not quite a naturopath in Random Commentary

I totally don’t think special healing clay is a cure-all for the ravages of all disease.

But I am totally on board with natural things having their place and efficacy. I am on board because things have worked for me. I don’t take headache medicine anymore. I use essential oils.

I also read. Not Dr. Wizard’s blog beneath his book-peddling pop-up ads with pretentious close buttons like “No, I reject your book and choose to live out my days in the dark ages.”

Okay, I should say not only. I do read those. But then I also read chemistry. And I use my brain.

And it’s mind-blowing what you see in the chemical relationships between things in the natural world, plants and animals and people. From the way they communicate with each other (if you scoff at that, just think about how bugs collect pollen. How do they know to do it? How do they know which plant is the one they need?) to how they process what they collect into something else (think bees making honey; and honey is amazing.)

So yes. That natural stuff definitely has merit.

What I hate is the way people bank on it by making it sound like juice pouring from the Holy Grail. They get away with it because no one reads past Dr. Wizard’s blog. Because that’s time consuming. That takes thought and personal discernment. I can’t blame them so much; I like myself a quick concise answer. But I prefer accurate answers.

Not, “Use apple cider vinegar in this natural bug repellent recipe! Not only is it all natural, it smells amazing!”

Are you a moron? Anyone who has smelled ACV knows that it smells like straight up fermentation (because that’s what it is. Fermented.) – if not borderline vomit. It does not smell amazing.

Unless, of course, you’re part fruit fly.

(Which reminds me, super easy way to kill fruit flies: pour some ACV in a glass, add a drop of dish detergent to break surface tension, then go to sleep. Wake up and admire the watery fruit fly graveyard. This is how I annihilated the little suckers in my kitchen. It also works with fruit juice, too.)

Anyhoo… thus ends my PSA about being informed. Do your research. About the natural stuff, and about the synthetic stuff doctors like to chuck at you. I had my ENT wanting me to take an antibiotic called Levaquin a while ago. Aside from the black box warning it has from the FDA, side effects like tendon ruptures (up to six months AFTER you stop taking it, with an even higher chance when coupled with corticosteroids, which is what he prescribed) and photosensitivity sounded way too extreme to justify taking it for what might be a sinus infection.

Sure, the doctors are trained, but it’s my body. I have the final say in what I take. And I said no. I did my research. I asked for a different antibiotic. And they were fine with it.

And here I am. With no sinus infection. Frolicking in the sun with no ruptured tendons.