Changing Acid to Alkaline

There is a great deal written and told of the possible threats to a person with high acid levels in their blood and body. Through the utilization of pH strips (litmus paper), a person can consistently keep track of their urine pH which lets them know where they stand in terms of body and blood pH levels. The scale of the pH strips runs from around 4.5 to 8.3, with 4.5 being the most acidic reading. A reading of 4.5 is ten times more acid than 5.5 which is ten times higher than 6.5 and so on.

A rating of 4.5 to 5.9 is considered strong acid. From 5.8 down to 4.5, calcium is generally lost. The body needs to replace this lost calcium and will often do so by stealing what it needs from our bones. This can eventually result in osteoporosis. It’s also important to recognize that recent research has pointed to high acid environments being a fertile field for cancer to thrive. High acid decreases oxygen levels and cancer has been discovered to thrive oxygen levels are low. Best case scenario is a rating of 7.0 to 7.5, which is considered a stable and neutral level of acid/alkaline balance. If your pH level reaches 7.6 or higher you’re alkaline.

Many people desire to neutralize their acid balance and assume that the best method is to use alkaline substances. For instance, I once heard someone mention that he was taking an 11 pH alkaline drink to regulate his acid. It seems rational to assume that the stronger the alkaline drink you take, the easier it would be to shift your acid towards a more stable number, such as 7.0, but unfortunately, this is simply not true. In chemistry the strongest changes are those that are within 1 point of the measurement you are trying to change. For instance, if you had a high acid reading of 5.5, you would need to use weaker acid substances that measured from 5.6 to 6.5 to become more alkaline. If you measured in at 6.0 then you would use even weaker acid substances from 6.1 to 7.0 to push the 6.0 closer to a neutral reading.

Now let’s assume you have constant acid readings when you check your urine pH. You also have a family history of cancer and you are concerned that your acid readings may help cancer cells thrive. With this in mind, you set out to neutralize your acid. From a chemistry standpoint, you would need to start eating foods that have high phosphorus levels, because phosphorus is the key mineral in our body that helps us maintain acid levels around 6.0 to 6.9. Remember that to change a strong acid such as 5.5 you will need a weaker acid. Weaker acids fall into the 6.0 to 6.9 category and generally are buffered and maintained by phosphorus which, luckily for you, is contained in most green vegetables.

As stated in my previous blog post on pH management, I also drink a solution consisting of a ¼ teaspoon of baking soda mixed into water around 20 minutes after I have finished eating, as this also helps alkaline the acid content of your stomach. If you measure urine pH after this baking soda and water beverage, you will see your pH changing towards more neutral levels. Even Perrier water 20 minutes after a meal can help alkaline your stomach acid.

Super Fats and HDL

Not all fat is bad for you. There are a variety of fats which can be either good or bad, depending on their balance in your body. For today, we’ll focus on the importance of the relationship between HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein), a “good” fat, and its “bad” cousin, LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein).

About 50% of heart conditions are related to heart disease, which is commonly referred to as the “clogging” of arteries. One of the main culprits in heart disease is LDL fat. The oxidizing of these fats leads to a great deal of free radical production and can eventually cause the rupturing of artery walls, heart attacks and strokes. HDL fats stop this process from taking place by clearing the LDL from your bloodstream before it becomes a problem.

If you were to picture our arteries as streets, the HDL serves as garbage trucks picking up the LDL trash and taking it to the dump to be destroyed. If the trash were left on the streets it would eventually degrade and destroy the neighborhood. The ratio of HDL to LDL in our bodies should not be greater than 1:4. When the amount of LDL becomes 4 times greater than that of the HDL, the HDL can no longer remove enough LDL to prevent it from oxidizing and degrading your body.

There are two methods that you can use to regulate the ratio between the two fats. You can eat foods and supplements to increase HDL and reduce LDL. In addition, statin drugs are available to lower your LDL. Foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids, such as fish and the fruit of the maranga tree are an excellent source of good fats that may help boost HDL.

Everyone: Each day determine you will eat foods high in Omega 3 oils (that help produce HDL fats) and supplement your diet with Omega 3 products of high quality. At the same time, eat low cholesterol foods and take supplements like Policosanol to lower your LDL. Focus on getting your HDL to LDL ratio down below 1:4. Good Luck!

I usually take two tablespoons of UDO’s oil (a brand of high quality Omega Acid blend available at most vitamin stores) to get my supplement of Omega 3 oils. I also take a supplement that is composed of the oil from NZ Mussels that has helped boost my HDL levels by 8% in two weeks! (I took two separate blood tests, two weeks apart)

Fast Relief from Colds and Flu!! (Pt. 2)

At the first hint of infection or sickness, I make sure to take Olive Leaf Extract, which acts as a natural antibiotic. I have not found a supported recommended dosage so I have managed to invent my own via years of trial. First of all, I treat Olive Leaf Extract exactly like an antibiotic. I take it for the length of my symptoms and then add seven days beyond that point to guarantee that most of the bacteria are destroyed. Once I have stopped using Olive Leaf, I won’t use it again until I am sick to retain its potency and prevent the development of resistant bacteria. I take a high dosage of 10 or more grams a day because I have found no evidence that it is toxic and have done so for ten years without any side effects.

During the seven day period after my symptoms have ended, I usually start winding down the dosage. As a side note, some people may experience what is known as Herxheimers Reaction, which may give one the feeling that the symptoms are temporarily worsening. This is most likely a sign that the Olive Leaf Extract is working! This is due to a detoxification reaction that results from the death of so many harmful germs so quickly. If this should happen, consider decreasing your dosage by half for three to four days and increasing your water intake to as many as four glasses between each dose.

Another important step I take is to increase my ORAC units to 10000 per day. In a previous blog post regarding ORAC, it was noted that Tufts University studies have shown that a man needs about 3000-5000 ORAC units per day. I reason that when we are sick we need more ORAC units and therefore increase my levels during a sick period. I drink a high ORAC juice blend for my ORAC supplementation.

My final tip involves the supplement N-Acetyl-Cysteine (N-A-C) which serves many purposes, one of which being the reduction of mucous. As I mentioned before, I once was sick with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. I almost died, and the thing that almost killed me was mucous. The Rocky Mountain spotted fever led to a major increase in my mucous production. I had to sleep in a reclining chair for three nights because I couldn’t lie down without being choked with mucous. I kept taking large amounts of everything mentioned in this article including drinking lots of distilled water. You wouldn’t believe the amount the dosages I was taking. In the end, it was the N-A-C which served to relieve me of my most vicious symptom which was too much mucous.. Whenever you’re affected by an illness that leads to a large amount of mucous build up, I strongly recommend you think of N-A-C.

There are many other supplements and herbs you can take to help your body fight sickness. I usually add a few others depending on the specific condition. The supplements I mention above serve as my special fighters against any condition. Good luck.

Fast Relief from Colds and Flu!! (Pt.1)

People are often confused about what they can do at home to battle colds and viruses. Well, there are many recommended supplements, herbs, formulas and drugs, but the main purpose of them all is to bolster the immune system so it can do the hard work and kill the germs. I like to help my immune system out even more by following a few steps which can kill many of the germs in our throat, mouth, and sinuses and ease the burden on the immune system by stopping germs before they get into the body.

The idea is to kill as many germs as possible. I’ll usually gargle with a disinfecting mouthwash almost every hour when I first begin to feel sick. Each time you gargle you are cleansing your mouth of tons of germs. In addition, I use a nasal solution several times a day to kill the germs in the sinuses. You can make your own nasal solution by mixing one teaspoon of buffered Vitamin C powder in about four ounces of distilled water. The best method of use is to dip your nose into the mixture without sniffing; take your nose out of the mixture; and then sniff the mixture left on your nose. Personally, I only use ‘buffered’ vitamin C when sniffing into the sinuses.

The first thing I do when I feel I’m coming down with any type of cold, flu, or infection is take a dose of vitamin C. I usually take about 5 grams in the morning and at night. Vitamin C helps bolster the immune system, serves as a powerful antioxidant and is an electron donor (which we’ve discussed the value of previously in our ORAC post). It should be noted that too much vitamin C can soften your stool and cause diarrhea and that if this happens I recommend you cut back your dosage until your stool returns to normal. In the end, I try to take the highest possible dose that I can without affecting my bowel movements. I once was unfortunate enough to catch Rocky Mountain spotted fever and took a dosage of about 60 grams of vitamin C per day and surprisingly, I wasn’t afflicted with diarrhea despite the amazingly high dosage!

My second technique for fighting infections is to take large dosages of selenium. Though Selenium is toxic at high dosages (most doctors would not recommend over 400 mcg per day), I find that 800 mcg of selenium per day, for a few days, serves as a powerful adjunct to bolster the immune system. I lower these high dosages after a few days and in my experience, a couple of days at that dosage has shown me no ill effects over the past ten years. Regardless of my personal observations, I would not recommend high dosages of selenium for anyone until they have done research and spoken to their doctor about this mineral. The form of selenium I take is called methylselenocysteine. I also boost my vitamin E intake from 400 IU to 800 IU. Vitamin E is an important antioxidant in the body. I take the Gamma form of vitamin E which is mixed with Tocopherol. There are multiple forms of vitamin E and I prefer to use supplements that combine several different vitamin E ingredients.

Be sure to check back in the next few days for the second part of my method for finding quick relief from the flu, colds and infections!

Inositol: Battling the Shakes of Parkinson's

Your nervous system really consists of two things, the nerves and the nerve coverings. The nerve covering helps conduct the nerve signals. When the nerve covering is working poorly, it can affect the nerve system.

Approximately 5 years ago, I devised a supplement protocol for my older brother who was suffering from phase 1 Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s dementia. After starting the protocol I devised, his Parkinson’s stabilized and even improved! We will tell the whole story through this blog, but as of now we will discuss the specifics of the protocol that improved his nerve function.

I started by looking into the possibility that the Parkinson’s shakes could be controlled through optimizing nerve function. The first thing I researched was the myelin sheath (the nerve covering). I initially consulted the book Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 10th edition (a present I received from a friend) which states that diabetic neuropathy in animals can often be induced, “which exhibits prolonged conduction times similar to those seen in human diabetes.” Our nerves operate best when they are working at optimal speed. When nerve conduction slows down this can lead to degeneration of the nerves. Since I read this information in Harrison’s, I have seen many other examples which support my conclusions.

The book continues to state that, “the involved nerves were found to have a marked decrease in myoinositol content that could be reversed either by insulin treatment [this was an article about diabetic neuropathy] or by feeding myoinositol [pg 675].” I considered what I read and reasoned that prolonged nerve conduction could possibly be improved by feeding a person myoinositol. My background in nutrition led me to the supplement Inositol, which causes your body to produce myoinositol when ingested! I reasoned that including Inositol in my brother’s protocol might help keep his nerve conduction optimal and possibly combat his Parkinson’s shakes.

I knew that before I administered anything to my brother, it was essential that I figure out the proper dosage. Whenever I need nutritional information I refer to Dr. Michael Colgan, a world renowned nutritional scientist. He won’t print anything unless it has been thoroughly researched and supported by reliable sources. In his book, Your Personal Vitamin Profile, he states that, “nerves contain fifty times the Inositol level of the blood. Inositol is essential to proper conduction of nerve impulses. The level in nerves declines with age and so does our speed of reactions. It has no known toxicity. The best natural sources of Inositol are lecithin and wheat germ.” The key point I took from this passage was Inositol’s lack of any known toxicity. After evaluating this information, I came to the conclusion that a dosage of 1 gram a day would prove itself safe and beneficial.

After some deliberation, I reevaluated my initial decision and decided to increase his Inositol dosage to 3 grams a day, as part of a health and protein shake. Three grams may sound like a major increase, but I reasoned that an individual suffering from Parkinson’s would need more Inositol than a person that did not have a degenerative disease. Later I learned of another supplement called IP6 (Inositol Hexaphosphate), a form of Inositol involved with messaging in the body, which I included in hopes that it would work synergistically with the regular Inositol and increase their effectiveness.

Everyone: The first step I took in battling my brother’s Parkinson’s was to improve his nerve conduction. I felt that poor nerve conduction could be a symptomatic factor of Parkinson’s, independent of any dopamine considerations. My older brother’s reaction times have improved since he started taking the Inositol powder every morning in his health shake. By improving his nerve conduction we have improved stability in his limbs, which goes a long way towards helping control his Parkinson’s shakes.

Decoding the Diabetic Formula: Chromium Picolinate

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This blog allows us the freedom to disseminate the NoBetes formula that we developed to help diabetics control blood sugar and side effects from diabetes from 1998-2002 (Check out the post “The Diabetic Formula” for more info). Unfortunately, the world wasn’t quite ready for NoBetes at the time, but now we are excited to have this opportunity to distribute the formula to all of our readers. This post will discuss Chromium Picolinate, an important ingredient of our formula, and insulin resistance.

Most Type II diabetics are aware that diabetes is a condition of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when your insulin is working inefficiently. Insulin helps get glucose into the cells, so when insulin is not working at its full potential, excess glucose remains in the bloodstream. Glucose can also accumulate, unutilized, within cells.

We’ve included Chromium Picolinate as the first ingredient in our NoBetes formula because it is proven to bolster insulin sensitivity. This improved insulin sensitivity also helps burn fat, which is something diabetics need to consider.

We found a dosage of 200 mg, 20 minutes before meals, 3 times a day to be beneficial. At the time we were developing NoBetes, the drug Metformin (a prescription drug which improves insulin efficiency) wasn’t on the market. If you plan to use Chromium Picolinate and Metformin in tandem, it is essential that you monitor your blood sugar and dosages very carefully. You may find that you’ll need to adjust your Metformin dosage.

When we evaluated the NoBetes formula in 1998, we found several studies that showed improved glucose levels in subjects given 600 mg daily of Chromium Picolinate. We have discovered that there are at least 7 other types of Chromium products. Some or all of these may work as effectively as Chromium Picolinate, but the studies we read were successful using the Picolinate form which is why we chose to include it in NoBetes.

We feel that NoBetes is revolutionary because unlike other alternative diabetic formulas, it addresses insulin sensitivity directly rather than through the indirect route of improving glucose levels. Diabetics need an alternative formula that helps control blood sugar and insulin sensitivity. Our NoBetes formula had diabetics taking 200 mg of Chromium Picolinate 20 minutes before meals. We’ve seen no evidence of adverse side effects at the 200 mg dosage level. Before using any ideas found in this post, make sure you check with your own doctor and take time to do your own independent research.

Our next post on the NoBetes formula will discuss stress, its affect on diabetics and the ingredients we used to combat it. When we are under stress, the body can release great amounts of glucose into the bloodstream, independent of that released from digesting food products. With the inclusion of our next ingredients, we were able to formulate NoBetes to combat stress and the glucose it releases. Check back soon to find out more!

The Miracle That Is Our Body

Throughout this blog, we’ll be discussing many practical and technical ideas regarding health. Yet, occasionally, we would like to remind everyone that the power of our mind, and its control over our body, is valuable in dealing with any condition or health issue.

It is important that we keep in mind the immense and powerful creation that is our body. It has been estimated that more than a million macromolecules per minute are transported between the nucleus (center of the cell) and the cytoplasm (the interior of the cell outside of the nucleus) in the active eukaryotic cells in humans. These transports can take place a million times per minute! (Harper, Biochemistry 515)

It is estimated that the average body has over 70 trillion cells. Inside each cell there are an estimated 1 million transports taking place each minute. That is 70,000,000,000,000,000,000 transports taking place in the body per minute. In 60 minutes this is 420,000,000,000,000,000,000 transports. That is 1,008,000,000,000,000,000,000 transports in 24 hours!

The point of this demonstration is to increase your awareness of the marvels of our body and to re-ignite your faith in its healing powers. Faith is a powerful tool of the human mind.

Imagine the grand design of such a body and realize we can heal from anything. What limits can be put on such a creation as our bodies? We must also have faith in the immensity and grandeur of our conception and this faith will take us down the right road to healing and health.

For our bodies to properly execute the process of healing it is essential that we be well nourished; the rest we leave up to creation. We will from time to time include other such miracles of our body in this blog to remind everyone that there is always hope, especially in regards to healing, as long as we do not interfere with the process by abusing ourselves with inappropriate drugs or treatment. Also, remember to be very careful when electing surgery. Once something is removed there can be no turning back and no miracle for the body to perform. Sometimes surgery is necessary, but always remembers to carefully consider all of your options.