Positive Health Online

My Journey To Health

I became interested in Nutrition as a result of depression, learning difficulties and attention deficit symptoms. Generally speaking, feeling bad all the time had led me to spend all of my teens taking drugs as a means of escape. When I discovered the concept of using nutrition as a means to affect my mood, it made total sense. It seemed logical that many of my symptoms had roots in chemical imbalances caused by toxicity, allergies and deficiencies from eating a poor vegetarian/junk food diet.

I was desperate, miserable, and exhausted but committed to finding an approach which would work for me. I tried everything from extreme water fasts to a fruit diet, and such extremes undoubtedly only weakened me further. After a while I stopped trying to be so extreme and realized this was not the way forward.

Then, whilst I felt I was making progress with one particular approach, I caught a serious tropical illness which led to me being hospitalized through extreme weight loss and chronic fatigue symptoms. A year later, and still very underweight, a DIY accident left me once again back in hospital – this time with a broken leg and blood clots in my lungs which required constant use of blood thinning medication!

Things could not get much lower – I kept hitting dead ends, and all the supplements, herbs and therapies I tried did little to affect my recovery – added to this was the fact I became increasingly frustrated with all the contradicting views in the field of nutritional healing.

Out of the blue I heard about a seminar on pH balancing, live and dry blood microscopy, and the work of Dr Robert O Young. So I went along, still exhausted and on crutches but still hopeful of finding the missing link.

I was amazed by what I learned – this was indeed the missing link for me, and it became very clear why my current approach was not working. I discovered that an acidic pH within the body can nullify healing – regardless of your particular symptom or health challenge. The blood is the river of life and if it is not pH balanced, every organ and system will suffer. Dr Young talks in terms of changing the whole inner environment of the body, as opposed to just focusing on the symptom or localized problem. He emphasizes that if you alkalize the body you are creating a favourable environment for healing, and that the body will take care of the rest in terms of healing the symptom or health challenge.

I subsequently had a live and dry blood test which revealed that I had a systemic acidity problem and that my body was not eliminating the acids properly. I was offered an alkalizing diet to follow, along with an alkalizing green drink. The benefits were noticeable almost immediately, and within a few short weeks I was so impressed with the results that I had booked a flight to California to go and train with Dr Young as a nutritional blood microscopist. Within 12 weeks I had achieved more in terms of greater health and energy than I had in the whole three years of trial and error with other approaches. I had even defied my GPs predictions and was able to come off my blood thinning medication, as my blood had stabilized itself naturally with my new alkaline inner environment.  Part of the problem with my previous approaches was that I had always been ‘chasing’ my symptoms. Every symptom has a cause; our cells and our body as a whole don’t just malfunction and get sick mysteriously.

Your Body as a Fish Tank

Think of your body as a fish tank!

If you had a goldfish bowl and didn’t change the water for ages, chances are that the fish would get sick. If you had the choice, would you treat the fish or would you change the water? The very obvious thing to do is to empty the old stagnant water and pour in some nice, fresh oxygen rich water for the fish to swim in, and it is more than likely that the fish will recover.

Imagine for a moment that the fish in this example represent the cells in your body, and that the water in the fish bowl represents the blood and fluids which the cells swim in. In western medicine, and indeed even in many holistic therapies, we have become obsessed with treating cells or organs in isolation when an illness arises, and we point the finger at genetics or bacteria and viruses. What we really need to be thinking is in terms of literally ‘changing the water’ which surround the cells.

In the same way that the health of the fish was influenced by the quality of the water – the health of our cells is dependent on the quality and health of the fluids which surround them. Even if you are not ill and just want better health and fitness and increased energy, then it is important to understand this – if you look after your internal rivers and streams then you cannot help but benefit in the long run.

Maintain your Inner Terrain

Blood is more like a huge, living flowing organ – as opposed to just a fluid.  The blood is like the water in our fish bowl and is referred to by Dr Young as our inner environment or inner terrain – the integrity of which must be maintained if good health and sustained energy are to prevail.

Diet and lifestyle choices have the biggest impact on the integrity of our inner terrain; our emotions also have a very significant impact. If your diet is healthy and nourishing, then this will be directly reflected in the state of the blood. When viewed under a high powered microscope, the blood cells will appear round, symmetrical, floating freely and will be full of oxygen – the plasma will be clean, free from excessive debris. Healthy oxygenated blood simply translates to more energy and better health. The cells and organs can ‘swim’ in a supportive environment. On the other hand, if the diet is unhealthy, then the cells will appear dark, misshapen and clumped together, which translates to less energy and less opportunity for glowing radiant health. If the blood is really acidic and unhealthy, then the whole body will suffer, as it is choked from top to toe by a sick and polluted blood terrain.

To treat a person’s symptom/s without paying attention to the blood terrain is similar to mopping up water from a burst pipe without turning the water off at the mains.

Life is about Balance (pH Balance)

One very specific and comprehensive area of Dr Young’s blood research is surrounding the correct pH of the blood and tissues of the body. The pH of the blood is 7.3 (7.365 to be accurate) – the blood pH is very delicate with precise alkaline balance which can only move within a very narrow range. This pH balance is similar to the body’s temperature balance, in that it is very precise and that it cannot fluctuate very far in either direction without consequence.

If a person’s diet is too acidic for example, the body must compensate by dumping alkaline minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium etc) into the blood to buffer the acids and stop them from spilling over into the blood and causing serious harm.  It is just like the body’s response to external temperature changes, i.e. if it is cold outside then the body senses a problem and generates heat to keep us safe and comfortable.  But in the same way that the body’s capacity to deal with temperature extremes has its limitations, so does its capacity for dealing with constant bombardment of excess acidity.

Dis-ease is a Symptom of Acidity

In many cases, what we perceive as disease are just signs and symptoms of the body being very resourceful, and using all its efforts to try and maintain alkalinity, to keep us alive in very challenging conditions.

Osteoporosis is perceived as a disease which ‘attacks’ the bones. According to Dr Young it is the result of a lifetime of acidity resulting in depletion of alkaline minerals from the bones and tissues. Arthritis is where acids and mycotoxins (fungal by-products) get crystallized and then dumped in the joints and tissues – a bit like sweeping the acids under the carpet. Overweight is a sign of acids being ‘parked’ out of harm’s way in purpose-built fat deposits – so it is not calories you need to watch but the acidity of the food/drinks, which is more significant. Skin complaints are the result of excess acids being pushed out through the pores in the skin causing eruptions – this is why spot creams don’t work, because it is an acid problem and not a skin problem. Your particular symptom depends on your body’s chosen, genetically predisposed avenue for coping. I am a very slim person so acids went to my liver, kidney, brain and nervous system causing foggy muddled thinking, depression, fatigue and poor digestion.

How to Achieve Balance

According to Dr Young the ideal diet should consist of about 80-90% highly alkaline forming foods. The average western diet, however, contains about 80-90% highly acid forming foods.

Acids are stronger than alkalis, and it takes about 20 parts alkaline/base to buffer one part acid. So you can see that the biochemistry is such that it is much easier to accumulate excess acidity than excess alkalinity.

Another factor is the way in which the pH scale works. (For the benefit of readers who do not remember the pH scale from school, anything below seven is acidic and anything above seven is alkaline). The pH scale moves in increments of ten, therefore pH7 is neutral, pH6 is ten times more acidic, pH5 is 100 times more acidic, pH4 (think cup of coffee) is 1,000 times more acidic than the pH of the blood (yes, even if it’s organic or decaff!). It takes 20 parts base to buffer one part acid, so this puts tremendous demands on our alkaline reserves, making it very unlikely that a person could become too alkaline.

We now live in a world which exposes us to far too much acidity (stress, diet, pollution, etc.), and so we need to be very heavy on the use of alkaline foods to stay balanced.

In an ideal scenario we all would have a plentiful reserve of alkaline minerals, but for most this is not the case. Even our organic vegetables are often grown in mineral poor soil, and constant alkaline withdrawals from our internal mineral supplies mean there is more going out than coming in, and many are now running low or often running on reserves. We need to really tip the scales back in our favour.

We are exposed to more immune suppressing and acidic toxins than ever before, and we are also physically weaker and less well-equipped to deal with stress as a result of widespread use of antibiotics, amalgam dental material, vaccinations, formula feeding as opposed to breast feeding and other health draining practices.

Below is a list of the main factors which cause acidity, suppress the immune system and generally weaken our defences and resistance to dis-ease:

•    Acidic and unnatural foods;
•    Vaccines;
•    Drugs, especially antibiotics
•    Alcohol;
•    Radiation;
•    Personal care products;
•    Breast implants;
•    Household cleaning products;
•    Pesticides, fungicides, herbicides;
•    Emotions (worry, fear, anxiety all cause lots of acidity);
•    Electrical pollution;
•    Air pollution;
•    Water pollution;
•    Heavy metals;
•    Dehydration/constipation;
•    Disconnection from nature;
•    Healthy metabolism (even producing energy from healthy alkaline food creates some acidity!);
•    Over/under exercise
•    Poor breathing

We Don’t Get Old… We Mould!

In his books, Dr Young explains how an acidic terrain makes you an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, yeast, fungus and mould, and other unwelcome house guests, such as worms and parasites.

Bacteria, yeast, fungus and mould (B, Y, F, M) are Nature’s undertakers, designed to recycle plants, trees, animals, dinosaurs and people, just as mushrooms rot dead wood. This is a very helpful part of the carbon cycle, as it means the planet is not cluttered up with dead items. In humans the compost/recycle button is triggered by acidity – when we stop breathing, CO2 builds up and the environment changes from alkaline to acid, and this is the biochemical signal that we are dead and that we need to be recycled.

Under a microscope many westerners have yeast in their live blood sample. This can make alkalizing a bit more challenging, as these yeast/fungus forms compound the problems associated with regular acidity.

Yeast is destructive by design, and destroys everything in sight (glucose, protein, vitamins, minerals, even EFAs). This causes deficiencies and blood sugar imbalance leading to hyper/hypo glycaemia type symptoms and the subsequent sugar cravings. In an attempt to make the environment more acidic and biodegradable, and also as a natural by-product of metabolism, they spew out mycotoxins which poison and choke the cells even further. They also breed and colonize (especially in the colon), and do all they can to tear the body down as quickly and efficiently as possible. So, on one side you have your own cells mutating and trying to recycle you, and on the other hand you have your white blood cells working overtime to kill the yeast and keep you alive. This is the battle we take for granted, one which can be seen during a live blood assessment.

Yeast infections are an outward manifestation of an internal composting problem, and should more accurately be called an “outfection,” as coined by Dr Young.

When we are pH balanced, our environment is not conducive for pathogenic micro organisms, and it is much less likely that external germs will get a foothold or cause illness. Alkalinity is our primary immune defence.  When we are acidic we not only generate internal overgrowth but also leave ourselves wide open to external germs, viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.

The Cycle of Imbalance

When an individual has a yeast problem it creates what Dr Young calls the cycle of imbalance, whereby acidic food choices cause the initial overgrowth of micro organisms, creating toxicity, deficiencies (in B vitamins, etc.) and low blood sugar, which in turn creates fatigue, depression, muddled thinking and makes one feel generally unwell. This sets up a desire for things like sugar, coffee, bread, alcohol, etc., to provide a quick energy fix, or escape from the problem. This way more acid is created and the cycle of imbalance continues.

The best solution is to break the cycle and alkalize and energize. You don’t want to kill the yeast because the yeast is ‘you’. You simply need to change the environment so the bugs don’t feel welcome. Yeast can only survive in an acidic environment – so all you need to do is remove the acid.  It is not enough to just take anti-fungal supplements or drugs; you must also change the whole environment.


Healthy cells


Clumped cells

Creating a Cycle of Balance

In all of Dr Young’s books he details a way of living and eating which is designed to reduce acidity, cause disappearance of pathogenic micro-organisms, and also to heal, energize and strengthen the body.

All avenues for eliminating acids need to be utilized, and this is achieved by improved hydration and digestion to move acids out via the bowels. Sweating is another important component, as this allows acids to exit via the skin which is the largest elimination organ.

As acids begin to be eliminated, the body can begin to heal and re-mineralize – in the early stages of the process there may be some initial detox symptoms, but this should be viewed as a positive thing, as they usually pass quickly.

The general rule of thumb is to eat lots of fresh whole food. It is generally advisable to change one thing at a time; however, if you have a significant health challenge, or if you feel you want to boost your energy levels quickly, it may be wise to go 100% alkaline for a few weeks or longer – that is, to eliminate all acidic foods and even temporarily eliminate the healthy grains/sugars which can still add fuel to an existing infestation. Once balance has been restored, Dr Young’s recommendation is to aim for the 80/20 ratio – that is 80% high alkaline food and 20% mildly acid forming food.

One important measure of the healing/damaging potential of food is how ‘alive’ or how ‘dead’ the food is. Fresh food and vegetables have an energy field/electron field, and Kirlian photography has been used in Dr Young’s research to demonstrate the ‘life force’ or ‘zeta potential’ of food.

Living foods are biogenic; they ‘give’ their energy to our cells, and Dr Young recommends that we eat lots of foods with a high frequency. You should look for foods which contribute energy, and also to reduce the ones which force the body to sacrifice its own life force/energy in the process of digestion/elimination. Also when you cook food you alter the molecular structure; you loose zeta potential and food becomes more acidic.

Which Foods to Eat

Good fats.

Good fats are essential to keeping blood sugar levels nice and stable. They provide a slow release of energy which prevents the fungi stimulating blood sugar spikes associated with carbohydrates. This allows the pancreas to ‘rest’ and to heal. Fats are alkalizing and are used by the body to buffer acids – they insulate cells (red blood cells need omega 3 and 6 to build a strong healthy cell membrane). Fats are a good ‘clean’ fuel as opposed to carbs which are ‘messy’ by comparison when metabolized. Fats ‘burn’ more efficiently as they generate about half the acidic metabolic by-products than carbohydrate metabolism.

Low sugar fruits.

Lemons and limes are very alkalizing (with 1/3 available oxygen). Tomatoes (alkaline when raw) grapefruit, cucumber (very alkaline/electron saturated).  Avocado, eat several per day, as it is alkalizing (even if you are O blood type!) and a great source of energy, antioxidants, potassium, good fats, etc., and very easy to digest. LOW sugar fruits have all the benefits of high sugar fruit (mango, etc.) but without the fungus stimulating properties of fructose. All are alkalizing and energizing. They can be combined with carbohydrates and protein.

Good grains.

The following grains are less prone to fermentation; spelt, millet quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. Try not to store grains in areas of the kitchen which are exposed to steam and heat from cooking as this will cause the grains to go mouldy. (These grains fall into the mildly acidic, but still healthy category of foods);

Good fresh fish

. 
Organic fresh oily fish can be beneficial. (Fish falls into the mildly acidic, but still healthy category of foods);

Salt.

Redmond Real Salt and Himalayan Salt are two good brands of salt to use. Very alkalizing and healthful. Real, unrefined, unprocessed salt is essential for good health.

Green vegetables.

Green foods are the key to success, and the greater the quantity of green foods you consume, the greater the health benefits you experience. Grasses, such as wheat grass and barley grass, are an excellent addition to your diet. Grasses and greens in general are anti-fungal/ mycotoxin, high in fibre, enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, and alkaline salts, and also rich in antioxidants. Chlorophyll will help to protect you against heavy metals and electrical pollution, and when added to water can neutralize chlorine and fluoride. Chlorophyll, the blood of green plants, is virtually identical to the molecular structure of hemoglobin (the part of your blood cells which holds oxygen) – this is what nature has provided us with for building good blood. You need to flood intestines with green foods and drinks – this will ensure you provide chlorophyll and other essential foundational elements to build new blood.

Soaked nuts.

It is important to ‘soak’ nuts and seeds to make them edible. Hemp, flax, sesame and almonds are good.

Ionized water/pH miracle water.

Visit www.phmiracleliving.com for information on good water filters and ionizers.All alkalizing foods are electron rich.  Electrons bind and neutralize protons (associated with acidity).

In Conclusion

Find your own approach and try not to label things as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The body is resilient and can survive on most diets, so a bit of acidity is not going to kill you – this is about empowering yourself and learning how to support your body, whilst living in the real world, not trying to be perfect (because in truth you already are perfect – as you may already be aware!). It is recommended that you approach any dietary/lifestyle changes with enthusiasm, and in the spirit of ‘choosing better health’ as opposed to ‘fear of illness.’

About Dr Robert Young

Dr Robert O Young is a Nutritionist, Microbiologist and author of many best-selling books (pH Miracle, pH Miracle for Diabetes, pH Miracle for Weight Loss, Sick and Tired, plus several other titles.  He is a sought-after speaker and healer, and is also the pioneer of a brand new range of alkalizing health supplements called the pH Miracle Range. All the supplements are alkalizing, energizing and anti-fungal colloidal products – the foundational product being a potent alkalizing green drink called ‘pH Miracle Greens’. For more info on Dr Young visit www.phmiraclegreens.com