Month: September 2024

Food Affecting Blood pH

The big problem with the claims made by alkaline diet proponents is that they’re based on a misunderstanding of pH and how the body regulates blood pH. The relative alkalinity of the foods you eat doesn’t generally affect the alkalinity or acidity of your blood.

Acids are continuously being produced in the body during normal metabolic processes, but they don’t influence overall bodily pH in healthy individuals. Your body works hard to keep that 7.35–7.45 blood pH range, which is slightly on the alkaline side. If there’s too much acid or base in your system, built-in physiological buffers get rid of it through your urine.

Changing your diet might change the pH of your saliva or urine, but it’s practically impossible to affect the pH of your blood by what you eat. The only times that blood pH is affected is in the case of an acid-base disorder such as advanced stages of shock, diabetic ketoacidosis, or kidney failure — all of which are medical emergencies and not the result of not eating enough alkaline foods.

Focusing on the Wrong Benefits

Not only does the alkaline diet theory misunderstand the mechanisms through which your body regulates its pH, but the narrow focus on this one attribute of plant-based foods ignores the many benefits of plant-based eating that are actually backed up by science. A whole food, plant-based diet supplies an abundance of powerful antioxidants, fiber, and a rainbow of health-promoting phytochemicals. The alkaline diet’s health benefits are real, but they likely have little to do with pH.

Confusing and Restrictive

With a focus mostly on pH and choosing the most alkaline foods, there’s a risk of dietary restriction to the point of nutrient deficiency. It’s easy to get confused about what you are and aren’t supposed to eat, as there’s a lack of consistency in the recommendations, which vary widely. Some lists, for example, say that mushrooms are highly acidic, while others tell us that they are alkalizing.

Little to No Scientific Backing

Mst problematic of all, there’s minimal scientific evidence to support the alkaline diet’s biggest claims around diet alkalinity protecting against chronic disease or affecting blood pH.

One 2010 study found that low urine pH predicted neither low bone density nor bone fractures, while another from the same year discovered no correlation between dietary acid load and bone mineral density in older women. A 2011 study found no correlation between dietary acid load and lower bone density, except possibly in older men.

And a 2016 review of over 8,000 published articles relating to dietary pH and cancer found a single clinical trial on the topic. This trial found no relationship between the acid load of the diet and bladder cancer. The researchers concluded, “Despite the promotion of the alkaline diet and alkaline water by the media and salespeople, there is almost no actual research to either support or disprove these ideas.”

The Bottom Line

The alkaline diet, which focuses on pH balance, is a popular diet with many adherents and proponents. It is inherently whole food, plant-based, which can be great, and it’s been shown to be helpful for chronic kidney disease. But beyond that, there’s little to no scientific evidence to support its other health claims. In fact, it’s likely that its benefits have more to do with all of the known advantages that come with a whole food, plant-based diet that steers clear of added sugars, highly processed foods, and animal products.

https://foodrevolution.org/blog/the-alkaline-diet/

https://youtu.be/5a6lN2M9VTQ?si=pi_Pb3yqrtXk7iBC

• I recently spoke at the Ron Paul Institute, sharing how modern medicine is heavily influenced by pharmaceutical companies, leading to an overreliance on prescriptions rather than addressing root causes of disease. This approach has resulted in poor health outcomes despite high health care spending
• I shared an overview of my new book that comes out next month, Your Guide to Cellular Health, which is now available for preorder on Amazon
• Three major threats to cellular energy production include consumption of seed oils, exposure to plastics containing endocrine disruptors and electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from wireless technologies. These factors disrupt mitochondrial function
• Gut health is intricately linked to mitochondrial function. Damaged mitochondria cannot properly remove oxygen from your intestines, allowing harmful bacteria to flourish and produce endotoxins that further compromise health
• Despite current health challenges, future developments, including AI-powered health guidance systems and a growing movement toward understanding and addressing the true causes of disease, offer hope

Carbs Made Simple: A Color-Coded System to Guide Your Gut Health Journey

The method that I discuss in my book ranks carbohydrates based on their impact on your biology, specifically in relation to your gut health. This approach recognizes that the traditional complex vs. simple carb dichotomy likely does not tell the whole story when it comes to individual health outcomes.

Instead, it suggests that the relationship between your gut health and carbohydrate metabolism could be key to unlocking improved overall wellness. It’s not about following a one-size-fits-all diet, but rather about understanding how your unique gut biology interacts with different types of carbohydrates.

Surprisingly, for many people, this approach favors simple carbs over complex ones. This is because they usually have less-than-optimal gut health. If you have a compromised gut system and you consume complex carbs, the fiber and prebiotics in these carbs can feed oxygen-tolerant gut bacteria and worsen your symptoms.

The following chart breaks down several types of carbohydrate sources and how they fit into this plan. We can categorize them into three groups: green, yellow and red.

In the green category are the most easily digestible simple carbs that provide quick energy without overtaxing your compromised digestive system. You will focus on these carbs initially, because simple carbs provide a quick energy boost for your cells and mitochondria. It’s like giving your body’s energy factories an immediate fuel injection, while allowing your gut to rest and heal at the same time.

Next is the yellow category, which includes carbs that offer more nutrients and fiber compared to the green category, yet are still relatively easy on the digestive system. Finally the red category, the most complex carbs, offers many health benefits but can be challenging for a compromised gut to handle.

So how can you begin implementing this approach? If you have severely compromised gut health, start with pure sugar water. This is a temporary measure to jumpstart the healing process. Mix one-half pound, up to a full pound, of pure dextrose (glucose) into a half gallon of water and sip it slowly all day. Don’t drink more than an ounce at a time to avoid spiking your insulin.

Once your gut health has improved, you can switch your primary carb source to whole foods. More than likely, you’ll also need to eat more frequently than you’re used to during this transition to avoid hypoglycemia. Eating every three to four hours, with snacks throughout the day, is crucial when relying on simple carbs for energy.

As your mitochondrial energy production continues to improve and your gut starts to heal, you will begin the transition back to complex carbs. This is a slow and steady process — don’t rush it.

Once you’re able to include more complex carbohydrates in your diet, you’ll start to notice significant benefits. You’ll be able to extend the time between meals to between four and six hours, and many people find they can comfortably switch to a three-meals-a-day approach. This is because complex carbs digest more slowly, providing a steady stream of energy.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/09/15/the-truth-about-health.aspx

Rice is a dietary staple for a large percentage of the world’s population and has been for centuries.

While people ate brown rice the nutrition provided was good. When the preference switched to the more palatable and more easily chewable white rice, nutritional deficiencies resulted.

White rice is produced by removing the bran and germ of the rice grain, leaving only the starchy endosperm. While this process extends shelf life and provides a quicker cooking time, it also removes critical nutrients, most notably thiamine (vitamin B1). Thiamine deficiency is the leading cause of beriberi.

Also, refined carbohydrates like white rice have been linked to a host of modern health issues, including obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. For this reason what little rice I consume is brown rice.

For those who prefer white rice over brown there is a process by which the negative impacts of white rice can be reduced. Obviously you cannot replace the lost nutrients by other than supplementing but you can decrease the inflammatory effects of white rice with this tip.

Resistant starch is a type of starch that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, feeding the beneficial bacteria in the gut. This not only improves digestive health but also increases feelings of fullness, reduces inflammation, and improves insulin sensitivity.

Here’s the hack: cook your rice with a teaspoon of coconut oil, then cool it for 12 hours before reheating. This simple process can increase the resistant starch content of rice by up to 10 times! The coconut oil interacts with the starch molecules, making them more resistant to digestion, while the cooling process further crystallizes the starch. The result is a healthier, more satisfying rice that won’t send your blood sugar on a roller coaster.

https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/food-cooking/the-shocking-truth-about-white-rice-and-how-to-make-it-healthy-again/

In the ever-evolving world of nutrition and weight loss, few food groups have been as controversial as dairy. Once hailed as a cornerstone of a healthy diet, then vilified as a contributor to weight gain, dairy products have experienced a rollercoaster of public opinion. However, recent scientific research is shedding new light on the potential benefits of dairy in weight management, revealing some surprising findings that may change how we view these nutrient-dense foods.

Dairy products have been a part of human diets for over 7,000 years, valued not just for their taste but also for their nutritional density. Throughout history, milk, cheese, and yogurt have been staples in many cultures, providing essential nutrients like calcium, protein, and various vitamins. However, as obesity rates began to rise in the late 20th century, dairy products — particularly those high in saturated fat — came under scrutiny when the anti-saturated fat campaign began.

Recent studies have begun to challenge the notion that dairy products are a causal factor for weight gain.¹ In fact, emerging evidence suggests that dairy might play a beneficial role in fat loss and body composition. Let’s dive into some of the intriguing findings.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/09/17/dairy-fat-loss.aspx