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If You’re Over Thirty – This is the Best Thing You Can Do For Your Face, Your Bones and Your Kidneys
Bone loss, fatigue, kidney failure, accelerated aging –– you will probably not notice the effects of a diet that creates blood acidosis until its damaging effects emerge as one or more of the above. Even then, these conditions are easily attributed to myriad other causes or just ‘getting older’.
But the acid–base concept of diet, and eating food that keeps your blood in its natural alkaline state, is one that is gaining traction in dietetic and nutritional medicine circles. The idea was first raised in the 1600s and, early in the 20th century, diets containing 65–80% alkaline foods became popular but there was little evidence then to support the practice.
Now, scientific papers addressing the question in research studies are getting published, and Professor Lynda Frassetto, a kidney specialist with the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, lectures and writes on the long-term effects of dietary acid–base balance. According to her...
Lowering our Acid Load Will Improve Bone Strength, Increase Lean Muscle Mass, Help the Heart and Slow the Process Associated with Ageing
Professor Frassetto and Dr Loren Cordain –– professor at Colorado State University’s Department of Health and Exercise Science –– are part of a growing number of scientists who believe the human body has not sufficiently evolved in the 10,000 years that agriculture has been around to operate optimally with the foods that farms bring us: the dairy and cereal grain-based staples now part of everyday life. They advocate the Paleolithic, Stone-Age or primitive ‘hunter-gatherer’ diet, named after our prehistoric ancestors who were genetically identical to us.
The body aims to maintain its pH at 7.4, a slightly alkaline state, through buffering systems such as carbonate, phosphate and amino acids. When there is an acid overload, the kidneys excrete it in urine, but if our pH slips below about 7.38, bone and muscle is broken down to release phosphate and ammonia to neutralise the acid.
This would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that every day we are eating acid-producing foods. These are not fruit like oranges, which we know have citric acid, but fish and meat, eggs, cheese, milk and cereals and grains. Although Paleolithic people ate plenty of fish and meat and these are a big part of the Stone-Age diet, they did not eat dairy or grains but instead an abundant amount of fresh nuts, roots, leafy greens and plant stalks –– the most alkalising foods there are –– to balance the acidity.
So a lifetime of eating acid-producing foods, which is what most Western people do, hastens the approach of osteoporosis and brittle bones, muscle wasting, calcium kidney stones and poor kidney function. Interestingly, patients with kidney failure (pre-dialysis) have been found to have unusually brittle bones and it has become common medical practice to control acid–base balance through dietary change. Advocates of the alkaline diet just propose we begin doing this before we get to kidney failure!
How can we change the acid–base balance so that we are more alkaline? Eating mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds is one way, but we can also consume alkalising supplements on a daily basis, such as pH Max. pH Max contains cesium chloride and rubidium chloride, which are highly alkalizing salts, and potassium citrate, which is used medically for kidney stones, gout and when urination is painfully acidic.
Together with neutral-pH magnesium ascorbate and stearic acid –– a saturated fatty acid that safely converts to healthful oleic acid (rich in olive oil) in the body –– and cellulose sanace and homeopathic cell salts to aid absorption, pH Max is the easy, fuss-free way to maintain an alkaline and age-proofed body with strong bones and kidneys. Unlike other supplements, it should be taken on an empty stomach to maximise the uptake into the body and reduce potential interactions with food.
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