DAY 14, ALKALINE YEAR DENTAL POSSIBILITIES

DAY FOURTEEN ALKALINE YEAR

Dental Possibilities

October 10, 2009   One of the  downers of aging—teeth deterioration—may be addressed by eating alkaline.  This is part of what I hope this year’s experiment in eating will bring.   And the best way to address it is by seeing what happens during your dental checks while you are eating fruits, vegetables, grains, almonds, seeds, and not eating or drinking coffee, alcohol, sugar, starches, dairy or meats, or processed foods.

Today, due to having chipped a 20-year-old veneer on a front tooth last week, I underwent dental exam, evaluation, and cleaning.  Both the dentist, Steven, and his assistant, Adrienne, are exceptionally  thorough and open to new ideas.   She and I started talking about my decision to  eat alkaline for a year and its potential effect on my teeth and gums and bones.

Is it possible that dental plaque may be caused by our acidic diet?  Good old SAM rearing  his acidic head again?  Adrienne took extensive photos of my present plaque, which was two years in origin (since the previous cleaning), and  she’ll do comparison photos in May.  That, of course, will not produce scientific results, because a lot less plaque would build up in six months than in two years.  But if there’s significantly less, it might say something about the interplay between SAM and plaque loss.  And, of course, if she does another six-month follow-up next November, and there’s less than half as much plaque buildup, we would be getting to something worth examining further.

Today I need to roast a turkey, not in my own kitchen, thank heavens; I don’t enjoy the smell, although Thanksgiving turkey skin used to be one of my favorites.   Somebody gave the Food Bank a large frozen turkey, with potential freezer burn so that presenting it roasted wouldn’t be attractive.  We can cut off the small burned bits.  So  other volunteers and I will roast and cut it up to make  a big turkey soup in our  Emmanuel Church kitchen, which is a Health Department-approved commercial one.  Then we’ll cart it over to the Food Bank, which is presently held in the Community Church and has a smaller kitchen (although a larger congregation).

For that holiday, I’ll still cook a small turkey as most of our friends are omnivores.  Have you ever considered the fact that Thanksgiving dinner traditionally is one of the more balanced meals in our American cuisine?  Think of all the potential side dishes; yams, green salads, all kinds of green, yellow and red vegetables.  True, I’ll avoid the meat, as well as the pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and let a friend do the honors there.  But it should be a fine gustatory experience as well as bringing the joys of being with friends and family.

Tonight we’re having dinner with my longest-time friend and her husband.  She taught home economics, and I know the questions will arise about the old-fashioned USDA food groups, and how I plan to get enough calcium.   The latter is the easiest:  there is, contrary to myth, plenty of calcium in fruits, vegetables, seeds, and grains, if that is your staple diet.  Just to be sure, I take a good calcium supplement.  As to the food groups, all I can say is that this is a new way of eating and that the USDA has been wrong before!


PS: One of my friend's first comments, when I came in with my grapefruit and pre-cooked vegetable-grain gemische, was "My cousin Ailene died of an alkaline imbalance. You'd better be careful!"  I explained to her that underlying most disease states is certainly an acid-alkaline imbalance, but an acidic one that relates to our acidic standard diet.  Then we talked more rationally about what it means to eat alkaline.