Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives Alternatives and ALCHEMISTS Body Chemistry pH??

My brother-in-law is my chiropractor and trys to stays up on all the latest naturorpathic treatments. He's been telling me about the the importance of having a slightly alkaline body pH. The theory is that the rich processed foods that most people eat creates a slightly acidic body chemistry which is the environment that most diseases florish. What they recommend is basicly our no starch diet (with a few modifications). Does anyone else have any info or experience with this as it relates to AS? Most of what I have seen on the net seems to selling books or products. I really want information to see if this is worth pursuing before I spend my money.

I happen to believe that we should be slightly alkaline, but you don't need to buy expensive products to accomplish that. I used to juice vegetables (my juicer broke after 10 years) and that made a big difference. Celery, asparagus and cucumber are all very alkaline vegies. But I don't know how those vegies fit into the no-starch diet, but there are very knowledgeable people here who can tell if they are acceptable.

Joan

Your chiropractor is correct. You do want to keep your body on the alkaline side of things. This isn't a problem for most of the body, since it's a strictly controlled environment. The digestive tract is a different story, however.

When your digestive environment gets acidic it can promote growth of unhealthy types of bacteria.

Some of the things I've used to get my digestive tract's pH level back to normal are umeboshi plums, mint teas (don't always work), and even lime juice.

The plums work the best. They can be found in the asian section of some markets. I'd recommend paste form.

Either i don't understand this subject properly or there is a lot of unknowns in it or both!
There often seems to be some mixing of two different issues - the natural acidity/alkalinity of the body's cells and the gastric conditions.
It is stated in lots of health info that slight alkalinity is the preferred state, but very rarely is there any substantiation. The nearest i can find is that cells need to exude carbon dioxide as a waste product and as it produces carbonic acid it is acidic and therefore we need some alkalinity to counter this.
I suppose i am simply flabbergasted that the human form in two million years of evolution has not come up with its own response to that - if required.
Zark may mention the alkaline water company selling product in Australia using a similar argument and i don't say it doesn't work, i just would like to know how and why. How does alkaline water make it past the low pH stomach without encountering HCl and producing bubbles of CO2 - ie become neutralized. Acid tolerant bacteria may get past, but hard to see an alkaline electrolyte doing that.
Gastrically, we have alkaline saliva for initial carbo digestion, stomach acid for protein and cell walls and post stomach, a secretion of alkaline salts to raise pH and allow enzymes to be more active. If we take alkaline foods they must encounter the acid in stomach.
The key concept is supposed to be that we take in substances that may or may not be acidic initially, but should eventually break down later into alkaline by-products. Surprisingly cider apple vinegar is the very best of these as it adds to the integrity of the stomach and has an anti-bacterial action, but later becomes a more alkaline form so is noted as an acidity regulator.
As for tomato, citrus red meat and the more maligned foods i suppose that's all pretty personal - just like starch...

Ted

I don't have the technical knowledge or expertise that some at Kickas have to analyze an issue like this. After particpating in this site for a few months I have concluded that I take an old fashioned approach to healing; I believe in anecdotal evidence. I truely appreciate and marvel at people who can investigate scientific fact but the terminology bores me to tears. I suppose that is a by-product of growing up in Rochester Minnesota, surrounded by people who work at the Mayo Clinic. They reminded me of flim-flam artists. They thought they could dazzle me with high-falutin terminology so I wouldn't notice they couldn't do a darn thing about the arthritis. But anyway....
I have three examples of how alkalizing has been effective for me and my relatives.

1. Sixteen years ago I fell backward off some concrete stairs (no I was not drunk, just hung-over). I sat on a shaky chair and it collapsed. I shattered my right clavicle. The doctors told me they would have to immobilize it for six weeks to let it heal as much as possible, but then I would probably need surgery to get it straighter. I took vitamins, minerals and juiced daily. When I meditated I visualized the clavicle healing. Two months later it was completely healed, all the tiny pieces were now part of the whole and best of all I had no joint damage.

2. My oldest daughter developed chronic sinusitis, asthma and excema when she was six. The backs of her poor little kneees and the insides of her elbows would get red, itchy and inflamed. I juiced for her almost daily, it was the only thing that helped other than cortisone cream and I didn't want to put that on her daily. When we got busy and skipped a few days the excema flared. It could be red and raw in the morning and if I juiced for her it would clear up by afternoon. There was a clear connection, so much that a little girl would beg me to juice vegetables for her if her skin felt bad! A few years ago I started using essential oils on her and that controlled the asthma. So we have two down and one to go!

3. My neice had a baby four years ago and the little guy had a horrible diaper rash. His bottom was raw and he screamed in pain for hours at a time. His Mom tried everything, baths, air, creams, changing soap etc. Nothing worked. She was frantic when she called me. I took over some vegetable juice. She was more than a little annoyed that I would suggest something so trivial but she drank it anyway (she was nursing). She called the next day to say he was much better and had slept for a few hours that night instead of screaming. She ran out and bought a juicer and he was clear in 24 hours. One time she was on the road and missed a day and the diaper rash returned, but then went away when she resumed juicing. She continued until she stopped nursing and he has not had any more skin problems.

A few weeks ago a friend called wanting to sell me a product to help me alkalize. I told him to go ahead and spend hundreds of his own dollars to test it on himself and if it worked to call me back. In the meantime I will stick to vegetables....and when I can afford it, I will buy a new juicer. Why does juicing to make us more alkaline work for us? I don't really know why. Maybe it is easier to absorb the nutrients, or maybe it changes our chemistry. I just know it works.

I have gone down this line of thinking with mixed results..

I started using an alkaline drink called "Magnesium Bicarbonate" which is available in australia. I experimented with it hoping it would benefit my AS. I am pretty darn certain it did not alter my AS symptoms one bit. *BUT* after a week or so I noticed that my candida infections were greatly relieved I tried to stop the bicarb drink and the candida came back in about 2 days.

Lately I haven't needed to use the bicarb drink though. My candida is now under control using Bromelain / fresh pineapple.

back to AS.. The really good news is that eating heaps of pineapple / bromelain has brought my AS and its associated skin problems under control.

And what the heck has pineapple got to do with pH ??...
pineapple has huge amounts of citric acid. And citric acid was once used in "milkshakes" that were fed to race horses as an alkaliser. The theory being that the alkalising effect would delay fatigue caused by lactic acid build up - therefore the horse could run faster due to improved endurance.

yeah, that has me scratching my head. Why is Citric Acid an alkaliser? I haven't really looked into that properly.. though I should. It may have something to do with the "Citric Acid Cycle" (also known as: the Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) Cycle or the Krebs Cycle).



Duke database - citric acid content in plants:
http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/chemdisp.xsql?chemical=CITRIC-ACID

There is a much better graphic of the Kreb's Citric Acid Cycle here:
http://people.unt.edu/~hds0006/tca/

"So long and thanks for all the fish" - Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy

hi Joan,
great to hear you had such excellent results from juicing . What fruit and veg did you use?.

I am all for it. Try adding some pineapple too ! :-)

I hope people don't go to the supermarket and buy ready made juice instead. Fresh is the best. Certain nutrients are destroyed by processing methods that are required in order to extend shelf life. Enzymes are completely destroyed..

yeah ..so im on my enzyme kick again :-)
z

"So long and thanks for all the fish" - Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy

Zark,
Our standard morning juice was one carrot to make it palatable, half of a cucumber and celery...as many I we needed to make a glassful. Sometimes I added a beet if Ana needed some blood building. Sometimes I used parsley. But you can use your imagination and create just about any drink that suits your fancy. My niece used asparagus for her son's diaper rash. Whew! spendy!

There is a great book that I used, Encyclopedia of Healing Juices, by John Heinerman. He calls himself a medical anthropologist. He has gone all around the world to find medicinal uses for foods. I love the book, he has lots of recipes for juicing.
I agree, juices should be fresh......and I only use organic vegies.

One more thing, I can't remember where I read this, but I read that citrus metabolizes alkaline. A nurse I know told me the same thing. We love fresh pineapple and have it with dinner often. But I never thought it would help with the skin problem.

Joan

Zark,
Can you tell me how you could tell you had (or have) candida infection? Have you ever taken any medications to kill it off?

Thanks

Joan

Hi Joan,

I took oregeno oil and probiotics to kill off candida infection I had (took for week and half).... my sypmtoms were very bad after eating too much sugar (candida loves sugar).

Take care,

Tim

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional