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.

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