The Great Alkaline Water Expedition — And the Question I Forgot to Ask
Have you ever tried something that you believed would ‘improve your health’ but you really had no idea why or how? It sounded good at the time, and it seemed like everywhere you turned it was the newest big thing that was an absolute must. I have plenty of those stories.
Today I was thinking of my good friend Diane and the time we went on the Great Alkaline Water Expedition. This was probably 20 years ago when our health information came from TV ads, newspaper articles or someone at the health food store saying this ‘thing’ is critical to your health, and you can’t waste a moment without it. Looking back, I realized the crazy health claims we see online today aren’t new. What’s changed is the volume and how easily they find us.
Somehow Diane had gotten the message that alkaline water was practically a cure-all. The theory, as we understood it, was that if you could keep the body more alkaline rather than acidic, disease couldn’t thrive. That day Diane said, “we’re doing this.” We took off in her big red Chevy and headed to the health food store in a neighboring town in search of the miracle cure-all. She learned in advance that we had to bring our own empty milk jugs which she had in tow. When we arrived, we were pointed to a room in the back where you dispensed your own alkaline water that came from a city tap that passed through an alkaline filter device. It was huge and there was water everywhere. We siphoned our water from the big machine and paid something like $2 per jug. And began drinking our alkaline water religiously for a few weeks until the novelty wore off.
Today there is nothing particularly new about our willingness to chase the next promising health idea. What’s changed is the sheer volume of information coming at us, especially online. And I’m still curious. I try new things all the time. The difference is that I’ve learned to stop before adding something new and ask one simple question:
What do I hope this will actually change?
Sometimes I have a good answer. Sometimes I realize I don’t have a problem that needs solving at all. And sometimes the answer is simple, I’m curious and I want to find out. That’s okay too—as long as I know that’s why I’m doing it. I don’t think we need to stop being curious or trying new things. We just need to know what job we’re asking for the next thing to do before we bring it home. Diane and I skipped that part entirely.
But we did have a wonderful afternoon riding around in that big red Chevy with a load of empty milk jugs looking for the fountain of youth. And twenty years later, that’s probably the part worth keeping.
Jamie H. Harrington
Curious explorer of living well in the second half of life
