in our cells to produce energy – our fuel. This digestion process generates an internal ‘ash’ that’s acidic, alkaline or neutral. An alkaline or neutral ash is okay (our bodies are designed to be alkaline, not acidic). However, when acidic residue accumulates internally, it slows the body down – causing low energy, poor health and weight problems.
How does it benefit me?
By eating and drinking alkaline-forming foods, you release your body from the drudgery of coping with residual acid build-up. Rather than expend energy on fighting acidic toxins, your body can get back to its real job: fine-tuning your health and balancing your weight. Follow the pH diet and your energy levels will surge, you’ll shed excess pounds, and will look and feel more vital than ever before. And there’s no need to count calories, fat grams or points. You’ll find straightforward diet plans (see pages 14, 23, 32) and food lists to follow (see page 39), so once you’ve grasped the acid/alkaline principle, you’ll be well on your way to gaining and maintaining good health and a better figure.
The pH principle
The principle of the pH diet is that the most important aspect of a balanced, healthy body is our pH, or acid/alkaline balance.
pH is an abbreviation for ‘potential of hydrogen’. It indicates the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, measured on a scale of 0–14. The lower the pH, the more acidic the solution; the higher the pH, the more alkaline the solution. When a solution is neither acid nor alkaline, it has a pH of 7, which is neutral.
You may have a vague idea about pH from school chemistry lessons, but pH is also used to market cosmetics and hair care products. ‘pH-balanced’ products are formulated to complement the pH of skin and hair. If you use products that are too acidic or too alkaline in nature, they may be damaging. If you wash your hair with detergent, for example, you wouldn’t expect your locks to shine. Your hair would be clean but dry, dull and totally unmanageable. So choosing foods that are the wrong pH could leave you with the equivalent of a dry, dull and lifeless body. Visible signs will appear on the outside, reflected in poor-condition hair, nails and skin. On the inside, this imbalance shows up as symptoms that reflect the poor functioning of our internal organs (see the box on page xii to check any symptoms you may have).
Is the pH diet the same as food combining?
The answer is both yes and no. Like food combining, the pH diet is based on the concept of acid/alkaline imbalance as the cause of ill-health. This was first expounded in 1933 when William Howard Hay, a New York doctor, published his groundbreaking book, A New Health Era. He maintained that all disease is caused by autointoxication (self-poisoning) due to acid accumulation in the body. His work is still popular today and is now published as the Hay diet, also known as food combining.
However, the pH Diet is not a food-combining diet. When you follow the pH Diet, you can eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats together. This is because the pancreas produces three different digestive enzymes all at the same time, indicating that our bodies are designed to process different food groups simultaneously.
Is your diet draining your health?
Clinical trials have proved that an alkaline body is healthier than an acidic body. If you’re regularly eating too many acid-forming foods, you will be more vulnerable to infection – from candida to frequent colds and flu. If you overindulge your love of meat, cheese, dairy, eggs, fish, alcohol and sugary and refined foods, for example, you are likely to have many minor, and some not so minor, symptoms. Symptoms are your body’s way of getting your attention. By following the pH diet and eating more alkaline-forming foods, you can help reduce your symptoms and significantly improve your health.
Check your symptoms:
• Frequent infections, caused by a suppressed immune system: yeast infections, such as candida; parasitical infections; and bacterial and viral infections, such as colds and flu
• Low energy or chronic fatigue
• Aching muscles or joint pain; rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout or fibromyalgia
• Osteoporosis, weak, brittle bones; hip fractures or bone spurs
• Bladder or kidney problems, such as kidney stones
• Dull skin, brittle nails and hair
• Premature lines and wrinkles
• Liver or ‘age’ spots
• Acne, eczema or psoriasis
• Poor concentration or forgetfulness
• Excess weight, obesity
• Type II diabetes
• Mood swings
Stresses on the body
Our body tries its best to get rid of acidic residue left by acid-forming foods through urine, sweat and exhaled breath. However, our kidneys, skin and lungs can only cope with so much. They often become exhausted and cannot break down all the wastes from acid-forming foods, drinks and stimulants.
When this happens, what can’t be processed has to be stored somewhere in the body. In order to live healthily, our blood and cells must always remain slightly alkaline. So the body, always pursuing survival, changes leftover acidic wastes into solid wastes and stores them.
Here are some examples of solidified acidic wastes:
• LDL cholesterol (the harmful cholesterol that can build up on artery walls)
• Adipose tissue (AKA fat)
• Uric acid (responsible for gout, kidney stones and gallstones).
The accumulation of these solid wastes can also be described as the ageing process and the cause of disease. When you eat abundant alkaline-forming foods you’ll be able to excrete acid wastes far more effectively, and powerfully assist your whole body to function more efficiently. When your body is working in this way, weight loss is easy, symptoms disappear and good looks and health abound.
What is acidosis?
Most people who suffer from an unbalanced pH have too much acid in their bodies, a condition known as acidosis. This forces the body to ‘borrow’ minerals – including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium – from vital organs and bones to buffer the acid and safely remove it from the body. Because of this strain, the body can suffer severe and prolonged damage, and the condition may go undetected for years.
Acidosis is the foundation of many everyday symptoms like fatigue, poor skin, weak and brittle nails and difficulty in losing weight, as well as the many symptoms, illnesses and diseases listed in the box (see page xii). When you alkalize your body by following The pH Diet, you’ll be able to restore and maintain your overall health and beauty.
So which foods are acid-forming?
