My latest health obsession: alkaline diet

One thing lead to another, when I was doing research on how V could possibly have gotten those cavities, and I discovered the alkaline diet.

One of the many factors leading to cavities is the proliferation of "bad" bacteria in the mouth, which in turn is supported by a high level of pH in the body as a result of an overly acidic diet. Our diets are notoriously highly acidic.

I thought an acidic diet referred to things like citrus fruits, but no. Citrus fruits are actually quite alkaline, once they are being digested in our stomachs. Things like cheese, meat, fried foods turn acidic inside of us. Even table salt is acidic (and strangely, sea salt is very alkaline.) It is the difference between choosing almonds (very alkaline) and peanuts (highly acidic.) Plain water is good but even better with some lemon.

So a highly acidic diet causes us to have high pH levels (not sure what that means, I am so not a chemist.) But I have learned that this is one of the factors which leads to many health problems, starting with things like joint issues, low energy, all the way up to cancer, etc. There are many, many articles online about this stuff but none are good enough on their own for me to share so I will leave you to scour the web for bits of info on this, if you are interested.

A lot of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, soft cheeses and dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese are good. A lot of grains and meats are not so good. .. so it sort of follows the pattern of what is known as a conventionally good diet. Yet I like having the further knowledge of what is even better, within that pattern, such as sea salt vs. table salt and lemon water vs. plain.

It is a bit tricky though, cause citrus fruits, for example, are bad for our teeth yet good for us to consume, overall. . . with this knowledge I will continue to eat them but drink water afterwards or brush my teeth. Also, blueberries are highly acidic (once they are digested in our stomach) but are packed with beneficial anti-oxidents. So they are worth consuming, we can't have a completely alkaline diet after all. In the end I feel I have to balance all this new info with what I've already learned, being careful to do my best every single day.

Here is one list that I really like so far: http://www.trans4mind.com/nutrition/pH.html (it's on the bottom of the page.)

Hope some of you found this info useful and enlightening. Please feel free to share what you know about this as it's all still quite new to me! I haven't even gotten my pH testing strips in the mail yet.

Our new addition (a dog)

We got a new dog yesterday. I've wanted one for a long time and V really, really loves dogs, so when a friend discovered she's been feeling ugh-y for a long time cause she was allergic to her dog, I offered to take him.

He's a few years old and a pomeranian as you can see above. He's house trained but doesn't heel or play fetch. I'm going to train him.

He is very docile, good with small kids as he had just grown up with a toddler (who is now 4.)

He doesn't seem very playful at all, and the main reason we got him was so V would have him to play with. As it is when we go to the park she runs toward the dogs rather than the playground equipment. One dog owner quipped to me a few days ago, "she's a natural with dogs!" She really is.

But this dog doesn't seem to have any interest in her. It follows me around, I guess it's used to treating the mother of the house as the head of the pack. I wish he'd follow V around, or at least my husband. I adore dogs but I've got things to do! Plus I am more of the lone wolf type.

So he keeps following me around and V is following him around. I feel as though I've been leading a small parade for the last day or so!

I don't know. I realize he's a small dog so won't be able to roll around with her, but at least if they could play fetch, and if they'd chase each other and do other dog-little kid things like that, I'd feel a lot happier. I am a bit iffy right now on this. . .. maybe we should have taken our sweet time and gotten a playful beagle? My friend insisted, many times, that if this dog doesn't work out to give him back to her, she loves him very much. So I guess we will wait a week or so and see how it goes.

Perhaps he just needs time to settle in, though perhaps he is just a laid back dog that will never get very excited and play with V. If all he is going to do is sit around and eat and sleep and need to be taken on walks, then it is not worth all the expense and energy and time.

The Mogg Blogg: Crib on Wheels

The mind boggles at who, and why???

Featured by the funny ladies at the Mogg Blogg.

The dentist: the third option

I remembered, whenever it is tough to choose between two things to consider a third option, which may not be expressed but is almost always present.

I called Sick Kids' pediatric dentistry dept. myself and asked about getting V in there to have her cavities filled, thus saving us the $950 fee for the anesthesiologist. The "good" dentist told me it would be a 16 month wait to get into Sick Kids, at which point her teeth will have probably rotted off or whatever. Not an option. So that is why I'd have to pay $950 out of pocket to have an anesthesiologist come into his office.

I'm pretty sure he really was sure of the 16 month waiting period, but then he also told me he ran out of hospital time which I thought was a little fishy. When I called Sick Kids I asked them about that and she said the wait times had recently dramatically shortened. Anyway, at this point in my life I am a bit cynical and I check on almost everything myself. I worry a bit that it might seem disrespectful to the dentist, but I have to do what's best for my family. Besides the savings of $950, which is not pennies to us, I think it's safer to go under in a hospital setting.

Instead of a 16 month wait it is actually just under 2 months. The "good" dentist had to send a referral form and then the hospital will schedule an appt. for a consultation with us. Then they will schedule the actual fillings. I'm really happy that I took the initiative to look into this!

We will continue to see the good dentist for long term care. Hopefully V won't need any more fillings in her baby teeth after this.

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Sick Kids dentistry accepts children under the age of 2 or patients of the hospital of any age. For those that don't know, it is a world class hospital with a large research division.

I love that place -- the best job I ever had was there (as a senior programmer/analyst on their web team.) I should never have quit :)

Putting things in perspective

Ten-month old B. Lakshmi, who successfully underwent pediatric cardiac surgery, is cared for by her mother at South Asia's first exclusive children's heart hospital in Hyderabad on October 27, 2009. Nearly 152 000 children are born with cardiac conditions in India every year.

Photo credit: NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images

Source: http://jezebel.com/5390786/hearts--minds