The popularization of the high protein over processed Standard American Diet or SAD is responsible for most of the misinformation in the media today. Americans are constantly looking for a diet they can implement to achieve health and wellbeing. Unfortunately they are almost without exception looking in the wrong place. This compounded by the Western medicines approach to treat the symptoms and not the problems leaves the individuals with these afflictions with little hope for a healthy life.

The high protein, low-carb type diets will lead us astray. While it may help us to lose weight in the short term, it may cause a number of undesirable health conditions. Increased risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, not to mention symptoms like headaches, constipation, and more notably life long struggles with intestinal disease will alter the quality of life of those afflicted.

Why Balance your pH?

An imbalance in your body’s pH can be dangerous. Nothing does well in an overly acidic pH medium. An acidic imbalance continuously corrodes all body tissues, slowly eating into 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries. This acidic state will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating heart to the neural firing of your brain.

As a person grows older, an imbalance in pH can lead to the progression of most, if not all, degenerative diseases including Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer and Diabetes. It is also the major cause of excessive systematic weight gain.

What causes your pH to be imbalanced?

Most diets cause an unhealthy acid pH. Diet appears to be the major influence in maintaining healthy pH levels throughout the body. Research indicates that when food is metabolized, it leaves certain chemical and metallic residues, which when combined with our body fluids, yields either acid or alkali potentials of pH. Certain foods are “acid-forming” in nature while others are “alkali-forming”.

Which Foods Are Acid Forming and Which are Alkaline Forming?

Most high protein foods (such as meat, fish, poultry and eggs), nearly all carbohydrates (including grains, breads and pastas) and fats are “acid-forming”. Most fruits and vegetables are “alkaline-forming”. Although citrus fruits contain organic acids they are not acid forming when metabolized and leave no acidic residue. This is why fruits are the only things that can be eaten during the elimination phase. (Eating on the Wheel)

A Balanced pH Allows:

Proper Fat metabolism

Weight control and healthy Insulin Production ?

Healthy Oxygen Flow To Tissue to Flush toxins and Protect Against Premature Aging Smooth Blood flow throughout the arteries, veins and heart tissue

Proper blood Pressure Regulation Critical Lipid, fatty Acid and Hormonal Metabolism Cellular Regeneration and DNA-RNA Synthesis

Proper Electrolyte Activity Access to Energy Reserves

Appropriate cholesterol levels so plaque does not form

Proper calcium utilization to lessen the probability of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis

What you should know about food

Enzymes

One of the most common health problems in North America today is poor digestion. The two biggest reasons are:

1. The inability of your body to produce enough enzymes,

2. Lack of digestive enzymes in the food that you eat.

What are digestive enzymes?

They are organic protein molecules that break down food particles.

Where do digestive enzymes come from

You obtain most of your digestive enzymes from the food that you eat, and your body also produces enzymes of its own. Unfortunately, because of soil depletion, herbicide sprays, etc., we do not obtain anywhere near the number of enzymes that we need.

Another major problem is that modern preserving techniques, such as pasteurization, destroy most of the enzymes that ever were in your food.

1. Enzymes are also destroyed by exposure to air

2. Exposure to light, alcohol consumption

3. Temperatures over 118 degrees, caffeine, cigarette smoke, and prescription drugs. Parasites, pesticides, pollutants, ultra-violet radiation, and fluoridated water.

Aging and enzymes, why it’s harder?

As we age, our body looses its ability to produce its own enzymes, so we have to include them in our diet. Some good food sources for enzymes are alfalfa, barley grass, chlorella, spirulina, kelp, and sea vegetables. Most fruits, especially bananas, are also a good source. A lack of digestive enzymes will cause a number of things to occur in your body, such as: abdominal bloating, abdominal cramps, constipation, crohn's disease, colitis, diarrhea, eczema, heartburn, indigestion, IBD, psoriasis, skin rashes.

Low levels of enzymes can lead to a toxic colon because undigested food in your intestines can ferment and turn toxic. The toxic byproducts that accumulate in your intestines will be absorbed through your intestine wall and will end up in your blood stream, and when these toxins enter your blood stream they will come into contact with all the cells throughout your entire body. When this occurs, cancer, can and do develop.

Ninety-eight enzymes have been found in the arteries. Enzymes such as cytochrome qxidase, peroxidase and catalase are components of red and white blood cells. A high source of these enzymes is in the green leaves of plants. It has been discovered that they can fight toxic substances, helping protect the body from cancer. If you eat cooked food, fast food, or processed food, your body needs all the help it can get. There are virtually no enzymes in these kinds of foods, and without enzymes, you will not be able to digest any of the nutrients that may be present. If your diet consists of these foods I would strongly suggest changing your diet to raw vegetables and fresh fruits so that you can maximize your enzyme intake. Enzymes are very selective in that each enzyme can only do one specific job. One enzyme cannot do another enzymes job, so a shortage or absence of just one enzyme can have a very serious impact on your health. As you can see, enzymes are an extremely important part of your diet. They are responsible for life itself. The eight major digestive enzymes that you should have in your body to make sure that you maximize your digestion.

PROTASE-protase is responsible for digesting proteins in your food. Protein is probably one of the most difficult substances to metabolize. When you take protease in higher quantities, it can help to clean up your circulatory system. This will help to clean up your blood stream, and restore your energy and balance. One of the tricks of an invading organism is to wrap itself in a large protein shell that the body would view as being "normal". Large amounts of protease can help to remove this protein shell, and allow the body's defense mechanisms can go into action. With the protective barrier down, your immune system can step in and destroy the invading organism.

AMYLASE- is responsible for digesting carbohydrates in food.

LIPASE-is responsible for digesting fats in food. When taken in higher quantities it will also find its way into the blood stream and help to remove excess fatty deposits from the inside of your veins and arteries. When this occurs, the arteries and veins are more open and allow the blood to flow more smoothly throughout your body.

CELLULASE-is responsible for breaking down fiber. It is also an excellent antioxidant because it binds to heavy metals and other toxins and carries them out of your body. Soluble fiber is effective in binding to excess cholesterol and toxic material and removing them from the body. Insoluble fiber provides the necessary bulk to keep the intestinal tract properly inflated, and acts as a "push broom" to keep the walls of both the small and large intestines clean.

MALTASE- is responsible for taking the complex sugar found in malt and grain products and changing it into glucose.

LACTASE – is responsible for digesting the milk sugar found in dairy products.

PHYTASE- helps with digestion in general, and is especially effective in producing vital nutrients of the B-Complex.

SUCRASE- is responsible for digesting the sugars that are found in most foods.

Raw Foods

Raw food is filled with enzymes. About 5,000 different enzymes have been identified so far. Some researchers have estimated that it takes about 100,000 enzymes to run the body.

Studies show that eating a high percentage of cooked food causes the pancreas to enlarge. A pancreas that is enlarged as a result of over-stimulation, eventually breaks down. From years of abuse, the pancreas secretes fewer enzymes and causes digestive problems such as bloating, gas, diarrhea, gastritis or diabetes.

To be healthy, all essential nutrients are required by the body. Even one missing essential nutrient is enough to seriously affect our health. When essential nutrients are missing, the cell's metabolic processes are disrupted causing cell rebuilding to slow down and aging to speed up. When the cells’ metabolic processes are free from disruption, and the cells have all the required nutrients, the cells work vigorously at their specific bodily function.

Cooked food causes an increase of white blood cells. Cooking destroys vitamins, makes minerals inorganic, coagulates proteins, transforms fatty acids, and destroys natural fiber, increasing the transit time through the intestine. This causes putrefaction that creates additional toxins. Folic acid is abundant in most green vegetables. However, 95% of this vitamin can be lost by cooking. Over 50 fruits and vegetables have oxalic acid. While harmless in its natural state, altered by heat, it becomes harmful.

Research has shown that cooked fiber passes through the digestive system more slowly than raw food. It partially rots, ferments and putrefies, causing toxins, gas and even heartburn. Cooked food is harder to digest, less absorbent, and what is absorbed is less assimilable.

Protein

The most we ever grow is from when we are born to age six months. During that time we double our birth weight. Muscle magazines would lead you to think that a little person who is doubling in size would need more protein than anyone. But breast milk, the perfect food for the baby with just the right amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and enzymes is only about 5-8 percent protein. So a child that has maximum protein needs gets enough when less than 10 percent of his daily caloric intake is protein.

Protein is important. Without sufficient protein, your metabolic rate becomes extremely low. You are shooting for quality in protein though, not quantity, remember that muscle meats actually suppress thyroid function.

Here are protein percentages in some plant foods:

spinach--49% protein

broccoli--45% protein

lettuce--34% protein

cauliflower--40% protein

kale--45% protein

zucchini--28% protein

cabbage--22% protein

Chinese cabbage--34% protein

Mung bean sprouts--43% protein

bamboo shoots--39% protein

wheat germ--31% protein

strawberries, oranges, cherries, apricots, watermelon, and grapes--8% protein

lemons--16% protein

honeydew melon--10%

navy beans--26% protein

mushrooms--38% protein

pumpkin seeds--21% protein

soybean sprouts--54% protein

oats--15% protein

brown rice--8% protein

whole wheat--17% protein

walnuts--13% protein

pecans--5% protein

filberts--8% protein

potatoes- Protein in potatoes is similar to the amount in cow's milk ??Source: Nutritive Value of American Foods in Common Units, USDA Handbook No. 456 ??

Someone eating vegetarian or vegan must eat more vegetables than grains and nuts to get a good amount of protein into their body. As far as plants go, sprouts will be highest in protein and since they contain all eight essential amino acids, they are a complete protein.

Cholesterol

Every cell of the body has the ability to produce cholesterol. Hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are made from cholesterol. Without these hormones, the differences between genders would not exist.

One of the reasons for high cholesterol levels in the blood is that it may be acting as an antioxidant. Levels of cholesterol increase when there is a deficiency of antioxidant substances. Several antioxidants have been found to lower cholesterol levels.

High cholesterol levels create a gardening of the arteries. This hardening raises blood pressure because the arteries lose their flexiblility. Cholesterol is hard, waxy, and very resistant to breakdown. The liver can excrete a maximum of 100-300 mg. of cholesterol per day.

A diet high in animal foods can input 800-1,000 mg. per day.

Total cholesterol is based on your LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) counts. A lower number is considered to be good, but this may vary from person to person based on family history. Atherosclerosis is a condition that will occur if you have too much of the “bad” cholesterol LDL-C in your bloodstream. This is because of the build up of plaque from the waxy LDL-C and is also a principle cause of heart disease. HDL-C is considered the "good" cholesterol because it helps return cholesterol to the liver, where it can be eliminated from the body. A higher number of the HDL-C is better because it cleans your arteries by returning LDL to the liver where it can be removed from the body. Triglycerides, like cholesterol, are another substance that can be dangerous to your health. Like LDL-C, you want to keep your triglycerides low. In addition Trans Fats increase LDL and lower HDL, increasing the likelihood of heart disease.

The total cholesterol to HDL ratio should be no higher than 4.2 and the LDL to HDL ratio should be no higher than 2.5.

Items to remember:

HDL (High Density Lipoprotein)

The good kind of cholesterol, helps to carry cholesterol back to the liver where it is removed from the body. If your HDL is low then your risk of heart disease increases.

LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein)

This is the bad kind of cholesterol. It is this cholesterol that damages the artery walls. When LDL is high, some of the excess LDL begins to collect along the artery walls causing heart disease. As the plaque builds, it can stop the flow of blood to the heart causing a heart attack or stopping the flow of blood to the brain causing a stroke.

TFA (Trans Fatty Acids)

If HDL is good and LDL is bad, then Trans Fatty Acids also known as Trans Fats are very bad. What makes Trans fats so dangerous is the affect it has on HDL (the good cholesterol) lowering HDL and raising LDL the (bad cholesterol).

National Academy of Sciences said that the safe amount of Trans Fats that one could eat is none.

Saturated Fats

When you consume saturated fats, the liver converts it to cholesterol. The excessive intake of saturated fats can greatly increase your cholesterol levels especially LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) putting you at risk for heart disease.

Saturated fats are found in meats such as ham, beef, pork, veal, and lamb. Saturated fats are also found in dairy products such as milk, cheese, cream and in margarine. It is important to look at the "Nutritional Facts" before buying any packaged product to see how much saturated fat they contain. Some oils are high in saturated fat such as coconut oil, which is about 90% saturated fat and palm kernel oil, which is about 85% saturated fat.

Unsaturated Fats

There are two classes of unsaturated fats; monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats and both come from plant, vegetable or fish sources. Unsaturated oils are a liquid at room temperatures and solidify in cold temperatures.

Monounsaturated fats can be found in canola oil, olive oil, nuts, peanut oil and avocados. This fat has been found to lower harmful LDL cholesterol while having no affect on the good HDL cholesterol.

Polyunsaturated fats

These can be found in corn, cottonseed, soybean, safflower and sunflower oils. Polyunsaturated fats can also be found in certain essential fats (fats that your body does not make but needs) such omega 6 fats and omega 3 fats which can be found in oily fish and flax oil.

Polyunsaturated Fats have been shown to lower the harmful LDL cholesterol. The best fats for the heart are the omega 3 fats, which cam be found in hemp seed and also from fish and flax oil.

Triglycerides

Triglycerides are a form of fat. When you eat more calories than you need, these calories are converted into triglycerides. They are stored in fat cells for use later. This may encourage you to eat smaller portions.

Why eat oils and good fats?

Good oils and fats are found in avocados, nuts and seeds. Health Food stores are now supplying oils from pumpkin, flax, sunflower, walnut, and almond. They are oxygen-free, cold-pressed and must be stored in a dark bottle in the refrigerator. Virgin olive oil is a poor source of essential fatty acids; it is the least toxic of the store-bought oils.

Daily fat consumption should run from 40% to 45% of caloric intake.

Omega 3 - 1% of daily calories.

Omega 6 - 2 % of daily calories.

The optimum amount has been estimated at 3-10% of calories or depending on your size 9-30 grams daily.

All fruits, vegetables and legumes have natural essential oils and fats. Raw seeds and nuts will supply an abundance of essential fatty acids.

A diet, which avoids saturated fats, cholesterol, and hydrogenated vegetable oils, will prevent disease.

EFAs - Essential Fatty Acids

EFAs are crucial to the electrical reactions of cells. EFAs heal, carry vitamins, enhance metabolism and bring oxygen to the tissues. Brain cells, sensory organs, synapses, retinas, adrenal glands and testes require them. EFAs act as solvents to remove hardened fat. They are involved in generating the electric currents that maintain a regular heartbeat.

There are two essential fatty acids: Alpha-Linolenic acid (LNA) or Omega 3 is found in abundance in hemp seed, flax seed, pumpkin seed, walnuts, dark green leaves, canola, soybean and cold water fish. Linoleic acid (LA) or Omega 6 is found in abundance in safflower, hemp, soybean, walnut, pumpkin, sesame, corn, sunflower and flax.

EFA's provide:

* Maintaining skin and hair

* Storing and transporting fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K

* Protecting cell walls

* Keeping our bodies warm

* Protecting organs

Trying to Lose Weight? Eat More Fat.

Diets with less than 20 percent fat leave you hungry, unsatisfied, and more likely to overeat.

A diet rich in essential fats and oils works to increase metabolic rate and improve the entire system of energy production. With this increase in metabolism, weight loss is not only possible but also inevitable. Blood sugar levels are balanced and food cravings are brought under control.

Longer Life

Regular exercise and proper rest may actually add quality years to your life. New studies indicate that the elderly respond favorably to strength training. The performance and ability of the elderly has long been underestimated.

Developed a sense of humor. You can develop a good outlook and a good sense of humor by surrounding yourself with pleasant happy people.

Avoid stress, a life filled with stress can really wreak havoc on your body causing heart attacks, strokes, asthma, gastric problems, menstrual disorders, ulcerative colitis, angina, irritable colon, increased blood pressure, ulcers, headaches, etc.

Get plenty of exercise. People who are physically fit look good and feel good. A good exercise regimen improves your appearance, build self-confidence and help delay the aging process.

Make exercise part of your life. If you don't use your joints, they will age and stiffen. Studies have shown that people with arthritis experience less pain if they continue to keep their joints flexible.

Eating healthy foods and in the proper combinations, avoid foods high in fats, sodium and cholesterol.

Preservatives and Additives

The human cell has been incapable in keeping up with our science. The small print on your convenient foods reads more like science than food. There are side effects to this convience. Remember the manufacture only is responsible for the safe amount of preservatives, as deemed by the FDA, in that one serving of the packaged food. In that amount it may be safe. However, it is not safe that to eat an entire diet of like-minded foods. In this situation the diet is well over the safe amounts of preservatives.

The cumulative effect of toxins will increase cause illness. We are like a giant experiment of toxic ingestion. When we eat the Standard American Diet the body’s chemistry is recreated by ingesting countless food additives and environmental contaminants. There is nothing normal about our diets today in so far as our bodies are concerned.

The toxins in your body have been accumulating since birth, are imbedded in every cell and damage the body. The good news is if you change your food choices you can repair the damage. The body is designed to be healthy.

Chemicals, which have the power to produce mutations through chromosome damage, are called mutagens. They cause disruptions of the genetic code, which are responsible for over 15,000 inheritable, genetic disorders.

The food industry aims at making products look and taste appealing without thought to the products' nutritional value. Loaded with chemical additives and designed to be addictive, processed food is manufactured first for profit not for your health.

Your body has become a chemical depository.

Sulfur- is used to keep dried fruit fresh.

Formaldehyde - added to disinfect frozen vegetables.

Sodium nitrate - is added to ham, bacon, sausage and bologna to keep meat looking red, not gray.

In the stomach, sodium nitrate is converted into nitrous acid that is suspected of inciting stomach cancer. Germany and Norway have banned the use of this powerful toxin.

Arsenic - fed to chickens to stimulate growth, increase egg-production and give the chicken a yellowed skin

Aluminum - are added to baking powder, aspirin, antacids, beer, table salt and antiperspirants it also leaches into our food and water through cookware, soft drink cans and aluminum foil.

Aluminum is thought to cause Alzheimer's.

Potatoes may seem untouched by chemicals but because of their bad habit of sprouting, they are coated with the chemical inhibitor, maleic hydrazide, which has resulted in cancer in laboratory animals.

Propylene glycol - is used in Ice cream, propylene glycol is antifreeze and paint remover. Carboxymethylcellulose is a stabilizer; it has produced tumors in 80% of rats injected.

The fetus cannot deal with foreign chemicals. Whatever toxic substances the mother eats flow largely unimpeded into the fetus. Unlike an adult, the fetus lacks protective, detoxifying systems. Teratogens are toxins that harm fetal development. Certain food additives are considered mildly teratogenic.

What toxicology testing cannot accurately predict is the long-term combined effect of 3,000 additives and environmental toxins on children, the elderly, newborn, the fetus, and people with cancer. The combined effect of these toxins on humans is unknown.

Gluten

The impact grain has on the Standard American Diet is massive. The average American diet consists of 150 lb. of grain products per year. They have been led to believe that 100% Whole Wheat is exactly what it says: flour produced from a complete kernel of wheat, nothing added, nothing taken away. They believe that wheat is filled with nutrition, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and a good source of protein and fiber to maintain a healthy bowel. Not so much...

GLUTEN- Gluten is commonly used in adhesives. It is a strong protein molecule that has an elastic quality that makes it excellent for the purpose of making high bread, as well as furniture. Gluten is the reason the breads we buy are light and fluffy. Gluten is extremely difficult protein to digest and break down. Mucus is the body's response to Gluten. Celiac Disease is a complete intolerance to gluten. The only treatment is to completely remove gluten from their diet. A gluten-free diet has helped people with multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, rheumatoid arthritis, regional enteritis and autism.

Gluten is not a direct poison to the lining of the bowel, so why it causes such trouble is still a mystery. It is theorized that it may stimulate an immunological reaction of defense to rid the colon of an irritant. Gluten is a large sticky molecule that is acid-forming that many find difficult to digest. With the exception of milk, whole wheat bread is considered to be the most mucus-forming food on earth. All foods, which contain wheat, barely, rye, oats or buckwheat, contain gluten, unless stated to be gluten-free. Rice, millet, corn, spelt, soy flour and wheat germ are examples of some grains and grain products that are gluten-free. 

Be careful about whole wheat bread advertising.

Often color is added to give Whole Wheat that dark nutritious look. Unfortunately you are eating mostly white flour, a substance so refined that a diet of it will kill laboratory rats in less than 60 days.

Whole wheat bread whacks the bloodstream with glucose more quickly than white sugar, raisins, orange juice, bananas, or apples.

Fruit is one of the finest foods for releasing the fuel the body needs slowly. Stop listening to people that advise cutting out fruit!

Bread is one of the hardest foods to digest. It offers no help in the form of enzymes, stressing the pancreas, and will result in sickness and disease.

Many Vegans and vegetarians look sickly, pale and suffering from ill health. They replace flesh foods with starchy, cooked foods. Grain does have a place in a healthy diet; however, it would be more favorable to eat raw, enzyme-filled, easily digestible fruits, vegetables and sprouts.