If you’re like most people, you probably have vague recollections of boring high school chemistry classes when you heard the word “pH.” Don’t let chemistry class stop you from accessing one of the greatest factors for health, including your reproductive health.
Chemistry 101
All you need to know about pH to start reaping the health benefits of a more balanced body chemistry, is that it is a measure of acidity (think vinegar) or alkalinity (think baking soda) from 0 to 14. Zero is the worst level of acidity possible and 14 is the highest level of alkalinity possible, with neutral being in the middle. Your body maintains much tighter reins than that and will work diligently to balance your blood at a just slightly alkaline rate of 7.36. However, our highly acid-forming diet (meat, dairy products, sugar and other sweets, wheat and white flour baked goods and pastas, coffee, tea, trans fats, and food additives found in most packaged and prepared foods) and our high-stress lifestyles can take their toll on our body’s pH-balancing mechanisms, leading to acidity.
Microorganisms, such as yeast, fungi, bacteria, viruses and others, thrive in an acidic environment. Some of these nasty critters interfere with enzyme and coenzyme production in the body, including ones that are essential to hormone health, as well as many other health concerns. If a particular coenzyme is depleted, hormones that are critical to fertility and reproduction in both men and women can become imbalanced. Additionally, many of the microorganisms that begin to thrive in an acidic body can begin to feed on hormones, causing deficiencies.
Excess acidity or the microorganisms that thrive in that environment can be linked to reproductive concerns, such as infertility, vaginal yeast or fungal overgrowth, vaginal infections, menstrual difficulties, urinary tract infections, prostatitis, and impotence. If you are suffering from any of these concerns, you may benefit from kicking acid out of your diet, adding more alkalizing foods and monitoring your pH levels on a regular basis ? all of which are much simpler than you might think.
While the combination of acidity and microorganisms are not the cause of all reproductive issues, our bodies require a certain level of pH balance for health — both reproductive and health in general. “Kicking acid,” as I like to call it, is essential for your health.
“Kick Acid” Tips for Great Health
Bittersweet pH Balancing
Start every morning with a large glass of water with the juice of half a lemon. Wait 20 minutes to half an hour before eating to give the lemon water a chance to start working. Be sure to drink a chaser of plain water afterward, and swish it around in your mouth to prevent tooth enamel erosion.
Water, Water Everywhere
Drink at least 10 additional cups of water throughout the day, preferably on an empty stomach. Add lemon juice, powerfully alkalizing “green” powders (like barley grass or wheat grass powders), or alkalizing liquid drops found in most health food stores to each glass of water.
Lose the Caffeine
Instead of reaching for a caffeine jolt from coffee or cola, drink some raspberry leaf tea. It is naturally caffeine-free and is one of Mother Nature’s gentle hormone balancers. Since there’s controversy over the role of caffeine consumption and pregnancy, staying away from the java may be a good idea anyway.
Take Mom’s Advice
OK, who wants to admit that mom was right when she commanded, “Eat your vegetables!” But she was. Make vegetables the focal point of your lunch and dinner meals. Enjoy some delicious mashed sweet potatoes or rich dairy-free guacamole. I share the easiest and fastest recipe for yummy guac in my book, “The Ultimate pH Solution,” and even my chocolate mousse recipe features the highly healthy avocado — which technically is a fruit, but still highly alkalizing.
Lean, Green Alkalizing Machines
Leafy greens are powerful alkalizers. Eat at least one large salad per day. Avoid store-bought dressings full of rancid oils, preservatives, additives and sugar. Try my blueberry dressing from “The Ultimate pH Solution” — it’s fast and delicious. In a wide-mouth jar, add 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen), 1/3 cup of raw apple cider vinegar, a pinch of Celtic sea salt, and 6 drops of stevia or a 1/2 teaspoon of unpasteurized honey. Blend with a hand blender, or cover with the lid and shake the container well. Pour over a plate of greens or grated veggies. Store the remaining dressing in the fridge.
For more information on how to optimize your health, visit drmichellecook.com/
As we all know, Kris is a huge fan of the alkaline diet (see here, here and here). In her Top 15 Crazy Sexy Diet Tips, her second most important tip is to “Learn about pH, the acid/alkaline balance, and say goodbye to the standard American diet (SAD), acidic diet in favor of alkaline foods.”
However, I know from experience that this is easier than it sounds. In this little tutorial I want to make the alkaline lifestyle easy to start, implement and stick to. Since 2004 I have made it my mission to make the alkaline lifestyle easy. I’ve learned from experience and trial and error. As with much in life, abundant health is easier than we’ve been led to believe. Remember these core principles:
- Take it slowly, taking baby steps, day-by-day, rather than going full-on from day 1!
- You’re not meant to be perfect. You’re still supposed to enjoy life. Enjoy a day off, have treats, enjoy your favorite foods and socialize. Don’t feel like to be healthy you have to change your personality.
This is meant to fit your lifestyle, not the other way around!
5 Steps to Living Alkaline
1. Hydration My research has found that around 90 percent of people are chronically dehydrated and this is having a massive impact on their quality of life. It amazes me when people say that they don’t really drink water! How do they get through the day? They must feel so crappy!
Getting properly hydrated will make a huge difference to your health, energy, vitality and immunity. Everything is influenced by the quantity and quality of the water you drink. Aim to filter your water and make it alkaline with a pH between 8 and 9.5.
Hydration Action Steps - Drink 6-18 cups of water each day. A good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces.
- Drink lemon water: 2 cups of lukewarm, filtered water with freshly-squeezed juice from 1/4 lemon. It helps cleanse the digestive system, ignite your metabolism and buffer excess acids. Despite the lemons being acidic in their natural form, lemon water is alkaline-forming to the body once consumed.
- Enjoy organic herbal teas such as Rooibos, peppermint and nettle.
2. Go Green! The alkaline diet is also about alkaline foods. There is conflicting information on the Internet about which foods are alkaline and which are acid-forming. This simple rule covers 90 percent of foods:
Alkaline foods are those you already know are good for you: fresh vegetables, salads, leafy greens, low-sugar fruits, nuts, seeds and healthy oils; unrefined, organic, high-water-content foods.
And acidic foods are those you already know are bad for you: refined foods, fast foods, trans-fats, meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine, white bread, white pasta and rice, condiments, alcohol, chocolate, chips, ice cream and pizza.
Aim for a ratio of 80/20: Consume 80 percent alkaline foods to 20 percent acidic foods.
3. Transition Take it slowly! Almost everyone who I have ever coached or had contact with who tries to do the alkaline diet 100 percent from day one fails within a week and usually after 24 hours.
The alkaline diet is not restrictive at all, not difficult and is really simple, once you’ve gotten used to it. People who try to be perfect from day one miss the chance to learn, experiment and find meals that work for them and their family. They end up feeling hungry, fed up and restricted.
It is far better to transition and get there slowly, by sticking to it for the long-term rather than being perfect for a day or two and then crashing.
4. Oxygen By doing a simple breathing exercise once or twice per day you give your body a huge helping hand in removing these acids. Plus it allows you to stop, focus your mind, visualize and relax, which is also nicely alkalizing.
Sit comfortably, close your eyes and follow this simple breathing pattern:
- Breathe in for the count of 2.
- Hold for a count of 8.
- Breathe out for a count of 4.
- Repeat 10 times.
5. Supplements This is one of the most overwhelming and confusing parts of the alkaline diet for most beginners. There are so many supplements out there, all promising different things and all claiming they are better than the others.
Here are the core supplements I recommend:
Green powder: This is a combination of powdered grasses, fruits, vegetables and sprouts with a focus on wheatgrass and barley grass.
Alkaline water: You can make alkaline water in a number of ways including using a water ionizer, pH drops or adding freshly squeezed lemon.
Alkaline minerals: The primary way that your body buffers acids is through the alkaline minerals: sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium.
Omega oils: Taking an omega 3 supplement or an omega oil blend including omega-3, -6 and -9 is really beneficial. I recommend Udo’s Choice Omega Oil Blend. Udo is a world-leading researcher in omega oils for nutrition and he has made a fantastic product.
The alkaline diet is simple when taken slowly, when you aim for 80/20 rather than perfection and when you still allow yourself treats and fun. Take it easy, have a sense of humor with it and enjoy it.
Keep it simple and if you mess up, don’t beat yourself up! Go for a walk, refocus and just start again! The rest of your life is a long and interesting journey, so enjoy it with the health, energy and vitality that the alkaline lifestyle brings!
Ross Bridgeford is the co-founder of Energise for Life, the world’s largest alkaline diet website. After seven years, he’s now known as “The Alkaline Diet Guy’” after writing over 600 articles and 100 videos on living with health, vitality and alkalinity!
Maintaining a slightly alkaline system is ideal for health and a properly running immune system. Your acid-alkaline balance is measured with pH, which is on a scale of 0-14. An alkaline pH is anything above 7 while an acidic pH is anything below 7. Optimally, you want to be a little alkaline, around 7.365. Certain foods make our blood and tissue more or less acidic, and I bet you can guess which ones are the acid trouble-makers and which ones are the alkaline love-makers! You got it – in general, veggies, green juices, raw foods, beans and unprocessed carbs are more alkaline while meats, dairy, eggs, sugary goods, highly processed foods, coffee and alcohol are more acidic.
In striving to be alkaline divine, downing green juices, veggies, nuts, quinoa and seaweed may come easily for some. But for partners, kids and neighbors who are still trudging up the learning curve, here are a couple ways to reach the 60 to 80 percent alkaline diet goal by veggie inception and misconception.
Shred or Purée Veggies and Put Them in Everything
Pancakes, pasta sauce, mashed potatoes, grain dishes and other baked goods are perfect vegetable vehicles. At my house, we dine every few days on confetti pancakes (recipe below), which include carrots, zucchini and collard greens. And if everyone is behaving, we may toss in a dark chocolate chip or two. All of a sudden we’ve got chocolate chip pancakes: “We’ve got the best mom!”
CONFETTI PANCAKES
Servings: 4
2 cups whole wheat or whole grain flour
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons unrefined vegetable oil
¼ cup shredded carrots
½ cup shredded zucchini
¼ cup finely diced collard greens
Mix all ingredients together, and add more almond milk as needed for thinner pancakes. Cook in a large skillet with a touch of oil. Add fruit, agave, stevia or nothing at all.
Sauce It Up
Marinara sauce can easily be injected with finely chopped kale or spinach and dried red lentils (more protein and fiber!), which dissolve almost completely if simmered in the sauce for about 15 minutes. Put the sauce atop quinoa or wild rice instead of pasta and your blood will love you. You want loving blood!
For the green averse, get cozy with steamed cauliflower and yellow squash. They mash well into potatoes, sweet potatoes and even pancakes.
Fruit Smoothies and Popsicles
If green juices aren’t popular yet, try tossing raw spinach, kale, wheatgrass, or pretty much any other green veggie into a fruit smoothie. Be warned that keeping the fruit on the yellow/orange side will simply make the smoothie a beautiful shade of green. Fruit smoothies with berries or dark-colored fruits, however, will become an interesting shade of mud. Either way, these may need to be served in an opaque glass, with a lid and an opaque straw – or maybe a blindfold! – especially for the green-averse or “color-sensitive” spirits. Here’s one that feels, looks and tastes incredible.
GREEN GODDESS SMOOTHIE
Servings: 4
1 cup chopped mango (fresh or frozen)
½ cup chopped pineapple (fresh or frozen)
1 ripe pear, cored
1 cup green grapes
1 ½ cups (2 large handfuls) raw baby spinach
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
Ice cubes for a thicker smoothie/chilled water for a thinner smoothie
Blend until smooth. Now take the leftovers and freeze them in popsicle molds.
Who could pass up a popsicle?!
Got other tips on sneaking in the veggies? Please share!
I live in paradise. Yes, the kind on the postcards: palm trees, coconuts, sunshine, blue sky, all that. Costa Rica has been my home for 12 years. I came in search of paradise, and in the end I got it. The funny thing is that it didn’t look anything like the postcard I’d imagined.
In 2005, my second child was born with Down Syndrome. Addison’s journey into this world would become a trip into healing – not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally, for him and our entire family.
During my pregnancy, Addison was diagnosed with a defective digestive tract. Without immediate surgery, he would most likely die. I knew food and exercise would be a huge part of his recovery. To believe in this principle was one thing; to implement it was quite another.
After discovering the benefits of breast feeding with my first child, I pumped every few hours for Addison, even freezing the colostrum. Drop by drop, he received the milk from a tube until he was able to eat on his own. While still in intensive care, an ultrasound exposed two cysts on his bile ducts. Left untreated, the cysts would turn cancerous—which meant surgery. That was the second time in less than a year someone had told me my son might die.
Three years earlier, alternative food and natural therapies helped heal a rampant case of tooth decay, which appeared all over my daughter’s baby teeth. Every dentist we went to prescribed major surgery, loads of fillings, and capping all her front teeth with no guarantee any of them would stay in. Terrified and desperate for an alternative, we began going to my acupuncturist. In one of the sessions, he handed me a small piece of paper with a list of alkaline and acidic food. It was the first time I’d heard of the concept, but it instinctively made sense. I bought my first juicer. To my relief, my daughter began drinking apple, celery, and cucumber juice from her special princess cup every day. I began soaking almonds, ditched white sugar, and snuck seaweed into her wheat-free pancakes. Although a few more teeth chipped, others actually calcified and seemed to grow stronger.
My son’s cysts mirrored my daughter’s tooth decay. A naturopath physician confirmed that if we balanced my son’s chemistry, the cysts could not survive. Since Addison was only breast feeding, all of his nutrition came from me. I began doubling the green juice I drank and modified my diet.
At nine months, I took Addison to an ultrasound to see if the cysts had grown or, at least, stabilized. I held him close as the cold goo was lathered on his stomach. The doctor was silent as she wiggled the wand around. “They’re not there,” she said.
“What did you say?” I asked, as my Spanish was often shaky in medical situations.
“I can’t find the cysts,” she said. “They’re gone.” A victory indeed, but with Down Syndrome, there’s always another challenge ahead.
Books never glossed over what my son’s limitations might be: speech deficiencies, heart problems, digestive difficulties, fine and gross motor skill delays, crooked teeth, physical abnormalities, and lagging in emotional and cognitive development, to name a few. Although Addison had a high level of cognitive development, his walking and gross motor skills were very slow to develop. He struggled with a lot of mucus, and smaller nose and ear tubes made it even harder to breath. At three years old, he contracted a case of bronchitis which eventually became pneumonia. Over the course of a year, Addison was hospitalized with bronchial pneumonia three times. Yet between each stay, I knew he was getting stronger.
A few exercise and therapy machines scattered around the house became an all-out gymnasium in the living room. We made respiratory therapy a family activity. Addison chased my daughter around the living room in a game of tag, we danced to ABBA, twisted into yoga positions, and played silly games for hours on mattresses. A good cry was counted as therapy, every phlegm ball extracted a victory, every step a prize, and every deep laugh a sound from heaven.
Deciding what’s best for me is one thing because I feel the effects when I make questionable food choices or slack off in exercising. Ever try getting raw parsley, Swiss chard, or kale into a child? Or administer a Neti Pot to a screaming toddler? Yet over many trials, spit ups, tummy aches, bites, and food matter thrown at me, Addison finally settled into a healthy diet that he seemed to enjoy. He eats sprouts of all sorts, avocados, celery, parsley, and other greens for breakfast. He drinks a green juice for lunch and dinner, has a 95 percent raw diet, never eats wheat, satiates his thirst with green coconut water, and rarely eats sugar. A tremendous benefit of living in Costa Rica, along with the year-round Vitamin D-packed sunshine, is that many of the healthiest foods on his menu are really inexpensive. And, thankfully, my daughter, who began snubbing her nose at the green juice, is giving it a try again.
After almost five years, Addison is finally sleeping on his own without struggle. Though he was sent home with a supplemental oxygen machine, which he used frequently for the first six months, it is now tucked in a corner for occasional use. He walks strong, climbs up and down steps, and has started to run. Paradise finally came in a way I never expected. But from where I stand, it’s picture perfect.
I took a new direction with today’s vlog because of your wonderful suggestions from last week! Our focus this Friday is the fuel we put in our mouths each day. It’s a big topic to cover in one vlog, which is why it is twice as long as usual–and I only skimmed the surface! I hope that this vlog installment will tickle your brain cells and inspire you to ask questions the next time you visit the grocery store or make your next meal. It’s all about small steps! What small change could you implement today to create a healthier and happier you through the food you choose to nourish your body?
Here are some of the helpful resources I mention in the vlog:
