Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?

I am here to tell you that you can absolutely turn that around in very little time, really easily, and it works for everyone.

Are you currently living at less than 50%? If you’re like the vast, vast majority of people then the answer to that is yes. Why? Because our lives are so busy now, we’re so time poor and the foods and drinks that are most readily available to us these days are all energy-zapping, rather than what they should be.

And exercise? Well, if we had more energy, we’d have more time and we would be able to exercise – but right now? Forget about it!

Do you feel tired when you wake up?

Do you hit ‘snooze’ more than twice? Do you feel sleepy on your commute? Do you get an energy slump after lunch and wish you could get some more sleep? Do you fall asleep on the sofa in front of the TV? Do you wish that things could be different?

That was me just a few years ago.

I tried everything to get more energy, and I just couldn’t do it. Going to bed early didn’t help, in fact it seemed to make it worse. I tried following my doctor’s food tips, but they just made me bloated and my skin got worse. I tried stopping drinking, I tried cutting out certain foods, I had allergy tests, I had a LOT of blood tests – I honestly thought there was something seriously wrong – I thought I was ill.

But when I attended Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within event, the whole of the fourth and final day of the event was presented by this incredible guy with more energy than I had ever seen from anyone ever – Joseph McClendon. I had set some pretty big goals on that event, and a lot of them, so I knew I was going to need a lot more energy if I was going to achieve them – especially as at the time I was working in a high-pressure job with a long commute.

There was a lot to take in from the event, but I resolved to stick to the three easiest rules that Joseph gave to increase energy and it very quickly, in fact even on that day, changed everything.

You see, if my description of my old energy levels sounded familiar to you then you should be feeling incredibly excited right now, because I am about to give you Rule #3 of Abundant Energy, and when used in combination with Rule #1 – Breakfast and Rule #2 (Hydration) you will very quickly see a massive improvement. And the best thing is, all of the rules I’ve given you are 100%, absolutely FREE.

Isn’t it great when things are free?

The reason why I know this stuff works is because it worked for me. You see, I’ve been exactly where you are, felt what you’re feeling now and I’ve changed my life with these three simple rules. And I am not unique or a special case either! In fact, the coolest thing is that when I have taught this to people on my Alkaline Diet Course it has actually worked better for them than it has for me! It turns out that I am even better at teaching these rules than using them myself!

Can you imagine what your life would be like if you were waking up at 6am every day, feeling totally fresh and ready to create a new day…without an alarm? Believe me, it is SO much nicer to wake up naturally feeling refreshed, rather than being shocked into the day by an alarm.

Can you imagine what your life would be like if you felt sharp, no fuzziness, total mental clarity all day long until you were ready for bed? How much more would you get done? How much better would your relationships be? Imagine all of the goals you could work on with the extra hours in the day!

The Final, and Most Powerful Rule of Abundant Energy: Breathing

The way we breathe massively affects the health and workings of our body. Unfortunately most of us breathe in a way that does not offer the body any support. Shallow breathing from the chest only uses the lower part of the diaphragm, leaving the upper part inactive and collapsed.

This not only makes us more prone to stress and other negative emotions (there is a reason why people say ‘Just take a deep breath’ and why smokers relax as soon as they take a nice big deep breath on their first lungful of smoke), but when parts of the lungs are not used they gather a build-up of slimy mucus. This mucus irritates the cells of the lungs and leads to irritation and inflammation, causing an acid environment of trapped germs and bacteria – and ultimately, shallow breathing zaps out energy like nothing else.

Deep, slow, directed and focused breath, coming from deep within the stomach is one of the most simple, straightforward (and free!) things you can do for your body.

At a general level, deep, cleansing breath can have the following benefits:

• Energy: shallow breathing leads to inadequate oxygenation of the blood, ineffective lymph and therefore fatigue.
• Stress Reduction: people with stress and anxiety issues always have a tendancy to take short, shallow breath
• Pain Relief: deep breathing releases endorphins into our system – our natural painkiller. Try this next time you have a headache, stomach ache or any other aches and pains
• Asthma Releif: deep breathing strengthens the lungs and the core
• Depression: research has found that deep, diaphramatic breath is hugely beneficial in treating depression
• Lymphatic Cleansing: deep breathing acts as a pump for the lymphatic system, cleansing and detoxifying your body.

The Habit of Deep Breathing

Breathing is obviously something we do naturally, without thinking. This makes it hard to build a habit around! I strongly recommend you following the same advice from my last post (Rule #2) about tying these exercises to an already formed habit. If you haven’t read Rule #2, I strongly urge you to.

When I first started consistently practicing the following breathing exercises I experienced an immediate and noticable effect. Firstly the effect on my energy was incredible, but also my mental clarity, especially in the afternoon was incredible. I became so much more effective and was able to get so much more done! The first few days required some serious reminder alarms and post-it notes.

The positive reinforcement you will get from the effects you will feel will make this activity habitual in no time.

Breathing Exercise: The Energy Boosting Lymphatic Cleanse

If you are able to give yourself five to ten minutes each day to practice deep, cleansing ‘power breathing’ then you will definitely reap the rewards. This is one of the best, most effective exercises you can do for free, every day. It is also remarkably simple.

I learned this Energy Booting Lymphatic Cleanse exercise from reading books and attending events by Tony Robbins (discussed in the excellent book Unlimited Power). Tony swears by it and I am certainly not one to argue with his energy levels! This exercise consists of breathing in the following ratio:

* Breathe in for 1 count

* Hold for 4 counts

* Breathe out for 2 counts

For example – if you were to breath in for four seconds, then you would hold your breath for sixteen seconds and then breath out for eight.

If you are able to do this ten times, three times a day (morning, evening and before bed) you will notice a huge difference to your energy, your clarity and your ability to ward off illnesses.

How To GUARANTEE You’ll Make It Happen

The Power Comes from DOING IT!

I’ve given you an exact roadmap to increasing your energy, absolutely free, and almost instantly – but NOTHING will happen unless you do it!

If you really want to guarantee you are going to follow through, not only on this, but on ALL of your health goals, and start to live with abundant health, energy and vitality then I strongly urge you to look out for my blog post tomorrow, giving you details of Joseph McClendon’s Vitality into Reality health evening.

The 3 Rules of Abundant Energy I have posted over the past week are just a few of the most basic tools that Joseph teaches to dramatically change your health – the total tool-kit he teaches goes WAY beyond this. This is why I am just so excited that he is coming back to the UK.

Normally he’s only in the UK once each year for his Next Step event, and is in Switzerland once per year for The Z Factor (which costs over £3,000) – so this is so cool that he’s stopping by for this event. Oh, and don’t worry, this event will be under £100 – he’s kinda doing it as a favour rather than as a business thing.

So look out for that tomorrow. Joseph is the master of helping people to take action and like I say, he’s been delivering all of Tony Robbins health content for over 10 years now – he knows what he is talking about (and he knows how to rock a crowd).

There will be very limited seating, obviously, as this is such a rare opportunity so be sure to look out for my email.

Until then, START NOW – start applying my rules, right away. Even if you do nothing else then go and get a big glass or bottle of water and start hydrating!

If you have any questions, or would like to get in touch please do leave your comment below and hit submit.

Looking forward to hearing from you
Ross

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

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From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...

I am really excited about this blog post because if you are like the vast majority of people (and anything like I was a few years ago) then the tip I am about to reveal will instantly and dramatically change your energy and change your life.

If you read my last blog post in this series “Change Your Breakfast, Change Your Life“, you will remember me saying how when you live with energy, this has a huge knock on effect to your whole life. Everything just starts getting better – your career, your finances, your relationships…everything.

You will also remember how, using the strategies of Joseph McClendon (Tony Robbins’ health guru) I gave you a really simple roadmap to guarantee that your breakfast kickstarts your energy, ignites your metabolism and energises your entire day.

I have had so many positive comments from that article, and I thank you all so much for giving me your feedback, asking questions and saying thanks! Rut, TJ, Rosemary, Colleen – all of you, it is greatly appreciated!

Instant Energy

In this article I am going to give you something else that, when applied, will instantly start to boost your energy. It will make you feel awesome, positive and raring to go! I am passionate about helping as many people as possible to live to their potential through health & wellness and I am sure this article will make a big difference.

Why You Can Trust Me

As you know I have been living alkaline for over six years now and I’ve had the privilege of working with the best in the world including Dr Young, Dr Vasey, Tony Robbins and of course Joseph McClendon. I have to say that the one thing that will make more of a difference than anything else, and it is actually one of the cornerstones of Joseph’s routine that means he looks in his 30s while he’s in his 50s and why he has not been ill for decades is this:

Rule #2 – Hydrate your body with between 3-4 litres of (alkaline) water EVERY DAY…WITHOUT FAIL

As Joseph says, “Life is much simpler than we’ve been led to believe” and as Jim Rohn always says, there are just a few simple decisions/behaviours that make more of a difference than everything else put together – and this is one of them.

I know it sounds too easy, and something you’ve heard before but listen to me:

I promise you that this WILL change your life. Please if you never take anything else away from my blog, please start to hydrate with 3-4 litres of (alkaline) water every day.

This is one of those rules that seems so simple and commonly said that people kinda glaze over it, but it is the most important thing you can do for your health. Period.

This is essential: THE LONGER YOU DO IT, THE BETTER IT GETS. You can’t just do this every now and then, or flood your body one day and then starve it the next. Neither can you do that within the day – drinking a heap of water all at once and then thinking that is it for the rest of the day.

But if you consistently drink 3-4 litres of water, throughout the day, for several days – you will, honestly, without question feel a huge surge in your health, energy and vitality.

Why Hydration is SO Key to Your Energy

I am not in the business of saying that any specific action or thing can ‘cure’ or ‘fix’ a problem, however, I truly, personally believe that a vast majority of health concerns or goals can be reached when you focus on three specific areas. I believe that if these three are all out of sync then you are likely to experience less than vibrant health, a number of symptoms and very low energy:

1. Dehydration: when we are dehydrated the body goes into shock, it completely slows down, it becomes hyper-acidic, the immune system becomes compromised, and all of our detoxification organs (liver, kidney, lymph) are overworked and this too has knock on effects. In short, if you imagine your wellbeing as being a row of dominoes, becoming dehydrated is like flicking the first one over.
2. Over-Acidification: of course, living an overly acidic life is one of the worst things you can do. You know that, its why you’re here on my blog, so I won’t go into it in too much detail (for detail click here) but in essence when we consume too many acidic foods (trans fats, dairy, sugar, sweets, chips, pizza, ice cream etc), drinks (beer, wine, coffee, cola etc) and live a stressful life of negative emotions (anxiety, jealousy, worry etc) we put incredible stress on our body to retain the vital pH of 7.365 in our blood and other fluids. The body will do whatever it takes to stay at that pH and if we keep creating acids it causes havoc throughout our entire body to neutralize this and keep pH 7.365.
3. Over-oxidation: when our cells oxidise, they die. When they die we age. It’s as simple as that, and the best way to get around this is to consume anti-oxidants. These come from colourful vegetables, fruits and ionized water. The only challenge we face is the less fresh our food is, the less antioxidants they contain, so eat fresh, as fresh as possible – pick the tomato from the vine and put it straight in your mouth! Of course supplements can help, and there are some great antioxidant supplements out there, but I always recommend getting a good dose of fresh too, and always see food as your primary source of nutrition, rather than supplements. There is one other great way to get an abundance of antioxidants, and that is from alkaline, ionized water and I will get onto that below.

So Staying Hydrated Will Change Your Life

It’s true. But I know you want to know how you can best stay hydrated, I mean – it is easy to know what to do, but making it happen is a whole other ball game.

I know when I first started out I would wake up with every intention of drinking lots of water but each nnight I would find myself thirsty and realise I had forgotten…AGAIN!

But I have mastered it now, and from talking extensively to Joseph McClendon about exactly this type of problem (Joseph is the KING of making things real and making them happen, honestly, the man is an absolute genius) I present to you:

The Surefire Way to GUARANTEE You Will Drink 3-4 Literes of Water EVERY DAY

Here is my super easy, step-by-step guide to staying hydrated:

1. Routine: in my years of becoming alkaline, and studying the best in the business I have learned that to create a new habit, it is important to link your new desired behaviour to an existing habit. By this I mean, if you associate a new behaviour into an existing habit then whenever you do embedded habit a you will also automatically do habit b. You don’t need to work twice as hard and try to install a whole new habit, just use one you’ve already got.

   For instance, here are some habits you could use in your daily routine to train yourself to stay hydrated:

   • As soon as you wake up: get into the routine of drinking a large glass of water, as soon as you wake up.
   • Cleaning your teeth: once you’ve cleaned your teeth have a large glass of water – leave a glass by the tap
   • Before and after bathroom visits: you go several times per day, so there you have it – several glasses of water.
   • Before meals: before you start preparing your meal, have another glass of water
   • When you get home: as soon as you walk through the door, have some water

   You can see where I am going here. By tying into at least two or three of those per day you will easily get up to three litres on a daily basis.

2. Reminders: set your phone to sound an alarm twice per day, and when the alarm goes, you fill up your litre water bottle. I used to do this, once at 10am and once at 2pm and it meant that I definitely, definitely had at least 2 litres per day.
3. Immediate Refill! As soon as you finish your glass or bottle refill it immediately, don’t delay! This is a mistake lots of people make – they finish a glass or bottle and then get lost in work and so it is an hour or two later before they go refill.
4. Make it Easy

: buy a water bottle and have it on you all of the time, on your desk at work, in your hand on your commute etc. Having access to water is the main thing!

By integrating these few principles in I guarantee you’ll be super-hydrated in no time.

Alkaline Water?

I have created a massive alkaline water resource here which explains everything in loads of detail, but to quickly cover it here…

Alkaline Water is clean, filtered water with an optimal pH of 9.5 – and is the most important part of the alkaline diet. According to Dr. young:
“If someone were to ask me what’s the one thing I can do to have better health, then the answer would be very simple: start drinking alkalized and lonized water.”

By consuming 3-4 litres of alkaline water daily you will begin to experience energy and vitality as this water is alkaline enough to buffer the excess acids in our diet.

There are many ways to make alkaline water including using pH drops and a water ionizer – and I highly recommend using an ionizer, I think they are fantastic, because the ionizer not only makes the water alkaline, but it also makes it more hydrating and infuses it with antioxidants – meaning it provides all three benefits I listed above. But the ionizer discussion is for another day – and here is a very good run down of the exact benefits of drinking ionized, alkaline water.

So I have given you the reasons, the drive and the exact tools to start getting hydrated and unlock your energy.

When I last met with Joseph at his unbelievable Z-Factor event in Montreaux, he made this very point to me then – hydration is one of the #1, most important factors in good health and energy, and I have to say, his words are still clear in my mind and I absolutely make sure I stay ultra-hydrated every single day. If I do nothing else good for my body that day – I will ALWAYS stay hydrated.

You will be amazed at the difference this will make.

However, I have got one more rule still to give you, and I will be publishing that rule in just a few days. It is an absolute cracker, 100% free and will, along with rules 1 and 2, totally ramp up your energy to a whole new level.

Until then, stay hydrated
Ross

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

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From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...

This week Gareth Edwards, our Alkaline Diet Expert and highly qualified nutritionist, writes about the various temptations on snacking on sweet and high-sugar foods like chocolate and how we can resist those temptations.

He explains how we can get real energy boosts without the intake of high sugar snacks, which we usually associate with a quick energy increase. Most importantly Gareth outlines his plan of action, as to how we can replace these sweet temptations with healthy and alkaline alternatives.

How To Stop Snacking On Chocolate & Sugar Instantly by Gareth Edwards!

By accident, I think we have discovered the ultimate deterrent to snacking on chocolate and sweets during the day. When we (wholegrain, no added sugar) biscuits or (organic, dark) chocolate, it lives in the same small kitchen cupboard as our greens and salts. If I ever want to eat it, I have to pass Dr. and Shelley Young’s smiling (janitorial!) faces to get to it.

I first got into healthy eating when I was 21. Leslie Kenton’s “Raw Energy” was the book that started my Mum thinking I’d gone completely “off the rails”. After starting with raw vegetable juices (mainly carrot) and eating big salads, it wasn’t long before carob and dried fruit bars began to play far too big a part in my healthy eating plan. It wasn’t really until I was forty two that I got any kind of proper idea how to fuel my body in a way that made saying no to chocolate and sweets logical and (relatively) effortless.

There are, I believe, two facets to addictive eating (drinking, smoking or narcotic) patterns. Understanding the biochemistry of how most efficiently to fuel your body can really help. For some of us however, all the understanding and “knowledge” in the world will not be enough to dissuade us from giving ourselves a “treat” that ends up becoming a daily or regular staple.

We All Need Energy

When you wake up and contemplate what the day ahead holds for you, part of your brain is going to be aware that, in order to get where you want to be at 10pm you’re going to need some energy. Sugar (biscuits, fizzy drinks, sweets or even bananas, mangos and other sweet fruits and their juices, cakes and white pasta) and chocolate will provide that. The trouble is that it’s at a cost. The acidity that these foods produce is likely to result in weight gain or other illness.

Chinese Medicine

At 42, my acupuncturist friend and college, Monica, finally got it through to me that in order to support the action of the (blood sugar controlling) pancreas you need to have green (plant!) foods. These low sugar, high nutrient, blood building, nutritional power house foods need to be juiced, eaten or drunk in powdered form (without any added probiotics, digestive enzymes or sweet fruit extracts!) as often as possible. Drinking two to three litres a day of the powdered version with pH drops may be the easiest way to get started.

Raw and Salty

When you cook food the glaecemic index increases. In basic terms, that means it becomes more sugary. Eating sweeter foods can make you want to keep fuelling your body that way. Find more ways to eat your fresh vegetables raw.

Healthy oils, nuts and seeds, fresh herbs and crystal salt and pepper should all help to make them tasty.

Using salt to fuel body, rather than sugar, can help too. The pHlavor spray can act as a powerful antidote to sugar cravings.

Chocolate

Periodically research is published suggesting that chocolate is in fact good for you. Presumably this is carried out by people who …. Like chocolate! A year ago, I’d have been firmly in that camp, but when I noticed that my gums bled whenever I ate it, I soon found ways to stop.

Chocolate does contain some anti-oxidant substances, but tomato ketchup contains prostate enhancing lycopene. That doesn’t mean that either of them should be used medicinally.

Chocolate acts as a stimulant, creates similar chemical reactions in the body to being loved and has a lot of magnesium in it. Fuelling your body with highly nutritious foods, finding love from other areas than the sweety counter and eating and drinking more chlorophyll (and therefore magnesium) rich foods are good ways to start kicking a chocolate habit.

I’ve had patients who have found Jason Vale’s “Chocolate busters” book very helpful. He’s speaking in London on Wednesday night at the Yes Group.

But I know all that:

If you are already applying these principles of nutrition and hydration daily and still craving sugar and chocolate, then my first area of inquiry as a therapist would be to look at any medication you are taking. Most medication, particularly some anti-depressants, but most others too, play havoc with your blood sugar control. They are also likely to damage the delicate membrane of the intestines, making easily absorbed simple sugars more appealing, for “instant” energy”.

Chocolate and sugar can also act as quite effective anaesthetics. If you’re stressed, anxious or feeling under-valued, they both promote a (short-term) cascade of feel good chemicals in your body. Finding someone who will listen to you and respect your point of view, might be the first step to finding a bowl of rocket, radish and avocado a more sexy treat than an epensive box of chocolates!

Action Plan:

• drink (and eat) your greens regularly
• start the day with a low sugar, high nutrient meal
• consider live blood analysis with a qualified practitioner who can show you the direct impact of sugar and chocolate on your blood
• follow your dreams and passions in work and life. You’ll need to fuel your body in the healthiest possible way to achieve them.

Remember: you can now book in a 30-minute telephone consultation with Gareth for just £45. Gareth is an exceptional nutritionist and will be able to offer you specific advice and guidance and help you build a nutrition plan specific to your needs. Click here to book a telephone consultation with Gareth Edwards.

Disclaimer: Not intended to diagnose any condition, please seek help of nutritionally aware physician if experiencing health challenges.

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Mail | Web | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | YouTube

From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...

Would you love to wake up in the morning feeling all energised and vitalised, keeping your energy levels up throughout the day and still feel awake and energised after a busy day at work?

Probably all of us would agree to that, however the reality is usually very different: we feel tired and sluggish and all we want after a hectic day is to put our feet up! If you belong to this ever increasing number of people who are suffering from regular fatigue and low-energy levels then it might be time to turn this around and get your body fully re-energised and revitalised again!

A daily intake of ‘green drinks’ will do the trick! They can instantly help to get rid of sluggishness and fatigue by giving your body all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes it needs to work efficiently. This in turn will significantly boost your energy levels and hence improve your overall health and quality of life.

Give your body a real kick-start and long-lasting energy with green drinks – probably the most nutritious drink on the planet! We promise that you will notice the difference!

In the following article we are therefore going to look at some of the factors causing fatigue and low-energy levels, briefly outline what green drinks actually are, what they contain and what their core health benefits are. Following that, we are going to look at how green drinks can actually increase our energy levels and give a quick overview of the best energy-boosting green drinks.

What are the Key Factors Causing Fatigue and Low-Energy Levels?

When we speak to family members, friends and work colleagues about our general state of health, vitality, fitness levels, etc, a very common feeling that we seem to share is that we often feel quite tired, exhausted and sluggish. The reasons for these feelings are varied and can stem from a variety of external and internal factors, such as work-related- and/or emotional stress, lack of sleep, low levels of exercise and importantly an unhealthy diet- and lifestyle.

Especially in our western hemisphere where we often tend to turn into ‘couch potatoes’ and a significant part of our diet consists of processed, unhealthy and therefore acidifying foods, this so-called ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ is unfortunately very common.

In this article we will particularly look at internal factors causing this and hence it is very important to look at the acid/alkaline state of our body, as this is very crucial in getting to the bottom of the internal factors causing low-energy levels and fatigue. Generally we can say that our body always strives to maintain an acid/alkaline balance in order for our body functions to work efficiently and prevent us from disease.

All of our body’s internal mechanisms such as circulation, digestion and even breathing are constantly working hard in keeping this balance. If our body gets out of balance, caused by an over acidification of our tissues and body fluids, we are laying the grounds for illnesses and diseases. Common symptoms are flu and colds, headaches, skin problems and allergies.

These syndromes increase and appear more frequently the longer our body is in such an unbalanced state. The reason for this is that our body starts to pull alkaline minerals out of our tissues in order to compensate for this imbalance. In the worst case our blood cannot balance the acid overload anymore and hence excess acid is dumped into our tissues. Our immune system must therefore neutralise what it can and getting rid of everything else.

Dr Robert Young, the alkaline diet expert, calls this “getting rid of” acid from the tissues and transporting them right back into the blood a vicious cycle, as in such an instance our body needs to draw even more alkaline minerals out of our tissues stressing our organs and bodily functions. An acidic body produces toxins which reduce the absorption of minerals, proteins, and other nutrients. This weakens the body’s ability to produce enzymes, hormones and various other chemical components, which are essential for organ activity and cell activity.

Over-acidification and therefore imbalance of the body is caused by too much acidic waste such as yeast, fungus, bacteria, viruses and moulds. They deplete our supply of B-complex vitamins, iron and other minerals. Their toxic waste is the main culprit for syndromes like chronic fatigue and low-energy levels.

The key problem and according to Dr Young the “fatigue vicious circle number one” is that low energy levels encourage overgrowth of harmful microforms, which in turn cause even lower energy levels and so on…!

How can we therefore prevent this over acidification of the body and therefore common syndromes like chronic fatigue?

The simple answer is to keep our body in an acid/alkaline balance!

As we have mentioned above, there are also very important external factors like high stress levels, negative emotions, lack of physical activity, etc which determine the acid/alkaline balance of our body and therefore these need to be addressed too. Concentrating on the internal factors, we need to keep our body in an alkaline state so that our bodily functions can work at their most efficient level, increase our overall health and therefore also boost our energy levels.

This can be achieved by giving our body the right ‘fuel’ in terms of providing our body with all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and nutrients that it needs to functions at its best. We can give our body this ‘fuel’ with the foods we consume, which means that we should firstly include as many alkaline-forming foods as possible in our diet and on the same token cut out as many highly acidifying foods as we can.

Alkaline-forming foods are generally all green vegetables, fresh herbs, seeds, sprouts, low-sugar fruits and healthy oils. Highly acidifying foods on the other hand are processed foods, high-sugar foods, meat, caffeine, alcohol, dairy products, pickled foods and high-sugar fruits.

Besides a healthy and alkaline diet we can also supply our body with these nutrients and therefore keep an alkaline state in form of so-called ‘green drinks’, which we are going to look at more closely next.

What are ‘Green Drinks’, What do they Contain and What are their Core Health Benefits?

Green drinks vary in terms of ingredients, however the majority of them are a blend of highly alkalising and nutritious ingredients like green vegetables, herbs, green grasses, sprouts and low-sugar fruits.

All the ingredients are dried at a very low temperature in order to keep all the enzymes viable and sold in either powder or capsule form. They infuse our body with easily absorbed minerals, vitamins and amino acids.

Green powder mixed in good quality alkaline water is rich in electrons and very effective in keeping our body highly alkaline.

The core health benefit of green drinks is that they help to alkalise our body by eliminating all the acidic waste stored inside. They therefore play a crucial part in keeping our body in balance and therefore preventing our body from becoming overly acidic, which is according to Dr Young “the cause for illness and disease”.

Hence green drinks can drastically reduce the amount of excess acidic waste such as yeast, mould, fungi and toxins in the body; they can help ward off illnesses and reduce the amount of infections and inflammations in the body.

They can also reduce our cravings for acidifying and high-sugar foods and very importantly give us an instant and sustainable energy boost, which we will look at in more detail below.

To put it in a nutshell, green drinks are some of the lowest-sugar, lowest-calorie and most nutrient rich foods on the planet!

How can Green Drinks give us a Real and Long-Lasting Energy Boost?

Most green drinks are a blend of ingredients which can provide our body with over 125 easily absorbed vitamins and minerals, amino acids (protein) and fibre.

In particular, green vegetables are extremely nutrient-dense and provide us with all the minerals, vitamins and micronutrients we need. They are full of fibre, which act like a sponge soaking up all the acidic waste and also full of enzymes, which are required for every chemical activity in the body. Enzymes get destroyed by cooking vegetables at a heat of over 50C, which is why the green drink is a fantastic source of viable enzymes. Vegetables are also rich in so-called photo nutrients, which are highly biologically active and according to Dr Young neutralise or eliminate excess acids.

Besides green vegetables, the other main ingredients of green drinks are grasses like wheat grass and barley grass, which are both particularly nutritious. They are generally even more nutrient-dense than vegetables which makes the list of their health benefits go on and on…! Wheat grass for example includes every mineral, trace mineral and every vitamin in the B-complex family, has one of the highest pro-vitamin A contents of any food and is rich in vitamins K, C and E. Barley grass is extremely high in vitamin B1 and vitamin C.

One of the key components of green drinks is chlorophyll, which produces the green colour in vegetables and plants and helps them absorb light. Dr Young calls it the “blood of plants”, as its chemical components and molecular structure is very similar to that of our human blood. Its molecular structure is similar to that of haemoglobin, the substance in red blood cells that gives them their red colour and helps them transport oxygen. Chlorophyll is the same with the exception of the central atom, which is magnesium rather than iron. It also has the same effects in the body as iron and thus cleanses and builds our own blood naturally.

The core benefits of chlorophyll are that it cleanses the blood, helps the blood cells deliver oxygen throughout the body, and makes stronger blood and thus stronger blood cells.

Due to stronger blood and higher oxygen levels chlorophyll is nature’s most effective energy booster giving you instant and long-lasting energy.

Green drinks which are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre, chlorophyll and electrons therefore have a highly alkalising effect on our body and thus help our bodily functions to work as efficient as possible. They contain all the raw materials to power our cells, which means that our blood does not need to pull alkaline minerals out of our tissues or leach them from the bones or muscles.

The overall effect is that green drinks help our bodies to function like a well-oiled and serviced machine, which always performs at its peak!

The important point to stress is that green drinks give us long-lasting and sustainable energy in contrast to ‘quick energy’ which e.g. foods high in sugar provide us with. Although sugar instantly raises our blood glucose (and give us energy), it falls very quickly and can leave us feeling sluggish and tired.

So if you want to start to feel awake, vitalised and re-energised every day then give these green drinks a try and feel the instant energy boost!

Which Green Drinks are the Most Powerful Energy Boosters?

As I have mentioned above, there are a variety of green drinks available on the market with slightly different ingredients and tastes. These ones below are some of our favourites at the Energise HQ, which are all very high-quality and highly effective green drinks.

• Dr Robert Young Doc Brocs Power Plants: This is Dr Young’s latest and of the most potent, alkalising and nutrient-dense green drink on the market. One 1lb tub contains 20lbs of fresh grasses, vegetables, low-sugar fruits and other plants at a concentration of 20:1! He also calls it a 4th generation green drink, as it carries an electrical charge which energises your body functions naturally.
• Perfectlyhealthy Mega Greens with MSM: This is a highly concentrated blend of 34 superfoods, 17 amino acids, vegetables, vitamins, minerals, omega oils and enzymes providing you with all the alkaline ingredients your body needs for maximum energy, renewal and cell support.
• pHion Green Superfood: This green drink is packed with over 30 different highly alkaline foods such as barley grass and wheat grass. It also contains Cerecalase® a patented blend that makes the nutrients in Green 48% more bio-available (absorbable by the body) than the greens in other products.
• Inner Balance Pure Energy Greens: This is Anthony Robbin’s latest green drink, which is a specially formulated blend of fresh and alkaline-forming dense green vegetables and natural fibres, which increases energy levels and helps to restore a healthy pH balance.
• Young pHorever ChloropHeal – Liquid Chlorophyll: ChloropHeal is the world’s most concentrated, unrefined, natural source of chlorophyll developed by Dr Young. This supplement gives you instant energy, whilst alkalising your cells, detoxifying your body and boosting your immune system.

This article has highlighted the fact that green drinks are not only extremely healthy, but are also an easy and convenient way of providing our bodies with all the nutrients that will help us feel fully revitalised and energised!

Why not give these green drinks a try and help your body to really boost your energy levels?!

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

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From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...

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 – What is the Best Type of Natural Sweetener on the Alkaline Diet?

I know all kinds of sugar and artificial sweeteners are bad. What options are left if I want to sweeten my herbal tea?

1. Chicory powder: Dr. Robert Young recommends it in his book. Has anyone tried it? What is it like? Where can you get it?

I’m surprised he recommends it as a sweetener, because chicory is quite bitter. Maybe it becomes sweeter when roasted. I’ve had quick trawl on the internet and the smallest quantity I could find being offered was 5 metric tons!!! Maybe ask a friend going to the States to see if they can pick it up in a health food shop there. Be sure that it doesn’t have any sweeteners added.

2. Stevia: Dr. Young doesn’t mention it in his book. Do you know if it is acidic or alkaline? Is it OK to use it? Is there a difference between brands? Is there a difference if I use tablets, powder (crystals) or the actual leaves (died or fresh?) of the plant?

Dr. Young does recommend using stevia, but maybe references to it have been removed from the British edition of the book. Sale of stevia has been banned in the UK and Europe because of safety fears. I think this was a single incident where someone using it had fertility challenges. I am not sure that the cause and effect link was categorically proven.

3. Any other option that I might not even know yet?

You could try cinnamon, but I don’t know how that would work with herbal teas.

Question Two – What turns Food into Healthy Blood? How does Alkalising Work?

Hi Gareth – to quote you from last week “So it is not the bacteria and the enzymes that help turn food into healthy blood in the intestine, they are the by-products of the digestive processes.” So what turns food into healthy blood?

There are two main elements to digestion, mechanical and chemical. The crucial mechanical part, starts in the mouth with chewing, accompanied by the chemical action of saliva. A combination of the two goes on until the “waste” matter “exits”!

After the mouth, most of the mechanical aspect is a series of worm-like muscular contractions that move the chewed up food through the digestive tract (called peristalsis). There is also quite vigorous muscular “churning” in the stomach – a sack like structure that food sits in before entering the intestines. This movement allows the food to be thoroughly mixed with sodium bicarbonate (not hydrochloric acid!) that is released in the stomach.

As the food passes through the intestines, more bicarbonate salts are released from the gallbladder and pancreas, which further promote the transformation of food into red blood cells.

The more acidic the food or drink, the greater the demand for alkalising salts (such as youngpHorever pHour salts).

Question Three – I’m not Feeling the Energy yet? What’s Wrong?

On your site it says that “Many people also report feeling wide awake upon rising and are able to get up far more early in the morning.”

Tony Robbins says he only needs 6 hours of sleep per night and he still wakes up feeling energised. I need at least 9 hours per night (usually 10 hours) to feel like I’ve had enough sleep – anything less and I get tired. Does that mean there are some acids/toxins in my blood that mean my body needs more rest to get rid of? Why is this I am a young male, I swim and am in good shape and have no medical health issues.

It depends how young! If you are still growing, remember that happens mainly when you are asleep. Generally speaking though, you probably can rest and repair your body more efficiently when you are in a healthy alkaline state.

A lot of “de-toxifying” takes place while sleeping. The “hangover” is a classic example of just how groggy you can feel when your body is having to work hard to remove the effects of excess acidity.

Your food and hydration choices and the way you exercise can all leave make you more acidic and needing more sleep. Try eating earlier in the evening (longer before you go to bed). That can help you to wake up earlier, feeling more refreshed too.

Question Four – Does Metabolic Typing (MT) affect the Alkaline Diet?

I trained as a nutritionist myself back in 1989 with Patrick Holford and remember well the lecture we had on acid alkaline balance. However more recently I did a training in metabolic typing which states that some people metabolise their food differently according to whether they are sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant and whether they are fast or slow oxidisers. They quote many case studies where people haven’t improved with the alkaline approach and have in fact responded to the high protein diet.

As always I am sitting on the fence on this one and suppose I believe that both your way and their way can be successful. My main contention with the metabolic typing approach is that it is very difficult if not impossible to follow for the majority of people. They maintain if you don’t follow it you won’t get well.

Given that there is likely to be some truth in the metabolic typing assertions I wonder if there is any place for this thinking within your regimes, i.e. do you encourage people to fine tune their diets and find a compromise that suits them – do some people actually do better with more protein than others. The old adage one mans meat is another mans poison does seem to have some relevance in the nutrition world so how do you account for these biochemical individualities?

I am really keen to find a regime that I personally feel comfortable with. I have some minor chronic health problems such as fungal toenails that I would love to find a way of dealing with and if an alkaline diet is a possible way forward then I am very interested. (I say minor because they don’t cause me any problems but I am aware there may be more deep rooted issues here that I am unaware of).

My friend – who I mentioned in my blog post comment – has also been down the metabolic typing route and is keen to find something that isn’t simply one extreme to another. I think your diet could help her in a way that metabolic typing didn’t.

Ross has passed this interesting question to me. I too studied with Patrick Holford at ION, graduating in 1998. After experimenting with protein and vegetable regimes, based on the Zone by Barry Sears, I found myself ….. unwell. Starting to read Dr. Young’s book “Sick and Tired” was a huge turning point for me, for the better.

I am not fully aware of the principles involved in metabolic typing, but your outline is succinct. At an ideological (rather than scientific level) I struggle with the concept that eating animal meat can be a route to human health. If you push aside that (slightly sentimental!) view, I think that an observation of other animals might give some pointers around these issues. I would imagine that metabolically cows, horses and guerrillas have just as much potential to be sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant as we do as humans, and yet they all eat grass or largely plant based diets.

I don’t fully understand the science behind why one person may need more protein than another, but it is totally possible to achieve very high protein (such as youngpHorever HempH ProFi) intakes from plant protein sources. The bundles that it comes in have the added benefit of also providing phytonutrients, healthy fats (such as the Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil Blend) and fibre.

I think that the miraculous health transformations that I see in my clients, myself and Dr. Young’s patient testimonials provide powerful support for his interpretation of the method to achieve alkalinity in our body fluids and tissue. I am sure that metabolic typing enthusiasts might make similar claims.

As you are a nutritionist, I would strongly recommend that you read Sick and Tired. The science and history of development of the Western World’s health perspective is both compelling and empowering.

Fungus and mould simply cannot survive in an alkaline terrain. Finding a way to maintain that environment in your body chemistry is an exciting and enlightening challenge.

Question Five – I use Filtered Water – Do I need pH Drops too?

I use the green drinks which I understand raises the alkalinity of the water – why do I need to use pH drops too? Also, I use a Britta filter – is this enough or do I need the pH drops too?

OK – great question. The greens (such as Dr Young’s Doc Brocs Power Plants) don’t actually raise the pH of the water that much. They are alkalising, but their principle nutritional function is to provide chlorophyll, phyto-nutrients, minerals and fibre. These are all essential “building blocks” that your body needs.

The real shift in pH however, comes from the drops (such as the youngpHorever Puriphy drops). They should raise the pH of the fluid up to somewhere near 9. This provides an important “therapeutic” benefit. By drinking highly alkaline fluids you should start to “wash” acids out of your body (through urine) and help to maintain the natural pH of your body fluids, without having to call on your body’s mineral resources to achieve balance.

The Britta filter is unlikely to change the pH. It just removes toxic elements and some heavy metals. From The Brita website: It “reduces limescale, chlorine, aluminum, certain heavy metals like copper and lead and other impurities”.

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

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Mail | Web | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | YouTube

From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...