Guest guest Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 Have you ever changed your dietary habits to more fruits and vegetables, or experimented with non-animal flesh dishes? Improving a lifetime of eating habits is not an easy task. Regardless of the reasons, most are not aware of the physiological necessity of a plant-based diet. The pH scale ranges from 1-14. The highest acid level possible is a 1pH. The most alkaline level possible is a 14pH. The proportion of acid minerals relative to alkaline minerals is the major factor I use often to understand what is happening internally. Body chemistry has a delicate range between 6.8-7.4 pH for proper maintenance of health. This pH range is necessary for the whole body to function well physically, emotionally, and mentally. That is not a philosophy; it is a physiological fact for cellular integrity. The environment of the stomach is acidic, while the intestine environment " ideally " is alkaline. I use the word " ideally " with intention. Due to the poor diet of our modern culture, the intestines are generally more acidic than nature intended it to be. As the landscape of dis-ease is created, it turns into an environment of parasitic and bacterial infestation, opposed to an alkaline symbiotic homeostasis. Would you prefer creating a toxic, acidic, anaerobic, parasite-laden, and systemically dis-eased body, or an alkaline, oxygen rich cellular system, which is vitally strong, and capable of defending itself against common illnesses associated with an average lifestyle? The decision is yours. Every action you take is a choice toward health or death. Which will you choose? Characteristic of Alkalinity There are five alkaline-forming minerals, also known as acid-binding minerals. These minerals are: calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and iron. Each of these are important for creating a healthy alkaline environment. These minerals bind with acid minerals and evacuate those acidic and toxic substances. Consuming more alkaline foods allows for a mucousless body. A vision of a mucous-free body is no sinus congestion, chronic lymphatic congestion or swelling, fluid accumulation in the lungs, joint calcification, calcium deficiency, etc. A person who has properly balanced pH will be happy, content, free of body aches, and muscle cramps. They will enjoy being emotionally stable and mentally clear. The result are extraordinary because the tissues will exist in their natural and optimal alkaline environment, conducive for health. Thoughts and emotions are powerful forces that can alter our internal chemistry. Happy people can life longer and healthier because a positive attitude will help create an alkaline environment. As you may have already guessed, negative thoughts and emotions create acidic waste. I have observed many people who have average to fair diets live a healthier life because their outlook or disposition is joyous. Conversely, a person with dark thoughts and aggressive emotions will not find greater health on a better diet until they deal with the greater underlying issues of negativity. The graph on frequency illustrated how the emotional and mental energies have a greater influence on the body than the lower frequencies of fresh produce or herbs. The same holds true with their effects on body pH. Sunlight effects the levels of acid within the body as well. An alkaline chemistry is enhanced by the presence of full spectrum sunlight. The opposite is true in the absence of sunlight. Darkness creates acid build-up within bodily tissues. The effects compromise the immune system, skin vitality, vitamin D production, and more. Realize to the marrow of your bones that intention with integrity produces the best health possible. There are no quick fixes for the long-term health and well-being. Alkalinity creates: Sense of oneness & harmony Allows for friendly bacteria Healthy organs & glands Decreased body aches Diminished illness Relaxed behavior Mucousless body Cellular health Well-being Happiness Acidity creates: Irritability Depression Mucous build-up Autointoxication Anxious behavior Increased illness Cellular degradation Increases body aches Allows for bad bacteria Sense of separation & pain In 1911, Dr. Alexis Carrel began what is now called " The chicken heart study. " While working in his laboratory he discovered that it was possible to keep a chicken heart alive as long as it remained in a colloidal nutrient solution and replenished it faithfully every 48 hours. By following this simple procedure he was able to sustain the life of that tissue for 25 years! A second study which used different cellular tissue had similar results. These are remarkable findings. Imagine this possibility; all creatures upon this planet have the opportunity for immortality. By supplying a cell with its required nutrition and removing any metabolic or toxic waste, it can live indefinitely. Characteristics of Acidity Acidity, by its nature, breaks down bodily tissue. It is created by metabolic, dietary and environmental waste. The minerals which are acid-forming also known as alkaline-binding minerals are: phosphorous, chlorine, sulfur, silicon, iodine, and bromine. Acids are highly irritating to delicate internal tissue. An acidic chemistry will promote tissue dis-ease and symptomatic side- effects. Cells can adapt to their unnaturally acidic environment. That abnormal cell-growth is often diagnosed as tumorous or cancerous. My research and experience has shown that most dis-ease is a result of acidic build-up and an anaerobic environment. This may sound over simplified, yet it is the initial " root cause. " In addition, when acidic accumulation is not eliminated properly, body alkalinity decreases and acidity increases. An acidic pH will greatly disrupt the body's mineral balance of the three dominant alkaline minerals: sodium, calcium, magnesium. The body will take calcium from the bones to neutralize the acid environment. Eventually it will use up or transmute its own reserve of alkaline minerals to balance its chemistry. When toxins remain: calcium deposits, tissue inflamation, joints and bones deterioration, swollen joints, body aches, tumors, lymph congestion, excess mucus production, skin problems, allergies, colds, flu, swollen tonsils, loss of eyesight. In addition to this, a host of severe aggravation will occur from yeast and parasitic infections. As a natural metabolic process, acids are created and ideally released out of the 5 eliminative organs: bowels, kidney, lungs, skin and lymph. All dis-ease, from viral infection to organ dysfunction, will develop acidic waste. When the proper proportions of quality nutrition and water are consumed, then optimum health is achievable. The body works in various ways to remove the poisonous waste. Eventually it must be removed. Suppressing a healing opportunity or toxins with synthetic drugs will inhibit body's janitorial service from serving you properly. When symptoms are suppressed acidic waste does not it to leave the body. These waste products dry-up and become dormant pockets of condensed waste without an adequate outlet. This causes the surrounding tissues to mutate. If the acid environment is left unregulated it will eventually result in abnormal cell-growth. If health tissue is able it will encapsulate the toxic and abnormal cells to keep it from further harming local tissue. Saliva & Urine testing is simple. pH ranges of bodily fluids: saliva pH 6.8 - 7.8 urine pH 6.3 - 7.2 You can determine the body's pH through self-testing urine and saliva with pH/litmus paper. The highest quality litmus paper available shows distinct color changes in 0.0.2 increments; this is essential for an accurate analysis. With greater sensitivity you can better detect changes. It can be helpful to test yourself daily or weekly to see how pH levels can fluctuate. SALIVA: Take a saliva reading before and after meals. The alkaline levels of your saliva should be greater after meals because there is an abundance of alkaline-rich minerals in saliva. Then test your saliva 10-15 minutes after a meal. If the pH level does not rise within the pH ranges, then your alkaline mineral reserves are low. If the pH drops, this indicates a severe alkaline mineral depletion. Leave enough time after eating to test saliva fluid and not the food's pH level. URINE: For best test results, reserve your urine pH in a glass container for a 24-hour period. This will show the level acidic wastes are being excreted. In the morning and during cleansing or fasting there may be more acid waste. You can likely see urine pH become more alkaline as the day progresses. Balancing Body pH for Better Health In a nutshell - maintaining proper body tissue pH is critical for staying healthy. The pH (parts/percentage Hydrogen) scale ranges from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline). Most people are born into this world with a pH near or at 7 (neutral pH). If you can keep your body tissue pH somewhere between 6.5 - 7.0 it is very difficult to get sick. A near neutral pH (green-blue range) is the goal. This is why most of the health and wellness folks are always eating green foods in abundance; these foods are loaded with alkaline elements to keep the pH balanced. Alkaline tissue holds 20 times more oxygen than does acidic tissue and this oxygen rich environment is critical for maintaining health and snuffing out the bad guys (anaerobic bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc.). Blood serum pH never changes (always a 7.37) if it changes more than .2 up or down you will die. However your body tissue pH will fluctuate constantly based on your diet and the foods/drinks consumed. Most every cancer patient tested will show a pH of 4 - 5, very acidic! This acidity of body tissue drives out the health giving oxygen. Low oxygen = an environment ripe for cancer. Cancer thrives in an oxygen deficient environment. Acidic pH = cancer magnet! HOW TO GET A GOOD pH READING? One of the best ways to get a fairly accurate reading of one's tissue pH is to pass a litmus paper through a urine stream first thing in the morning. The 1st urine in the morning is a pretty good indicator because the body has had all night to process the entire days nutrient ingestion and balance itself out, hence a good indicator of real body tissue pH. Do not be surprised if you test acidic. Most folks initially will test very acidic in the yellow zone (pH 4-5). Time to make changes to move this into the green zone (pH 6.5 - 7). Urinary pH is always more acidic than the saliva. A normal urinary pH reading in the morning should be somewhere between 6.0-6.4 while in the evening hour a healthy range is considered to be somewhere between 6.4 - 6.8. The pH of the saliva should be slightly more alkaline than that of the urine. A healthy pH for saliva fluctuates somewhere between 6.6 - 7.0. The best way to make your pH more alkaline is to stop consuming things that make acidity levels greater in the body- cola soda pop is a 2.0! It takes 32- 8 oz glasses of pH 8 water to counter balance 1 can of soda pop! Coffee is a 4! Most beer is somewhere between 2.5-4.2 depending on the brand. Folks that consume huge amounts of soda pop and/or beer are usually acidic and are magnets for most illnesses including cancer. Potassium and sodium are both 14 on the pH scale, calcium registers a 12 and magnesium is 9- all alkalizing elements for the body to shift the pH alkaline. Shifting pH normally takes some time so do not become discouraged in your climb out of the acid tank. Young children with high vitality levels will normally be alkaline and if they are not will normally return to an alkaline tissue pH in a matter of just a couple of weeks on the Eniva minerals along with minor dietary changes (eliminate soda pop and all sugar for quickest change). Adults take longer. You are probably looking at 3-4 months in your endeavor. Every mineral has an optimum pH that it likes and performs best in. Iron for example will perform best when the body tissue pH is between 6.0 - 7.0 while iodine has a much more narrow band width of performance (6.3 - 6.6). If the tissue pH is further out than this the body cannot maximize the mineral nutrient to effect the healing it should. For over five years researchers at Meridian Institute have been looking into the connection between pH (acid/alkaline) balance and viral infection - a link noted by Edgar Cayce in several of his psychic readings. With the recent epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and continued concerns about common conditions such as colds and flu, our interest in this field has expanded to explore basic science and clinical projects to test the Cayce hypothesis. Here is an overview of what we have found so far and where we are headed. Some simple preventive measures will also be discussed. Understanding Viruses Viruses are extremely small parasitic life forms, the smallest living things on Earth. In essence, a virus is a minuscule pocket of protein that contains genetic material. Although viruses can remain dormant outside a living body, they only become active when in contact with live tissue. Once a virus infects a cell by penetrating the cell membrane, it can either lay dormant (lysogenic infection) or begin reproducing itself (lytic infection - the more common pattern). When a cell becomes full of virus, it bursts releasing the virus to infect other host cells. A wide variety of diseases are caused by viruses including the common cold, flu, warts, measles, hepatitis, herpes, smallpox, and AIDS. SARS is just the latest in a long list of viral parasites. Unlike bacteria that can usually be effectively treated with antibiotics, viral infections are often unresponsive to modern medical treatment. If the virus causing a disease has been discovered, a serum may be developed to provide inoculation against that specific virus. The most common approach to virus protection is to avoid contamination by infected individuals. Viral pH Dependency Laboratory experiments (in vitro) have confirmed that many viruses require a mildly acidic environment to attack host cells. At Meridian Institute we are interested in determining exactly how this physiological fact manifests within the human body (in vivo). Understanding the role of pH balance in viral infections may provide preventive and therapeutic breakthroughs for dealing with epidemics including the recent outbreak of SARS. To appreciate the relevance of pH for viral infection, let's first review some facts about acid/alkaline balance. The acid/alkaline continuum ranges from 0-14 with 7 as neutral. The lower end of the scale (below 7) is acid and above 7 is alkaline. Acid/alkaline balance is extremely important to normal physiology. For example, the blood will maintain a slightly alkaline range of 7.35 to 7.45. Extended pH imbalances of any kind are not well tolerated by the body. The management of the pH factor is so important that the body's primary regulatory systems (especially breathing, circulation, and eliminations) closely regulate acid-alkaline balance in every cell and system. Certain viruses (including the rhinoviruses and coronaviruses that are most often responsible for the common cold and influenza viruses that produce flu) infect host cells by fusion with cellular membranes at low pH. Thus they are classified as " pH-dependent viruses. " Drugs that increase intracellular pH (alkalinity within the cell) have been shown to decrease infectivity of pH-dependent viruses. Since such drugs can provoke negative side effects, the obvious question is whether more natural techniques can produce the same result. Possible Relevance to SARS The World Health Organization has concluded that SARS is produced by a new virulent strain of coronavirus. Specific research on the possible pH dependency of the SARS virus has not yet been done. It is well known that coronavirus infectivity is exquisitely sensitive to pH. For example, the MHV-A59 strain of coronavirus is quite stable at pH 6.0 (acidic) but becomes rapidly and irreversibly inactivated by brief treatment at pH 8.0 (alkaline). Human coronavirus strain 229E is maximally infective at pH 6.0. Infection of cells by murine coronavirus A59 at pH 6.0 (acidic) rather than pH 7.0 (neutral) yields a tenfold increase in the infectivity of the virus. If the strain of coronavirus responsible for SARS shares the pH characteristics of these other coronaviruses that are pH-dependent, this could be a valuable clue to effective prevention and treatment strategies for this frightening epidemic. Perhaps keeping a balanced or slightly alkaline pH environment for the body's tissues can provide viral protection or enhanced healing for SARS and common viral agents that cause respiratory infections. Edgar Cayce's Recommendations Edgar Cayce affirmed the importance of pH balance with regard to common viruses that cause colds and flu. Cayce repeatedly insisted that such infectious agents do not thrive in an alkaline environment. When asked how to prevent colds, Cayce replied, " by keeping the body alkaline. Only in acids do colds attack the body. " (3248-1) Cayce recommended using litmus paper to test the pH of urine and saliva as an indication of the pH balance of the body. We now have more precise means for monitoring pH in the form of pH paper and digital pH meters. As a practical preventive measure, Cayce's suggestions for alkalizing the body emphasized eating an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially salads: " ... if an alkalinity is maintained in the system - especially with lettuce, carrots and celery, these in the blood supply will maintain such a condition as to immunize a person. " (480-19) Consuming citrus fruit and juices was also a common alkalizing suggestion in the readings that addressed concerns about cold and flu infections. Meridian Institute Research We reported a preliminary study on dietary effects of urine pH in January 1999 (Vol 3 No 1). The study was done to test Edgar Cayce's recommendations for testing urine as a marker for systemic pH balance. Our conclusion was that following Cayce dietary recommendations of eating primarily alkaline-producing foods (such as fruits and vegetables) does indeed tend to alkalize the urine. We have contacted leading researchers in the field of rhinovirus infection studies to make them aware of the possible role of acid/alkaline balance and seek feedback on how to do scientific studies to test the Cayce hypothesis in vivo - with human subjects. If it turns out that SARS is produced by a pH-dependent coronavirus, we will certainly make sure that the clinical researchers who do in vivo studies of viral infections are made aware of this potentially important factor. Rhinovirus infection studies are done at several leading universities, usually to test the effectiveness of drugs that may help to prevent or relieve the symptoms of colds. Small amounts of solution containing rhinovirus are dropped into the noses of subjects to intentionally infect them under controlled conditions. Interestingly, about five to fifteen percent of subjects do not get colds even when the virus is carefully placed onto the nasal mucosa. Could it be that the pH of the resistant subject's nasal mucosa is alkaline (or neutral), preventing the rhinovirus from infecting the cells inside of the nose? There have been several published studies on nasal mucosal pH with varying results. Some researchers have concluded that the pH of nasal secretions vary with sleep, rest, ingestion of food, emotional states, and menstrual cycles. Other scientists, using different technology, have failed to confirm these results. Clearly much work needs to be done in this area to establish consistent outcomes. We have tested equipment from two of the leading companies that sell devices that can measure nasal pH and have learned that there is significant variability in the instruments, apart from the complexities of measuring pH in different people and within the same person over time. phill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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