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pH

Gout – Not just a Kings affliction any more

by jughandle March 20, 2018

written by jughandle

If you look up images of Gout on Google (don’t), you will thank me for not posting one here. Trust me it is bad enough suffering through the pain of without seeing pictures of how bad it can get.

Definition

Gout is a form of arthritis that effects the joints. It is caused by a build up of uric acid which crystallizes and collects in the joints. The crystals have sharp pointed ends like crystals tend to do and can cause swelling, severe pain and redness in the joints.

Attacks

An attack of Gout can come with out warning, usually over night. Any joint in the body can be affected but usually attacks begin in the big toes, feet and ankles. A bad attack can cripple you for as much as a week. If treated with anti-inflammatory medications, pain and duration can be reduced.

When I say cripple, I mean cripple. You won’t want to have the bed sheets even touch the painful area.

Who gets Gout?

In by-gone days it was thought that Gout was a rich man’s problem. Not so much today. The body can retain uric acid for many reasons. A diet high in Uric acid such as wine and red meat can contribute but isn’t the only way to get Gout. Men tend to be affected more than women and anyone over 40 is much more likely to get Gout than a younger person.

If your blood work shows an elevated uric acid level of 6.0 mg/dL or more you are at risk of an attack.

Medications

The good news is that changes in diet, exercise and alcohol consumption can help. Also, your doctor might prescribe medications such as colchicine or allopurinol which are very useful in the treatment.

Conclusions and Recommendations

If you start to suffer “with the Gout”, go to your Urologist as soon as you can get an appointment. Get a physical and blood work. If you have Gout it is likely you have other problems. My gallbladder that was full of stones and was removed that week. I still take a daily 300 mg tablet of allopurinol and haven’t had a severe attack since.

If none of that works, what the hell, cut back on rich foods and alcohol and start an exercise program – jughandle

March 20, 2018 0 comment

Additives All About Food Chemistry How To Informational Blog pH

Baking Soda vs Baking Powder, what’s the difference – Jughandle’s Fat Farm

by jughandle January 24, 2018

written by jughandle

Baking Soda vs Baking Powder, what’s the difference? When should we use one over the other? Are there any other uses for either, than baking or cooking?

If you are a serious cook, you should be able to rattle off the answers to those questions instantly.

Baking is more of a science than an art. Chemistry and exact proportions are very important to achieving a quality finished product consistently.

The holes are formed by the expansion of CO2 as the dough rises and sets.

Baking Soda

Sodium bicarbonate, sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, bicarbonate, and bicarb are all names for the same thing – NaHCO₃

It is a salt made up of sodium and bicarbonate molecules. For a more in-depth explanation and chemistry, go to Wikipedia. Sodium Bi-carbonate is used for many things but since our many focus is cooking, let us look at that first.

without and with

Cooking

In cooking Sodium bi-carbonate is called Baking Soda. By providing CO2, its primary use is as a leavening agent in batters and dough such as pancakes and breads, but is also used to crisp up the batter in fried foods. Baking soda is very alkaline and in too large a quantity can leave sodium carbonate, which has a bitter or soapy taste.

What you need to remember is that Baking Soda releases CO2, carbon dioxide gas, that causes the batter or dough to rise by expanding within the lattice like structure of protein, known as gluten, in the dough. The gluten traps the CO2 gas as it forms to make the bread or batter rise.

Ok, now dig deeper and recall a little high school chemistry. Baking Soda, aka: Sodium Bi-carbonate, is a base. A base will decompose in the presence of of heat, starting at 180 deg F, but give up only half of its its CO2 leaving, proportionately, more of its bitter, soapy flavor, relative to the gas, in the final product.

You may also recall that a base and an acid have a strong chemical reaction. In the case of Baking Soda, if you also use an acid such as a phosphate, cream of tartar, lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa vinegar or even a sourdough batter, you can create a reaction that will release much more of its CO2. Remember that unlike batter or dough that has no acid, which will only rise when CO2 is released at 180 deg when baking. When your acid and baking soda are mixed the reaction will start immediately and you will need to hurry and start the cooking.

Additionally

You might find useful the fact that when adding baking soda to your coating for fried foods, your crust will be more crispy. The reason for the crispiness is that the emerging CO2 leaves passages for steam to escape from the food not only keeping the breading from being soggy but also preventing the crust from being blown off during cooking.

Baking Powder

Let us now consider, baking powder. Not the stuff with a thousand uses that you put open in the refrig, but the powder in a round can that that said
“Double Acting” on it.

Baking powder generally contains around 30% sodium bicarbonate combined with calcium acid phosphate, sodium aluminium phosphate or cream of tartar, which are activated by adding water, not needing acid. Having both the Baking Soda and other additives make it “double acting”.

While baking soda is alkaline; the acid used in baking powder helps to avoid the metallic, bitter, soapy taste when the chemical change during baking creates sodium carbonate.

Tipsbulletin.com

Tips bulletin is a very informative site that gives tips on all sorts of different topics. The following are excerpts from their 50+ Amazing Uses of Baking Soda

1. Clean Your Bathtub

Bathtub Cleaner Recipe

Baking soda (1/2 Cup)

Coarse salt (1 Tbsp)

Dish soap (1 Tbsp)

A safe and effective way to wash your bathtub, sink, and surrounding tile is by sprinkling a light layer of baking soda on a clean, damp sponge and scrubbing the tub as usual. Thoroughly rinse the bathtub and wipe it dry with a clean towel.

Baking soda also works well to clean fiberglass and glossy tiles. For extra cleaning power, you can make a paste with the baking soda for a deep-down clean.

9. Clean Furniture

Baking soda is an excellent product if you need to clean or remove marks from painted furniture or walls. Apply baking soda to a clean damp rag or sponge and lightly rub the area that you need to clean.

Baking soda works especially well to clean patio furniture. Using a clean, dry cloth, remove the residue from the furniture or wall. This method will even work for removing crayon marks from your walls and furniture.

17. Natural Fruit and Vegetable Scrub

Even if you buy organic produce, it is important to make sure to wash your fruits and veggies before consuming them. Not only can this get rid of any pesticides that may have seen use during the growing of the produce, but it can remove bacteria from your food.

Baking Soda Uses: Keeps Produce Fresh

You can make a natural produce cleaner by adding one teaspoon of baking powder to one tablespoon water. The paste is an excellent way to get rid of unwanted bacteria and pesticides from your produce.

23. Extinguish Grease Fires

If you encounter a minor grease fire in your kitchen, you can use baking soda to put it out quickly. Pouring baking soda on the fire will instantly stifle the flames. When the baking soda is heated, it discharges carbon dioxide and produces water.

The carbon dioxide doesn’t support combustion like oxygen. It smothers the fire, allowing the water that has formed to cool the fire to below the temperature needed for ignition.

31. Deodorize Recycling Bin

You can make sure your recycling bin doesn’t smell by adding baking soda to the top of the container every time you add to the container.

You can also clean the recycle bin with baking soda after it is empty. Place some baking soda on a damp sponge and wipe down the inside of the recycle bin, followed by a thorough rinse with warm water.

And many others – Check it out – Jughandle

January 24, 2018 0 comment

Blog Topics Diets Food Safety How To Nutrition pH Vegan Vegetarian

How to Test Your pH

by jughandle January 12, 2018

written by jughandle

Snake Oil

When talking about pH my biggest concern in discussing this topic is to be taken seriously. When a health method isn’t totally embraced by the traditional health community, it seems as though the snake oil salesmen display an inordinate number of cure-all methods and substances you can take to cure everything from gout to cancer.

You can’t be cured over night

As with most things you should stay toward the middle of the road. Don’t believe anyone who says they can cure you over night. Most of our problems took a long, long time to develop and will take almost as long to fix. There are no silver bullets, just rational science.

Why Test Your pH?

pH is an indicator that our body chemistry is either good or bad. If your pH is out of range for a long period of time, changes in our blood, organs and skin will take place to compensate for an acidic condition.

Out Of Range pH can induce unwanted body changes

These changes aren’t good and can be dealt with before real damage is done. An acidic pH level is an indicator that something is out of balance. Make corrections. Don’t ignore the “engine warning” light.

Now to Test Your pH

My Urologist is trying to bring my very acidic urine pH from a 5.0 to some where close to 7.0. He has me on 45 mg of Potassium Citrate three times a day.

Test often

Because your pH changes throughout the day it is important to test it several times during the day, maybe once a week or so.

When to test your Urine

Urine – Test your second pee of the day by placing the test strip in the urine stream for a few seconds. You test the second pee (before coffee) because the first pee from storing it overnight will be more acidic. The kidney’s job is to remove acid from the system. Wait 10-15 seconds or what ever your brand of test strips recommends and compare the color to the chart provided in the test kit. Write down this number and time and do it again 2 – 3 more times during the day.

Test Before a Meal or 2 hrs After

Remember to test either before eating a meal or 2 hours after a meal for most accurate results.

Also Test Your Saliva

Saliva – First thing in the morning, either flush your mouth with your own saliva and spit or rinse with water and wait 30 mins before testing. Wet the strip with your saliva and check against the chart as with your urine. Write the number and time down. As with the urine, test 2-3 more times during the day.

Average Results and Chart Them

You can average the numbers then chart them over time to see what difference changes in your diet can make.

The Chart

Remember that the pH chart with your kit is like an earthquake chart, it is logarithmic which means each step, ie; 4.5 to 5.5 is ten times the previous.

Which Strips?

You can find test strips in most pharmacies and health food stores or you can find them on line.

I personally use PHion Balance Diagnostic pH Test Strips.

Please let me know if you can find them less expensively, I will pass it along.

What Results Should we Expect?

What’s normal pH…
Our bodies have a number of systems which all have their own specifically preferred pH.

Expect Changes

Overall, the body’s internal chemical environment normally changes from a weak acid to a weak base within a 24-hour period.

More Acidic In The Morning

The body is usually more acid in the morning and most base at night. These physiological changes occur on a curve during this period.

Morning Should Be Slightly Less than 7.0

The slightly acid time period early morning: pH < 7.0 is perfect for the activity of the nerves, hormones and neurotransmitters. In this pH, the stored acidic wastes are dissolved into liquid form and then excreted from the body as wastes.

Blood pH

The bloodstream is the most sensitive system of the entire body, far more sensitive than any other.

Maintain A Slightly Alkaline pH

Arterial and venous blood must maintain a slightly alkaline pH: arterial blood pH = 7.41 and venous blood pH = 7.36.

Acidosis And Alkalosis

Because the normal pH of arterial blood is 7.41, a person is considered to have acidosis when the pH of blood falls below this value and to have alkalosis when the pH rises above 7.41.

Figure 3. Range of Arterial pH Values

ACIDOSIS
pH = 1 to 7.40

NEUTRAL
pH = 7.41

ALKALOSIS
pH = 7.42 to 14.0

Connective Tissue pH

A normal pH in this area is 7.34 and 7.40, a slightly more acid profile, because body cells dump as much free hydrogen (H+) as possible, buffering the blood as much as possible. However, pH in these areas can dangerously drop to concentrations of pH = 5.0.

Ideal Urine pH Values

In a pH balanced body. urine is slightly acid in the morning, (pH = 6.5 – 7.0) generally becoming more alkaline (pH = 7.5 – 8.0) by evening in healthy people primarily because no food or beverages are consumed while sleeping.

Whereas, during the day the body buffers the pH of the food and beverages consumed by releasing electrolytes and the pH level goes up. This process allows the kidneys to begin the elimination process slowly.

Urine pH Range

The pH of urine can range from an extremely unhealthy low of 4.5 to a high if 8.5, which it tolerates a little easier, depending on the acid/base status of the extracellular fluids. A high pH value may indicate the body is over buffering to compensate for a physiological system that is too acidic.

UNHEALTHY
pH < 6.0

NEUTRAL
pH = 6.5 TO 8.0

UNHEALTHY
pH > 8.5

Don’t Make The Body Overwork

When urine pH is 6.0 and below for extended periods of time, it is an indication that the body’s fluids elsewhere are too acid, and it is working overtime to rid itself of an acid medium.

When urine pH is normal, then the blood pH is normal, but when the urine pH is overly acid, the body releases too many electrolytes to keep the pH level normal and maintain life.

Easy to take urine buffer test strips are available to indirectly determine the safety of all body fluids, including blood.

Results may vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S.A. Food and Drug Administration and this product is not intended to treat, cure or prevent disease.

What to Do?

More later – jughandle

January 12, 2018 0 comment

Diets Food Safety Nutrition pH

Kidney Stones

by jughandle July 22, 2013

written by jughandle

Some of you are aware that I have been suffering from kidney stones for the last 2 years. I also have a birth defect where I only have one functioning kidney. When I get a stone that achieves sufficient size to become lodged in my ureter, or urethra, I am in serious trouble. Different pain for each location, but the result is always the same – 4 to 12 hours of intense back and stomach pain followed by a rush to the hospital ER almost always at night and/or on the weekend. Then CT scan (I’ve had 38 in my life) followed by a visit by the attending only to tell me the stone size and location and that a nurse will give me pain meds until my doctor can perform a scope procedure in the morning some time. By the time I get to the OR the next day I’m willing to do anything. The pain meds don’t do crap. Don’t let anyone fool you. Even morphine only lasts minutes at best. Really the only relief I get is to induce vomiting, I don’t know why. This has happened 6 times in the last 2 years. 4 times this year alone. Oh yeah, I’m self insured, which is another story for another day. Don’t let this happen to you.

Oh by the way. If you do happen to have two functioning kidneys, chances are the ER will just send you home until you pass the stone if it isn’t too big to pass.

The Procedure

My urology group has 12 doctors practicing, all of which I would trust with my life (I’ve used 6 of them). They range in age from just out of school, I’m guessing 30-32 to about to retire, 60-65. I mention their age because interestingly enough the younger doctors are usually better at this video game like procedure than the older ones. They have to be able to remotely search for any problem and grab the stone(s) with the tong and either remove the stone or use a laser to break the stone up into more manageable sizes. All of this has to be done quickly, because the activity causes the ureter to swell around the tool. Finally, prior to exit, because of the swelling, a stint, roughly 20 inch long is placed in the kidney to extend down the ureter into the bladder to keep the ureter open while it heals.

Now if you are following me and are quick, you might be thinking how the heck are they going to get that stint out? Ah yes, turns out there are two ways. One way which I have experienced 5 times, is to have a string attached to the stint that continues from the bladder out the urethra and is taped to my privates. After 3 or 4 days I go back to the doctors office and the PA (physicians assistant), un-tapes the string and pulls like crazy to remove it. Believe me it is a rush and not in a good way. The second way, which I recently experienced, is to have no string but to be scoped again with another device in an outpatient procedure, while NOT under sedation, to grab and remove by pulling everything out. I had the stint in my kidney for 5 months. I couldn’t do anything but lay flat on my back and stare at the ceiling. The pain of the removal was short comparably.

I usually awaken to the smiling face of the recovery nurse telling me to take deep breaths. The anesthesia doesn’t make me as sick as it used to. I’m close with a first rate anesthetist.

I am writing this blog not to complain about my pitiful plight, but to tell you about the cure that my doctor and I discovered, at least for me.

The Cause

There are at least 5 different types of kidney stones that form in different sizes and shapes. No one really can put a finger on what happens to the body to trigger this situation other than the body chemistry changes. In my case, we have found that I had been screwing around with my diet to try and improve my health and did just the opposite. I made my blood and urine pH (potential hydrogen), which is the measure of acid or alkalinity, to become very acidic (pH of 5)to the point of acidosis . This condition caused the balance of oxilate, calcium and uric acid to be completely thrown off in my blood and urine. Instead of combining with the calcium in my body to be removed in my stool, the extra uric acid, in my case, formed stones in my joints and kidney. In extreme cases stones can also form in your brain. In the joints its called Gout. In the kidney it causes back pain (that’s were the kidneys are) and radiating stomach pain. It’s when the stones break loose that the real trouble starts.

The Solution

During my last procedure 5 months ago, the doctor broke up 2 large stones which he couldn’t remove because of their size and location. He thought the stones looked like uric acid stones. That was the good news. Uric acid stones can some times be dissolved if the urine pH can be consistently maintained at 7 pH or above. I took potassium citrate pills for 5 months and eventually a CT showed that the stones had indeed dissolved.

Long Term and Prevention

I know much of what I post falls on deaf ears. This will never happen to you, will it? I continue to post for the same reason that I would yell a warning at some one who was in the path of an approaching bus.

Drink lots of neutral clean water (I drink a gallon a day)
Eat mostly green vegetables or other alkaline foods (limes and lemons are surprisingly processed in the body as alkaline)
When you eat protein eat a little dairy with it, but limit proteins to 3 or 4 meals per week.
Test your urine with pH test strips weekly to avoid problems.
Learn about how to maintain a body and diet that is above 6.5 pH
Don’t eat sugar, sugar and anything else results in an acidic pH
most of all don’t believe me – do the research yourself

July 22, 2013 3 comments

pH Food Chart

by jughandle June 5, 2013

written by jughandle

My blog has roughly 1500 readers per week. I appreciate each and every one of you. Apparently I hit a good subject with the pH thing. GOOD! Seems that I’m a little behind in finding out about this important health topic. I started to creep up on the subject, but many of you want more information NOW.

My niece sent me the following food pH chart that I think is fantastic. I’m going to post this chart today to jump start you that are chomping at the bit for more information. I’ll let you know now to monitor your pH tomorrow. If you have seen other charts you might find a conflict or two. I’m looking into that. – jughandle

Acid in foods and how your body metabolizes them are very different things. Lemons are one of the best foods we can eat and everyone knows how acidic they are. Some foods that start out alkaline become very acidic when cooked. Carrots are a good example of that. Meat will test alkaline before digestion but it leaves an acidic residue in the body because of how hard it is to digest.

June 5, 2013 6 comments

Let pH be your health gauge

by jughandle June 3, 2013

written by jughandle

This is part 2 of a multi-part post about our body’s pH

part 1 – Neutral pH is the sum of all things healthy

The aquarium metaphor

Compare our body to an aquarium. If you’ve ever set up an aquarium, you know how important it is to maintain a neutral pH in the water. Over time the waste and decay in the tank from the natural processes of the fish make the water’s pH start to drift toward acid. For a while the filter and oxygen tube will take care of the problem. Soon the filter isn’t enough and you have to exchange part of the old water for new “fresh” water. The oxygen is over taken by carbon dioxide. If you plant the correct plants (which produce O2) and change the water and filter you can maintain a healthy aquarium. If you don’t, the water will soon become very acidic and your fish will die.

Our body is very similar to the aquarium. When we are young we tend to eat more vegetables and drink more water. Our kidneys are healthy and they filter the waste from our body and bring our urine, saliva and blood back to a pH level of around 7.35 on the average. As we grow older, like in the aquarium, the natural process of aging produces various types of acid in our system that can overwhelm our body’s filter. The body is a very sophisticated organism and has many tricks to keep us healthy.

When the body can no longer effectively neutralize and eliminate the acids it will relocate and convert them to things that other organs and the blood might be able to deal with. Acids are converted to cholesterol, calcium binds to uric acid and oxolic acid and are eliminated in the urine. Our joints and bones become inflamed with acidic fluid. If you aren’t drinking enough water, not just liquids, you are not flushing these toxins from your system. The body then stores the acidic toxins in the fatty tissue, muscles, bones, organs, blood and skin on our body. Our bodies become very acidic and acidosis can occur.

From Health Wealth and Happiness

by Dr. Gary Tunsky

7 Bodily Responses That Fight To Maintain pH

All metabolic processes, including immunity, depend on a delicately balanced pH, which harmonizes electromagnetic energies. The body constantly fights to maintain a blood pH at around 7.35 -7.45 much like our internal thermostat that tries to maintain a 98.6-degree body temperature. There are seven homeostatic adaptation responses that fight to maintain this pH balance.

1) Using high pH bodily fluids such as water as a solvent to neutralize acid residues.

2) Pulling bicarbonate from the pancreas into the blood (an alkalizing agent). Bicarbonate ions are generated into the blood cells from carbon dioxide and diffuse into the plasma.

3) Protein buffers of glutathione, methionine, cystine, taurine, just to name a few, act as buffers intra-cellularly to bind or neutralize acids during cellular disorganization.

4.) Electrolyte buffers of sodium, calcium and potassium work in the blood, lymph, and extra-cellular and intracellular fluids to bind acids, which are then removed through the urine.

5.) Pulling stored calcium and magnesium from skeletal bones and teeth to neutralize blood acids.

6.) Filtration and elimination of acidic residues through the skin, urinary tract and respiration.

7.) Pushing blood acid residues and accumulated toxins into outer extremities as a storage bin away from vital organs. The wrist, joints, fingers, toes and skin are the major target areas to keep the toxins from saturating internal vital organs like the heart and lungs.

When all seven-protection phases are overwhelmed, the end result is accumulated acid residues at the cellular level, which drown out oxygen. With this acidic, low oxygen terrain, the microzyma’s(small ferments) trigger morbid microbe infiltration of fungus, molds and parasites, cancer cells, etc., where they seek the diseased acid terrain as food. (Editor’s note: The term “microzyma” was created by Antoine Bechamp. These are small living components of cells and are described more fully later in this article ).

As these organisms feed, they produce waste just like you do. Their urine and feces are called mycotoxins, which are very poisonous to humans. Being acids themselves, mycotoxins greatly worsen the acidity caused by an acidic diet and toxic acid emotions. They are spilled into the blood as well as inside cells, where they cause free radical damage to the genetic material of the cell eventually causing cell death. The dead necrotic cells also spill out acid wastes. The blood poisoning results in more cell and tissue poisoning furthering the disturbance of the microzyma triggering morbid forms of yeast, molds and viruses, which disrupts body chemistry causing disease to the systems. So it’s a vicious cycle. One acid condition creates another Acidic diet coupled with toxic acid emotions creates an acid pH to the cells. This causes low oxygen levels(hypoxia), which is necessary for keeping back destructive anaerobic microbes and immuno-suppression is the result. Then medical doctors come in and treat the acid condition with another acid (pharmaceuticals).

All Disease Is Acid Related

In general, degenerative diseases are the result of acid waste build-up within weak cells and organs that are too weak to clean house. When we are born, we have the highest alkaline mineral concentration, establishing the highest pH. That is why most degenerative diseases do not occur when you are young. They occur usually after 40 years of age.

The underlying causes of cancer, heart disease, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, gout, kidney disease, asthma, allergies, psoriasis and other skin disorders, indigestion, diarrhea, nausea, obesity, tooth and gum diseases, osteoporosis, morning sickness, eye diseases, etc., are the accumulation of acids in tissues and cells, poor blood and lymph circulation, and poor cell activity due to toxic acidic residues accumulating around the cell membrane which prevent nutritional elements from entering the cell.

And the name of the particular disease depends upon the location of the deposits of this acidic, toxic, pustulant soup. If the accumulating deposits are in the joints it’s called arthritis. If the poisonous waste matter accumulates in the pancreas and saturates the beta cells that synthesize insulin it’s called diabetes. If the toxic sludge is dumped in the lungs it’s called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It’s the same disease. Wherever your weakest link in the chain of organs is, that’s where your genetic disposition for disease will be.

If the overload is too great for the blood, excess acid is dumped into the tissues and cells for storage. Then the lymphatic system and immune system must neutralize what it can and attempt to discard the toxic waste. If the lymphatic system is overloaded generally due to a lack of exercise, acid deposits will suffocate the cells and damage DNA. If the lymphatic system is pumping through exercise and circulation, they will pick up the acid wastes and neutralize them through the kidneys. Unfortunately, they must dump them right back into the blood stream. This will force the blood to attempt to gather more alkaline salts in order to compensate while stressing the liver and kidneys. This robs Peter to pay Paul.

Treat the Disease NOT the Symptom

Our medical community, in general, is taught to treat symptoms and not the underlying cause of the problem. How is it that over 500,000 coronary bypass surgeries are performed each year with the number rising and the core problem is not being addressed until it is too late.

I’ve told you before that I’ve had 6 operations in the last 2 years to remove kidney stones. Nothing, until recently, has been done to find the cause and therefore the cure.

Disease is caused by the acidic condition of the patient’s cellular environment. Disease starts on the cellular level. An acidic cellular environment is caused by a toxic diet, toxic environmental exposures and a toxic lifestyle. Toxins aren’t just what you might consider the normal stuff like alcohol, tobacco, etc. Toxins are acid forming substances, such as proteins, refined sugars, starches and more. We need a balance.

If you think I’m wrong – please speak up and tell me why. I’ll tell you what to do about this problem in later posts. – jughandle

June 3, 2013 0 comment

Diets Nutrition pH

Neutral pH is the sum of all things Healthy

by jughandle June 2, 2013

written by jughandle

Neutral pH

I’ve been exploring the healthy life style for several years now. Until now I’ve mostly learned what NOT to do. You know, the same things that religion teaches. Don’t do these 10 things and have faith. Unfortunately I was raised to question authority and find the answers myself. That one lesson makes my life much more difficult, but also more interesting.

Don’t eat too much protein, don’t drink too much alcohol, don’t eat too much starchy food, drink lots of water, etc. etc. but WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the last 2 years I have had 6 operations to remove kidney stones from my 1 good kidney. I’m not enjoying this procedure which requires cameras and tubes being forced into tiny orifices of my body leaving behind pain and damage. I will do almost anything to stop the process. I’ve been tested, probed, questioned, stuck and drained. I’ve changed my diet 4 times. I drink more water than an aquarium fish. Still, doctors can’t tell me why or what to do, just a lot of “try this, try that, have you done that.” Not good enough!

I have drilled down to what I believe is the lowest common denominator for our health. Neutral pH. Simple as that.

What the Heck are you saying Jug?

What? You may ask. Good, at least you are asking questions. To explain Neutral pH, or pH at all, with out boring you I’ll keep it simple. pH, or Potential Hydrogen, is a logarithmic measure of hydrogen ion concentration. The pH scale measures how acidic or basic (alkaline) a substance is and ranges from 0 to 14. With 7 being neutral and 0 very acidic. Most life on this planet lives in the middle around 7. Of course, even with in our own body pH can and does vary from a low of 1.5 to a high of 8.5. All of that is part of the process of digestion and healing.

Short and Sweet

I’m going to stop right here. I truly believe that this is the most important thing I’ve ever posted and I want to keep your attention. Remember this for next time. Protein foods metabolize as acidic in our bodies and our body can only heal itself in an alkaline environment. Our kidney(s) eliminate acidic waste from our body, trying to reach a neutral pH. Acid in = acid out.

June 2, 2013 0 comment