We hold these truths to be self-evident

Lisa writes: Or, "Weirdnesses: Continued."
Lisa is strongly of the opinion that sodium lauryl sulfate causes, or antagonizes, canker sores. (You never want to antagonize a canker sore. They're cranky.) It does not, as is often hysterically reported, cause cancer, and is just fine in shampoo and dish detergent, etc. It's just a foaming agent. It makes bubbles and breaks up oils. This is great in your hair and on your dishes, but it's a problem in your mouth. Ever touched a fish? You know how they have that thin slime layer on their scales? And if you touch them with a dry finger, they'll get a sore there because you broke the slime layer? The mucus membrane in your mouth has the same thing, and if you are genetically predisposed to canker sores, using SLS breaks up the protective slime layer (maybe I should find a better word for it?) and lets those bad germs get in. Which is why I am a fan of:
- Rembrant Sensitive or Rembrant Canker Sore toothpaste
- Sensodyne Original toothpaste
- Zooth toothpaste
I have done this research for you, so now you don't have to look like the crazy lady standing in the toothpaste aisle reading the ingredients on each and every tube.

Tom adds: Thanks, Lisa, for that research. Now, if you'll scoot over a bit, I think there's room for two on that soapbox. I would like to add my self-evident truths. The first is easy: if you drink enough water, your body will be much happier with you than if you don't. True, it means that you are always on the lookout for the nearest bathroom, but I assert that it is worth it. You have probably heard that you should drink 64 oz (eight cups) every day. I heard another way of calculating the right amount that take into account the fact that people are not all the same size: take your weight (in pounds), divide it by two, and drink that many ounces of water every day. I have found that the best way to do this is to carry around a 32 oz Nalgene water bottle. You can use them for boiling-hot tea or stick them in the freezer to get your drinks nice and cold, and they are virtually indestructible. If you go through two of those every day and have something to drink with your meals, you are pretty much set. I don't have all the scientific references on this, but if your body is 2/3 water, doesn't it make sense to give it what it wants?

The second is a lot harder at first, but gets easier once you learn the ropes: if you stay away from refined/artificial sweeteners and enriched flour, your body will be much happier. Ingredients to look out for include: sugar (!), high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, NutraSweet, Sweet N Low, saccharine, and anything you have a hard time pronouncing. This can be dismaying battle at first when you start to look at the ingredients in almost all food in the grocery store, and you might want to start by eliminating things in phases. Fortunately, all is not lost for those of you with a sweet tooth! Some good sweeteners that actually appear in foods (you may need to poke around and look for "organic" products): honey, organic sugar, turbinado sugar (like what comes in the brown packages at Starbucks), cane juice, maple syrup (the real stuff), concentrated fruit juice (there are some really good jellies out there with this). When you get away from the other sweeteners, your body relaxes. But you won't notice until you try one of them again. And there is no need to be a sugar Nazi about this. If everyone else is enjoy that birthday cake, join in. But don't go back for seconds and take the leftovers home!