January Musings of Dietary Health

A long, long time ago I attended a lecture on using herbs for a variety of things. The young woman was an excellent speaker and she was not selling herbal products, her talk was geared towards to cooking and using fresh herbs for health purposes. She made a lasting impression on me, and I have remembered her words for over fifteen years.

She changed the way I viewed carbonated beverages forever. I learned that all sodas, diet or regular, contain phosphoric acid. This substance is toxic and the only defense the body has is to neutralize the phosphoric acid by leaching calcium out of the bone tissue. She also told us that the first generation of women to have widespread osteoporosis was the generation of women who were young girls when soda pop became available to the everyday population. I have since then avoided carbonated beverages whenever possible. I don't want to negate the calcium supplements that I take daily by drinking something that has no nutritional value to begin with.

Another subject she discuss was the importance of gastro-intestinal health. She shared a conversation she had with a mortician who told her that every person, upon dying, had an average of 60-75 pounds of fecal matter embedded in the walls of their large intestines. She talked about the cleansing properties of drinking herbal tea made with fennel seeds. When she held up her personal large jar of fennel seed, she made the comment that the jar was almost empty, referring to the regular use of the herb. Someone in the audience quipped, "And so are you!!!"

While fennel is a welcome flavor to Italian dishes, by itself, it has a licorice flavor, similar to tarragon. Since I am not partial to licorice, I choose a different path to gastric health. Whole grains are thrice worthy. They are very tasty, they help to keep that "junk food" craving at bay, and they are very good for you and your GI system.

In the matter of dietary health, it is important to remember that the way to success is not trendy, it takes more time and money than eating processed junk food. In this new decade of re-discovered basics and frugalities, may we all return to better and heathier eating by re-discovering our kitchens and local markets for good things to eat.