[shabbie]

has anyone tried adopting an alkaline diet for good health?

[DeusXM]

No, but there's no science behind it. You can't alter your body's pH through what you eat and drink. It's just another scam that's out there that will promise magic health benefits without needing to exercise.

[shabbie]

hi Deus

my brother-in-law suggested making the body more alkaline, he practises as a naturopath here in the uk. his clients with even advanced cancer have been to him and beaten the cancer by making their own bodies pH neutral 7.3.

based on this evidence i recently altered my own diet to alkaline and in 4 days have changed my oral pH level from 5.0 to 6.75.

btw i'm not here to sell anything, i was just curious if anyone else had tried it

[DeusXM]

he practises as a naturopath here in the uk

Doctor who couldn't qualify from medical school. No offence but there's absolutely no regulation of naturopathy in the UK which means your brother-in-law could be as qualified as in medical treatment as the kid flipping burgers in McDonalds.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence that you can alter the pH of your body through diet or that the pH of your body even has any meaningful effect, even if you could change it. Saliva samples (from which I'm assuming you are evaluating your oral pH levels) will fluctuate depending on what you've recently eaten or drunk from the residue left in your mouth but this won't have any effect on the rest of your body.

If it was physically possible to alter your pH level and beat cancer I guarantee that it wouldn't be the sole preserve of naturopaths and pharmaceutical companies would be falling over themselves to make expensive pills that would change your body's pH level.

[shabbie]

pity about the negative response here Deus
now i remember why i dont post here too often.

my brother-in-law is a very respected man in his field. i respect his advice and his experience.

ive adopted an alkaline diet and seen a 30% drop in my basal insulin in less than a week.

[Subby]

Sharon, tell us about what dietary changes lead to such a basal req drop? I really don't have an opinion on the idea of an alkaline diet, but results like that are always worth talking about, whatever the cause.

[shabbie]

thanks for your reply subby

today looks like i may have to reduce my basal by a further 10%.

i started eating alkaline only foods and drinks a week ago. to get the best out of it you should eat as many foods uncooked as possible.

meat products and dairy products are prohibited due to their very acidic process (not to mention all of the stuff that goes into it during the animals life)

no root vegetables or grains.

no alcohol, coffee, chocolate, soda drinks or fermented products ie vinegar


heres what you can eat:

lots and lots of green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, watercress etc etc

lemons,limes,grapefruit
avocados
nuts but not peanuts
fresh tomatoes
bell peppers ~ all colours
fish
oils, olive, coconut, linseed, flax etc etc
sprouted grains/seed/nuts


not sure if ive forgotten anything in this list, but thats the general guidelines for now.

i also take bicarbonate of soda at bedtime (at least 4 hours after last meal), half a teaspoon in a little water and swish it around your mouth before swallowing.

the bicarb took about ten days before i noticed any difference in my pH levels, but as i was pretty acidic it would take time to neutralize.

hope that helps

[steamfan261]

No science, no facts, bogus tests, quackery.

[shabbie]

what a pity you won't look outside the box.

read pH miracle diet for diabetes and see for yourself.

im not selling anything here, so quit the spam sentiment please!

[GretchO]

It's very difficult to change the pH of your body through diet.

Can You Make Your pH More Alkaline?

Your body has a complex system of checks and balances to keep its pH in a normal and healthy range: 7.35 to 7.45. When your pH shifts outside this range and becomes too acidic or too alkaline, your body automatically corrects itself to bring things back to normal by:

- Increasing or decreasing respiration - When you breathe more rapidly, you blow out more carbon dioxide. This raises your pH so it becomes more alkaline and less acidic. Conversely, slowing down your breathing causes you to release less carbon dioxide, which lowers your pH making it less alkaline.
- "Mopping up" excess hydrogen ions - Neutralizing substances in the blood such as bicarbonate and hemoglobin, mop up excess hydrogen ions and prevent pH from becoming too acidic.
- Eliminating the excess - Your kidneys excrete excess acidic substances into urine to prevent pH from becoming too low. Conversely, if your pH starts to become too high or alkaline, the body uses similar tools in reverse to bring down the pH.

The bottom line: The body fights hard to keep your pH balanced. It's nearly impossible to achieve and maintain a high-alkaline pH for a prolonged period of time.

Are Urine and Saliva pH Test Strips a Good Way to measure the Body's pH?

The only way to directly measure the body's pH is by testing your blood. Testing your urine only tells the pH of your urine. Urine is naturally more acidic and has a lower pH (~6.0). Similarly, saliva test strips only measure the pH of your saliva, not the pH of your blood.

...this is the full article (it's not terribly in depth but gives an overview) Alkaline Diets and Cancer: Fact or Fiction?

...here's another brief article Beware of claims that you can change your blood pH

[shabbie]

i agree with your quote gretchen, however that article only applies to a healthy body doesnt it? when a body is continually put through stress either emotional/psychological or dietry then the body finds it cannot keep up and finally internal organs become acidic. having said that, actually its the fluid that surrounds the organs that makes us sick when it is too acidic.

today i have reduced my basal insulin another 10%, so now i am taking 40% less insulin than i was one week ago before i started this diet. bizarre? yes, but it is completely true. i shall continue to do what i do, you no doubt will continue to do what you feel works for you, and that is how it should be

[Subby]

I'm putting the alkaline issue aside myself, just thinking about your basal drop. It's interesting that this diet is a change to much lower in refined carbs. And, to my eyes, looks pretty healthy in a veggie way, alkaline issue claims again aside (I just don't have the time/inclination to look into that right now).

The reason I say that is interesting is that I find really low carbing tends to put my basals up a bit (and my boluses down of course). Sharon, I hope you don't take all these comments the wrong way, I'm not trying to shoot anything down, just curious with people's experience. Do you feel that your bassal insulin might have been covering some of your food and diet in general, like the more generalised approach to insulin use commonly seen in type 2?

By the generalised approach I mean relying heavily on a basal insulin to provide general across board BG improvement, rather than fine tuning basal to cover just biological needs, and bolus to cover all food needs.

[MCS]

Alkaline diet or not if I just ate what was on the list I don't think I would need any meds. Leafy greens ok now again, but steady whoo.

They had a article about a small research group that were feed only raw veggies and nuts. In fact they were to eat 10lbs of raw veggies a day. Lots of trips to the bathroom. In any case they all saw a lowering of thier BG, Choles, and most lost weight in a short period of time.

[GretchO]

Originally Posted by shabbie

i agree with your quote gretchen, however that article only applies to a healthy body doesnt it? when a body is continually put through stress either emotional/psychological or dietry then the body finds it cannot keep up and finally internal organs become acidic. having said that, actually its the fluid that surrounds the organs that makes us sick when it is too acidic.

today i have reduced my basal insulin another 10%, so now i am taking 40% less insulin than i was one week ago before i started this diet. bizarre? yes, but it is completely true. i shall continue to do what i do, you no doubt will continue to do what you feel works for you, and that is how it should be

right on to your last comment...but i'd just like to add that you're not likely changing the pH of your body by the diet you're on regardless of diabetes.

were you very low carb prior to this diet? could it be, as Subby suggests, that your basal requirement pre-diet was covering some of your dietary needs?

i'm not trying to shoot this alkaline diet down for insulin requirement issues, but I do know that scientifically it's extremely difficult to change a body's pH through diet alone, whether or not the body is healthy. the diet is clearly lowering your basal requirements but does that in turn mean it's changing the pH of your body too? i can buy the diet/basal insulin relationship, but w/out blood results showing the body's pH pre and post diet, i can't be convinced that you've changed the pH of your body and thus your insulin requirements have changed. or have i missed the point entirely?

[shabbie]

hi subby, mcs and gretchen

if i was reading this thread i would wonder just those questions too
prior to taking up this diet i followed what i called a watchful eye on my carb intake, usually around 130 - 175g per day of what i would term low GI food choices. i have never ever subscribed to any particular food fads/diets. i always ate sensibly.
if i didnt eat anything at all my basals would remain flat with hardly any movement at all. I pump, so its easier for me to do that.
i would agree that the food i eat on this diet is much less carbs, virtually no carbs actually lol as its mostly water based! so my mealtime bolus have ceased completely.

i wish i could understand the techno stuff regarding whats happening to me, all i know is that something is happening, something that is reducing my basal insulin requirements by 40% as of today. oh and i lost 4 pounds this last week too (not toilet dashing though lol)

my brother-in-law (JB) reads a daily log of my progress and is a great support, he hasnt suggested this diet as a way to get famous or anything, he is a quiet unassumiing man, and quite 'on the ball' regarding the more holistic approaches to good health. he says there are a lot of parallels here with chinese medicine.