Cheap and Healthy or Snake Oil?


Blog, Peace Corps / Friday, September 21st, 2012

The past couple of months, I haven’t felt like I’m in my top shape. This caused me to go to see the doctor which in turn caused me to get an ultrasound to check for tumors (the doctor wanted to rule out possibilities). What it boiled down to was that I had slept on an air mattress and the softness, while comfortable, wasn’t good for my lower back. This caused pain elsewhere in my body.

The doctor recommended a regime of ibuprofen for a couple of weeks, and I did this. It helped a little, but that pain is still there. Add on top of that the pain I’ve suffered from flag football practices in the past few weeks (practices are over now and our tournament is on Saturday). I’m feeling old, but I still want to be able to do things. Nothing seems to be helping. The doctor said if it was still bothering me come November before I leave, he’ll okay it for me to see a specialist when I get home. I can’t wait that long. This pain sucks.

Recently I came across a posting, on Google+ I think, that suggested how wonderful parsley is and it can be boiled into a drink to get the benefits. I looked into it further and it seems parsley is a wonderful this to eat. I set out to the store to buy some and came home with two 70g bundles for a total of 3.50 UAH (about 1/4 lb. for about $0.50). I made two large pots of juice with it. I tried some and it tastes great.

So what do you think? Did I buy snake oil? Does anyone have experience with this that might suggest an improvement? I’m just trying to feel better.

5 Replies to “Cheap and Healthy or Snake Oil?”

  1. I just read something about how parsley or cilantro can help to remove the toxins in your body by cleansing your kidneys. I think it’s a great idea.

  2. ^^It looks like parsley is supposed to have diuretic properties. Not sure about what specific toxins they’re referring to, but if I understand diuretics correctly, it just makes your kidneys remove sodium from the body. I guess it’s supposed to help lower your blood pressure temporarily and make you pee more?

    If your mattress is causing pain, and flag football is causing you pain, why don’t you address those in addition to drinking parsley? Especially the mattress; if you’re spending 5-8 hours every day on a crappy mattress, it’s probably worse than sleeping on the floor.

    Also I’m super skeptical of anything on the internet that proposes to be a silver bullet to all the things. 🙂 I mean, all leafy greens are good for you, parsley included, right?

    1. Okay fine, Carolyn. I’m still going to drink parsley from time to time and I’m going to eat it when it’s on my plate. But you’ve got a great point about the mattress and the football (though I think I might have fractured a rib and that’s the pain I’ve been feeling; it’s easing off now). Unfortunately, I have a really hard time sleeping on the floor, if at all. All I can really do until I’m home in November is remove the air mattress from the equation and strengthen my back.

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