I am sitting here drinking lemon slices squeezed into my water, and I just have to tell you: this is the best health advice book I have ever read. I am still reading it, but this book WILL change your life.
I have lost about 7 pounds in a few weeks by adding lemon water, juicing my carrots, apples, fruits - eating oranges and more salads and a LOT less of the processed foods I used to eat.
In truth, I used to drink a quart of orange juice a day and eat mostly salads. But that was before kids. Things got very busy and I had a bad accident, which hampered my energy for a few years. So then the poor eating habits started.
But man, I will tell you, I really appreciate having my great eating habits back.
People have told me for years that I look way younger than my chronological years. Great skin, for one.
I used to exercise a lot but that has fallen a bit. But back to the book.
European eating habits have been following this for years. This is not a newcomer idea according to the way I grew up.
What is this pH stuff and what is 'balance your body chemistry'?
You may remember pH and acid/base - acid/alkaline from Chemistry class perhaps.
Michelle Schoffro Cook tells us that our bodies function best when the pH is on the alkaline side - that our blood is more alkaline than acid. That would mean a pH or litmus reading of about 7.0- to 7.364 or slightly higher. Sounds easy?
Well, most people in the Western industrialized world eat foods that are processed as acid in our body, Michelle tells us. Our beloved dairy, meat, chicken, fish, eggs and even grains are all processed as acids, leaving us often with acid-blood levels rather than alkaline blood levels.
Add to that all the stuff we eat that is not actually food but a food product: Mickey D, other fast food and many other foods we eat are all processed with preservatives added and nutrients that have been removed or rendered inactive by Pasteurization and other processing. The enzymes in food are all rendered inactive by Pasteurization or any heating above 118 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meat processing is full of antibiotics as well as bacteria. So our beloved meat is not as healthy as it was for our grandparents, when cattle and poultry roamed free and were not given antibiotics or growth hormone, or had water or other agents injected into them to make the product more appealing.
So what is happening?
Michelle tells us that meat, dairy and grains are largely acidic in our blood. The countries that consume the most dairy products ALSO have the greatest amount of osteoporosis. How can that be? We've been told from time immemorial to drink our milk for strong bones and teeth.
Our diets are acidic - acid diets cause the elimination of calcium in our bones.
So how do we make our bones strong?
By changing our diets from acidic to alkaline.
Are there other benefits to having an alkaline diet?
You bet, Michelle tells us.
Research Michelle quotes reveals some potential links between acidic diets and cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, Alzheimers, asthma, allergies, arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and a host of other disorders and illnesses.
Not that diet alone can necessarily prevent or cure everything. But it cannot hurt. And can go a long way toward helping you feel better.
The corollary is also true: Research reveals that an alkaline diet can help prevent these diseases and may improve these diseases when they are already in place, Michelle tells us.
The countries with the lowest incidence of osteoporosis do not consume vast quantities of animal protein. These countries eat fresh fruits and vegetables and legumes. Legumes, unlike grains, are alkaline and are highly beneficial to our diets, according to Michelle.
Is it difficult to change from an acid diet to an alkaline one?
Michelle provides many easy tips for doing this.
!. Do not drink Soda or Diet Soda. Not only are these highly acidic in our blood, it takes many cups of alkaline-based water to neutralize these effects.
2. Squeeze fresh lemon into your tap water. Lemon in water turns the water alkaline. All our cells need fresh water - not soda, not commercial lemonade or commercial juices, coffees or tea - but plain water to function. By having several cups of lemon water daily, you are on your way to neutralizing some of the harmful effects of the acids in our diet.
3. Keep coffee and tea to a minimum, as these are acidic in the body.
4. Eating fresh citrus fruits are alkaline in our body. Even though citrus fruits and tomatoes are acidic as we eat them, they turn alkaline in our body and are very beneficial.
(In the last three weeks, I have been eating 3 oranges a day at break or with lunch and drinking lemon water. I bought a ring two months ago that fit snugly on my finger. In the last three weeks, since adding lemon water and oranges to my diet, my ring is now loose on my finger. That means I am processing water more effectively; my body is operating much more efficiently than before I drank lemon water and ate oranges.)
Michelle provides some excellent recipes such as Sweet Potato Fries (a great alkaline substitute for acidic white potato French Fries) and Chocolate Mousse with Avocado - avocados are loaded with alkaline properties.
Kidney beans, chickpeas, black beans are all alkaline.
The avoidance of white sugar and white flour is important for reasons I never actually understood. White sugar is a sugar of course; bacteria and other microbes FEED off of sugar. White flour is also a sugar in our bodies, as is Alcohol. Not only are these acidic in our bodies but they are the PARTY HARDY DISCOTHEQUES for bacteria and other illnesses that weaken our bodies.
If you are ill or in pain, do not despair. It is never too late.
Michelle has numerous stories of clients who came to her with illness and/or pain; after making some easy changes in diet, the clients returned a few weeks later with great improvement in their symptoms.
People think that 'drinking their fruit' as it says on the front of some commercial juices is great. But there is really no benefit to drinking these kinds of juices. Not only do they not have any pulp of the fruit, they are laden with corn syrup, sweeteners and artificial flavors or preservatives, and the original enzymes in whatever amount of fruit juice these concoctions originally contained has been killed or rendered inactive by the required heating process of Pasteurization.
So how do you get your recommended fruit and vegetables?
A good Caesar salad, side of fruit or fresh veggie, lemon water, citrus fruits, blueberries, tomatoes, avocados, legumes, bean or alfalfa sprouts. Many others.
Eating some alkaline foods to balance the acid-based foods we eat can go a long way to preventing or restoring our health.
Food processing removes so many nutrients that we need.
(I have a little story to tell you. About 15 years ago, I had an injury and was in chronic pain for years. I had a juicer - a juice extractor. I began to make carrot juice. I was in a LOT less pain just from drinking the carrot juice than I had been before drinking it.)
How is this possible? Juice extracted from fresh fruits and vegetables is a highly concentrated way of getting nutrients. Make your own V-8 - it will be much healthier.
These extracted juices have phytochemicals that are so essential to health.
We have now begun to juice our carrots and other fruits and vegetables again.
Do not worry if you think you cannot be perfect; except for people who are Vegan (no consumption of animal products), it is not possible to be perfect. Just making positive steps in the direction of alkaline diets will help you.
Michelle has a lot of terrific recipes and ways to tests one's saliva or urine for alkalinity/acidity - as markers on the road to better health.
For the many who do not feel up to par or who do not feel well, this book WILL change your life. I'm buying several for people I know.
People at my work have ALREADY bought this book because they saw the results on me within a week.
A MUST READ.
* * *
