An Aid To Memory

Is there a 12-Step program for vitamin addicts? Well, if so, I think I need start working the first step.

I admit I have been fascinated by supplements and nutrition, and after theology, I read more about health than any other topic. I think I took an interest in health because in junior high I was a bit pudgy, which was caused in part by genetics. Eating too much and playing too much Nintendo may have played a part…but other than these minor factors, it was definitely genetics. I also had fairly thin hair growing up, and was convinced that I was going to go bald when I was older. Incidentally, at 29, I still have about as much hair as I did when I was 15, which is a full head. I was, and am, proactive, preferring action to b*tching, so knowing that bald fat teens don’t usually get a lot of hot dates, I started taking my health seriously. Jonathan checked out Lendon Smith’s Diet Plan for Teenagers from the library, which I read, and my interest in health, nutrition, and supplements was born. I tried to change my diet, started exercising, and bought some vitamins at the local health food store. I think I bought Folic Acid, Iodine, and maybe vitamin C. It’s written in an old high school planner somewhere. It snow-balled from there. I even remember checking out health magazines from the library and contacting advertisers and seeing how many free supplements I could get. I have always liked to read, and after a night of football practice, going out on a date, or whatever, I would usually retire to my room, put on some Bob Dylan songs, and read a little, often from health books. I eventually found the mail order supplement company Lee Nutrition (and its sister company, Nutrition Headquarters), with its testimonies from people from quaint sounding towns that I suspected didn’t actually exist: “Thank you for your vitamin C. It really helped me feel better. Sincerely Jennifer G., Santa’s Village, IL.” So I ordered some of the supplements that I had read so much about: Chromium, Vitamin E, Alfalfa, and others.

Even though I was “into” health in high school, I went through a fairly unhealthy stage during my undergraduate days, and I stopped taking supplements, started eating too much, and quit working out regularly. I remember eating three large meals a day, topped off with two small bags of salsa verde Dorritos and a pint of whole milk. I got out of breath climbing the dorm stairs, and did not feel very well.

When I got to grad school, I knew I had to get with it. Not only did I start eating well again and exercising, I started ordering supplements online from Puritan’s Pride, and I began to use the internet to find studies about supplements and conditions. Over the years, I have started taking different supplements based on the newest research (for example, vitamin D, which at one time I wondered why supplement companies even bothered making since it seemed to have little therapeutic benefit…boy was I wrong!). I also stopped taking a few after research showed no benefit or perhaps harm (Beta-Carotene, for example).

I still take quite a few supplements, including herbs (Garlic), enzymes (Bromelain), lipids (Fish Oil), miscellaneous (Co-enzyme Q10), and minerals (Magnesium and Selenium…on days my dietary intake is low, which is rare thanks to regular consumption of nuts). I have even added some new supplements to the mix (Acetyl L-Carnitine and Alpha-Lipoic Acid) rather recently. I enjoy laying out my supplements the night before I take them, and organizing them; this kind of orders my day, and if anything, allows me to feel in control of at least one aspect of my health.

So maybe I am addicted to supplements. Or maybe I just want to be healthy. It sure beats taking drugs I guess.

First, let me say that I do NOT agree with Penn and Teller on everything (especially their view of religion), but they make some good points about gun control here, and make the smug professor Roger Rosenblatt look pretty silly here. This is Part 1 of 3. The other parts are also on YouTube. Warning: some foul language.

When I was in 7th grade, I was a little pudgy (I hadn’t yet hit my growth spurt), so I went to a meeting of “weighty matters” a county program to educate overweight kids. I didn’t get the pun (”weighty matters”) at the time. Another thing I didn’t “get” was the fat content of fish. The nurse passed out some nutrition guides, which showed the calories, fat, carbs, etc, contained in various foods. I saw that fish had only one gram of fat. “Oh, that’s good,” I thought, so I talked mom and dad into taking me to Long John’s Silvers and my brother and I each proceeded to eat a three-piece fried fish combo, with fries and hush puppies….one gram of fat indeed!