Supplements for Sports and Exercise

I am 57 years old and still participate at a high level in a sport called paddle tennis. It is similar to tennis but played on a smaller court using an underhand serve. Playing the sport with any proficiency requires tremendous leg power and upper body strength and at my age full strength, stamina and cardio are needed to stay competitive with the younger players. A combination of supplements and a focus on breathing and oxygen consumption have allowed me to maintain a level of ability equal to that of when I was a much younger player.
As I grow older, I find that breathing is the aspect of physical activity that hinders me the most. When I was younger I took breathing for granted during exertion. I would simply recover when there was time to rest between points or games. These days I find that when I am not getting enough air my body is weaker, causing me to lose more points. When I was younger I could just ‘suck it up’ and play.
These observations lead me to focus on sport supplements that would increase the efficiency of my breathing and my absorption of oxygen. The first supplement I take before sports is called Ginsana. Ginsana has a special ingredient called G2G extract and is a form of ginseng. I first learned of it through the books of the sports scientist Dr. Michael Colgan. Dr. Colgan is a scientist of the highest integrity and not someone to make suggestions lightly. I have read many books on health, supplements and nutrition and I still find Dr. Colgan’s books to be the best written, mainly because of the extent of the scientific evidence used to formulate the ideas in his books. Hence, when Dr. Colgan revealed that the extract G2G could increase Vo2 Max, I was impressed and immediately began taking the supplement. In studies it has been found that taking Ginsana for 4 weeks can increase your Vo2 Max, which is what determines the maximum level of oxygen you can utilize at any given time. This is exactly what I needed for sports, as my breathing began to weaken due to aging. Incidentally, professional athletes train in preseason for weeks to increase their Vo2 Max. The idea that 2 pills a day for 4 weeks can accomplish the same effect seems almost supernatural.
The next supplement I take prior to a sports event is 500mg of niacin. I learned of the power of niacin from the book “Oxygen Multi-Step Therapy,” written by Manfred Von Ardenne. The scientist and researcher Manfred Von Ardenne spent 20 years researching the effects of oxygen and cancer and although it was a scientist named Otto Warburg who first made the connection that cancer thrived in low oxygen environment, it was the scientist Ardenne who followed up Warburg’s ideas with over 20 years of solid research. Ardenne spent twenty years using live subjects, looking for methods to increase the oxygen levels in the body in order to defeat cancer. A common slogan, “cancer doesn’t like oxygen” was taken from Ardenne’s work. He found that 500 mg of niacin and ginsana could increase oxygen levels in the bloodstream. He used these ideas for cancer therapy, but I have adopted them to increase sports performance. After reading Ardenne’s research I added 500 mg of niacin to my pre-sports protocol along side my regular Gisana.
Another supplement I take prior to sports or workout is CoQ10. I only take the gel capsule form of CoQ10 as it has been proven to be more effective than powder capsules. I believe the most effective CoQ10 sold in the U.S. is from Life Extention (They can be reached at 800.544.4440). You can do some independent research online to learn more about the many positive effects of CoQ10. The key to my inclusion of CoQ10 in my pre-sports supplement regimen is that it has been proven to increase blood volume and heart stroke. The increased blood volume and greater heart stroke power can enhance the energy and oxygen output of athlete and non-athlete alike. I take a very high dosage for sports (400 mg) and have found that it allows my body to respond like a young man to any exercise.
These are the three supplements are the cornerstone of my ability to stay competitive and active at my age and on the occasion that I forget to take them, I always get a reality check. When I don’t take them, I begin to feel my heart and breath straining within minutes of hitting a tennis ball. I almost feel in danger, as if I could die if I don’t quit soon. Additionally I can tell my Vo2 max is way off, because I begin to feel weaker as I run to hit the tennis balls. When I take these three supplements, I can go for 1 and ½ hours easily, feeling no discomfort what so ever and hitting the tennis ball as hard at the end of the workout as at the beginning! I always wonder and am amazed at how my body responds to exercise after I take these supplements. It is almost like being 30 years old again.
Check back soon for part two of my advice for how you can improve your performance in sports and exercise.

The Importance of Monitoring Mouth pH

We’ve mentioned the importance of measuring pH often in this blog, but you may have noticed that we usually recommend you test the pH level of your urine. This is because it is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get an impression of your body’s pH. This impression gives us an idea of whether or not we need to improve our pH levels. Regulating body pH is vital to health and you will find a variety of sources in journals, libraries and online that stress this fact. Our point in all of this is not to spend time telling you how important our body pH is to your health, but to show how to take the mysteries and secrets out of the whole process of determining your pH health. We have shown you how to measure pH for yourselves using pH strips or litmus paper and we have discussed many ways to change pH levels, depending on your current state.

Looking back at previous posts, we noticed a conspicuous lack of coverage regarding the pH of your saliva. Though this is the measurement that most people are aware of that utilize pH strips, we have intentionally omitted discussing saliva pH, because it is a limited tool. It merely measures the status of the mouth (and the mouth alone) at the time of the test. High acid levels in the mouth can be an indicator that there is trouble with the digestion, because we continuously swallow our saliva. If our mouth is high acid it likely possesses too much bacteria, and swallowing this, it is scientifically reported, can even affect heart health. A mouth with more bacteria also runs a greater risk of becoming infected if cut. I personally measure my saliva pH every night to be sure that it is balanced around 7.0. I don’t want an acid mouth, as this can eat up enamel in the teeth and cause your mouth to taste bad (and probably doesn’t help your breath).

There’s a simple solution that has kept my mouth pH perfect for the past decade. I gargle about 7 times a day. Anytime I wake up during sleep and go to the bathroom I gargle. I wake up in the morning I gargle. I gargle at different opportunities and times when I am at home. I gargle after dinner. It’s important that you use a mouthwash that contains Xylitol. I learned a long time ago that clinical studies have shown incorporating Xylitol into your daily oral health routine can lead to improvement. I am a firm believer in the legitimacy of this claim as I’ve used a Xylitol-containing mouthwash called Spry for a very long time and have not been disappointed (I also find that it isn’t as harsh as other mouthwashes which makes it ideal for multiple daily uses). My pH has remained at perfect balanced levels for many years and I believe this is true because of using Xylitol in my mouthwash.

I suggest that rather than spending a lot of money on products to improve the pH levels in the mouth, you simply try Spry or a similar product and then use the pH strips to measure your pH levels in the mouth.

An added benefit of gargling is the removal of bad tastes from the mouth that occur after sleeping and a temporary improvement in breath freshness.

Note: Gargling more often when you begin to feel signs of sickness can kill bacteria in the mouth (lowering the burden on the immune system) and may lead to improved recovery time.

Additional Methods for Controlling Acidity

Controlling acid levels in the body has been a major topic of this blog. We’ve covered a variety of techniques, from eating foods high in phosphorus to using bicarbonate, particularly 20 minutes after a meal. Well an additional way that the body can decrease acid excretion is through the use of the amino acid glutamine (amino acids are building blocks of protein), which triggers a sequence of chemical reactions that lowers acid by expelling it from the body through our urine when acid levels are too high. If you measure your urine pH and your levels are below approximately 6.5, you want to be sure your daily intake of food includes enough of the amino acid glutamine to help regulate acid balance.

You can take glutamine supplements to ensure that you are getting enough glutamine daily, however the body usually uses the nutrients we consume in tandem, where groups of nutrients work together to complete the many processes of your body. In order to help my body processes run efficiently, I usually won’t take supplements without a proven multivitamin and mineral. It is important to remember that glutamine is important, but that we’re also aware that there are many other amino acids. Many of these amino acids can cancel each other out when consumed at the same time and glutamine can easily lose its effect when coupled with many other proteins and amino acids.

I get around this problem by supplementing glutamine via undenatured whey protein. Whey protein is the equivalent of a multivitamin and mineral, except it provides the amino acids that help us build our protein structures in the body. The whey protein is a natural product that is loaded with amino acids in the perfect proportion to allow for maximum absorption. While the absorption of most whey protein is nearly 100%, undenatured whey protein reaches an almost supernatural absorption of 150%!!! Not only do you receive the benefit of this absorption, but whey protein supplementation is shown in studies all over the internet to boost the immune system up to 500%!

I take a glutamine supplement in a whey protein shake everyday. I also take a multivitamin and mineral with my whey protein shake to best maximize the synergy between these nutrients. The glutamine helps keep your acid levels balanced in the body via urinary excretion and without it, you could lose some your body’s ability to maintain acid-base balance.

Additional Methods for Battling Alkalinity

When your urine pH readings are too high (usually above 7.5 pH) you are too alkaline and likely anemic. If you are too alkaline, it means you do not have enough hydrogen (acid) in your bloodstream and body. This lack of hydrogen leads to anemia because it is an essential ingredient in the formation of red blood cells.

We have told you before that the easiest way to test your pH is through the use of pH strips (which can be found online or at your local drug store). If your pH reading is above 7.5 then you need to determine a plan of action to increase hydrogen in your body. This would also give you the material needed (hydrogen-acid) to possibly increase your red blood cell count, which in turn can rid you of anemia

One simple way to increase acid in the body is with apple cider vinegar. There are entire health books written touting the use of this common household ingredient. My own preference is to use balsamic vinegar in salad dressing and eat a lot of pickles. I even eat pickles before I eat Mexican food and Spaghetti dishes. I love pickles. I also take 3-5 grams of vitamin C daily, which also has a lot of acid.

Often people with high pH (high alkaline) also have a lot of digestive problems, and turn to products which are intended to reduce acid when they get heartburn or burning sensations in the stomach. I believe this is a mistake sometimes, as the lack of acid can cause burning sensations as well. When I get a burning sensation directly after a meal, I turn to bicarbonate rich products such as Alka-Seltzer or bubbly water (the bubbles are produced by bicarbonate). However, when I get a burning sensation an hour or two after a meal, I try a pickle or even eating a little protein or other food that might stimulate more acid production in the stomach. I notice that this sometimes relieves burning sensations that seems delayed after eating. My observations have led me to believe that most burning sensations directly after a meal are due to an overabundance of acid, but that delayed burning sensations are due to a lack of acid and require a different set of actions.

Drinking water helps balance overly alkaline pH in at least two ways. Ingesting water allows the body to excrete more of the bicarbonate buffering products in the bloodstream which keep you more alkaline. Also the body needs normal amounts of fluids in the body and bloodstream to keep harmony and balance. However, I recommend that you learn to drink in sips. If you drink a large amount of water rapidly, it will lead to a large amount of the water going out the urine. This leads to the loss of minerals in the urine and less desirable water retention. I usually drink 3-5 sips every few minutes, even during vigorous exercise.

There are thousands of books written about digestion problems, individuals with low acid levels and anemia, aside from those specifically advocating apple cider vinegar and other home cures. Yet often a simple problem (low acid) requires a simple solution (more acid). Remember that you can use litmus paper to measure your urine pH and determine your body’s pH status. If you are too alkaline, the solutions may be as simple as eating a pickle before or during a high protein meal (protein needs a lot of stomach acid for digestion).

Cancer and Managing pH Levels

Nobel Prize winning research has shown that lactic acid and low oxygen levels allow cancer to thrive in our bodies, both of which are common when our pH levels are too acidic. There is a great deal written to promote neutralizing pH levels (7.0) in order to combat cancer and we have, in fact, posted many ideas on this blog regarding gaining stable pH levels.

However, there are those in the medical and alternative fields who advise changing our bodies’ pH to unstable but highly alkaline levels in order to completely act in opposite to high acid levels. Unfortunately, the methods that many individuals are suggesting to establish these alkaline levels contradict the basic laws of chemistry.

Many of these methods would have you ingest or drink alkaline substances that are around a pH of 11, 12, or higher. These are highly alkaline substances and it may seem logical that these substances might help change high acid levels of 4.5-5.8 to more alkaline levels and therefore combat cancer. Unfortunately, this is scientifically wrong as basic chemistry dictates that the closer two chemicals are alike in pH, the more they can influence each other. Generally, about 1 full pH point is about the largest difference in pH between two chemicals that will still have a great effect on each other ( i.e. a chemical of 6.3 will influence a 5.8 acid reading many times more than a 11 alkaline reading effecting 5.8 acid level!).

Therefore, it is wisest to work on changing high acid levels to weak acid levels (high acid-4.5/5.8 urine pH and weak acid 5.9/6.9 urine pH) and once you have finally achieved weak acid levels, take the next step to the stable and balanced neutral level of 7.0 (a balance between acid and alkaline). You can find a variety of methods for neutralizing your pH throughout this blog. Phosphorous will change high acid to weak, while baking soda in water (bicarbonate) can be used to change weak acid to neutral.

Note: Baking soda dosage can be dangerous. Read this blog carefully to review the dosages I have used for more than a decade on myself and investigate on your own by going to the Arm and Hammer baking soda website.

Treatments that attempt to get your urine pH levels to 7.5 or higher may not help you combat cancer as you think. A 7.5 level will likely lead to anemia, which is due to low acid levels in the body (alkaline pH). Anemia is likely to weaken you and your digestion. Fighting cancer by purposely developing anemia is not a tactic that we here at Restore Unity would recommend.

Incidentally, when you develop anemia your hydrogen levels drop in your body and this leads to a loss of red blood cells. This would likely lead to a reduction of iron levels which is associated a great deal with cancer, as cancer uses iron and iron creates free radicals in the body that can damage DNA and lead to mutated genes that lead to cancer cells. So reducing iron levels may be a key in the fight against cancer and getting to high alkaline levels might really only affect cancer due to the change in iron and not directly because of the change in pH.

If you are truly inclined to combat cancer, we might recommend blood donations. This should help your pH levels if you are acid, as giving blood will reduce the acid in the blood. Your iron levels will also be reduced, which should help you fight cancer.

In our opinion, treatments that attempt to reach alkaline levels in the bloodstream are inferior to simply giving blood donations which provide the same benefits by reducing iron levels and helping pH get more alkaline.

If you have cancer, consider blood donations if your iron is high (you can check with blood tests) or your pH is acidic. Learn how to measure your urine pH so you know what is going on with your pH levels to determine if your are acidic. Aside from blood donations this blog describes methods that can help you balance your pH levels. Also carefully consider the person who recommends cancer treatments that turn you into an anemic.

We also make one final recommendation regarding cancer. Pray for your soul and ask others to pray for you. We have seen this work first hand for a friend with cancer throughout the body and brain. A complete remission occurred and only all the prayers she received could account for this remission as far as we are concerned. You can find more information about prayer and cancer at our sister website Guardian Psychic. You will find a great deal of information on prayer and the type of prayer that will be heard in the spirit world. Good luck!

Sleeping pH

When we sleep, our oxygen levels drop (we take fewer and shallower breaths) which leads to a rise in acid levels. Yet, how much does our acid level change while we sleep? I have tested this out on myself for years and find that my level usually drops about ½ a point during sleep. One of the things we point out in this blog is the importance of attempting to discover the truth of things. You’ll often find that proper action follows in the wake of truth. If we allow ourselves to strictly rely on others, we must trust their information and if they are wrong, we are usually the only ones who suffer the consequences.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way for us to discover how much our pH levels change while we sleep! In previous posts, we discussed the use of litmus paper (pH strips) to measure body pH levels. By measuring our urine pH level before bedtime and upon our first morning urination, we can discover for ourselves if our pH levels become more acid in our sleep.

Interestingly, I have observed (by asking other people to check out their pH levels while asleep) that individuals with alkaline or neutral levels of pH do not appear to experience this increase in acidity. People with Alkaline levels, as discussed previously, are low in acid and often anemic, while those with Neutral levels possess a stable balance between acid and alkaline levels in the body. I have found that weak or strong acid levels get more acidic after sleep. If you are a high acid person to begin with, then becoming more acid during the night is not ideal as it can make your body more susceptible to a variety of ailments.

If you check out your pH levels and discover you are weak acid or strong acid (these values are reflected on the pH strips after you measure your urine), then you should consider eating more alkaline foods and less acid foods in the evening. Additionally, you can use the baking soda protocol we have described before on this blog. Take about a 1/8th to 1/4th teaspoon of baking soda in water 20 minutes after a meal. Your stomach needs acid to digest the food but by waiting to ingest the mixture until 20 minutes after a meal, you alkaline the stomach, while still giving it a chance to digest your food.

The second thing I do is to take a small amount of baking soda and water again at bedtime to help combat the acidic changes of sleep. I use 1/8th teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water. You should realize that baking soda is a strong chemical in the body, becoming bicarbonate when mixed with water, and be careful to never overdo on baking soda and water after meals and at bedtime.

I do one other nighttime protocol for acid. I eat an orange! Now every book and every lecture I have ever heard says vitamin C is acid and can wear out the enamel of your teeth. I have made two discoveries on my own. The first is that when I measure pH after eating oranges, the pH levels of my saliva and urine actually become more alkaline! If vitamin C is such a strong or even weak acid, why does my saliva pH become more alkaline? Secondly, as I have discussed previously in this blog, I once took high levels of oral vitamin C during a time after I had become infected with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and my enamel never suffered.

The acidity of Vitamin C and oranges may not matter when we eat these foods and mix them in our saliva. It appears from my own self testing of saliva pH that saliva may have properties that neutralize the acid and actually gives the vitamin C in the mouth alkaline properties.

It is important to remember that not all people are acidic. Some have ideal pH levels while others are alkaline. In these cases, you don’t need to worry about your acid levels falling while you sleep. On the other hand, if you already possess weak (about 6.0 to 6.9) or strong acid (about 5.9 to 4.5) levels, then you don’t want to suffer a half point drop during sleep, as this will raise your total acid balance to about 5 times greater in the morning than when you went to sleep. Remember that a 1 point change in pH adds about 10 times more acid, so a ½ point change in pH will add about 5 times more acid! These kinds of acid levels can be very bad for us, as we know many conditions such as cancer thrive in acid conditions.

My protocol to combat night time drops of pH levels is the following:

1) Baking soda protocol after supper.

2) Eating alkaline vegetables or fruits in the evening, but usually vegetables.

3) Using the baking soda protocol at bedtime, but usually not exceeding a 1/8th teaspoon dose.

Once again you will need the pH strips or a roll of litmus paper to check out your own readings of your body pH. You can use this information to evaluate intelligent paths of action to best help your body balance pH. I have come a great distance in finally achieving a 7.0 urine pH levels (the ideal level). For years I was averaging 5.8-6.2 levels and on bad days (where I would eat horrible or over exercise) my pH levels would drop below 5.5! It took me nearly 9 years to get the balance I have now. I have learned how much and what types of exercise can exert terrible changes in pH that can last for days, what foods can change pH in a heartbeat, how much my pH can become more acidic when I am stressed, how much one bottle of coke can drop pH, and so on. You can all learn anything you want regarding keeping your own pH levels balanced. You just need to carry around a roll of litmus paper and monitor and self-observe your pH levels at various times in the day and night. You will discover for yourself what is true for you. I have put many of the lessons I learned for myself in this blog, lessons that took almost a decade to learn.

Keep it simple and learn what works for you!

Manage Your Free Radicals

This blog was created with the goal of providing its readers with ideas that will help them take charge of their health. There are all kinds of guides, books and self-help tapes explaining how to improve ourselves and our health but how do we know if any of it will really help? We usually take these claims to heart based on the authority of the source, without spending even a second to research the claims ourselves. There’s a term for people who blindly trust the words of others without requiring any supporting facts: gullible.

I always look for ways to determine the truth of anything suggested by others. One excellent way is to search peer-reviewed journals for studies that demonstrate scientific fact. Websites like Pubmed.gov are easy sources of reliable information and studies that can give you insight on the claims you hear tossed around in the health world.

There are also self tests, such as the litmus paper tests we have described in previous articles, which measure urine pH and help determine your body pH. If you don’t mind spending a little money and want to involve a professional, there are also lab tests (ex. blood tests, urine tests, etc.).

As research continues to probe the workings of the body and mind, it keeps reinforcing and discovering that excess free radical production is involved in almost everything regarding disease and health. If you read alternative health magazines or study journals that report scientific fact, you’ll notice that mention of the involvement of free radicals appears frequently in relation to almost every aspect of health.

We have already reported in this blog that the best way to combat excess free radicals to date may be the use of ORAC’s. ORAC’s can combat free radicals before they are even produced! There is a laboratory test that can give you insight into how well you are controlling the production of free radicals in your body, called the C-reactive protein test. The typical use for this test is to indicate your current heart and artery health. Science has progressed from the first ideas that heart health was determined by blood fats, to the more current idea that inflammation of the arteries and the heart may be more predictive of heart attack and stroke than blood fats. The C-reactive protein test is a measure of the inflammation in the body.

It is known that heart disease creates free radicals in the blood and arteries. Excess free radicals can lead to conditions that increase inflammation. Therefore, inflammation is often an indicator of free radicals. For example, in artery health and heart disease, it is the oxidation of the plaque that is usually responsible for the dangerous buildup that can lead to blood clots. Oxidation is the process that creates free radicals and can lead to inflammatory processes such as the increase of macrophages and other immune system components in the area of damage (oxidized plaque).

My blood fat lab results aren’t very good, so until I can get my blood fat levels under control, I need to do the next best thing, which is to be protective of heart health, which means keeping oxidation and inflammation levels down. More and more research is beginning to indicate that the best predictor to date of stroke and heart attack may be the C-reactive protein test. There are several anti inflammatory supplements I take to control inflammation such as curcumin and 5 loxin (both from Life Extention-www.lef.org). I also use UDO’s oil (an omega 3 supplement found in health food stores) to help boost my HDL levels (HDL levels can help control oxidized LDL which can help control inflammatory levels in the blood). I use two tablespoons per day. There are other supplements you can use to control inflammation in the body, but my preference is to focus on ORAC’s. ORAC’s are ‘before the fact,’ and can help control excess free radical production by stopping free radicals before they are produced. Although Tufts University recommends 3000-5000 ORAC’s per day for a male, I usually try and get closer to 10000 ORAC’s daily, since I have a few conditions that I believe can be helped by additional ORAC support.

For now my C-reactive protein score of .68 (with anything under 1 constituting a good score) indicates that I am on the right track in regulating my inflammation and excess free radical production. Free radicals are known to contribute to heart disease and stroke as well as destroy DNA (which is a key component in the rise of cancer). Diabetics run the risk of up to 50 times greater free radical production due to the possibility of increased glycation (a biological process which produces free radicals as a by-product and often occurs more heavily in diabetic individuals). In the end, it seems fairly simple, you should limit free radicals whether you are healthy or not.

Everyone: Learn to optimize your health. Keep inflammation and free radicals down. Use the C-reactive protein blood test to monitor your success. Using this test is one way you can take charge of your own health. These tools allow you to make informed decisions about your necessity for ORACs and anti-inflammatory supplements. Don’t blindly buy the claims of the countless individuals out there hoping to capitalize on your trust. Doing research, via self-testing and reading scientific studies, will be the difference between being gullible and knowledgeable.

NOTE: To further clarify, it is the production of excess free radicals that may tip the balance of health. There are many instances where free radicals are produced in the body. For example, the generation of free radicals during metabolism is a necessary and normal process that ideally is compensated for by an elaborate endogenous antioxidant system. However, due to many lifestyle, dietary, and environmental situations, excess radicals can accumulate, resulting in oxidative stress. Oxidative stress (leading to production of radicals) is what we have discussed as leading to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases that account for a major portion of deaths. ORACs and antioxidants can delay or hinder oxidative stress. This may help in maintaining health and preventing disease.