Susan Biali

Whenever my German-born, trend-savvy mom gets onto a new health food kick, I usually pay close attention.  However, when she started taking apple cider vinegar a few years ago, I pretty much dismissed it and went on with my life.  I vaguely remembered having seen suspicious ads about weight loss and other health benefits, none of which I’d paid any attention to.  

Websites claim that apple cider vinegar can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, treat diabetes, fight obesity, prevent osteoporosis and prevent cancer and agina.  Supposedly, a single teaspoon dissolved in a glass of water provides trace minerals, beneficial bacteria, enzymes, pectin, beta-carotene, fiber and so on - the list varies depending on the manufacturer.  Can this really be true?  And what about regular vinegar?

I think I was depressed for most of my life, until a few years ago.  The lowest point hit when I was in my Emergency Medicine residency.  The days felt so black, and the future felt so empty, that I couldn’t see any point to continuing.  I was sure that there was something biologically wrong with me.  After all, depression was genetic, right?  Even worse, I was still miserable even though I was taking anti-depressants.  You can imagine how excited I was about the future.  What future?  

That was ten years ago, when it was still pretty unusual to be on anti-depressants.  Today, they’re the number one drug class prescribed in the United States, can you believe it?

Is everyone really this depressed, or have we somehow started calling normal life experiences “depression”?  Is there something about Western life that sets us up for disappointment and depression?  Or is there more to this, still?