The ratio of acids to alkalis
in blood is generally 20:80. For proper functioning
of the body organs and to keep your body system
away from the accumulation of toxic substances,
it is very important to keep the ratio of
acids to alkalis maintained. The body naturally
exerts its utmost to maintain this ratio.
Some of our foods leave alkaline
resides in the body after undergoing the full
cycle of digestive and metabolic processes;
some others leave acidic residues. We may
call such foods alkali-genic and acid-genic
respectively. Generally, the acids produced
by the metabolic activities, (such as uric
acid, lactic acid, etc.) react with the alkalis
in the blood, lymph, bile, etc., thus being
neutralized and rendered innocuous. But if
our diet is replete with acid-genic foods,
the body cannot cope with all the resulting
acids. When the acids accumulate in the blood,
heath problems like fatigue, anorexia, insomnia,
headache, nervous tension, hyperacidity, coryza,
etc., begin to appear.
Acidic blood is an abnormal
condition that hinders the physical development
of children and adolescents, causes degeneration
in older people, and diminishes vitality.
It causes difficulties in pregnancy and lactation.
It is the origin of diseases like measles,
pneumonia, tuberculosis, appendicitis, and
cancer.
All the toxic substances in
the body are in the form of acids, and that
in order to prevent or counteract the accumulation
of acids in the body we must take food that
is mainly alkali-genic.
Meat, eggs, fish and pulses are highly acid-genic.
Wholemeal wheat flour, manually dehusked unpolished
rice, and such other cereals in their more
or less natural forms are only mildly acid-genic,
but processing or refining them makes them
much more acidic in effect. All vegetables,
tubers, roots and fruits are alkali-genic.
Green leafy vegetables are of special importance
in this respect.
It is quite possible to maintain
a balance between the acids and alkalis in
the body by a judicious combination of various
unprocessed cereals, raw vegetables, fruits
and nuts in our daily diet. The alkalis in
such foods neutralize the acids in other foods,
but they also help in extracting the acids
and toxins accumulated in the cells of the
body, and ejecting them from the system. These
qualities make a diet made up of alkali-genic
components not only pure and wholesome, but
also an efficient cleansing and eliminating
agency.
http://natural-cure-guide.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-important-is-acid-and-alkali.html
Food safety first
The search for the source
of salmonella poisoning that sickened more
than 800 people in the past two months demonstrates
the importance of dealing with several inadequacies
in our food inspection system. To be honest,
calling it a "system" is overly
generous. In fact, there are as many as 12
agencies with a regulatory finger in the pies
and other foods you eat. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture, for example, inspects meat
and poultry, while the Food and Drug Administration
has regulatory authority over about 80 percent
of our food, including produce. But the FDA
also has regulatory authority over the medicine
and drugs. This split duty, plus the increasingly
sophisticated nature of the food and drug
industries, has left the agency unable to
keep up, according to a report by the FDA's
Subcommittee on Science and Technology.
The subcommittee's report,
issued in September 2007, said demands on
the agency "far exceed its capacity to
respond." The report said a new food
import system would take in excess of $130
million and modernizing safety standards for
fresh produce and other raw foods would take
tens of millions more. Yet an executive order
from President Bush directed the agency to
fix the food safety import system "within
available resources," something the report
says "unequivocally . . . cannot"
be done.
In addition to more funding,
some say there is a need to develop a true
system in which food safety is the sole responsibility
of a single agency instead of being spread
by multiple bureaucracies with multiple responsibilities.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., proposes federal
legislation that would consolidate food safety
duties into one agency. The American diet
consists of increasing amounts of imported
foods. Yet funding has decreased for the regulatory
agencies that inspect those imports for contamination
with restricted pesticides or disease-causing
organisms, according to Consumers Union. Customs
and Border Protection officers spent less
than one minute on each truck entering from
Mexico, according to a recent reporting by
the Dallas Morning News. Only a small fraction
of produce, seafood and manufactured goods
imported into the country is actually inspected,
food safety advocates say.
As the FDA began the search
for the cause of recent salmonella outbreaks,
another weakness in our nation's food safety
non-system was revealed. Knowing the source
of contamination can speed recalls and protect
consumers, but it can often be extremely difficult
to determine where the poison entered the
food chain. The Center for Science in the
Public Interest and the Consumer Federation
of America are calling on the FDA to institute
regulations that would assure produce could
be quickly traced all the way back to the
field. The technology exists to do this, consumer
groups say. The FDA says it lacks the authority
to mandate such a program on its own.
It won't be simple to update
the way we handle food safety in a nation
that has come to expect food to be wholesome
and pure. But this is a job that needs to
be done. Modern trade and agricultural practices
have brought the bounty of the world to America's
table. The regulatory agencies Americans trust
to assure food safety need to be refined and
adequately funded to keep up with the challenges
of the new international marketplace.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2008/07/21/20080721mon1-21.html
The diet plan that
could help prevent cancer
FOR lunch, and ideally dinner,
you're going to have mostly vegetables, some
olive oil, garlic, herbs and spices and possibly
a little meat or eggs for flavour. This is
not a one-off menu but your menu for life.
It may not sound the most
exciting diet but it could save your life,
according to a new book, by Dr David Servan-Schreiber,
who calls it the anti-cancer plate. Currently
a best-seller in France, Anticancer: A New
Way of Life is the book David wishes he had
when he became ill. Diagnosed with a brain
tumour 15 years ago, he thought he had beaten
the cancer until eight years ago, when he
had a relapse. After two successful operations
and 13 bouts of chemotherapy, he asked his
doctor what he could do to prevent another
relapse.
He said: "I was astounded
when he told me, 'Nothing, we'll just watch
you closely'. It left me feeling pretty helpless."
As a scientist himself David is clinical professor
of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburg
School of Medicine in America - he began to
trawl through scientific reports and discovered
there is lots you can do. His book is an accumulation
of many proven studies that pinpoint the foods
and lifestyle changes that help combat cancer.
"We all have cancer cells," he said.
"But it's our lifestyle or environment
that fertilises these cells and helps them
grow into tumours.
"We need to understand what helps them
grow and what prevents them from growing.
"I'm not talking about a cure for cancer,
but what you can do to prevent the disease
from happening or to fight it if you already
have cancer." Cancer, he says, is less
linked to genes than to lifestyle and there
is much we can do to boost the body's defence
system. On the internet, thousands of alternative
treatments, herbs and miracle cures are available,
but many are too good to be true.
The charlatans are those who refuse to work
with an oncologist and recommend stopping
conventional treatment, says David. Also,
avoid any who suggest treatment that is not
proven effective but may have proven risks,
those whose price is out of proportion to
the benefits and those whose approach is based
on your true desire to heal. David only advocates
examples based on solid scientific evidence.
Nor does he ever suggest his method should
be instead of conventional treatment. "Conventional
medicine - chemotherapy - saved my life. "It
is completely unreasonable to try to cure
cancer without the best conventional Western
medicine has to offer," he says. "At
the same time, it is unreasonable to rely
only on this technical approach and neglect
the natural capacity of our bodies to protect
against tumours."
This key message in strengthening
your body's immune system's ability to fight
cancer is correcting your diet to cut back
on the foods that promote cancer - sugar,
white flour, animal fats, processed food -
and eat more foods that contain the phyochemical
compounds that fight it - like green tea,
turmeric, soy, berries and vegetables like
broccoli. These are just some of the anticancer
foods already recognised by scientists as
being particularly powerful against cancer.
David added: "Every day at every meal
we can chose food that will defend our bodies
against the invasion of cancer." Another
important component to protecting yourself
against disease is to heal the psychological
traumas that may be suppressing your immune
system. Accepting your true identity, such
as your sexuality, can help release immune
suppressing stress and emotional problems.
He also suggests taking more unusual steps,
such as wearing eau de toilette instead of
perfume as it contains fewer potentially dangerous
phthalates chemicals. In addition, dry-cleaned
clothes should be aired in the garden to get
rid of potentially carcinogenic ethylenes
- the chemicals used in cleaning. And use
glass or ceramic containers when heating foods
and drinks, especially in the microwave, instead
of plastics, which can transfer chemicals.
"To protect ourselves against cancer,
we can limit our exposure to toxic factors
in the environment, the most obvious being
tobacco," he added. "People who
exercise have cancer rates much lower and
relapse rates in women with breast cancer
who walk to work are much lower than those
who don't walk. "Non-organic foods don't
have to be eliminated completely but they
should become occasional foods, not the foundation
of our diets. "And instead of a steak
with a dish of vegetables on the side, we
need to imagine a main dish of vegetables
with a little meat from time to time. "This
is what the Vietnamese, Indians and Chinese
do and is reflected in their much lower cancer
rates." Correcting your diet, increasing
activity, and reducing exposure to harmful
chemicals all make common sense. But unlike
conventional medicine, there are no large
randomised studies proving these methods fight
cancer, although doctors accept they are beneficial.
While advice on nutrition
is still missing from conventional treatment
of cancer, cancer charities are increasingly
promoting the value of better diet. A spokeswoman
from Cancer Research UK said they do not advocate
any particular foods, although half of all
cancers can be prevented by changes in lifestyle.
"A diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables
and low in processed foods and saturated fats
is preferable," she said. "We would
not advocate that people should change their
lifestyle in the middle of cancer treatment
but once they are finished they remain at
higher risk of cancer so should do what they
can to maintain a healthy diet." With
his cancer in remission, David stresses he
is not now a vegetarian who strictly follows
an anti-cancer diet, but he makes a compelling
case for playing a part in your own health.
"I go to restaurants, I eat out and it's
not about being strict but just about changing
the overwhelming bad patterns in our diets
and lifestyle," he said. "It's about
turning your life around, whether or not you
have cancer."
TEN ANTI-CANCER FOODS
RED WINE: The concentration
of polyphenols - which combat carcinogens
- is greater in wine than in grape juice.
Pinot noir is especially rich in polyphenol.
MUSHROOMS: They contain lentinan,
which stimulates the immune system. Rates
of stomach cancer among Japanese peasants
who consume large amounts, are 50 per lower.
GREEN TEA: Epigallocatechin
gallate (EGCG) is found in large quantities
in green tea and blocks tumour growth.
SOY: The isoflavones (tofu,
miso, mung beans, beansprouts) are phytochemical
molecules that act like Tamoxifen, a drug
used to fight breast cancer.
BERRIES: Blueberries contain
molecules that are capable of forcing cancer
cells to self-destruct (known as apoptosis).
GARLIC, ONIONS, LEEKS AND
CHIVES: Their sulphur compounds reduce the
carcinogens found in tobacco and over-grilled
meat and fight cancers of the colon, breast,
lung, kidney and prostate.
GINGER: A powerful anti-inflammatory
and antioxidant it blocks new cancer cells.
BROCCOLI: Cruciform vegetables
such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage
and cauliflower contain anticancer molecules
that stop cells becoming tumours.
ORANGES: Citrus fruits have
flavonoids that are anti-inflammatory and
help the liver detoxify carcinogens.
TURMERIC: The main spice in
yellow curry, it inhibits cancer growth, especially
colon, liver, stomach, breast and ovary, plus
leukaemia. Indians, who consume large amounts,
have one eighth as many lung cancers as Westerners.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/health-fitness/2008/07/21/the-diet-plan-that-could-help-prevent-cancer-86908-20656706/
