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Protein is great stuff. Most of the solid matter of our body is protein. Our muscles are protein. Our organs are protein. Our cell walls are protein. The stuff inside our cells is made of protein. Our DNA is protein. All the enzymes in our body, instigators of the chemical reactions that animate us, break down our foods and give us energy, are proteins. "Everyone knows" the way to lose weight and get healthy - ala the Atkins and South Beach Diets - is to eat proteins and avoid carbohydrates. Yet I'm here to tell you that proteins are killing us. We simply get way too much.
The problem is that the proteins we eat break down in the system into an acid ash (byproduct).
To understand the system, it is helpful to know what pH is. pH is a logarithmic scale that goes from 0 to 14, with 0 being as acid as you can get and 14 being as alkaline as you can get. Seven is the pH of water, what we designate as neutral. Each integer represents 10 times the previous one. A pH of 5 is ten times as acidic as a pH of 6. The natural pH of the body at a cellular level is around 7.3. Cancer does not do well in an environment above 4.3. Someone whose pH is 4.3 maintains their system in a state 1000 times more acidic than the 7.3 pH in which their cells would thrive.
So just how do we get ourselves into a state 1000 times too acidic? The answer has to do with our conditioned beliefs. In the early 1900's, the American Dairy association came up with an ingenious marketing plan. They developed the idea of the four basic food groups. They created posters and donated them to every school in the country. With no scientific research whatsoever, they transformed our beliefs as to what is healthy. The change did not occur overnight, but by the time of the depression, the belief was so great that people who were eating vegetables and beans daily were swayed by the promise of "a chicken in every pot." Meat became associated with health and wealth - more is better. Today, it is almost unthinkable to eat less than two meals a day containing meat. Unfortunately, when we were "poor" we ate a diet closer to providing optimum nutrition and pH.
Of the four basic food groups, meats form acid ash, grains form acid ash, and dairy forms acid ash. Vegetables form alkaline ash. Our non-foods - sodas, candy, alcohol, potato chips, tobacco, caffeine, chocolate, etc. - all form acid ash. Of the bunch, animal proteins are the most acid forming. Our diets, as we have been conditioned to eat, are creating an environment hostile to our cells. As a result, our weakened cells are succumbing to a myriad of nutrition related diseases: cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, and more.
The underlying issue is a sodium deficiency.
What? Everyone knows that sodium is bad for us. It's in all our food, on french fries and potato chips. Food tastes horrible without it and our doctor tells us it's bad. We get a zillion times more sodium than we need and it upsets the chemical balance of potassium. Our bodies try desperately to dump it. When we can't dump it all, we get atherosclerosis: our arteries harden and our blood pressure goes up. This bad kind of sodium is inorganic sodium chloride, table salt. Our bodies cannot break down its strong ionic bonds, so it is not useful to us. What we need is organic sodium, such as sodium citrate, that comes from plant sources. You got it, vegetables.
Our bodies use organic sodium from plant sources for important jobs, like nerve impulse transmission and cellular osmosis. But it also uses organic sodium in the form of sodium bicarbonate to balance the body when acids are present. If you over-power the body with excess acid, your body will steal sodium from your gallbladder. The job of the gall bladder is to be a reservoir for bile, an alkaline substance made of bile salts and cholesterol that is used to break down fats. When the body steals the sodium from the gall bladder, the cholesterol, which is normally liquid, starts to solidify. When even more sodium is removed from the gall bladder, the stored substance becomes acidic and the cholesterol turns into stones. When the gall bladder becomes so acidic that you have pains, you have the choice of flushing the stones out (not as hard to do as you may think, using natural substances that cost under $10) or having the gallbladder removed.
Once the body's organic sodium is exhausted, it begins to use calcium to neutralize the acid. The best source for calcium is the bones. Of course, we all know what happens when calcium is removed from the bones: osteoporosis. But there is even a further step downward. Once the body reaches a state where the acid cannot be neutralized with minerals, the kidneys neutralize the acid ash by forming ammonia. When this happens, you have depleted all your alkaline reserves and you are extremely vulnerable. If your urine smells like ammonia, it is time to get help.
So just how much vegetables is the right amount? We have to get back to those days before we had to have a chicken in every pot. Ideally, 75% of your diet should come from fruits and vegetables. Of that 75%, 30% should be raw vegetables and 45% can be cooked.
It is not a good idea to try to make a radical change in your diet all at once. Rather, start slowly and add one or two good items while subtracting a similar number. Eating a lot of vegetables all at once when the body is used to meat and potatoes can cause intestinal upset.
For more information see:
Fell's Health and Wellness
Dr. M. Ted Morter, Jr. M.A.
Fredrick Fell Publishers Inc.
2000
(c) 2006
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