The PH Diet: The pHenomenal Dietary System

Introduction

The pH Diet does exactly what it says on the cover. By following our programme, you’ll recharge your energy, regain your figure and restore your health.

Does it sound too easy? If you’re a diet aficionado, you may think so. There are countless weight loss and dietary programmes out there that you might have already tried – from lose-a-stone-in-two-weeks to high-protein or more conventional high carbohydrate/low fat diets. If you’re reading this, maybe these diets haven’t worked for you. They may have been too difficult to incorporate into your lifestyle, or made you feel deprived, so you lost your motivation to keep going. You need an eating plan that’s easy and will work – and that’s what The pH Diet delivers.

How does the pH diet work?

The pH Diet works by getting your body back to its naturally alkaline state. In three steps, or levels, you gradually cut down on acid-forming food and drinks, and eat more alkaline-forming foods.

Most of us have an inkling that too much coffee, red meat, sugar, dairy and processed foods, for example, are bad for us. In the pH Diet, these foods are discouraged because they’re acid-forming. This means that when we’ve digested them, they leave an acidic residue in our bodies. All the food we eat ‘burns’ with oxygen in our cells to produce energy – our fuel. This digestion process generates an internal ‘ash’ that’s acidic, alkaline or neutral. An alkaline or neutral ash is okay (our bodies are designed to be alkaline, not acidic). However, when acidic residue accumulates internally, it slows the body down – causing low energy, poor health and weight problems.

How does it benefit me?

By eating and drinking alkaline-forming foods, you release your body from the drudgery of coping with residual acid build-up. Rather than expend energy on fighting acidic toxins, your body can get back to its real job: fine-tuning your health and balancing your weight. Follow the pH diet and your energy levels will surge, you’ll shed excess pounds, and will look and feel more vital than ever before. And there’s no need to count calories, fat grams or points. You’ll find straightforward diet plans (see pages 14, 23, 32) and food lists to follow (see page 39), so once you’ve grasped the acid/alkaline principle, you’ll be well on your way to gaining and maintaining good health and a better figure.

The pH principle

The principle of the pH diet is that the most important aspect of a balanced, healthy body is our pH, or acid/alkaline balance.

pH is an abbreviation for ‘potential of hydrogen’. It indicates the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, measured on a scale of 0–14. The lower the pH, the more acidic the solution; the higher the pH, the more alkaline the solution. When a solution is neither acid nor alkaline, it has a pH of 7, which is neutral.

You may have a vague idea about pH from school chemistry lessons, but pH is also used to market cosmetics and hair care products. ‘pH-balanced’ products are formulated to complement the pH of skin and hair. If you use products that are too acidic or too alkaline in nature, they may be damaging. If you wash your hair with detergent, for example, you wouldn’t expect your locks to shine. Your hair would be clean but dry, dull and totally unmanageable. So choosing foods that are the wrong pH could leave you with the equivalent of a dry, dull and lifeless body. Visible signs will appear on the outside, reflected in poor-condition hair, nails and skin. On the inside, this imbalance shows up as symptoms that reflect the poor functioning of our internal organs (see the box on page xii to check any symptoms you may have).

Is the pH diet the same as food combining?

The answer is both yes and no. Like food combining, the pH diet is based on the concept of acid/alkaline imbalance as the cause of ill-health. This was first expounded in 1933 when William Howard Hay, a New York doctor, published his groundbreaking book, A New Health Era. He maintained that all disease is caused by autointoxication (self-poisoning) due to acid accumulation in the body. His work is still popular today and is now published as the Hay diet, also known as food combining.

However, the pH Diet is not a food-combining diet. When you follow the pH Diet, you can eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats together. This is because the pancreas produces three different digestive enzymes all at the same time, indicating that our bodies are designed to process different food groups simultaneously.

Is your diet draining your health?

Clinical trials have proved that an alkaline body is healthier than an acidic body. If you’re regularly eating too many acid-forming foods, you will be more vulnerable to infection – from candida to frequent colds and flu. If you overindulge your love of meat, cheese, dairy, eggs, fish, alcohol and sugary and refined foods, for example, you are likely to have many minor, and some not so minor, symptoms. Symptoms are your body’s way of getting your attention. By following the pH diet and eating more alkaline-forming foods, you can help reduce your symptoms and significantly improve your health.

Check your symptoms:

• Frequent infections, caused by a suppressed immune system: yeast infections, such as candida; parasitical infections; and bacterial and viral infections, such as colds and flu

• Low energy or chronic fatigue

• Aching muscles or joint pain; rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout or fibromyalgia

• Osteoporosis, weak, brittle bones; hip fractures or bone spurs

• Bladder or kidney problems, such as kidney stones

• Dull skin, brittle nails and hair

• Premature lines and wrinkles

• Liver or ‘age’ spots

• Acne, eczema or psoriasis

• Poor concentration or forgetfulness

• Excess weight, obesity

• Type II diabetes

• Mood swings

Stresses on the body

Our body tries its best to get rid of acidic residue left by acid-forming foods through urine, sweat and exhaled breath. However, our kidneys, skin and lungs can only cope with so much. They often become exhausted and cannot break down all the wastes from acid-forming foods, drinks and stimulants.

When this happens, what can’t be processed has to be stored somewhere in the body. In order to live healthily, our blood and cells must always remain slightly alkaline. So the body, always pursuing survival, changes leftover acidic wastes into solid wastes and stores them.

Here are some examples of solidified acidic wastes:

• LDL cholesterol (the harmful cholesterol that can build up on artery walls)

• Adipose tissue (AKA fat)

• Uric acid (responsible for gout, kidney stones and gallstones).

The accumulation of these solid wastes can also be described as the ageing process and the cause of disease. When you eat abundant alkaline-forming foods you’ll be able to excrete acid wastes far more effectively, and powerfully assist your whole body to function more efficiently. When your body is working in this way, weight loss is easy, symptoms disappear and good looks and health abound.

What is acidosis?

Most people who suffer from an unbalanced pH have too much acid in their bodies, a condition known as acidosis. This forces the body to ‘borrow’ minerals – including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium – from vital organs and bones to buffer the acid and safely remove it from the body. Because of this strain, the body can suffer severe and prolonged damage, and the condition may go undetected for years.

Acidosis is the foundation of many everyday symptoms like fatigue, poor skin, weak and brittle nails and difficulty in losing weight, as well as the many symptoms, illnesses and diseases listed in the box (see page xii). When you alkalize your body by following The pH Diet, you’ll be able to restore and maintain your overall health and beauty.

So which foods are acid-forming?

One of my clients, with whom I’d been discussing acid- and alkaline-forming foods, expressed this important concern about what she should eat. ‘What about lemon and lime?’ she began. ‘They’re acidic yet they’re antioxidants, and good for you.’ This is a common assumption – that what tastes acidic stays acidic during digestion. However, the pH value of a food or drink isn’t always the same as its acid-or alkaline-forming tendency in the body. It’s what happens after we eat and drink that counts. ‘Acidic’ limes or lemons actually produce an alkaline residue in our bodies – the opposite of what we would expect. Likewise, meat doesn’t taste acidic at all, but it leaves a very acidic residue in our bodies after digestion. So, like nearly all animal products, meat is very acid-forming.

All foods can be categorized as acid-forming, alkaline-forming or neutral. Water is neutral, against which all other foods and drinks are measured. To help you get your body back into pH balance, see the listing of acidic-forming foods and drinks to avoid (page 104) plus all the alkaline-forming super foods you’ll need to eat your way to great health, energy and weight loss.

But I already eat healthy foods …

James, a client, had been feeling overweight and listless. In fact, his tiredness had been going on for so long that he admitted to me that he had almost become used to it. And the more tired he felt, the less he wanted to work out at the gym; and the more he used stimulants such as coffee and biscuits during the day to pep himself up. Otherwise, he thought he ate an excellent diet – lots of lean meat, potatoes, some vegetables.

pH Values of Some Common Liquids

On closer examination of James’ eating habits, I explained to him how many of his favourite foods were acid-forming – and how his body could only fully assimilate nutrients when it’s pH balanced. If your pH is too acidic you can eat healthy food packed with vitamins and minerals, yet get little or no health benefits. The goodness in food can’t be absorbed in the gut because of the acidity there, so the nutrients are wasted. This helped to explain James’ tiredness – he was nutrient-deficient because of his ‘acid’ diet. By changing to the pH Diet, he was able to break the tiredness cycle, cut out the stimulants and enjoy better health. He lost 5lbs in the process.

Getting the balance right

By eating enough alkaline-forming foods, you’ll be able to establish and maintain a good acid/alkaline balance in your body. This is vital for good health, because acid-forming foods are inflammatory, whereas alkaline-forming foods are anti-inflammatory. So eating alkaline-forming, anti-inflammatory foods will give your body a tremendous boost. Acid-forming, inflammatory foods, however, may have only detrimental effects on the body. Below are examples of some common dietary habits that cause acid overload:

• A high-protein diet

• Eating lots of refined carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta

• Eating few vegetables and fruits

• Drinking high levels of alcohol

It’s easy to see from the list above that none of these eating patterns provides a balanced diet. A balanced diet means getting the correct proportion of nutrients for health and vitality. The balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins is important, but if you balance your diet between acid- and alkaline-forming foods by following the pH diet, you’ll automatically get a balance of foods from the three major food groups. You won’t feel deprived by forgoing all your carbs, or eliminating foods such as nuts because they’re high in fat: with the pH diet, you’ll regain your body’s natural acid/alkaline balance, and get all the nutrition you need.

What about high-protein diets?

High-protein diets have become popular recently because they help people lose weight successfully. However, the long-term effects of diets such as these are not beneficial. Clinical studies have shown them to be a precursor to osteoporosis (brittle bone disease). In the short term, a high-protein diet will cause constipation, bad breath and low energy levels due to insufficient fibre and carbohydrate levels.

The urine of someone who regularly eats high-protein foods often gives an alkaline reading. However, this is misleading. When excess protein is consumed, the body releases calcium and magnesium from the bones and organs to neutralize the acids. As more and more minerals are taken from the bones, the weaker they become. A diet high in protein must therefore be considered with caution.

Starting the pH diet

The pH Diet is organized in three steps, or levels. All three levels are easy. In fact, they get easier as you move through them. They involve lifestyle as well as dietary changes.

In Level 1, you learn how to reduce the toxic load on your body. You do this by cutting back on the acid-forming liquids and anti-nutrients in your diet. These include:

• Milk

• Caffeine

• Nicotine

• Alcohol

Don’t worry – you won’t have to go cold turkey. You gradually reduce your intake of these toxins at a pace that suits you. You’ll soon begin to feel the benefits, giving you the incentive to move up to Level 2.

In Level 2, you’ll increase your alkaline reserves. This involves reducing wheat and including suggested alternatives, and introducing the 80 alkaline-forming super foods (see pages 43–87). There are lots of vegetables and vegetable juices in this part of the diet to rebuild the alkaline reserves. Vegetables are used for healing and are more alkaline-forming than the fruits used in Level 3. You can expect to be on Level 2 until alkaline reserves are in place. This could be six to eight weeks or longer, depending upon your previous levels, diet and lifestyle.

Level 3 concentrates on maintaining the balance. It explains how to eat a true alkaline-forming diet with less cooked food and more emphasis on raw foods. You’ll also include more fruit and fruit juices in your diet. (Although fruits are mildly acidic, you can begin to eat them at this stage as you’ll have built up more alkaline reserves, enabling your body to deal more efficiently with the acids they produce.)

We’ve included three dietary plans to help you choose your meals. There is one plan for each of the three levels, together with sheets for you to record your daily progress.

How long does the diet take?

You can spend as long as you like at each level of the programme. The longer you spend at each level, the more benefits you will get, and the more natural the programme will become to you. When you do go off track, which you probably will, simply start back at Level 1. One month at each level is beneficial, but knowing how keen you will be to start the programme, we suggest no less than a week on Level 1 before moving to Level 2. The longest possible time (four to six weeks minimum) should be spent on Level 2. Only when the alkaline reserves are in place can you move to Level 3.

Level 3 is the true pH Diet. It allows you to eat unlimited fruit and vegetables, and increase your intake of raw foods (up to 30 per cent of the diet). Because your overall health will have improved significantly and your body will be stronger by this level, you will be able to cope with more acid-forming foods. Although you can get away with the odd ‘cheat’ quite easily at Level 3, it is not recommended too often! You want to continue moving towards health and beauty and not backwards to ill-health and imbalance. Whenever you feel you need to, you can revert back to Level 2.

The more gently you treat your body by easing into the programme, and the longer you stay at each level, the less likely you are to suffer a ‘healing crisis’. This is when the body is throwing off more toxins than you can eliminate, which may result in you feeling a little unwell.

You can check your pH status by testing your urine and saliva, but don’t worry if you choose not to do this. It’s not a compulsory part of this programme, and the diet will work equally well without it. However, should you start monitoring and recording your pH levels every day, you will feel more active on your journey to health. Testing your pH levels will give you regular updates on your progress – and it’s fascinating and easy to do. (For more information, see Chapter 4.)

And finally

Food is one of life’s great pleasures, so take your time and enjoy the programme. Your goal is to eat delicious foods that create alkaline reserves within your body. This will bring you better protection against disease, more energy, great-looking skin and a slimmer, healthier you. You can start right now.