Bulgarian thoughts about dressing your salad


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Bulgarian thoughts about dressing your salad - for your health's sake

Vinegar and oil, salt and pepper are the most common seasonings provided with restaurant meals in Bulgaria

I returned to the United States in 2003 after spending three wonderful years in Bulgaria. While watching television here one evening, it occurred to me that I had just seen 4 commercials in a row for "stomach remedies", yet I could not remembered seeing even one in Bulgaria, neither could I even once recall having an upset stomach in those three years.

Now, almost two years later, I think I understand the reason. Not too many weeks ago, I finished off my dinner of spicy Buffalo-style chicken filets, then topped it off with a bowl of strawberry ice cream. Common sense should have sounded the DISASTER! alert. Sure enough, about 2 A.M., I woke up with a massive bloating feeling and decided to sit up until it passed. Half an hour later, I was still miserable.

It was then that I recalled watching an info-mercial several days before which proclaimed that most of these "stomach remedies" were bunk. The problem, the info-mercial said, was that instead of too much stomach acid, many times there is not enough. The stomach requires acid to digest food.

Instead of reaching for a Tums® which would counteract the stomach acid, I took a full tablespoon of cider vinegar. In only a minute, the fullness feeling disappeared and I was able to get right back to sleep, although I took another tablespoon of cider vinegar just for good measure.

Caveat:

Please note that it is extremely important to obtain an accurate diagnosis before trying to find a cure. Many diseases and conditions share common symptoms: if you treat yourself for the wrong illness or a specific symptom of a complex disease, you may delay legitimate treatment of a serious underlying problem. In other words, the greatest danger in self-treatment may be self-diagnosis. If you do not know what you really have, you can not treat it!

Hydrochloric Acid Deficiency:

Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice taken with meals mildly stimulates hydrochloric acid production.

This information adds a great deal of value to the Bulgarian practice of vinegar and oil as the primary seasonings for fresh salads. The high fat and sugar content "western-style" mayonaise or corn syrup-based salad dressings are not common in Bulgaria.

One day while researching this subject on the web, I noticed that Kraft Foods ® has introduced a line of CarbWell™ salad dressings. Their vinegar-based Italian dressing adds a great zest to salads without a heavy oily taste (zero carbohydrates) or adding a lot of calories (100 calories).