piece. One single, solitary piece out of the whole pie, and we were done! That's never happened before! We always eat the whole thing, vowing on the last bite never to do this vile thing again. Our good behavior had nothing to do with self control, either. It simply resulted from being sick of feeling sick every time we eat some high carb food. Our bodies just don't cleanse themselves and rebound like they once did. After we consumed our lone piece of pizza, we both got out our supplement organizers and took our evening round of vitamins and assorted health pills. The conversation next turned into something that sort of resembled speed dating, as we came up with short, probing questions that we've never really asked each other before. Since he had just finished the last of fifteen or so pills, I started the ball rolling with, "What three supplements would you never want to be without, and why?" I decided to share his answers with you today, since I'm guessing more than a few of you can relate to him or have similar health concerns. I'll stop short of my next question, though, which was "Have you ever been in a barroom brawl, and if so, how did it get started?" To my surprise, he reminisced about several of them, which added further support to my aforementioned comments about youth!
So here are Ronald's three favorite supplements that he would not want to be without. First choice, which rolled off his lips with no hesitation whatsoever, is ChromeMate brand chromium (chromium polynicotinate), which we carry in the Swanson Ultra line. He insists that it does a better job than all other forms of chromium for keeping his blood sugar levels in check, and he told me something that I didn't know about him and other Native Americans. They are many times more susceptible to diabetes than all other ethnic groups, and he credits ChromeMate and daily exercise for helping him to avoid it so far. He says that if he forgets the supplement, though, his morning blood glucose count may inch up as high as 120 (a consistent fasting count of 126 constitutes diabetes). But when he takes chromium, even if he eats carbs the night before, his morning reading will usually be 100 or less, which is right where it should be! Next on his list are Omega-3 essential fatty acids, and he swigs both fish oil and flax oil straight from their bottles. Neither one of these oils is particularly pleasant to taste, but that's how much he dislikes swallowing pills. And he claims that what they do for the aches and pains in his knees, back and neck is a near miracle, so they're staples on my weekly employee order day. Keeping in mind that he was doing something else besides brawling in all those barrooms, you won't be surprised to hear that milk thistle is his third choice. Ronald ended up with a lot of damage to the liver from his former "drinking days," and for years his doctor was monitoring the health of it very closely. Was he ever surprised to see Ronald's liver enzymes go way down (a good thing!) after about six month's on milk thistle! It really does cleanse and rejuvenate this organ. Ronald has strictly been "on the wagon" for almost twenty years now, and agrees that youth isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Now if we could combine the health of our young bodies with the wisdom of our mature minds, that would really be something! Except I'd be out of this job.