Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Twelve Ways to Restore Acid/Alkaline Balance in Your Body

If your saliva is too acid you may wish to increase the alkalinity of your body. Ways to do this include:


1. Eat mostly alkaline foods. The general "rule of thumb" is to eat 20% acid foods and 80% alkaline foods. Minimize the "strongly acid" foods.


It is the sulphur in the concentrated protein of meat, fish, eggs and hard cheese, and phosphorous in meat and soft drinks that makes these foods so acidic.


Fats and oils have a neutral pH, neither acid nor alkaline. Plant-based beverages (tea, coffee, cocoa, herbal teas, beer, wine, juices of fruits and vegetables) are generally mildly alkaline. The above summary is based on a detailed Acid Base Food Table you can download. If you want more information, there are some articles you can read here 1, 2, 3. The most economical cesium dietary supplement we have found is cesium carbonate powder available from here.


The healthiest dairy products to consume have never been pasteurized or homogenized. Look for "raw" milk, and cheese made from raw milk. The healthiest way to consume grains and legumes is in the form of sprouts.


2. Supplement your diet with alkaline minerals. The main alkaline minerals in the body are calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. These minerals complement each other. For example, calcium is needed to contract a muscle and magnesium is needed to relax it. At a cellular level, your cells maintain a balance of potassium inside and sodium outside, but this pumping of potassium and sodium requires magnesium. The calcium concentration in cells is controlled by sodium. All four of these minerals work together in the body. Problems arise in the body when one or more of the minerals are deficient or when the minerals are out of balance with each other.


People in North America tend to consume too much calcium and sodium and insufficient magnesium and potassium. This is often reflected in urine tests which show calcium and sodium being excreted while magnesium and potassium are being retained. (This is why we are not interested in urine pH. An alkaline urine simply shows that some alkaline minerals are being discarded by the body. Of much greater interest is the pH of saliva, which reflects your success in creating an alkaline condition within your body.)


In the North American diet, excess calcium is coming primarily from dairy products, and excess sodium is coming from "prepared foods" that are loaded with salt. Largely missing from the diet are magnesium and potassium that would come from eating fruits and vegetables. A diet based on fruits and vegetables, grains and legumes, with a small amount of dairy, would give the body all four of the alkaline minerals in better balance. This is the diet we recommend in point number 1 above. Given that the kidneys will excrete excess minerals and retain what the body needs, it is not necessary to be overly concerned about consuming "right" amounts of calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Just make sure that your diet contains all four of the alkaline minerals in reasonable balance.


Bones and teeth are made from calcium phosphate. You can consume calcium in the form of bone meal or calcium hydroxyapatite which contain the needed phosphate, or you can take your calcium with a separate source of phosphate, such as lecithin. To preserve your bones and teeth it is good to consume at least one gram of calcium and one tablespoon of lecithin daily. We mention lecithin in several places on this website because it provides many benefits to the body. Vitamin D is needed for absorption and utilization of calcium, and doctors are recommending more (the Canadian Cancer Society recommends at least 1,000 IU daily for all Canadians) as the benefits of vitamin D become known. Teeth are held in the gums by connective tissue, and formation of connective tissue needs vitamin C. About 3 or 4 grams of vitamin C daily is required to prevent receding gums and the formation of pockets between the teeth and gums.


Tooth enamel is rebuilt both from within and without by an enzyme called adenosine diphosphatase. This enzyme is one of dozens of enzymes in the body that are inactivated by fluoride. It is best to avoid all sources of fluoride.


The positively charged H+ ion in acid saliva will pull the negatively charged phosphate ion right out of the tooth. Alkaline saliva is necessary to preserve and rebuild tooth enamel. Drink acidic liquids (eg. lemonade) through a straw to minimize contact with the teeth. Rinse the mouth with water after consuming an acidic food or liquid.


Calcium supplements generally contain some magnesium, but it seems that more is needed. Magnesium supplements are readily available on the Internet. You can use services such as www.shopzilla.com to find the lowest price. Or take a tablespoon of "milk of magnesia" (available from drugstores) before going to bed. There is evidence that magnesium helps to prevent cancer. After nine months, women on magnesium supplements increased bone density by about 11%. - Journal of Nutritional Medicine, 1991; 2:165-178.


One teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) can be mixed with water and taken morning and evening. If you take your vitamin C in the form of crystals, you can mix a teaspoon of vitamin C crystals with the teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate. Add water and wait until the fizzing stops before drinking it. The sodium bicarbonate will neutralize the acidity of the vitamin C. (Make sure your baking soda does NOT contain aluminum. You may need to buy it from a health food store.) Alternatively, there is a nutritional supplement that contains vitamin C buffered as magnesium ascorbate, sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate, and potassium ascorbate as well as other nutrients designed to heal the arteries and prevent heart disease. Highly recommended!


If you want to eat salt, use unrefined sea salt. It is gray in color and comes in large crystals. Put it in a grinder and keep it on the dining table beside the pepper grinder.


Dr. Gerson (page 246) gave his cancer patients a 10% potassium solution. Perhaps you can find a potassium drink in your local health food store. Potassium tablets are commonly available. Potassium chloride is often found in grocery stores as a dietary salt alternative to sodium chloride. Search on the Internet for a suppliers of potassium chloride, potassium bicarbonate, potassium citrate, and potassium iodide if you cannot find them locally.


Salts of the alkaline minerals cesium, rubidium and potassium have been found by Dr. Brewer to be particularly effective in fighting cancer.


"A mass spectrographic analysis of cancer cells showed that the cell membrane readily attached cesium, rubidium and potassium, and transmitted these elements with their associated molecules into the cancer cell. In contrast cancer membranes did not transmit sodium, magnesium, and calcium into the cell: the amount of calcium within a cancer cell is only about 1% of that for normal cells. Potassium transports glucose into the cell. Calcium and magnesium transport oxygen into the cell. As a consequence of the above, oxygen cannot enter cancer cells so the glucose which is normally burned to carbon dioxide and water undergoes fermentation to form lactic acid within the cell. This anaerobic condition was pointed out by Warburg, as early as 1924.


Potassium, and especially rubidium and cesium are the most basic of the elements. When they are taken up by the cancer cells they will thus raise the pH of the cells. Since they are very strong bases as compared to the weak lactic acid it is possible that the pH will be raised to values in the 8.5 to 9 range. In this range the life of the cancer cell is short, being a matter of days at the most. The dead cancer cells are then absorbed by the body fluids and eventually eliminated from the system." - Dr. Brewer, High pH Cancer Therapy With Cesium, page 5.


While it is well known that calcium needs vitamin D in order to be absorbed and utilized, most people in northern climates tend to be deficient in vitamin D, particularly in winter. Even in summer, recent advice from the medical profession to avoid the sun and to block ultraviolet light from reaching the skin through the use of sunscreens leads to vitamin D deficiency. Better advice is to experience the sun in moderation in all seasons. Stay out of the sun during the hottest part of a summer day, but otherwise utilize the sunlight to maximize your vitamin D production. Plus, consume vitamin D dietary supplements in all seasons. There is evidence that vitamin D helps prevent cancer. A good source of vitamin D is fish oil. Fish oil also contains vitamin A, and there is evidence that vitamin A helps cure leukemia. Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer, affecting children as young as two or three years of age. Why not give your children a spoonful of cod liver oil each day?


While it is commonly understood that the body needs calcium to build bones, what is not generally known is bones are a complex matrix of many different minerals and if all the required minerals are not present then strong bones cannot be built. There are at least 18 key bone-building nutrients essential for optimum bone health. The implication is that it is easier to destroy bone through excess acidity in the body than it is to rebuild bone. Furthermore, as farm soils become depleted of many trace minerals the foods grown on these soils contain less and less of the required nutrients. At last count, the human body requires 90 different nutrients for optimum health, and the list is growing year by year. A good nutritional supplement is no longer optional.




Healthy Joints


Magnesium is a precursor to an important substance in the body called hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid levels in the body are higher in people whose diet contains an abundance of magnesium. Hyaluronic acid is necessary for connective tissue formation and helps maintain healthy joints, prevent skin wrinkles, prevent hernias, and promote the healing of wounds and surgical incisions.


An abundance of B vitamins, is also necessary for healthy joints. Absorption of B vitamins is facilitated by beneficial bacteria in the intestines. Many drugs interfere with these beneficial bacteria. For more information see Dr. David Williams Alternatives October 2006. (Editor's note: The use of niacinamide (the amide form of vitamin B3) to reverse arthritis and joint pain, and rebuild damaged cartilage was discovered by Dr. William Kaufman in the 1930's. Dr. Kaufman divided the total daily dose into ten small doses to be taken periodically through the waking hours in order to maintain a constant level of the vitamin in the blood. For more information do an Internet search for "niacinamide arthritis kaufman".) Niacinamide supplementation may also help prevent type 1 diabetes.


Dietary supplementation with DMG (Dimethylglycine) improves oxygen utilization throughout the body, and is particularly useful in areas such as joints which receive little oxygen. People with many different joint problems are found to respond favorably to DMG.


Dietary supplementation with SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) and B vitamins (folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12) helps reduce pain and inflammation while rebuilding cartilage.


This combination of B vitamins, DMG, and SAMe works magic in many areas of the body, helping to prevent cancer and metastases, heal the arteries, cleanse the liver, strengthen the immune system, reverse the damaging effects of aging and much more. Many people may already have sufficient DMG and SAMe in their body, with their utilization hindered only by insufficient B vitamins (folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12). We would suggest starting with B vitamin supplementation, followed if needed by DMG supplementation because it is inexpensive. Some of the DMG will be converted by the body into SAMe. Save the more costly SAMe supplementation for last and only if necessary. Diagram of the metabolic pathways.


Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate. Folate gets its name from the Latin word "folium" because it is found in leafy greens (foliage), which are also a good source of magnesium.




3. Supplement your diet with freshly made fruit and vegetable juices. As a treatment for cancer, some doctors recommend one 8 oz glass per hour for every waking hour of the day. We could never eat the amount of nutrition we drink with these juices.


4. Learn and practice Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM is a non-dietary way to increase the alkalinity of your body. TM gives a level of rest twice as deep as sleep and is an effective antidote to stress. Stress is insidious because it affects us 24 hours each day. Stress causes the heart to beat too fast, the muscles to be too tense, the entire metabolism to be too fast. Metabolic waste products are acids (lactic acid, uric acid, etc.), which is one reason why dissolving stress increases the alkalinity of the body. The effectiveness of TM is evidenced by a 53% reduction in overall health care costs and a 55% reduction in cancer (Psychosomatic Medicine 49 (1987): 493-507, American Journal of Managed Care Volume 3, Number 1, (1997): 135-144).


The above 4 ways to increase the alkalinity of your body should be effective for most people. If you have difficulty becoming alkaline, here are eight more ways for you to try.


5. As people age, the digestive system weakens. The result can be nutritional deficiencies in the body, even when the diet is adequate. It is not just what you eat, but what you absorb that is important. Chew each bite of food until it is liquid before swallowing it. Smaller meals are easier to digest. To improve your digestion, it may be helpful to take supplementary hydrochloric acid (in the form of "betaine hydrochloride"), digestive enzymes and bile with each meal. Bromelain (the enzyme in fresh pineapple) and papain (the enzyme found in fresh papaya) are very helpful. We suggest eating fresh pineapple and papaya regularly.


6. Bypass your digestive system by adding minerals to your bath or foot bath or rubbing them on your skin. Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) can be added to your bath or foot bath. Magnesium chloride brine from seawater, called "magnesium oil" (8 oz spray, 64 oz bottle) can be added to your bath or rubbed on your skin. If you have a problem with muscle cramps, try rubbing magnesium oil on the skin over the cramped muscle, or drink some milk of magnesia, or both. Iodine is another important anti-cancer nutrient that will be absorbed through the skin. DMSO is a natural solvent that the body uses as a nutrient. DMSO when rubbed on the skin will carry other nutrients into the body. Another way to bypass the digestive system is sublingual absorption of nutrients. Sublingual vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) tablets, for example, are the best way to absorb this nutrient. Vegetarians and the elderly should supplement with vitamin B12 daily. Vitamin B12 is needed for a healthy nervous system. Many health problems experienced by the elderly are actually due to vitamin B12 deficiency.


7. Blood is a colloidal solution. The overall negative electrical charge (called zeta potential) in the blood is what keeps the cells and nutrients in suspension (like charges repel each other). When the negative electrical charge becomes weak, then particles in blood tend to clump together and fall out of solution. Plaques form on artery walls, in the brain and other places. The blood loses its capacity to carry nutrients. The value of the nutrients you consume is lost if the blood cannot transport them. About half the population has badly sludged blood (the cells have coagulated), and most of the remainder have some degree of sludging. Everyone needs to learn how to maximize their zeta potential and the nutrient carrying capacity of their blood.


One lab found that best results in reducing intravascular coagulation were obtained by drinking 8 glasses per day of reverse osmosis filtered water with a mix of potassium citrate and potassium bicarbonate added sufficient to raise the pH of the water to 8.0 to 8.4. The minerals MUST be taken with the water in order to be effective, because dehydration is also a factor. Potassium works better than sodium to reduce intravascular coagulation, in fact too much sodium in the diet is part of the problem. The lab recommends that everyone replace table salt with a mixture of 60% potassium chloride and 40% sodium chloride to better reflect the potassium/sodium balance found in foods.


The recommendations of this lab are remarkably similar to Dr. Gerson's cancer therapy which includes drinking one glass of freshly made fruit or vegetable juice (high in potassium) each waking hour of the day supplemented with a 10% potassium solution. This suggests that Dr. Gerson's therapy strengthens the nutrient carrying capacity of the blood.


To increase your zeta potential you must avoid aluminum. Aluminum is used in water treatment plants to cause materials to settle out of solution. It does this by reducing the zeta potential. In your body aluminum does the same thing. Aluminum is found in municipally treated water, cooking utensils, vaccinations, non-clumping salt, baking powder, anti-perspirants, antacids, drugs (read the label carefully), soft drinks and other canned goods where the plastic liner has cracked during sealing, and in other unexpected places. A reverse osmosis water filter can remove aluminum from your drinking water. Malic acid removes aluminum from the body. Malic acid is found in apples and apple cider vinegar.


Sodium and calcium decrease zeta potential. Potassium increases zeta potential. The form of potassium that has maximum effect on zeta potential is called potassium citrate. Potassium citrate is available on the Internet. You can read more about zeta potential here. (Editor's note: Citric acid combines with alkaline minerals to form citrate. Citric acid is readily available in citrus fruits and their juices.)


8. Proper kidney function is essential to good health. All nutrients in the blood are filtered out by the kidneys. Then only nutrients the body wants are re-admitted to the blood through the kidney membrane. This way the body needs to know only what it requires.


Proper functioning of the kidney membrane is needed for nutrients to be available to the body. "The fine filter systems in the kidneys consist of extremely thin lipoid membranes which contain unsaturated fats existing there because, as filters, their surface activity is essential." - Budwig page 16.


Kidneys are damaged by the standard American diet which contains an abundance of unhealthy fats and oils such as hydrogenated oils, oils heated to high temperature, rancid oils, and most of the modern vegetable oils. Particularly helpful to healthy kidney function are coconut oil and flax oil. See our page on healthy fats and oils.


Omega 3 essential oil available from flax oil and ground flax seeds is probably the most common dietary deficiency today, and this unsaturated oil is required for proper kidney function. In fact, Dr. Johanna Budwig had good success treating cancer patients with a mixture of flax oil and quark (a kind of cottage cheese).


Also required for proper kidney function is drinking lots of water or fresh juices.


9. A nutrient called DMG (Dimethylglycine) together with supplemental B vitamins (folic acid, B6 and B12) improves oxygen utilization within cells which reduces lactic acid formation, thereby increasing the alkalinity of the body. Supplementing the diet with DMG and B vitamins yields many health benefits including cancer prevention, inhibition of cancer metastases, improved heart health, increased energy, improved oxygenation of the tissues, improved mental functioning, and prevention of many of the damaging effects of aging. DMG and B vitamins are very economical and we recommend this for everyone.


10. There is an intestinal disorder known as celiac disease that disrupts the ability to absorb calcium and vitamin D as well as other nutrients. Many people with osteoporosis actually have celiac disease. Celiac disease is the result of intolerance to the gluten in wheat, barley, oats and rye. Following a gluten-free diet may improve both digestion and bone density. If you are having difficulty increasing your alkalinity, you might try a gluten-free diet for a few weeks or months to see if it helps. Gluten-free grains include brown rice, wild rice, amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat.


The most sensitive and specific blood test for gluten/gliadin sensitivity that's presently available is called the tissue transgluaminase (tTG) test. It's the one I've used since it became available. Others include the endomysial antibodies (EMA) test and the antigliadin antibodies (AGA) test. These two screening techniques check for specific antibodies produced in the body after ingesting grains. The EMA tests measures mostly "short-lived" antibodies and the AGA test checks "longer-lived" antibodies.


- Dr. Jonathan V. Wright
11. Unhealthy intestinal bacteria and yeasts excrete lactic acid and other organic acids that are absorbed by the body and turn the blood acidic. This situation is often associated with inflamed and swollen intestines that are less able to absorb nutrients. People who are unable to alkalize their body using steps one to four above may be helped by the Specific Carbohydrate Diet that denies unhealthy intestinal flora and fauna the undigested carbohydrates that they eat. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is explained in the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall.


12. Populations of bacteria, fungi, etc. may be thriving throughout your body without causing acute disease, yet producing inflammation and copious acid waste products. These stealth infections may underlie a variety of degenerative conditions. Bacteria are found in arthritic joints, arterial plaque, and many other places. Reducing these populations by strengthening your immune system, hyperthermia, exercise, meditation, electro-medicine and other means can help alkalize your body and free up immune system resources to fight cancer.




Osteoporosis Drugs Backfire


Women taking bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs (such as Fosamax) for over five years are experiencing severe fractures with little or no provocation. Since these drugs accumulate in the bones, even stopping taking the drugs will not prevent problems from occurring in millions of women.


These drugs interfere with the natural process of bone destruction and rebuilding. During weight bearing exercise, tiny cracks appear in the bone. The natural process of bone repair involves dissolving the damaged bone and rebuilding it stronger than before.


By preventing the destruction of bone, the drugs produce an increase in bone density at the expense of non-repair of cracks. In time the cracks accumulate, eventually resulting in fractures with little or no provocation.


- New England Journal of Medicine, March 20, 2008, Volume 358:1304-1306.


- Journal of Bone Joint Surgery, 2007 Mar;89(3):349-53.


- The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2005 Vol. 90, No. 3 1294-1301 (For more information see all the citations at the end of this article).


"Any stressor that the mind or body interprets and internalizes as too much to deal with, leaves an acid residue. Even a mild stressor can cause a partial or total acid-forming reaction," Alkalize or Die, Dr. Theodore A. Baroody, Jr., 1993, Eclectic Press, Waynesville, NC 28786, page 157.


"Adjusting a cancer victim's pH is an absolute must at the start of any treatment, whether orthodox or wholistic (non-toxic). I consider it a gross oversight that this major modality has been ignored for so long. Could it have been overlooked because the cost is only about five cents a day?" What I Would Do If I Had Cancer Again, Carson E. Pierce, N.D., 1996, page 89.


Referenced from http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/salivaphtest.htm on 131009

No comments:

Post a Comment