Alkaline Diet Questions with Gareth (4)

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

Question One: Blood Sugar

Dr Young Says that sugar is bad for the body, but why is it we have blood sugar? Dr Young also says hormones are acidic waste products of the body but don’t we also need them. Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

I had a quite enlightening experience this year when I took a young child to see Dr. Young. He had been diagnosed with diabetes and his courageous parents had taken the decision to try to correct the situation through following a pH balancing plan. She was very concerned about what she should do if her son became hypo-glaecaemic (experienced low blood sugar).

Dr. Young gently re-assured her that this was not a situation that need alarm her provided that the child had enough unrefined salt. The young boys that he has helped to reverse their type 1 diabetes in California, apparently regularly experience very low levels of sugar in their blood, without any apparent adverse effects.

Dr. Young’s contention is that our bodies run on salt not sugar. We can try to run our bodies on sugar but this is “dirty” fuel, likely to promote mould, fungus and yeast forms within us. Stu Mittleman’s epic world long distance running record (San Diego to New York in 55 days) was, he says, made possible by learning to avoid any foods, snacks or drinks containing sugar. He trained his body to use stored fat as his energy source and went on to set several ultra-long distance running records. Stu worked closely with Dr. Young.

Dr. Young’s view is that while we may need the metabolic reactions that produce “hormones” to occur in our bodies they are in fact “exhaust” rather than messengers. These acidic by-products need to be excreted via defecation, urination, perspiration and / or respiration.

Question Two: High Blood Pressure

I have recently had high blood pressure. Are there any products that help with this? I already take Dr Udo’s oil, green powder and white powder.

These sound like wise supplement choices. Make sure that your green powder does not contain digestive enzymes or pro-biotics. Be sure to add alkalising drops, and aim to drink 2-3 litres a day mixed, ideally with alkaline water. Using pHour salts and Udo’s, hemp or flax oil should help too.

After that it’s time to have a look at your diet. Make sure that you are eating plenty of fresh (mostly raw) veg (particularly dark green leafy) at breakfast lunch and supper and be sure to add Redmond Real, pink Himalayan or unrefined sea salt to your foods. Keep alcohol, coffee, black tea and animal protein low.

Make sure you exercise regularly, preferably outdoors. Half an hours walking, 5-6 days a week is sufficient, more – better!

Question Three: Iron, High Blood Pressure & the Alkaline Diet!

I would like to introduce this (alkalising) to my brother. He is overweight and eats quite an acidic diet. I think the pH diet will be good except spinach and beetroot etc are high in iron and he suffers from high blood pressure and has been told to stay away from iron containing foods. What do you propose?

I think that your brother may have been given confusing advice. In 2007 Dr. Andrew Webb and colleagues at Barts hospital published a pier reviewed research study showing that beetroot juice can be used to lower blood pressure. The effect was believed to be attributable to nitrates present in the beetroot, which are also present in spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables.

http://www.nhs.uk/News/2007/January08/Pages/Beetrootandbloodpressure.aspx (Do a gentle swerve around the swine flu link!)

There are however certain foods that do contain high levels of iron that are likely to lead to high blood pressure. Regularly consuming beef, pork and lamb is likely to lead to weight gain and increased blood pressure.

Question Four: Sprouting with Alkaline Water

I am fortunate to rent a water ioniser and receive great benefit from this. I also grow sprouts. When initially soaking seeds, beans, legumes for sprouting, is it better to use ionised acidic water rather than ionised alkaline water? I have been doing initial and subsequent soakings / rinsings with ionised acidic water as my logic says a seed in the ground would be probably be in acidic soil. I then rinse with ionised alkaline water before eating. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts. I want to eat as alkaline as possible. Thanks

Hmmm! This is a great question, but possibly testing my knowledge of horticulture beyond my current comfort zone! I use alkaline water from our ioniser to soak seeds prior to germinating them and have been very pleased with the results.

Remember that it is only certain crops that flourish in acidic soil and furthermore at the germinating stage of the plants growth cycle the soil really only acts as a physical means of holding the seed. It is the water (and it’s associated pH) that germinates the seed. I guess however that acid soil may affect the pH of water running through it.

I have forwarded your question to Steve Meyerowitz (aka the sproutman) for his views. Let’s keep this conversation “live” (what a cracking punster I am!).

Question Five: Dosage of pHour Salts

How do I determine what is the correct number of scoops of pHour salts for me to take each day? At the moment I take enough pHour salts on waking, before dinner and before bed to hold my urine pH between 7.5 and 8.0. Would this sound reasonable? I currently take 6 level scoops per day to achieve this.

Great work putting this effort into alkalising your body. I think you need to remember that your body is not a machine and your needs for alkalising minerals can vary on a day to day, minute by minute basis.

I have a client who used to measure his urinary pH religiously throughout the day at regular intervals and an interesting phenomenon that he noticed was that if he became stressed his urinary pH would drop (become more acidic), even though his diet, hydration and bicarbonate salts intake remained constant.

6 level scoops a day is more than I use and probably more than most of my patients use, but I imagine that Dr. Young would be comfortable with you taking that amount. I would recommend that you do some experiments with lowering your intake of pHour salts and see if you can maintain a urinary pH above 7.5 with diet, hydration and exercise.

I would be keen that you can find several routes to keeping your urine alkaline. Reviewing your diet and looking at your dry blood samples, with a qualified practitioner, could give more information about appropriate levels for you to take. There are no recorded cases, to my knowledge, of toxicity associated with very high bicarbonate salt intakes, but I would always use the salts as part of an alkalising programme and reduce the dose if you experience any unwanted effects, such as headache or sustained diarrhoea.

Dr. Young has recommended in certain disease states that patients should aim to raise their urinary pH to 9. This should probably be done under the care of a qualified pracititioner.

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And finally:

A Correction:

Two weeks ago, in response to a question about omega oils (Essential fatty acids – EFA’s) I wrote the following:

“Up to a gram of cold pressed and refrigerated (and ideally organic) hemp oil should give your body the building blocks that it needs to make EPA and DHA and even GLA too.”

This quantity is likely to be beneficial but, as blog responder James kindly pointed out, an ideal daily intake would be higher.

I would in fact recommend consuming 15-20 grams (2-3 tablespoons) of cold pressed and refrigerated hemp or flax oil a day. Dr. Young goes even further and recommends up to 90 grams a day of vegetarian source EFA’s. If you want to experiment with the higher quantities that Dr. Young recommends, make sure that you are absorbing them (a quick glance in the toilet pan). Also remember that hemp powder supplements should contain reasonable quantities of the fatty acids.

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Note: This blog is only my opinion. It is not medical advice or diagnosis. Only opinions based upon our own personal experiences or information detailed in medical/academic journals or other publications is cited. WE DO NOT OFFER MEDICAL ADVICE or prescribe any treatments. Please consult with a medical professional before making any diet or nutrition changes. Refer to our full disclaimer for more information.