Part 12 (1/2)

”Spiritual fasting is a mystical sacrifice of body and mind that opens the heart to G.o.d.”

-Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

Preview of Chapter 11.

THIS INFORMATION ABOUT ACID-BASE BALANCE is relatively new for the general health-conscious public. A proper acid-base balance of the system is intimately and critically related to good health. Although for some this may seem like complicated material, I have tried to compensate by ill.u.s.trating the difficult and important concepts with pictures that capture the main points. In this chapter you will get a practical education on acid-base theory the role of alkaline and acid food balancing, alkaline and acid foods and supplements, symptoms of excess acid and alkalinity, and how to correct these imbalances. If you are not scientifically inclined, then go to the end of the chapter where a simple home approach for measuring and correcting your acid-base balance is offered. Spending time on this chapter so that you do understand is another way of taking responsibility for your health and learning to individualize your diet. Are you ready to a.s.sume this part of the responsibility?

I. Importance of acid-base balance for health II. Acid-base research findings A. Vegetarians are not always alkaline B. Meat-eaters are not always acid III. Acid- and alkaline-forming foods and supplements IV. Symptoms of excess acidity or alkalinity V. What is a healthy body pH?

VI. How to measure your own pH.

VII. How to balance acid or alkaline conditions.

VIII. Summary of three easy steps for achieving acid/alkaline balance.

Acid-Base Balance, A Basic Key to Health.

THE ACID-BASE BALANCE OF THE BODY is critical to good health. One cannot seriously think about individualizing a diet without considering how the diet affects one's acid-base balance. The key understanding about all acid-base approaches is to remember what I pointed out in Chapter 3, ”A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Personalizing Your Diet”- the way our body responds to a protein or fruit or vegetable depends on our dominant const.i.tutional type. If our dominant type is the oxidative system, then fruit and vegetables will move our body toward the acid side, and proteins will make us more alkaline. If we are autonomic nervous system (ANS)-dominant, then protein will make us become more acid, and fruits and vegetables will s.h.i.+ft us toward the alkaline. As you read this chapter keep this understanding in mind. The principles in this chapter more appropriately apply to ANS-dominant people than oxidative-dominant people. We are constantly generating acid waste products of metabolism that must be neutralized or excreted in some way if life is to be possible. Humans, therefore, need a continual supply of alkaline food to neutralize this ongoing acid generation. Our very life and health depend on the body's physiological power to maintain the stability of blood pH at approximately 7.4. This process is called homeostasis.

The term pH means the ”potential” of ”Hydrogen.” It is the amount of hydrogen ions in a particular solution. When there are many hydrogen ions, the pH indicates an acid solution. When the amount of hydrogen ions is small, the pH will indicate an alkaline solution. The pH is measured on a scale from 0.00 to 14.00. Anything above 7.0 is defined as alkaline and anything below 7.0 is considered an acid pH. A pH of 7.0 is defined as neutral. The pH of pure water is 7.0.

The normal pH for all the tissues and fluids in the body, except the stomach, is alkaline. The following diagram shows the approximate pHs in the digestive system. In addition, the digestive secretions from the liver and liver bile range between 7.1 and 8.5. Bile from the gallbladder ranges from 5.0 to 7.7. If any of these pH systems are not at the optimal pH range, the digestive and metabolic enzymes in those areas and organs will function sub-optimally and we will suffer from decreased health. With the exception of the blood, all of these systems have a wide range of pH, in part so they can s.h.i.+ft pH to maintain a balance of the blood pH, which must be kept between the narrow range of 7.35 and 7.45.

Because the healthy pH of the blood exists in such a narrow range, the body gives a very high priority to maintaining the homeostasis of the blood pH at 7.4. Although all these tissues and fluids have their optimal enzymatic functioning in the alkaline part of their range, they will s.h.i.+ft to less optimal acid range if they need to release alkaline minerals to keep the blood from becoming too acidic. For example, if the system becomes too acidic, the blood will take alkaline-forming elements from the digestive enzyme systems of the small intestine. What may happen then is that the pancreatic and liver digestive enzymes-which are designed to function maximally at the proper alkaline pH of the small intestine-do not have an alkaline pH environment in the small intestine where they are secreted that is strong enough for them to function properly and our digestion suffers. A balanced blood pH, therefore, is intimately and critically related to good digestion.

The second priority of the delicate homeostasis system is to maintain the digestion so that nutrients will be a.s.similated and transported to various parts of the body to maintain the proper acid-base balance of the blood and body in general. Proper digestion supplies the essential electrolyte and other nutrients needed for optimal balance in the fluid surrounding the cells. This important fluid is called the extracellular fluid (ECF). If there are digestive imbalances, there will usually be electrolyte imbalances, particularly of sodium, pota.s.sium, magnesium, and calcium ions. These electrolyte imbalances affect the fluid transport system, which can be likened to ECF ”inner oceans” that carry nutrients and wastes in and out of the body Electrolytes and other nutrients are necessary to carry on cellular oxidation and other metabolic functions critical for the life of the cell. The ECF is able to absorb acid and other waste products from the cells. Poetically speaking, this inner ocean of the ECF reflects the outer ocean which once surrounded the single-cell organisms that first lived in the Earth's oceans. Once organisms became multicellular and more complex, they had to develop an inner ocean to continue to cleanse and supply oxygen and other nutrients to the cells no longer in direct contact with the outer ocean.

The total fluid in our bodies is approximately 70% of our body weight, about the same percentage of water to land as planet Earth. The fluid within the cells of our body accounts for 55% of our body weight. The ECF accounts for approximately 15% of the body weight. Five percent of the ECF is blood and 10% is the fluid in the tissues that bathes the cells.

If the fluid transport system or ECF has unbalanced concentrations of minerals, insufficient nutrients, or insufficient oxygen, then the cells cannot function appropriately and they begin to die. A basic teaching of modern physiology is that for the cells of the body to function properly and to thrive, there is an important requirement: the extracellular fluid that bathes the cells must have its composition controlled exactly throughout the day so that no single important element of the ECF varies by more than a few percentage points. Maintaining correct acid-base homeostasis in the blood and the extracellular fluid is another key to health.

A healthy ECF is supported by properly functioning eliminative organs, such as the kidneys, liver, large intestine, and skin. These organs not only eliminate waste products and toxins, but are a main way the body eliminates excess acid or alkaline elements in its quest to maintain the blood pH and ECF pH in their normal ranges. By studying what is eliminated in the urine, one can see a reflection of the body's electrolyte and acid-base buffering mechanisms. For example, if the system is too acid, the kidney will eliminate acid through the urine in an effort to make the blood more alkaline. In this case, the urine pH is acid. The urine is a preventative health indicator. Its pH may vary from 4.8 to 8.4 on a day-to-day basis. The urine pH values guide us in the direction we need to go to maintain health. Significant blood pH changes are usually an indication of disease.

Importance of Diet for Balancing Acid-Base.

THERE is A LIMITATION TO HOW MUCH THE BODY can compensate for acid-base imbalances if we do not change our diet to balance the acid and alkaline components coming into the system through our food. Therefore, food intake plays a critical role in acid-base balance of the body. If the body is not able to adequately compensate for an unbalanced diet, the body's internal environment becomes sub-optimal and eventually reaches a condition in which the cells cannot live. Many diseases are the result of the body's attempt to rebalance this internal environment. Some people think that cancer is a condition that is accelerated by an acid condition of the body fluids. Cancer cells are able to live better than normal cells in an acid and low-oxygen ECF.

There is a variety of causes of acid-base imbalances, but the diet is the major factor in either balancing or unbalancing the pH. Generally, if our dietary intake includes too many acid-forming foods, such as high amounts of flesh foods, grains, pasteurized dairy, most beans, lots of fats, white sugars, and excess proteins in general, we will become acidic if we are ANS-dominant. If we eat too many alkaline foods, such as mostly fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, and miso, we may become alkaline if we are ANS-dominant. Researchers around the world have suggested that the optimal ratio of alkaline-acid intake of foods is approximately 80% alkaline-producing foods and 20% acid-forming foods. This generalization is misleading in view of the variations of const.i.tutions and my research detailed below, which indicates that each individual must find his or her own proper balance of acid and alkaline intake of food. In other words, there is no single ratio of acid to alkaline foods which applies to everyone. This is further complicated by the awareness that what is an alkaline food for one person is an acid food for another.

I used to have the impression that all animal-product eaters were acid, and vegetarians-especially raw-food vegetarians-were alkaline. However, preliminary research I have conducted on one hundred and seventy-two new clients did not support this generalization. It more accurately supports the theory of const.i.tutional dominance, which I explained in Chapter 3. It is not the food which determines if it makes us acid or alkaline. It is how the body responds to the food. Much to my surprise, I found that 28.5% of the vegetarians had acid urines, and 17% of the flesh-food eaters had alkaline urines. Closer to my hypothesis was the finding that 46% of the flesh-food eaters had acid urines, and 28.5% of the vegetarians had alkaline urines. A higher percentage of vegetarians than flesh-food eaters had what is conventionally considered a balanced urine pH between 6.3 and 6.9.

The system of urine pH that I use is the 24-hour urine collection. I use this as the standard for this research and as my reference for discussion of urine pH values in general. This approach has two advantages. The first is that random urine pHs taken through the day are quite variable since the body pH usually cycles over 24 hours. The 24-hour urine gives the total amount of acid or alkaline elements that are eliminated in 24 hours, so it gives an average. The second advantage is that everyone can do this test on their own urine. The results of the measurement of the pH of these patients' 24-hour urine samples before beginning any treatment are shown on the chart on the facing page. Alkaline was considered 7.0 or above. Acid was considered 6.2 or below. The flesh-food eaters with a pH between 6.3 and 6.9 were often those people who ate meat just one or two times per week rather than daily. It seemed that the pH status of those who ate flesh foods less than one time a week resembled vegetarians more than flesh-food eaters. My impression is that daily flesh-food eaters generally have a higher percentage of acidity than the occasional flesh-food eaters. Due to the way my data were collected, I was not able to sort the actual difference in pH between occasional flesh food eaten and daily ingestion of flesh food.

These results suggest, regardless of the diet, that there are other variables operating. One possible explanation is that some people have a const.i.tutional tendency to be either acid or alkaline in their metabolism regardless of their diet, as I have pointed out in an earlier chapter. Rudolf Wiley, Ph.D., in his book BioBalance, has doc.u.mented the same thing. Wiley's research also suggests, as does my preliminary work, that acid or alkaline levels of a person may vary with the cycle of the day. In women, Wiley reports that acid-alkaline cycles may vary either way during the premenstrual, preovulatory, and menses cycles. Much research needs to be done in this area. This means that females especially need to check their pH values during these three times to understand how to vary their diets to balance their rhythmic pH changes. The idea of a genetic predisposition to become either acid or alkaline is also supported in the Ayurvedic system, which has three physiological body types. The pitta type particularly tends to go into acid imbalance.

I suspect that some of the meat cravings that occasionally are observed when a person makes a transition to a vegetarian diet are a result of the person having an alkaline const.i.tutional tendency, is ANS dominant, and the vegetarian diet accentuating this tendency. The craving for flesh food is the organism's effort to bring the system into balance by acidifying the body. The flesh food supplies the strong acids that bring the pH back to the familiar zone.

The critical point for those committed to a vegetarian diet for health, social, moral, economic, ecological, political, and spiritual reasons is that it is simple to acidify the system with vegetarian foods, apple cider vinegar, or with the specific use of live plant digestive enzymes. One does not have to resort to extreme measures like eating flesh foods to balance out the body. It is possible on a vegetarian diet to bring the body into the proper acid-alkaline balance no matter what one's const.i.tutional acid-base tendency is.

The other major explanation for my results is one cannot a.s.sume that complete digestion simply occurs automatically. For example, if a vegetarian has an acid pH on a diet of alkalinizing foods, it suggests that the person's body is not properly breaking down the complex carbohydrates, so that alkalinizing minerals are not able to be released into the system. If the digestion of the person were normal, these alkaline minerals would be making the system alkaline. An ANS-dominant vegetarian who has poor protein digestion would tend to be more alkaline than another vegetarian who has good protein digestion and who is eating the exact same diet. This is because effective digestion of protein acidifies the system.

The mental state of the person also plays an important role in the pH observed in the urine. I've noticed vegetarians whose diet would normally make them alkaline, but because of their negative thinking their urine is acid.

All of the above explanations help us understand why we cannot automatically a.s.sume that all vegetarians will be alkaline and all flesh-food eaters will be acidic. One's const.i.tutional tendency to be more acid or alkaline can be balanced by paying attention to one's mental state and ability to digest protein or complex carbohydrates. This, of course, cuts through the argument that there are some people who ”just need to eat meat.” More correctly, they just need to have the right plant enzymes, or take apple cider to stimulate protein digestion and to directly decrease the alkalinity to help them reestablish proper digestion and release of acids from their adequate protein sources originating from a vegetarian diet.

Acid Production is Normal.

OUR NORMAL BODY METABOLISM is always producing acids. In the animal kingdom, alkaline is changed to acid and almost all of our waste products are acid. In the plant kingdom, acid is changed to alkaline in that primarily acid soil conditions produce primarily alkaline plants, some of which humans use as food. This symbiotic relations.h.i.+p completes one of nature's most exquisite natural cycles.

The human organism produces lactic acid and carbon dioxide whenever one exercises. In the extracellular fluid, the carbon dioxide released as a waste product from the cells is converted to carbonic acid. The sulphur and the phosphorus in our acid and protein foods are converted by oxidation to sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid. The complete digestion of protein foods makes hydrogen ions available to the system, which makes the body more acidic. The metabolic breakdown of proteins also produces uric acid, which further acidifies the system. Urea is another protein by-product. It increases the fluid excretion of the kidneys in a way that causes the loss of much-needed, alkaline-forming minerals.

Fats as a general cla.s.s are slightly acid-forming or neutral because fat slows digestion, which makes for more putrefaction and hence more of an acidifying effect. Fat metabolism also produces acetic acid. The incomplete breakdown of fat produces ketones, which also make the body acidic. Diabetic acidosis is an example of a severe form of this type of acidic condition.

Simple carbohydrates, such as white sugar, are slightly acid-forming for those with oxidative dominance because they enter the system too quickly and metabolize too rapidly. This includes both monosaccharides (glucose) and disaccharides such as sucrose (cane sugar), lactose, and maltose. The result of this is the production of lactic, butyric, pyroracemic, and acetic acids. Due to their processing, these refined, simple carbohydrates are devoid of alkaline minerals. This further increases the acidity because the body must use up its alkaline minerals to buffer the slight acidity of the organic acids produced by the fast-burning, simple sugars. The complex carbohydrates, such as the grains, metabolize more slowly and evenly and do not produce these organic acids. Complex carbohydrates with more alkaline minerals than acid minerals create an alkalinizing effect in the ANS-dominant person. Millet and buckwheat are examples of slightly alkalinizing grains for ANS-dominant people.

Definition and Discussion of Acid-and Alkaline-Forming Foods.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND that one cannot tell which foods are acid or alkaline by the taste. There are several factors that determine whether a specific food renders the body more alkaline or acid. For example, a ripe organic lemon, which is a food that contains high concentrations of organic acids, tastes acidic, and is cla.s.sified as an acidic fruit, is actually an alkaline-forming food. This is because its high concentration of alkaline minerals has an overall effect of increasing the alkaline reserve of the body, thereby making the body more alkaline. The lemon's mild organic acids act as cleansing agents in the stomach. In the process of digestion these acids are oxidized into carbon dioxide and water, and therefore do not create an acid condition in the system.

Calcium, magnesium, sodium, pota.s.sium, and iron are the main alkalinizing minerals. Foods that have high concentrations of these minerals are considered alkaline-forming foods in ANS-dominant people. Foods that are high in sulphur, phosphorus, iodine, and chlorine are acid-forming foods for ANS-dominant people. Most natural foods have both acid- and alkaline-forming minerals in them. If the acid-forming minerals are greater in concentration, then the food is considered acid-forming and vice versa. One major way to determine the degree of the acid- or alkaline-forming power of a food is through chemical a.n.a.lysis in a medical laboratory. To determine the acid- or alkaline-forming potential of a food, it is first burned to its mineral ash and then dissolved in neutral pH water. The pH of this water is then tested to see if it is alkaline or acid. Because we can measure the exact alkalinity or acidity of a solution, we are able to rate just how acid-forming or alkaline-forming a particular food is (see the following chart). Using the above system, scientists have made tables of acid- and alkaline-forming foods.