Alkaline Diet Questions with Gareth (#8)

gareth

Hey everyone!

Each fortnight we’re putting the best alkaline diet questions we receive from you to our Alkaline Diet Expert, Dr Young trained blood analyst and highly qualified nutritionist – Gareth Edwards.

Gareth is right at the very top of his field, so these answers are absolutely the best you’ll find from arguably Britain’s most qualified expert in this area!

Q&A With Gareth Edwards

These answers do not replace the advice that can be gained from a consultation and review of your full medical history. If you experience unwanted symptoms you should consult with a pH aware, nutritionally oriented physician.

Question One: The weight won’t come off – no matter how hard I try!

I am trying to shed about half a stone in weight, but going through the menopause it seems that whatever I do it just keeps anchoring itself to my belly and legs. I have cut out all sweet carbs, I never eat bread and rarely eat a potato, rice is a no-no and pasta occasionally. It just seems determined to stay and I have the most profound craving for sweet foods – what do you recommend in your array of supplements to help get rid of the weight and stop the sweet cravings? I have tried your green drink and still have some, but it fills me with gas if I try to drink it more than once a week. Looking forward to any help you may have to offer. Yours sincerely Suzi.

Hi Suzi,

I really would start with the green drink (such as the Dr Young’s Doc Broc Power Plants). Mix it in very weak doses if it gives you wind, but you need to hydrate with nourishing fluids.

Next stop would be regular salt. Increasing your intake of un-refined sea-salt would be my next recommendation (such as Young pHorever pHlavor Mineral Salts). That should help with reducing sugar cravings.

Next stop – diet. Make sure that you are having plenty of fresh, ideally raw green plant food. Start at breakfast, if you can. Make sure that you are having enough healthy fats (olive and hemp oil, avocados, almonds and sprouted seeds) to keep your calorie intake sufficient. Keep animal protein, tea, coffee and fruit juice to a minimum.

Medication can disrupt body processes and leave you craving for sugar, so consider reviewing any thing you are taking with your GP, particularly hormone replacement therapy, if you are taking that.

Question Two: Can you be too alkaline??

Is there any risk of too much alkalinity in the body causing insufficient hydrochloric acid to come into play in the stomach to properly break the food down?

No! The day I read Dr. Young’s first article proposing his view that hydrochloric acid was the by product of alkalising reactions in the stomach, rather than a compound produced to “break down” food, several pieces of the human metabolism jig saw dropped into place for me.

When we eat high amounts of acidifying foods, such as animal protein or drink large amounts of acidifying fluids, such as alcohol or fruit juice, we can experience acid reflux, gastric pain or nausea.

Making your body too alkaline would be a bit like experiencing too much joy …… It’s unlikely to happen! We are always producing metabolic acids that need to be counter-acted. That said drinking neat chlorine would be ill advised. There are certain dilutions that are required to place alkaline substances in touch with our skin (inside or out)!

Question Three: Teeth and Alkalising

My question is all about teeth and alkalising. I expect it could relate to quite a few people out there who have previously been addicted to sugar, but are now alkalising.

I have been seriously alkalising for nearly 18 months. I’ve not touched sugar, meat or any of the bad guys during that time and have eaten an 80/20 alkaline / acid balance diet – mostly raw but with 20% healthy grains. I’ve also done several week-long cleanses. My teeth have been aching since I started this. I had 2 extracted some months ago (my choice, as I didn’t want to have more root-fillings – I already have two but now disagree with them).

Four months ago, in order to try and stop the aches, I went onto a 100% raw diet. I also take 5 scoops greens per litre x 4 daily and I have an ionizer. However, the aches are still there on a daily basis coming from the root fillings (there is a shadow underneath on x-ray).

So, are you going to tell me that I must have the root fillings taken out? (That would mean I will have had 4 teeth extracted and I’m only early forties). The problem is that there is no really satisfactory way to fill the gaps – implants and bridges aren’t ideal for a number of reasons and to wear a denture at this age fills me with horror … I’m clinging onto the belief that I can somehow alkalise enough to keep the 2 root-filled teeth in situ, alkaline and without pain. I’m going by Dr. Young’s theory that matter changes according to the terrain, therefore any bacteria there should be able to change back to healthy cells. Last summer I had a healing crisis where a fever came on and I could really feel my teeth and loads of catarrh came out. There was real improvement afterwards, but it’s come back since I lost a crown and the dentist had to go down the roots of one of the root-filled teeth again – it’s brought it back.

I have recently heard about Beck’s magnetic pulser – do you know if this could help? I feel I need to bring on another healing crisis but don’t know how to. I couldn’t tolerate doing a cleanse for more than a week, it makes me feel too weak.

I would be really grateful for your take on this – it’s been going on some time and I need to resolve it.

Alkaline Diet Recipe Book BannerIt sounds like you’re on the right track and that you have a healthy mind set around these issues, but I can understand that it must be frustrating.

While I am not a dentist, I agree that keeping your teeth in your mouth, has a lot going for it! People do have root fillings and not experience subsequent pain, so working to get your blood “clean” and your general health “strong” has to make sense from every angle.

The more that I do this work, the more that I realise that in certain people’s cases, shifting underlying acidity can be challenging and …. take time. It’s difficult to know exactly where you may need to go to step up your regime, but the fact that you feel very weak after a week’s cleanse may suggest that you still have underlying imbalances.

I understand the theory behind increasing your greens to four scoops per litre, but it’s not a path I’ve ever pursued myself or recommended to clients. At this level, you are taking the drink into “food” territory. It’s going to become more like eating. I’d recommend reducing the concentration, while still maintaining a high intake of fresh green plant foods, smoothys and juices. That may help to “wash out” stored acids.

pHour salts can provide some degree of pain relief so you may want to use that. Salt mouth washes and gargles may help too.

Blood analysis with an experienced practitioner should help you to see if you have succeeded in making your blood healthy and whether there are still acids stored in your body. Acupuncture can also help with pain relief and re-balancing your body’s metabolism.

Question Four: I’ve been alkalising but with no results yet – why?

I have been alkalising very closely for 9 weeks now without much incident or improvement. My skin hasn’t improved much at all unfortunately. I feel my body is struggling to absorb the nutrients I provide. However, 5 days ago I developed acute and explosive gas and diarrhoea. Smelly is not the word!!

I have linked this to the green drink with pH drops. If I cut down the amount of alkaline drink the symptoms subside substantially. I have of course been drinking the same drink for 9 weeks with no effect. Have you ever heard of this happening before? Could this be a positive effect?

I have heard of this and think it likely that it is a sign that things are shifting. Dr. Young normally recommends using his cleansing product pHlush when people experience these types of “cleansing” reaction. Make sure that your green drink does not contain pro-biotics, enzymes or algae and keep up the good work! Stepping things up by doing a three to four day cleanse as outlined in the pH miracle books may help accelerate things, but remember that this is a long term game ……

[note from Ross: I’ve also blogged my diary of a Three Day Cleanse which might help you see what’s involved!]

Question Five: Manging high blood pressure without medication

Hi Gareth, I wonder if you have any tips for managing high Blood Pressure (BP) without use of medication. My family and I are vegan, I am not overweight, don’t drink or smoke and I have high BP. We have green drink before each meal. We apply the 80/20 rule to our diet. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind Regards, Pam.

Hi Pam. Thanks for your question. I guess I’d consider two factors straight away. Review your sodium intake. Are you adding enough salt to your food? If someone is told they have high blood pressure they often stop this. My own experience with patients with high blood pressure is that they often see their blood pressure drop with more un-refined sea (or other salt) with their food. Using pure sodium bicarbonate or Dr. Young’s pHour salts can also help increase your body’s supply of alkalising salts. These mineral salts are the principal elements that your body will use to help reduce acidity. [Note from Ross: just to reiterate that normal table salt is not what Gareth is referring to – he is referring to natural, alkaline salts such as unrefined Himalayan/Sea salt or pHlavor salt from Dr Young – refined table salt is chemically cleaned, contains numerous toxins and is dried out at such extreme temperatures that it completely alters the chemical composition of the salt making it extremely damaging to health].

Grains and pulses contain phytates which can reduce the absorption of these minerals. Eating bread, pasta and hummus and cooked lentils in large quantities can therefore also reduce your absorption of these vital minerals. Sprouting grains and pulses should reduce this effect. Drinking tea and coffee can also disrupt mineral balance and absorption.

It is likely that your elevated blood pressure is associated with elevated acidity that may be as much to do with past events or habits as it is related to your current diet, hydration and lifestyle choices. I’d encourage you to drink your greens with pH drops throughout the day to facilitate the elimination of acids through increased urination.

The other factor that should help, but is not always appealing at this time of year is of course exercise. Make sure it’s pleasurable and sustainable (low speeds over longer time frames). Make sure that there is plenty of fresh green leafy food in your diet too.

Another set of great questions and great answers! If you have a question for Gareth – leave it in the comments below!

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  1. E. Alana James Reply

    I have a question about how fast we should see the ph level change. We have been following the 12 week alkelizing diet for three weeks now and the ph level goes up or down an notch without any other change. What is withing the range of “normal.”

    • Ross Reply

      Hi again Alana – just answered your email about the recipe book!

      The changes using the pH strips are difficult to measure day by day – you really have to measure yourself at a similar time under similar conditions every day and track the change over the course of a few weeks.

      I’ve blogged about it here too

  2. Chrissie Reply

    How about Rooibos Tea on an alkaline diet? Would this be beneficial?

    • Ross Reply

      Hi Chrissie

      Sure would – I’m drinking a cup right now!

      Weird!
      Ross

  3. Robert C Reply

    Hi

    Reading some of the stuff on here

    Im a bodybuilder and eat lots of animal protein from good sources such as chicken, fish and red meat and whole eggs. I also eat lots of fresh fruit and veg every day and alos use lots of healthy oils such as avocado, evo, walnut, coconut and fish oil. my carbs come from rice, oats and sweet potatoes as the “main” big sources outwith the fruit

    I feel in the best condition of my life and my health has never been better

    How would you rate the above diet?

    Thanks

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