Recomendaciones y directrices sobre Actividad Física

The human body must maintain its fluids at a slightly alkaline pH in order to survive. Neutral pH is 7.0; acid pH is below 7.0; alkaline pH is above 7.0. The bloodstream pH must be maintained within a pH range of 7.35 to 7.45; blood pH outside that range results in death.

The term “pH” means “potential hydrogen.” Substances in aqueous solution are determined to be either alkaline or acidic according to their predominance of hydroxyl (OH-) versus hydrogen (H+) ions. Hydroxyl ions are negative and alka-lizing; hydrogen ions are positive and acidifying. The pH scale is logarithmic. This means that each pH point below 7.0 is ten times times more acidic than the next higher value. For example, pH 5.0 is ten times more acidic than pH 6.0 and 100 times more acidic than pH 7.0. Likewise, pH 9.0 is ten times more alkaline than pH 8.0 and 100 times more alkaline than pH 7.0.

Acidifying factors include: 1. acid-forming foods; 2. exercise; and 3. stress (mental and emotional).

Metabolic waste acids are produced in every cell. This requires a sufficient reserve of alkaline minerals in the body for their neutralization. Under normal conditions, acid wastes are minimal and easily neutralized and transported to the organs of elimination. Our kidneys are adept at eliminating excess alkaline minerals.

When faced with excessive acidifying factors, the body must work extra hard to buffer the acid wastes, preserve alkaline homeostasis and eliminate acid wastes from the bloodstream, cells, tissues and organs. Extreme, chronic acid waste loads force the body to resort to buffering the acidity with its limited reserve of calcium, its most abundant alkalizing mineral reserve, which is mostly stored in the bones.

This undesirable condition is the leading cause of osteoporosis. Attempting to thwart osteoporosis with calcium-rich foods which contain predominantly acid-forming minerals, such as milk, cheese and fish, actually causes further osteoporo-sis. A chronic acidic condition (“acidosis”) constantly stresses the body, resulting in weak electrochemical energy conduction, low bio-energetic vibration, physical and mental enervation, debilitating disease (including C&C), physical degenera-tion, rapid aging and death.

The primary acidifying (or acid-forming) dietary factors are as follows:

• any and all animal foods and products: meat (including fish and fowl) and dairy (butter, cheese, cream, eggs, milk and yogurt),

• all grains and flour products except amaranth, millet and quinoa,

Drugs, marijuana and tobacco are also acidifying.

Except for blueberries, cranberries, plums and prunes, all raw fruits and vegetables are alkaline-forming (or alkalizing). Alkalizing foods promote high biochemical conduction and sustained vibrant health. Extreme alkalinity, or

“alkalosis,” is a rare condition. Except for serious health failure, such as end-stage cancer, only in the instance of kidney failure could alkalosis be an issue, and even then there would be other far more serious issues to contend with. The alkalosis at that point would be a symptom, not a disease. Thus, it is apparent that a diet of predominantly fruits and vegetables is safe, health-promoting and should com-prise the bulk of our diet.

Foods are not classified as acidifying or alkalizing based on the pH of their juices in the raw state. For example, oranges, limes, pineapples, peaches and toma-toes contain acidic juices; however, they are not acid-forming but, rather, they are alkalizing on the basis of their alkalizing mineral composition and metabolic end reaction. Their acidic juices are easily diluted and neutralized by our alkaline digestive secretions before they enter the bloodstream.

Foods are determined to be acidifying/acid-forming or alkalizing/alkaline-forming on the basis of their metabolic end reaction in our body. That means after the nutrients from a food are utilized in the cells the resulting waste fluid pH is either acidic or alkaline. This is a function of each food’s mineral composition.

Certain minerals create acidity in aqueous solution; others create alkalinity. Foods with predominantly acid-forming minerals impart acidity to the cells and meta-bolic waste stream. Foods with predominantly alkaline-forming minerals impart alkalinity to the cells and metabolic waste stream.

The primary acid-forming minerals are: phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, iodine, bromine, fluorine, copper and silicon. The primary alkaline-forming minerals are:

calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron and manganese.

The following information was extracted by permission from the book Composition And Facts About Foods And Their Relationship To The Human Body by Ford Heritage, published by Health Research:

alkalinity-acidity of foods in Metabolic Reaction

After foods are eaten they are oxidized in the body, resulting in the formation of a residue or ash. In this residue, if the minerals sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium predominate over sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine and un-combusted organic acid radicals, they are designated as “alkaline ash” foods. The converse of this is true for foods designated as “acid ash.”

Numerical values of alkalinity or acidity were determined in long, painstak-ing analytical laboratory work. The concentrations of the various elements were determined separately and then computed in terms of equivalents. The excess at one group of minerals over the other is expressed as cubic centimeters of normal acid or base (alkaline) per 100 grams of edible food. The values obtained are called degrees of acidity or alkalinity.

8.6 Parsnip

grains

Grains are not digested well by humans. In their natural form they are hard and unpalatable. Their major caloronutrient component is comprised of starch which is complex carbohydate—clusters of many molecules, requiring a relatively great amount of chemical action to break their bonds for use as caloric fuel. Starch must first be enzymatically digested by our salivary digestive juices into simpler sugars, then further reduced by additional enzyme secretions from the pancreas (in the duodenum). Because this process takes hours and humans are not designed to secrete copious quantities of the starch-splitting enzymes, starches typically fer-ment in the gut, generating alcohol and vinegar, causing excessive mucous produc-tion, irritation and toxemia.

Fermentation is the bacteriological decomposition of carbohydrates. Natural fruit sugars and starches can ferment in the stomach and small intestine under certain conditions of improper eating, insufficient secretion of digestive enzymes, and/or reaction with accumulations of internal debris. The byproducts of fermen-tation are lactic acid, acetic acid (vinegar) and alcohol. Similar to the byproducts of putrefaction, these toxins can lead to autointoxication, as evidenced by sour stomach, body odors, gas, fatigue, “food drunkenness” (or attention deficit disor-der—”ADD”) and then C&C.

Starches are low in water and, thus, tend to cause constipated, mucousy stools.

Except for amaranth, millet and quinoa, grains are acid-forming. Many grains contain gluten, an undigestible, irritating protein which is a prime culprit in C&C.

Excess starch consumption causes hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar), causing the body to store the excess carbohydrate as fat, leading to obesity while overwork-ing the pancreas and causoverwork-ing diabetes.

Refined grain products, especially those made from flour, along with some whole grains, all sugary syrups, dried fruits and white potatoes cause the highest rise in blood sugar level. “Glycemic Index” is a ranking system for carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose levels. Grain products (bread, pasta, rice, cereal, baked flour products) rank in the high glycemic index category, while some whole grains and most whole fruits rank in the medium glycemic index range.

However, as author David Mensosa explains on his web page www.mendosa.com/

gilists.htm, glycemic index is an inadequate tool for assessing the blood sugar load imposed by various carbohydrate food sources. He shows that the “glycemic load”

4.3 White bean, dried

of foods is a better indicator of blood sugar elevation. While the glycemic index only indicates how quickly sugar enters the bloodstream, glycemic load accounts for the rise with respect to the quantity of carbohydrate per each food item. Because grains, grain products, potatoes, syrups and dried fruit are low in water and high in carbohydrate content, those foods impose a much higher glycemic load than do fruits, which average 85% water and much lower carbohydrate content by weight.

Calculating glycemic load based on the quantity of carbohydrate per 100 grams of food, grains and grain products rank two to four times higher in glycemic loading than do juicy fruits.

High glycemic load foods cause metabolic chaos leading to diabetes, fat stor-age, candidiasis (candida albicans fungal condition), constipation, attention deficit disorder, fatigue and a host of other problems. As such, whole fruits, which are far more easily digested and smoothly metabolized than grains, are our most healthful source of caloric sustenance.

In his book Grain Damage, Dr. Douglas Graham cites these and a dozen other reasons not to include grains in our diet. Our conclusions are that grains hinder healing and ripe, sweet, whole fruits are the premium food, carbohydrate fuel source and health-promoting food for humans, especially those with C&C.

Are we designed to eat grains? That is, are we graminovores? Dr. T. C. Fry answered the question thusly:

Graminovores are creatures that subsist on grains and/or cereals. Being graminovorous means we live from grasses and grass seeds, though grass eaters are really called herbivores. Strict grain eaters are called graminovores. Many birds in nature live on grass and weed seeds. Grass seeds include wheat, oats, rye, barley and rice which were developed by human mastery of nature only within the last 10,000 years. There are thousands of other grass seeds that occur throughout nature.

Of course, we’d all reject grass seeds as items of diet in nature. First, they are in a condition we can neither masticate nor digest, being heavy on starches. We would gag on the equivalent of a spoonful or two. You might try a mouthful of wheat ber-ries without husks removed as you must eat them in nature—that won’t work for us.

Further, if you ate a tablespoon of raw flour made from grass seeds (cereal grains), you’d gag.

As grass seeds neither attract, tantalize nor arouse us in their raw natural state, we can reject them as natural human fare even though most of the human race pres-ently consumes grains. Thus, we are not natural graminovores.

Are we starch eaters? To test this question I will not ask you to do the impossible, i.e., take a hand full of grass seeds (presuming you could gather them in nature) and start chewing. Or, try a spoonful of flour of any grain. You’d choke up on the first spoon of it as your starch license (salivary amylase) would be speedily exhausted.

This would amply prove to you that we were not starch eaters in nature when we had

not mastered fire. Instead of being a palate-tingling delight, starches are a tortuous affair.

When humans can freely eat starchy roots, grains and tubers such as cassava, taro, potatoes and wheat in their raw state to satiation and proclaim the experience a gourmet treat, then both you and I might concede that we’re starch eaters.

In The Health Reporter, Volume 1, Report No. 3 published by Life Science, my associate Marti Fry wrote the following article: