Sex and Supplements March 11, 2009
Posted by indigobunting in Uncategorized.trackback
I have always been a bit drug resistant. I don’t like to take stuff unless I really have to. That’s true even of vitamins and supplements. Besides which, I always get conflicting advice as to what to take. Doctors, nutritionists, pharmacists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, herbalists, friends—everyone has an opinion about what supplements one should be ingesting, and many of them disagree with one another. I refuse to down a bunch of pills all day long. I just won’t do it.
Admittedly, though, I take a few. My count right now is six at breakfast: one organic multivitamin, two calcium/magnesium, one manganese B12 (à la chiropractor), one vitamin D (maybe just for winter), and one low-dose aspirin (for winter). Your basic aging-female cocktail.
Tim just finished up one bottle of his organic multivitamin, so I grabbed the new one out of the cupboard this morning. Pulling the bottle out of its box (it may be organic, but it’s double packaged), I noticed the none-too-subtle marketing: “Every Man’s One Daily: Nourishing Power and Protection for Men.” Hmmm. What did mine say, I wondered? “Every Woman’s One Daily: Nourishing Fulfillment of Every Woman’s Needs.”
Fulfillment of my needs? Of every woman’s needs? Believe me, I (and most women) would notice something like that immediately upon swallowing. [Go ahead. Insert junior-high snicker here.]
I read these aloud to Tim. “But I want fulfillment of my needs,” said Tim.
“Yeah, and I want some power,” I noted. “I really have to get this job off my desk today.”
We eyed each other’s multivitamin bottles, considering. There is probably next to no difference between the two. But I don’t want to grow hair on my chest. And he’s trying to avoid growing man boobs.
Route 153 
Nice.
Very nice.
Ha — now this post is going to get a lot of search results hits, mark my words.
At the wrestling tournament on Saturday, one of the mothers brought a large tub of watermelon. After offering some to everyone around her, she proceeded to tell us that watermelon was nature’s Viagra[R]. She went on to say that she knew a doctor who ate it every day and never had troubles in that area (not sure how she knew this information). Anyway, no one took a second helping.
Well, no one but my husband.
Oh, and her son was sitting within earshot and shaking his head while she told the story. (he’s used to her I guess)
Cedar is right. Comments are already pouring in. Next time try a heading with death (such as, “sex and death”) and see what happens. Back in my WMC days, those two topics were guaranteed to wake students up. But this is a wonderful post. Such a great idea to extrapolate from vitamin bottle blurbs!
Oh, this is great.
Why low-dose aspirin? Blood thinner? Why just for winter?
6 pills…woah! I take just three.
Well something is surely working, either the supplement, or my last shipment of Blog Goblins!!
Ah, marketing! Keep up the Vit. D, at least until they release some new study that proves Vit. D causes . . . um . . . organ shrinkage.
I avoid pharmaceuticals, too, but I go the supplement route quite often.
Bridgett: Thanks.
Cedar, Eulalia: I’ll have to work on a sex and death post. And CW, interesting to hear about the watermelon. Maybe in 40 years the son will remember his mom’s advice…
Helen: I have a slightish case of Raynaud’s phenomenon, so yeah, it’s just for circulation because I get so cold. I probably should take it all the time, but I’m drug resistant.
Damyanti: Yeah, six feels like I’m really pushing it.
Susan: You’re right. I’m going to get another bottle of D.
Has aspirin helped your Raynaud’s? Mine has gotten a lot worse over the years, and I’m always looking up treatment recommendations (usually alternative, but I consider all the options). I don’t remember seeing aspirin mentioned.
I’d not heard about aspirin for Raynauds either. I used to be on a beta blocker but quit when I was trying to get pregnant and have not gone back. I now make sure I wear gloves and warm clothes, even when people laugh at me in May. (Or July when the air conditioning is on full blast)
I don’t know how much aspirin has helped. And I’m going on advice that is more than a decade old…maybe I should look into it. Not even clear if Raynaud’s is truly the problem. When I have symptoms, I think it hasn’t helped. If I don’t have symptoms, I don’t know if it’s helping. So there it is.
I’ll bet his is low or no iron.
I have seen folks take $300 bucks of supplements a month on the advice of the clerk at the healthfood store. But wouldn’t chunk a single buck down to ask a professional of any type. And I have heard advice from healthfood clerks that would scare anyone who knew anything.
But a pill that can fulfill a woman’s needs? I want it destroyed. I want it destroyed now! Or, if Lee does ever find that, I want to be able to help. I guess that’ll mean I need to start taking vitamins too.
And sending Alek to the movies more often.
A: I did once compare them, eons ago, and there were some differences, of course, but not great ones. Probably iron was a bit different. I should look again. Harder to read the small print, though. (And I feel your pain on who listens to whom.)
And man, I don’t blame you for feeling threatened. But, as I indicated, I think this is an exaggerated claim.