My first encounter with the view that it was helpful to get the body's acid-alkaline balance right was in 1989. I'd got hold of a book on food combining by British nutrition writer Celia Wright - and, by the way, was intrigued to discover a few years later that her "new nutrition" approach had a profound influence on a young man called Patrick Holford!
Many of the principles of the Wright Diet were totally in synch with the Living Naturally approach but one of its main thrusts was to avoid eating protein and concentrated carbohydrate in the same meal. No fish and rice, in other words; no omelette and chips nor a cheese sandwich! (This might ring a bell as the Fit for Life diet promoted by Marilyn and Harvey Diamond.)
Clash of food groups
Let me continue with the history lesson a little longer. The clash of digestion that she said occurred when we ate these different food groups in one sitting had been proposed in the 1920s by American surgeon Dr William Hay. After examining partially digested food from the stomach, he concluded that starch foods (such as bread, rice and potatoes) needed an alkaline environment for digestion while proteins (fish, eggs, meat, cheese) required an acid one. He also believed that eating what he called "acid fruits" (grapes, apples, oranges etc) held up starch digestion but sat well with proteins.
"You have to get unhooked from the idea that you must have starch and protein at every meal," Celia Wright points out, "and get used to the idea of having a starch or a protein meal." This could be fish and salad or brown rice and vegetables.
What became known as the Hay Diet has surfaced from time to time in the hands of different authors and diet promoters, and while modern dieticians insist there is no scientific basis for this style of eating, many people swear by it. They report relief from a wide range of health conditions including joint pain, digestive stress, skin and sleep problems, overweight, fatigue and mood disorders.
The acid/alkaline thread is picked up elsewhere in the Wright Diet with the suggestion that maintaining the correct balance of acid and alkaline in the blood is hugely significant for general well-being. Our blood naturally is slightly alkaline. The pH scale (which stands for ‘power of hydrogen') goes from 1 to 14, with 1 at the acidic end and 14 highly alkaline. Neutral is 7, so keeping blood pH at 7.43 - or a little alkaline - is ideal.
What this means is that the best internal environment for the body systems (electrical, hormonal and chemical) to do their work is one that is slightly alkaline. If it becomes too acidic, functioning of all the cells is adversely affected. There are mechanisms for the body to dispose of excess acids accumulating in the bloodstream - such as drawing the alkalinizing minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium out of bones and tissues (at the cost of depleting storage areas like teeth and bones). But if too much acid is produced, the body can't keep up and a state of chronic acidosis results.
Invitation to disease
American MD, Dr Leigh Connealy, who co-hosts a health show on US radio, describes the problem with chronic acidosis thus: "In an effort to protect vital organs, the body diverts the harmful acids to store in tissues, joints and bones. This might make the organs temporarily safe but the diversion can cause joint and skeletal problems such as osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis; skin conditions such as dermatitis and eczema; and tissue problems such as chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia."
She goes on to say that, in time, the acid build-up in the organs makes them a "prime breeding ground for pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, moulds and parasites". Dr Connealy sees this as a case of acidosis destroying "the body from the inside out, paving the way for disease to take over". She links acidosis to hardening of organ tissues, lesions, inflammation, oxygen deprivation, reduced production of white blood cells and insulin resistance. Not a happy state of affairs.
There are lifestyle factors that can influence the alkalinity of the blood however. One is through deep breathing which ensures that we're moving enough carbon dioxide out the body. Another is to keep the body hydrated by drinking water regularly. And another crucial key is through the food we consume day by day.
"The typical Western diet is constantly pushing our blood into the acid range on the pH scale"
Celia Wright is very blunt. "Most of us eat 95% acid-forming foods at every meal. Toast and marmalade, coffee and sugar, for instance, is an acid-forming breakfast," she writes. "A hamburger, bun and French fries are almost entirely acid-forming too." The typical Western diet, in other words - tea, coffee, meaty protein, processed foods, alcohol - is constantly pushing our blood into the acid range on the pH scale.
If however we can swing things in the other direction, and consume a diet that's 60 to 80% alkaline - and that would consist of almost all vegetables and fruits, some nuts, milk, butter and soft cheese - the potential exists to significantly improve and sometimes even reverse chronic conditions.
Constant optimism
This is how Ms Wright puts it. "The most immediate experience of turning your diet around in this way is one of overwhelming well-being, calmness, emotional stability, strength without aggression, a feeling of constant optimism. With your blood at that upper alkaline limit, you begin to appreciate that the body and mind are really one. You feel very, very good.
"The state of acidosis on the other hand is like a mirror image. You feel grouchy, sensitive, exhausted; inclined to aches and pains, headaches and sleeplessness; probably with a sour stomach and acid sweat.
"But what really matters is your own experience. There would be no point in changing the acid-alkaline balance of your diet if it didn't work for you. Try it."
Source: Living Naturally Magazine, Winter 2008
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