The Cheapest, Best Nutritional Supplement

Question: I'm going to try your baking soda to see if it works for me as well. But a friend of mine also suggested that soda crackers might work in principle as well. What do you think?

Obviously, the soda crackers would work too because it contains baking soda, but baking soda as a liquid is probably the ideal, instantaneous manner to obtain the desired effect of neutralizing the over-acidity (which is also a problem in many animals also) -- especially as an after-meal or accompanying beverage -- just as a soda water might be.

Several years ago, I thought Alka-Seltzer might be good for that purpose also -- but when you look at its list of ingredients, it is aspirin (and/or acetaminophen), citric acid as an antacid, and sodium bicarbonate, which is actually the premier antacid. So why are they adding everything else -- when sodium bicarbonate alone by doing nothing more than neutralizing the acidity instantly, creates the optimal internal environment.

It's not as radical as it sounds. I'm just amazed that despite all its miraculous uses for many different purposes, that nobody has thought that baking soda baking may be the cure-all for 90% of the ailments most people suffer from -- except for a few crank (and discredited) physicians who claim that baking soda is the cure for cancer.

One of the problems I had which led me to first believe I was suffering from "aging" effects, was something I suspect afflicts a lot of other athletes also, which is the tendency of their muscles to contract and not release -- as when they tear their Achilles tendon and hamstrings. That's how it happens -- the muscle will contract, but when they send the command to relax, the muscle continues to bind and therefore tears.

So even when I wanted to continue to sprint -- I was very susceptible to these cramps, and tears, which discouraged me from persisting. When muscles contract and release energy, they break down to produce lactic acid as a by-product, which causes fatigue and soreness if the body cannot eliminate that acidity fast enough.

And I also recall that the first time I went on a long bike ride and didn't know how to pace myself, my legs cramped up as thought they were going to break off at the knees, which I felt a need for water -- and salt tablets (sodium), of which, baking soda is the ideal form to administer it. So it is not surprising to read that it has been promoted as a performance enhancer for marathoners, and for bodybuilders to aid in their recovery from high intensity workouts that produce extreme muscle soreness.

And although I have yet to take on a severe challenge of that thesis, I have felt that my muscles are not susceptible to cramping -- which allows me a greater ease of moving into the fullest ranges of movement.

And lastly, one of the advantages of salt (sodium) tablets. is that it seems to keep the tissues the s well-hydrated, which is the look I initially was first struck by when of steroids first became popular in the late 60s. These guys looked like their muscles were going to burst from their skin.

This is particularly important in the later years of one's life when aging people seem to have a noticeably gaunt, or dehydrated (atrophied) look, which could indicate that their tissues could benefit from this greater retention of fluids in their tissues, that is not just the bloated look of those retaining excess fluid to dilute the overacid condition of accumulated waste products.

It's not just enough to drink water. The tissues have to want to hold it -- which seems to be the property that baking soda, as well as glucosamine seem to serve in ensuring the fluidity (lubrication) in movements.

But I haven't tried soda crackers to say that they're not as effective. But I know you can't get anything more concentrated and potent -- and cheaper than just straight baking soda, to use liberally for as many purposes as you can think of.

At Costco, a 13.5 lb. (indestructible) bag costs $5.99 -- which should be a year's supply of the best tonic (medicine) one can buy, for so cheap. It sounds too good to be true.

Question: Yes, I too have a bag of the Costco Arm & Hammer soda. I just had a glass, 12oz w/ one teaspoon of soda. Do you recommend just a glass per day or drinking the glass through out the day? Should you drink more than one glass per day?

The one thing one has to be concerned about is consuming too much sodium -- just like salt, if one has a hypersensitivity to it. So like any good dosage, it should be the minimum effective dose.

I usually mix a half a teaspoon with 20 oz. of water, and add a saccharine tablet for taste. I usually keep two such cups available, and sip it throughout the day, along with herbal teas, and then after meals, I also like to use that solution as a mouth rinse before cleaning my teeth -- of which baking soda is ideal, and even brushing one's teeth, as well as soaking dentures or dental appliances (night guards), instead of those much more powerful products for that purpose. And then of course, it is again ideal for wiping the basin clean and dry.

So I would start with a teaspoon -- over a course of a day as the minimum effective dose -- to eliminate acid reflux, gastrointestinal upset, and irritable bowel syndrome. However, athletes for a competitive advantage, have been advised to take as high as 1 teaspoon per kilogram (2.2 lbs) bodyweight -- which I think would make most people sick, and gag at the thought. But that would be to achieve a one-time competitive advantage -- and not a daily dose, which has notably produced nausea, gastrointestinal distress, etc.

However, I'm inclined to believe that even a modest dose as 1 teaspoon could be tolerated by most people, as just the normal amount of sodium they get in their normal diet. One Alka-Seltzer tablet has more than a teaspoon of sodium equivalent. It's when one gets beyond 5 teaspoons or notices the symptoms of excessive sodium consumption like edema, or swelling at the extremities, and elevated blood pressure that one has to be concerned.

But probably the good, outweighs the downside, especially with constant gastrointestinal upset disrupting one's entire life and ability to live a carefree existence. There's always risk with reward -- and with irritable bowel syndrome (diarrhea), the chances are, one is losing sodium at a greater rate than one is accumulating it in excess.