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Nutritionally Speaking: Make a Candy Bank
Published in the Ojai Valley News, January 12,1977.
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Dear Dr. Meinig: My husband and I agree with you that candy and sweets are not good for us. I never have such sweets in the house anymore, but I’m terribly upset about everyone giving candy to our kids. The grocer, the barber, even our pediatrician gives them lollipops and suckers. I’m at my wit’s end. What can I do about these well meaning nuts? – S.A.
Dear S.A.: Life in the raw is seldom mild. These merchant angels are making a sucker out of you. Trying to buy good will and love from someone who has just paid a big dental bill certainly backfires. Why these goofballs can’t see that at least some of their customers resent their false display of goodness baffles me as well as you.
In the past, even dentists gave out lollipops but they finally awakened to the ridiculousness of such gifts. Now a number of companies produce inexpensive toy giveaways. Excellent selections of rings, cars, balloons, animal figures and all kinds of other imaginative items are available for “treasure chest” hand-outs. Tell your sweet gift giveaway artist that his attempt to win your favor through your child’s taste buds has backfired. Suggest he see his dentist for the name of some treasure chest companies and really buy your good will and your child’s.
In order to cope with the disappointments I felt my children would suffer by continually being deprived of these sweet handouts, I developed The Candy Bank idea. It goes like this: whenever your child is offered a goody, he or she is advised they can accept the sweet if refusal would be just too difficult or undesirable. However, if not feeling too pressured they can say, “Thank you, I’ll save it for after dinner.” They then bring the candy, cookie or whatever home and you buy it from them for a nickel, dime or quarter depending on the stress they overcame in refusing to imbibe.
Such money goes into their special Candy Bank and may be taken to the store and spent for anything they desire without parental guidance…except sweets, of course. Even the most foolish purchase by a youngster is not as foolish as the health-destroying item that they would have eaten. Some children can’t wait to spend their Candy Bank money while others save and buy expensive items parents object to purchasing for them at the time. Incidentally, don’t you eat these goodies but throw them in the garbage and let the kids see you do it. They will then know it’s really junk food…fit only for rubbish.
Most of you mothers and fathers will see the soundness of this proposal but let me add a word of warning. In the beginning, it just doesn’t work! The reason is children, particularly younger ones, have no sense of value of money. It usually takes a number of saving and buying expeditions before youngsters appreciate the values and the pleasures derived.
Children when they are little
make parents fools;
When they are great
They make them mad
– George Herbert
Dear Dr. Meinig: My fingernails have become just terrible. What can I do to help them? – S.W.
Dear S.W.: Fingernails are principally silicon, calcium and sulphur. Calcium helps thin, bending nails. A thick hard nail lacking in toughness is improved with sulphur (egg is a good source). For bulk or thickness in the nail, silicon. Keep in mind that it takes three to four months to grow a fingernail and six to seven for a thumbnail. To check your growth rate place a small nick in a nail with a nail file just as it leaves the skin. Then date the calendar and wait for the nick to grow out to the end of the nail. Adrenal cortex hormone and increased protein may also be helpful for good nails.
White spotting of nails is sometimes a shortage of zinc, but can also be caused by arsenic poisoning. Blue black nails can come from diabetes or scurvy. Clubbing can result from cardiac disease states and tuberculosis.
Longitudinal striations often result from infected teeth or bowels, hypothyroidism, gout or vitamin shortages. Crossway striations accompany acute infections, psoriasis and dermatitis. Thickening can follow eczema or ringworm.
Splitting of nails that most of us suffer occasionally are usually associated with vitamin deficiencies, especially C, D or F and at times B. However splitting can come from thyroid or pituitary gland disturbances, allergic disorders, anemia, arthritis or diabetes. Some nail polish removers cause brittle fingernails in women.
A couple of glasses of buttermilk and one egg per day usually guarantees good quality nails, providing liver function is adequate to assure good assimilation of the calcium and sulphur.
Numerous patients for whom we have prescribed calcium lactate or bone meal for sensitive teeth have happily reported the side effect of much improved fingernails.
Dear Dr. Meinig: My mouth is so dry all the time. Is there some vitamin or pill I can take to make it better? – C.L.
Dear C. L.: Are you taking any drugs or medications? Many prescriptions sold over the counter drugs cause dry mouth. If you can stop them for a few days without endangering your other problems the saliva flow will usually return to normal. If so, an assessment can then be made as to the value of the drug.
A diet high in cereal and grain foods and low in fruits, vegetables and liquids can be a cause of your dry mouth. Vitamin A, when low, is a factor in some people as is B complex and B12.
Low thyroid gland activity (Hypothyroidism) is often responsible for dry mouth. If your oral temperature continually runs under 98.6 or underarm temperature less than 97.8 it could indicate need for treatment with thyroid gland preparations.