ACID /ALKALINE FOODS

One of the most amazing discoveries of the 21st century besides Neil Armstrong stepping foot onto the moon is that your blood pH should be alkaline between 7.1 to 7.5.

If your blood pH is alkaline this will greatly reduce your chances of suffering a heart attack or contracting cancer. Having alkaline blood will mean an increase in the oxygen in your blood, whereas, if your blood is acidic, a pH of 6.5 to 6.9, the oxygen concentration in your blood will be less.

Cancer loves an acidic environment and what happens generally is the cells start to multiply rapidly in the body at the weakest link, e.g. the liver or stomach etc.

Having a slightly alkaline blood is one of the keys to a long life and that is why the Hunza people, the Okinawa people and people from most other communities with greater longevity eat mostly vegetable and fruits.

My journey

Many years ago I made an important discovery. I read Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond and something touched a deep chord inside me when I learned about how the pH of our blood can affect our health.

Health experts agree that the pH of our blood should be approximately between 7.1 to 7.5 which means our blood is slightly alkaline. To achieve a pH in this range, we would need to mostly eat fruits and vegetables. While our blood remains slightly alkaline, it is far more difficult for major diseases to gain a foothold. When our blood is slightly acidic, that is 5.5 to 6.9, this means we are eating too much protein and carbohydrates, which can lead to many diseases. Dr Paavo Airola, a world famous nutritionist, believes that having acidic blood is the basic cause of all disease and acidic blood will result if we don't eat enough alkaline foods to balance the acidic foods we eat over a period of time. One of the consequences of acidic blood is that acid will be deposited in the joints and tissues over many years slowly creating diseases such as arthritis which many people suffer in their later years. Dr Airola's book, How to Get Well, published by Health Plus is a valuable reference about acid and alkaline forming foods.

My personal journey into acid and alkaline forming foods began when I discovered that the pH of our saliva closely follows the pH of our blood which meant I could easily and regularly check the pH of my blood by testing my saliva.

This is the method I used to test the pH of my saliva. First, I purchased a packet of pH testing strips. Then, two hours after eating food or fluids I would place the pH paper on my tongue and rub saliva onto the pH paper. I would wait about 15 seconds and then match the colour of the pH paper to the colour printed on the side of the packet as a reference. When I first tested for pH, the colour matched 6.5 which is slightly acidic. This was an "aha" moment where I realised I had been eating mostly meat and potatoes with very little vegetables and fruit in my diet and was not doing much exercise. No wonder I was always tired and fatigued and had little energy.

This was a turning point in my life. It was as if an angel had landed on my shoulder and whispered, "It is time you are at the crossroads of your life. Move forward into an alkaline and healthy life or go backwards into an acidic and sickly life. Change is inevitable."

My journey, during which my blood chemistry changed from acidic to alkaline took three months.

Vitality, energy, a more positive attitude and abundant health began to take roots deep inside me.

Let food be thy medicine. – Hippocrates

How different foods are classified: alkaline forming or acidic forming

The following is an important guide that explains how different foods are classified as to whether they are alkaline forming in the body or acidic forming in the body. It would be wise to achieve greater longevity by eating mostly alkaline forming food, say 80% and 20% acid forming foods.

Let us follow the wise leaders of the past

Famous vegetarians

• Leonardo de Vinci

• Albert Einstein

• Socrates

• Plato

• St Francis of Assisi

• George Bernard Shaw

Why did the wise leaders of the past eat mostly vegetarian food? Let us examine some facts. Your body is designed of cells. Your cells need energy, vitamins, minerals, protein and water.

What your cells need

Important Vitamins

Vitamin A – For good vision, skin and hair. Food sources: carrots, green leafy vegetables, pumpkin, coloured fruits and vegetables

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) – Very important for the nervous system and digestive system, helps maintain normal red blood count, prevents fatigue and gives greater stamina. Food sources: wheat germ, whole grain cereals, all seeds and nuts, green leafy vegetables and potatoes.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – Essential for general health, eyes, skin, hair and nails. Food sources: milk, cheese, eggs, wheat germ, almonds and sunflower seeds.

Vitamin B3 (niacin) – Important for good circulation, nervous system and intestinal health. Food sources: brown rice, seeds, nuts, green vegetables, wheat germ and rice bran.

Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) – Good for the hair and helps increase the action of other B vitamins. Food sources: seeds, grains and brown rice.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) – Helps build enzymes in the body, helps the nervous system, helps the essential balance between potassium and sodium in the body, and contributes towards longevity. Food sources: wheat germ, soya beans, bananas, avocado, walnuts, cabbage, carrots and green peppers.

Vitamin B9 (folic acid) – Needed during pregnancy, functions together with vitamin B12 in many body processes such as cell division. Food sources: most green leafy vegetables, wheat germ, soya beans, kidney beans, lima beans, chickpeas, asparagus, lentils and walnuts.

Vitamin B12 – (cyanocobalamin) – Needed for the generation of red blood cells. Food sources: clams, oysters, sardines, salmon and Swiss cheese.

Vitamin B17 – (nitrilosides) – Helps prevent cancer in the body and discovered by Dr E. Krebs – Food sources – Apricots and particularly the seed kernel, apple seeds.

Vitamin C – Important for wound repair, an essential antioxidant, improves the immune system especially related to colds and flu.

Food sources: red peppers, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, oranges and lemons.

Vitamin D – Prevents rickets in the bones, helps prevent tooth decay, helps prevent depression and is also known as the "sunshine vitamin". Food sources: sardines, eggs, mushrooms and sprouted seeds.

Vitamin E – Helps increase the efficiency of the muscular system especially the heart and helps with fertility for men and women. Food sources: sprouted seeds, fresh wheat germ and green leafy vegetables.

Vitamin F (lecithin) – Lowers blood cholesterol, helps prevent heart disease and important for all glands especially the adrenal glands. Food sources: flaxseed oil, sunflower oil.

Vitamin K – Known as the blood-clotting vitamin and it helps to prevent strokes. Food sources: green leafy vegetables, alfalfa, cabbage and wheat germ.

Vitamin P (rutin) – Helps with high blood pressure and helps with eye diseases. Food sources: buck wheat, blackcurrants, strawberries and cherries.

Important Minerals

Calcium – Essential for building bones and teeth, important when breast feeding, very important for elderly people, helps create and maintain a healthy heart, stimulates the activity of enzymes and assists in controlling the acid / alkaline balance in the body. Food sources: kelp has 1000 mg of calcium per 100 g, cheese, kale, yogurt, almonds, parsley, figs, and milk has 100 mg of calcium per 100 g.

Chlorine – One of the main ingredients in common salt, too much salt in the body causes many health problems, e.g. overweight and high blood pressure. Food sources: salt, eggplant and sweet potato.

Copper – Helps in the development of connective tissues, brain and nerves. Food sources: green leafy vegetables, raisins, pomegranates, beans and peas.

Chromium – Insulin and chromium help remove glucose from the blood, helps the heart and helps in overcoming diabetes. Food sources: mushrooms and whole grain bread.

Iodine – Very important for a healthy thyroid gland. Food sources: kelp and iodised salt.

Iron – Essential for red blood cells, women lose iron during the menstrual period. Food sources: parsley, strawberries and green leafy vegetables.

Magnesium – About 60% of magnesium is found in bones, and it is vitally important for the nervous system. Food sources: kelp, wheat germ, almonds, Brazil nuts, cashew nuts and buckwheat.

Phosphorous – Helps the nervous system, mostly found in bones, and calcium and phosphorous work together. Food sources: yogurt, lentils, salmon, chicken and beef.

Potassium – One of the most important alkaline minerals missing in the diet of most people, potassium and sodium work together to help control body / fluid balance, being an alkaline mineral it helps to balance when there is too much acid in the blood stream, and arthritis and bone problems are the main result or eating too much acid forming food over a long period of time. Food sources: kelp, parsley, apricots and bananas.

Silicon – Helps the body maintain healthy nails, hair and skin. Food sources: lettuce, parsnips, asparagus, horseradish and sunflower seeds.

Sodium – The sodium / potassium ratio in the body is vitally important especially in the kidneys and most people have too much sodium (from salt) and not enough potassium. Food source: salt.

Zinc – Important for fertility especially in men, and helps the prostate gland function efficiently. Food sources: oysters and pumpkin seed kernels.

Hopefully, we have learnt more about what the cells in our body need for optimum health. Now, let us have a look in nature's animal kingdom at how the carnivores and herbivores are designed.

How carnivores and herbivores are designed

How did God design carnivores?

Carnivores (meat eaters) generally have large prominent teeth designed for catching and bringing down their prey. The jaw of a tiger can only move up and down, whereas, human teeth can move side to side exactly like a herbivore (plant eater). A tiger's stomach is basically in a straight line with a bag at the end. The meat comes into the mouth and is not chewed which is very different from our way of eating meat. Tigers eat raw meat while we eat cooked meat because our stomach is not designed to eat raw meat. Our intestines are shaped like multiple S letters and are about seven metres long which is a perfect design to digest fibrous material like plant food while a tiger's intestines are very different from ours. A tiger's tongue is rough and is designed for drinking water from a river or water hole and for licking blood. Human saliva has an enzyme called ptyalin which helps pre-digest carbohydrates like bread and grain foods, whereas, a tiger has no such enzyme in its saliva. A tiger's stomach has 10 times the amount of hydrochloric acid and, therefore, is perfectly designed for digesting meat. In comparison, a human stomach has a much weaker concentration of hydrochloric acid. Furthermore, carnivores generally have a shorter life span than herbivores possibly because of the amount of acid forming meat they eat.

How did God design herbivores?

Herbivores (plant eaters) have teeth designed for chewing their plant-based food from side to side, similar to our way of eating food. Plant eater's intestines are shaped like multiple S letters and are very much different in design to those of a carnivore, for example, our intestines are about seven metres long which is a perfect design for eating plant-based food that needs a lot of digestion. Our tongue is smooth similar to a herbivore's tongue, while a carnivore's tongue is rough. A herbivore's life span is generally greater than a carnivore's life span, for example, the Galapagos tortoise can live to more than 100 years old. Herbivores are peaceful as they eat plant based food, whereas, most carnivores are aggressive as they eat meat. In addition, herbivores have sweat pores for elimination of toxins and when they sweat this allows evaporation for heat control. Furthermore, they do not eat meat that contains cholesterol as all plant-based food have no cholesterol. Herbivores eat plants, which are alkaline forming in their body.

The human body is designed to eat plant based food

The more plant-based food you eat the longer you will live. I often like to compare an acid battery that you would put in a torch with an alkaline battery. The alkaline battery will always last longer than the acid battery. When you consistently eat more alkaline forming foods like vegetables and fruit rather than acid forming foods, you too can live a longer disease-free life like the Hunza people.

In Australia, there was a man who followed the Hunza way of eating. His name is Eric Storm these are the facts:

• Born 4th March 1896 and died 24th February 2000 at the age of 103

• Suffered a heart attack at the age of 34 years old

• His doctor warned him if he did not change he would not live a long life

• Eric Storm started to follow the Hunza way of eating mostly plant-based food which is alkaline forming in the body

• He lived an energetic and active life and passed away aged 103

• Roger French, his close friend, wrote a book called The man who lived in three centuries.

What you eat every day will slowly but surely decide your future health. If you eat healthy alkaline forming foods 80% of the time, then you will be pain-free, vibrant, full of energy and the universe will smile on you and you will have a long and happy life. Whereas, if you eat mostly acidic forming foods like too much meat, fatty and processed food, then slowly darkness will descend on your body in the form of sickness, and pain in your joints from the build-up of uric acid. Your emotions will lean to the negative side and you will live a short, painful and unhappy life.

The father of medicine, Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine", and we either learn the wisdom of this brilliant man or we are doomed to eat the wrong types of food and suffer the consequences in the form of painful sickness in our body, such as cancer.

We often eat the wrong types of food because our tongue tempts us and sends messages to our brain to eat more sweet tasting food. There is a constant battle going on inside of us between our tongue and our awareness of what we know in our hearts we should be eating. Who is the boss of what you eat, your tasting tongue or the awareness of what is good for our body?

We are learning the importance of what we eat and the effect of acid and alkaline forming foods which contribute to the pH level of our blood.

Diet and pH levels

What is pH?

pH is a scale which indicates acidity or alkalinity. pH values can range from 1 to 14, where 1 is the most acidic, 14 is the most alkaline and 7 is neutral.

What does pH have to do with us?

Our body's pH levels, e.g. in body fluids like our blood and saliva, are affected by what we eat and drink, along with our general heath and how our organs are functioning. A healthy person will have a blood pH within a narrow range that is slightly alkaline, and a pH outside this range could indicate potential health problems or disease.

The pH of our saliva closely follows the pH of our blood. The pH of our saliva and blood should be in the range of 7.1 to 7.4 which is alkaline. If your pH stays in this range, you are more likely to live a longer life with less disease.

Water is close to neutral with a pH of around 7.0; and the pH of saliva and blood can also be neutral.

When our saliva and blood has a pH of approximately 5.5 to 6.5 this is acidic which will generally mean you are more susceptible to cancer, heart disease, arthritis and many other diseases.

How can our diet affect our pH?

The following table is an experiment where 16 people who I worked with at the time were tested to find the pH levels of their saliva two hours after eating or drinking. Each participant was also asked to describe the food that they normally ate every day. The table clearly shows the more fruit and vegetables eaten by the participant, the more alkaline their saliva and, therefore, the more alkaline their blood will be.

One of the best ways to get more alkaline forming foods into our body is by juicing the food we eat.

Juicing

Want to boost your energy levels?

Invest in a good quality juicing machine, e.g. Nutra bullet, Ninja or a simple juice fountain. Severe diseases like cancer, liver problems, heart disease and colon problems have been defeated by juice therapy.