Just a bit of food for thought, the drug companies that are trying to get a "new" drug approved by the FDA are the same drug companies that are PAYING for that testing process. Quite frankly, I don't trust any of them. Plants were created for a purpose, many of them do have healing properties that those drug companies some people put so much stock in would go to any lengths to keep people from learning about or believing in. Tell me, what would happen if the world was to find out that ACV could help with Acid Reflux and/or chronic indigestion? *Grins* Exactly. They'd stop buying "the purple pill" and start buying ACV. Personally, I trust the products that God made before I'd trust those which are man made. ACV is made from apples. The "mother" mentioned in this thread are simply vital nutrients and minerals our bodies benefit from which are lost in the pasteurization process of the "grocery store" brands. ACV is acidic by nature, but when your body burns it, the ash created by the process of converting it to calories is "Base" in nature, which balances out the body's Ph. There ARE health benefits of ACV, many. But you'll never see a "clinical trial" of ACV. Why? Well think about it. Who pays the bills in a clinical trial? What drug company would want it proven clinically that ACV does the same thing as their "wonder pill?" Not to mention many prescription drugs are based after that which occurs naturally in nature. Personally, I have taken ACV for over 3 years now. I have gone from a jean size 24 to a jean size 8. But you must remember that no "weight loss" product, no exercise, nothing works overnight. It is a gradual process. My advice? If you're going to try ACV, then make a commitment to stay on it for at least 3 months. That's how long it took before I began to see results. The first thing I noticed was that my craving for junk food began to wane. I began to crave healthy food. I began to drink more water, I began to get full faster. I had more energy, I felt better. But I've also not been sick in 3 years. I've had kids with bad colds standing over me while I'm kneeling down at work and coughing right in my face, and not gotten sick. No stuffy noses, no sore throats, no flu. The only time I had a problem was when I stopped taking it for a few months. I didn't realize how much ACV doing for me until then. I was miserable, I just felt like crap. And within that 2 month time frame, I gradually began to go back to eating junk. Within a few weeks of going back on ACV, I felt much, much better. Most of the weight loss I experienced occurred during the first 6 months, mainly during a 2-3 month time frame. Within a few months, I'd noticed that my clothes were a bit big. 6 months after beginning, I went up and tried on clothes to find that I was a size 10. Concerned that there might be another reason for my weight loss I went to the doctor, and was told that I was in perfect...

Hopeful, I also experienced a fweling of guilt when my father died because I was free to live my life for the first time in seven years, yet I do not regret the time I spent with him or my mother. When my father died (my mother had passed seven years prior) I knew that I had given him everything I could give that was in my power. I have two brothers that are fifteen and seventeen years older than me and they were both married. I am the one who stayed at home with my parents and took care of them. I had little money or a life of my own from birth to age forty-four when my father passed. I devoted my life to taking care of my parents and giving them anything and everything that I could that they wanted. My mother had always wanted to fly so we went to two away football games where she got to fly and she died after one of our driving out of town game trips. She died happy and I know that I did the best I could for her. My father wanted more than anything to take a road trip to Minnesota, but I could not take a month off work to take him nor did I have the money. My brothers are both worth a million dollars and they would not take him. I took him to see relatives and places I could afford to take him. I did the best for him and I spent a month sitting by his side at an extended care faci;ity while he slowly died from cancer. My brothers did not volunteer to be there and came to see him about once a week. Whe both my parents died I had such a sense of peace because I had done for them what I could, but I also felt guilty that I felt so free of worry and stress and pain once they passed. I had a dream shortly after my father died where both he and my mother visited me and told me it was time to think of myself and to live. They told me not to count on my brothers for anything and to make a world for myself and not let what my brothers had to say make me back down. I have attempted to do what they told me and for the most part life has been good. I may never be rich or famous but I enjoy volunteering at Give Kids the World and being with my plants and friends. I think my father guides my hands with my plants and helps me to grow things that usually will not grow. God put me here to be a caregiver and I took care of my parents and now I am taking care of my husband. God is blessing me in so many ways and he sends me reminders of my parents by allowing them to be angels to me and visit from time to time. There is truly an afterlife as there are angels and visits from those passed over to comfort, warn and protect us. Know you did the best and treasure the memories and keep them alive. Celebrate birthdays each year with a cake, etc and have scrapbooks or photoalbums to look at each major holiday. Keep their memories alive and your life will be more enriched as you hold and treasure the love they gave you while still alive and you will be rewarded by frequent visits or hear the soft whisper from your mother of sister when you need it to help comfort you or to tell you things will be okay. Hold those strange and unusual events close to your heart and feel the comfrot they offer. Beth, my heart goes out to you as do my prayers and condolences. Linda

I have recently been diagnosed with AAADD - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder This is how it goes... I decide to do work on the car, start to the garage and notice the mail on the table. OK, I'm going to work on the car... BUT FIRST I'm going to go through the mail. Lay car keys down on desk. While discarding the junk mail, I notice the trash can is full. OK, I'll just put the bills on my desk.... BUT FIRST I'll take the trash out, but since I'm going to be near the mailbox, I'll address a few bills.... Yes, Now where is the checkbook? Oops..there's only one check left. Where did I put the extra checks? Oh, there is my empty plastic cup from last night on my desk. I'm going to look for those checks... BUT FIRST I need to put the cup back in the kitchen. I head for the kitchen, look out the window, notice the flowers need a drink of water, I put the cup on the counter and there's my extra pair of glasses on the kitchen counter. What are they doing here? I'll just put them away... BUT FIRST I need to water those plants. I head for the door and... Aaaagh! someone left the TV remote on the wrong spot. Okay, I'll put the remote away and water the plants... BUT FIRST I need to find those checks. END OF DAY: Oil in car not changed, trash not emptied, bills still unpaid, cup still on the counter, glasses still on the counter, checkbook still has only one check left, plants not watered, lost my car keys, . . . . where's the TV remote? . . . And, when I try to figure out how come nothing got done today, I'm baffled because... I KNOW I WAS BUSY ALL DAY! I realize this condition is serious... I'd better get help... BUT FIRST...I think I'll check my e-mail. Who was I going to send this to???

My grandmother lived with my mother and me from the time I was three or four. By combining households my mother was able to go out to work to support us after my father left. Gram began to lose her hearing in her 60's. Best option for her then was a pair of heavy, ugly glasses with receptors and batteries in the stems that fed into earpiece speakers. These were only helpful to a small degree. There was a lot of exasperated shouting in our homeeven when Gram wore her 'hearing glasses'. One of my ears hears less well that the other, so I've lost my 'radar' -- ability to determine the origin of a sound. Both DH and I have some hearing loss, but mine is increasingly worse. I have more annoying tinnitus; he has none. I'd like to avoid further 'shouting'. (The physical effort of it looks and feels just like anger.) Yayagal, please tell me the details about your hearing aids! Maybe the same maker would have a choice for me.