Multivitamins
Here is a lesson that is so often repeated it has become trite, but one which I am too stupid to internalize.
Last July I was wasting my life reading blogs, when a blogger I respect told me I should take a multivitamin once a day. I took this advice to heart. Although I have not died of malnutrition yet I know that my diet is not that good, and that I am no doubt suffering from many micronutrient deficiencies. Thus started my low-grade obsession with multivitamins.
Multivitamins are not that cheap; a bottle can easily cost a week's grocery money. The multivitamin market also offers too much choice; I spent at least a couple of hours lurking in drugstores and natural food stores, checking out prices and trying to figure out which micronutrients I cared about the most. As a hypocritical vegetarian I also wanted to avoid micronutrients from animal sources. All this shopping and anticipation took more mental energy than I am prepared to admit in public.
Each month I took out some extra money from the bank so that I could purchase multivitamins, but month after month I squandered that money on other things. I kept thinking about chronic pain induced by micronutrient deprivation, but I still didn't get my act together. Finally on September 9 I spent $15.24 on 130 big orange multivitamin tablets.
Since then the bottle of multivitamins has sat on top of my computer. In the 76 days since my purchased I have maybe taken 10 tablets. Taking a vitamin every day would be yet another chore that adds to the drudgery of life. I will probably finish the bottle eventually, and I guess that having some micronutrients is better than having none, but so far my multivitamins have not made me feel very good. I still feel anxious about micronutrients and chronic pain.
Meanwhile, I currently indulge low grade obsessions about water picks, bike pumps and camping stoves.
Happy Black Friday, everybody.