These are notes from books & seminars that have taught me some very good tips for general health...here's a few of these key-points and a couple of titles should you care to see more for yourself.
pH: Some of the latest research is focused on the body's/blood's pH level. Just like body temperature, if it fluctuates more than a certain range we all know it's dangerous. The pH should be near neutral (apparently, slightly an alkaline at 7.3 is ideal). Most of us eat foods that create acidity in the body (refined sugars, too much meat) also, stress releases hormones that increase the level of acidiy so most of us, especially "eating" in the US likely have an acidic pH. It can be tested easily by buying pH strips.
Here's what happens: Over time, the body tries to deal with acidity with its alkaline resources (think minerals that are in dark leafy greens for example), when there are no resources then to protect itself (because if the blood became too acidic the body would stop functioning so it's always regulating itself as we know), then first it will start to store extra acidiy in the form of fat...after a while, and all bodies are different, if the acity is too much and can't store it, it'll encapsulate it in fat to at least keep the blood from become too acidic and that's what we call bad cholesterol...eventually decades after decades it'll even start leaching calcium from our bones to at least have some alkalinity (we call that osteoporisis). That's what I've learned, so how do we balance out our pH? By consuming more foods that are alkaline-forming; examples: uncooked "raw" dark leafy greens, any raw vegetables, raw fruits, squeezing lemon in water (sounds counterintuitive but lemon has an alkalinic reaction in the body). For people that are busy, the most efficient way is to drink a "green drink" which is basically the juice of those type of green vegetables dried, powedered, so that it can be brought anywhere and mixed with water. This doesn't mean we give up all the other stuff we eat (obviously, there are things we would want to reconsider). By introducing more salads, green drinks, etc., we can still enjoy most of the foods we like and we can measure and watch our pH come closer to neutral.
My friend Stephanie Hall teaches some great ways of preparing food with some tasty recipes, check her out:
http://stephaniethall.com/
Studies have shown that disease like certain parasites and cancer cannot survive in a neutral/alkaline environment. Did you know that the cause of cancer was discovered already in 1931? Dr. Otto Warburg was given the Nobel prize for doing so! Well, it came down to cells lacking oxygen. When the blood is acidic, the red blood cells (carriers of oxygen) loose their negative charge that would otherwise allow them to repel from each other, and in acidic blood (you can see your own blood by doing a live blood exam) the red blood cells lump together and travel like slush. When they are neutral/slightly-alkaline, they gain their negative charge on the outside and travel freely therefore reaching the cells of the tissues/organs/body more easily. Obviously, the green drink, etc. can also give you more energy since more oxygen will be available in the body.
So how's that so far, care to hear more? A couple of items to look forward to hearing more about:
EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids): For now, all I'll say is that there's a reason why the word "Essential" is in there. A good plant-based source is "Udo's Oil", it can be found in whole-foods...google "Fats that heal, fats that kill".
Lastly, I'm sure you already know about "hydrogenated oils", right? They basically act like little razors inside our arteries and cut the artery walls, and the walls repair themselves (using plaque). You can play out the picture and see how bad that is. Also, the fluoride in tap water does something similar, so I only drink filtered water and get the flouride for my teeth with a special mouth-rinse.
And here's some good book titles:
YOU, the Owner's Manual - Dr. Oz (Simple to read guide)
Natural Cures, they don't want you to know about - Kevin Trudeau (Must be open minded to read this one but excellent source of various natural healing methods. It does include some conspiracy theory type stuff around the FDA/Big Pharma, etc.)
Breathing - Dr. Andrew Weil (and anything by him)
Or, you can atttend a live Tony Robbins seminar where you can learn more and there's even when where you can master a lot of these concepts while doing a cleanse...
