Almost a year later and things are not going well with my acidity problem.

I came across this:

"FOODS TO AVOID Very few of us know that pleomorphic bacteria, yeast and fungus and their toxins are characteristically present in stored and fermented food. The following list of foods are high in pleomorphic bacteria, yeast, fungus and mould, and produce mycotoxins which cause specific diseases and should never be eaten. The problem is excess sugar. Grape juice and grapefruit juice are a little different. ... Apples, oranges, pears and bananas are more likely to be fermented. The banana get liver spots the same way you get liver spots, through excess fermentation and rotting. If you have spots on your hands, face or arms, if you have moles, these are toxins coming to the surface of the skin. These are acids. This is a manifestation of the one sickness. You have to change the inner terrain, and if you do, these spots will either disappear or change in colour.


FOOD YOU SHOULD EAT: ALKALINIZING FOODS We need to eat foods which will actually heal the body. We need to go back to the garden and eat live foods like leafy greens, foods which are high in chlorophyll. For breakfast I eat salad, for lunch I eat salad, and for dinner I have salad. What is good for dinner is also good for lunch, and what is good for lunch is good for breakfast. You have to overalkalize the blood and tissues. You can freely eat dark green and yellow vegetables, root vegetables, freshly juiced vegetable juices, foods with high contents of chlorophyll, nuts like almonds or hazelnuts which are more alkaline. Almonds are high in oxygen especially after they have been soaked for 12 hours. Sprouted grains and beans like alfalfa, mung beans, clover and radish, seeds, essential fatty acids from flax oil, borage oil, and virgin olive oil, soy products like tofu, grains from spelt, millet and buckwheat, herbs, spices, seaweed, lots of onions and garlic and distilled water. Fruits like avocados, lemons, limes and grapefruits are low sugar, therefore less likely to be fermented."

What do you think as to its validity?

Bananas have been one of my main foods.

Are you quoting from Dr. Young's book, The PH Miracle? Those paragraphs sound familiar. I would indeed validate what was said there.

I sounds as though you may be very low in alkalizing minerals in your body. It seems to me that people who have plenty of alkaline reserve in the form of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium do well eating lots of bananas and other sweet fruits. People such as you and I perhaps can't make sweet fruits the focus of our diet. The reason is that most sweet fruits require alkalizing minerals to neutralize the acid ash they produce. Do you see the logic here? If you have nothing to neutralize the acid in your body then your body will remain acidic.

I would suggest you start to eat mainly green foods for a while like wheatgrass AND drastically reduce high sugar fruits and not just salad. You can get green food blends at health food stores. There are many good ones that include many different kinds of green foods besides wheatgrass such as barley grass, kamut grass, spirulina and so on.

If the above quotes were from Dr. Young's book, then read the rest of it and follow the program. It is excellent for balancing your ph. I did it successfully. I can even eat sweet fruit sometimes and stay properly alkaline.

I had an additional thought. If you are getting plenty of the proper minerals in your diet, your body will not have to pull from reserves. That is another good reason to eat more than just salads.

Felix, my whole family has been eating heaps of sweet fruit, our staple, plus some greens as desired. We are alkaline. We do not get sick.

Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams

Felix,

What does your diet look like? Also, how are you doing with the other health building habits and practices. How much sleep do you get each night? Are you under any stress? Are you engaged in satisfying social relationships? Are you doing any exercise? Do you feel emotionally and spirtually and mentally balanced and poised.

There is so much to health beside just eating the right foods.

Also, have you played with water fasting at all?

"Felix, my whole family has been eating heaps of sweet fruit, our staple, plus some greens as desired. We are alkaline. We do not get sick." Rawgosia


Rawgosia, that is true of so many people of this board. And as Bryan said, there are so many aspects of health that one has to consider.

I recently read somewhere that the two most dominant factors in keeping a balanced PH are foods and emotions (stress) Emotions were said to be more influential in producing acids than foods.

How is your emotional atmosphere?

mtnkathy, interesting thing about emotions. I tend to think of myself as a rather emotional creature. I cry at films, I cry when hearing sad stories, I do not hide my emotions. I do not do things like running around my car and raising my hands towards the sky like some might do, but I tend to not to burry my anger in me. I think epressing emotions (without abusing/injuring others) is a good thing. Above all, I am happy. And, this is not a happiness that comes from acquired wealth, but rather one corresponding to the level of appreciation I have for life. I practice awarness of what I got.

I don't feel like I answered your question too precisely ha ha. How do you measure your emotional atmoshpere? What are your markers of emotional health?

I wanted to add that this is very good point that you made. I too believe that health is not all about diet. Internal fire can kill.


Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2007 11:37PM by rawgosia.

Thanks, Rawgosia, but I was actually asking Felix about his emotions! However, it is very interesting as to how you deal with them. You seem to do very well. I am not so successful, which is probably why I have a greater tendency to lean toward the acid side. I am probably afraid of my emotions more than anything else, but it is something I work at constantly. Perhaps we should open up another thread...

It's interesting, because I tend to think that I might be too expressive at times and admire those who keep their cool and smile all the time! Good idea, great topic for another thread!

Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams

The foods we eat are digested and they break down to either an acid or an alkaline end-product in our tissues. This end product is called "ash" and is what remains in the body after the food has been broken down. Foods that produce an alkaline ash are called "alkaline forming food" whereas those producing acid ash are called "acid forming foods."

Lemons and limes and grapefruit are chemically acid. Tests show that when they are metabolized in the body they actually have an alkanizing effect and are very beneficial.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are alkaline forming in the body and contain many electrolytes and minerals that help maintain a healthy ph of 7.4 and a reserve of critical electrolytes

Eating sweet fruit alone will keep them from fermenting in you body. Eating them in bad combinations will hold them up in you stomach causing the fermentation.

mtnkathy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you quoting from Dr. Young's book, ... <

Yes, I am!

I just cecked my urine and it's about 7.0 while my saliva is 5.8. It is now 4:10 PM and this is my diet so far this day:

8:30 AM 2 glasses of water
10:30 AM 1 glass of water
11:20 AM 2 ounces aloe vera whole leaf juice
12:00 PM 4 apples (time I finished eating)
12:45 PM 6 bananas (time I finished eating)
2:45 PM 1 glass of water
3:55 PM 1 glass of water

For supper I will eat some romaine (a small head), some chicory (10 leaves), 1 small zucchini, 1 small cuke, 2 celery sticks, 6 cherry tomatoes.

Around 8 PM I will eat 5 or 6 banans and then later I will have 2 ounces of aloe vera juice.

I usually go to bed around midnight and get out of bed around 10 AM. I drink my first two glasses of water when I go to the bathroom and then go back to bed and wake up later.

My health and energy and disposition is pretty good. But my esophagus burning is constant and have some heartburn. It's about a month I'm off the medication but can't seeem to find a way to rid or lessen my esophagus burning.

I do eat an occasional avocado or some grapes or other fruits from time to time.

Any suggestions or insight will be appreciated.

If that's a typical day of eating I'd say your a
Fruitarian.
Definitely eat more greens.......


Why Vegan?
Because I have the most love and admiration for all animals of the earth!!!
a rawvegan hopeful, rawdev4life!!!

If I were eating like that I would feel starving my body. Bananas and apples. First too much sugar and next they were probably not given time to ripen on the tree, so nutrients are at their minimal. Where are the greens?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2007 10:20PM by djatchi.

Felix,

It may be that you need to have an extended water fast, a longer period of time without eating so that your digestive organs can heal. Dr Robert Sniadach has a fasting retreat in California. There is the Rest Of Your Life Retreat in Texas. Dr Trader conducts fast in Los Angeles. Also Dr Grahams fast in Costa Rica..

rawdev, djatchi, could you please give me some concrete suggestions on what and how to add more greens. Thanks a bunch.


Bryan, a fast would be out of the question for me, as I live on the east side of the continent and I have a terrible fear of flying. Also I take care of my father who is 92 and can't be left alone.

Felix,

Only eat as many greens as you feel comfortable with. Greens require more acid in the stomach to digest them, and this may exacerbate your condition. Most people aren't aware of how long you've been suffering from this acid reflux condition and the frail state of your digestive system.

Do you have an idea of how your body came to be in this state?

I don't have answers to your questions, but whenever I eat bananas I get heartburn too. I can't explain it. Try cutting out bananas for awhile and see if you feel better.

I haven't figured out exactly why this happens - haven't been able to find it explained - but as we age, our bodies produce less and less hydrochloric acid. Some people actually stop making it. This in turn leads to all kinds of problems and illnesses.

Our stomachs need to be acidic in order to do the early stages of digestion. Many, many people who are being treated for acid reflux are actually LOW on hydrochloric acid. The western medical approach is to treat them in exactly the opposite way - as if they have too much stomach acid. I think that the way this happens is that they just assume that there's too much acid in there and that it backs up- when what REALLY happens is that there's not enough stomach acid, the food sits there and ferments and then backs up the esophagus. Or something like that.

I know that Victoria Boutenko found that people could increase their hcl by eating lots of greens, but I would imagine that if your hcl is low enough, that it could take forever or never even happen.

I understand the theory of not wanting to interfere with the body's own healing and intelligence, but there may be instances where we can actually help the body speed things along before something else shuts down.

We are NOT what we eat, we are what our bodies can utilize.

Please, look into hydrochloric acid - it is our bodies defense against parasites, helps in the formation of certain enzymes, fights off candida and other nasties, etc. etc. It's definitely worth checking into.

LIfe Is Good!

alive!

In response to Alive's post, a simply way to know if your HCL is low without having a test done is this. You can buy some HCL tablets and take them with food. If there is no acid reflux, then you know your HCL is low. It can be reversed by continuing to eat greens. Take the HCL for a brief period until your own body starts making more of it on its own. It shouldn't take too long, a few weeks to a month. That is what I did.

I've also read and done this myself, but I ate some red beets and if it shows in your stool/bowel movement then you do have low HCL as Alive & mtnkathy are pointing out!

The redness was there in my movement but I drank mostly greens for 3 weeks and the redness disappeared after testing again.


Why Vegan?
Because I have the most love and admiration for all animals of the earth!!!
a rawvegan hopeful, rawdev4life!!!

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Felix,
>
> Only eat as many greens as you feel comfortable
> with. Greens require more acid in the stomach to
> digest them, and this may exacerbate your
> condition. Most people aren't aware of how long
> you've been suffering from this acid reflux
> condition and the frail state of your digestive
> system.
>
> Do you have an idea of how your body came to be in
> this state?


Bryan, thanks for your concern. I've been dealing with this problem for over a year now. I can only guess as to what caused it. It may have been caused by the stress of my mom getting sick and she was hospitalized from July 2005 to when she died in Feb 2006. I was not on a raw diet at the time.

I don't have an acid reflux problem as other people seem to have. There's nothing refluxing. It's a constant continual burning in the throat where the neck meets the chest and in the upper chest. It may be that the acid is constantly touching the esophagus. The burning is there whether I eat or don't eat, whether I eat food, drink water or do absolutely nothing. I get a bit of relief after I eat sometimes, maybe because the acid stays in the stomach for a while.

Today I started some chiropractic treatments. Hopefully they'll do something.

felix,
your love and devotion to your
parents has been quite touching to me.
i hope the burning resolves for you.
i wish i knew a suggestion, sounds
like youre eating very carefully.
fruitgirl

Felix, acid reflux can affect the upper esophagus. My singing voice was nearly ruined by acid reflux that I didn't know I had. I had burning in my voice box. It never seemed to affect the area just above the stomach. It IS refluxing probably at night when you sleep. The acid flows all the way to the upper parts of the esophagus.

hi felix

my sympathies love, I've had acid reflux and its quite miserable. Mine flared up something fierce during a troubled relationship and the loss of a job...so stress is a huge factor. I had sensations of tightening in the esophagus and the sensation of choking 24/7 and felt generally bad all over.

I too only felt better while eating and immediately after...soon to be followed by more symptoms, so I tended to eat too much during this time for relief. Unfortunately, this happened almost twelve years ago and I dealt with it by using a prescription drug called Nexium, which gave immediate relief and in two perscriptions "cured" the problem and I haven't had symptoms since. But this is not the point of my post.

In the meantime though I've garnered a better understanding of the dis-ease. Although high acid food and non-foods, such as meat, caffeine, sugar and alcohol are major culprits, the fact is that acid reflux is NOT caused by too much stomach acid, but by not enough as those who are recommending HCL are realizing.

What happens is that food is not being properly digested and so begins fermenting in the stomach and it is these acids, fermented food acids, that back up in the esophagus, not digestive acids as people tend to think.

Based on this, my suggestion to you would be to extend your evening fast as long as possible through the morning, so that your stomach has time to "pool" a surplus of digestive acids before you eat anything. Start the morning with fresh lemon juice in either room temperature or warm water (never cold as this tamps digestive juices) and then when hungry have a piece of fruit (a piece of fruit, not 9 pieces of fruit and certainly NOT nine bananas as bananas are notoriously hard for people with this disorder to digest). Then a half hour to an hour after your first bit of fruit, have another piece if you like or need to. The aim is to try to eat lunch no earlier than 1:00 in the afternoon, or between 1:00 and 3:00. By this time you should have a good supply of digestive acids to handle it. Eat alkaline, of course, and if you are eating 100% raw, be sure to chew, chew, chew so that the digestive enzymes in your saliva do a lot of the work first before sending the job down to your stomach. Chunks of fruit or vegetables not chewed properly are not gonna do you any good.

Remember: no matter how "healthy" the food, if you are not digesting it properly its not healthy for you, so chew until you think you can chew no more.

hope this helps! and hope the chiropractor helps too.

Also, don't forget to breathe. Try to stay aware of your breath throughout the day. My hunch is that you hold your breath a lot unconsciously. Breathing will help tremendously to calm your tummy and help you to relax in general and this is very important in healing acid-reflux.

khale

Felix.

could You tell Me what kind of advice do You need?,
Is it hour, by hour menu,
are those reading suggestions,
would You rather feel more comfortable hearing just personal experiences?

and while You are doing some things "right".., or maybe even ALL of them are good.. but IN AN IMPROPER Order..

If You ask: "WHY improper?", than my answer would be:

Just like there is day and night YOU CANNOT do some things at night, or some of them will cause injury to you because of wrong conditions.
Like: RUNNING.
everybody knows it is good to run, but if you do it at night, you can easily run into a tree or some other obstacle, that will RUIN YOUR HEALTH.

SO, similar conditions, and laws, "optimal times to run" ARE set by nature FOR YOUR BODY.

If YOu Will ignore them than an "injury" in a form of disease WILL happen.

There is no one to blame for not telling You what are those, but with right set of mind YOU CAN find them out, or SEE Them Easily on your own.

I'll be brief:
Body naturally occurring conditions for DIGESTION of food ARE DIFFERENT for Different foods, and ARE Different for SLEEP, Different for HIGHLY Demanding Physical Activity, or Intense emotional states.

Brian is right on point with how is your "MIND" condition, since it IS BRAIN , That is using 80% of TOTAL energy "delivered" to our body.

Intense emotional states, as well as thinking IS MORE Demanding from resource standpoint, than ANY Other activity. it May BE, that only HEALING IS MORE Resource hungry Activity, but it is an "Involuntary action" that We DO NOT Control. Our only power in that matter lies in "disturbing natural cycles of healing, digestion, and removing of waste occurring during those activities.

It IS For EVERYONE to NOT BELIEVE ME, And FIND IT OUT on Your own., Read books, experiment, observe nature around You, do some laboratory experiments if You Will,
But here goes what I(as well as many doctors, and people) have found:

1.Body have 2 distinct "Phases":
a) one i s alkaline:phase for removing waste, burning out toxins, AS WELL AS: Digestion and absorbing of ENERGY from foods being in "harmony" with that phase. Those are foods, that not ONLY do not require different environment inside of our body in order to be digested, than CURRENT state(time of day, previously eaten food...) but after process had been finished, conditions, environment being created AFTER digestive process DO NOT NEED to be CHANGED/ rebounced to CORRECT for the time of a day naturally occurring state.
b) is an Acidic phase: One during which naturally occurring conditions allow to digest protein, and fatty foods, AND: during that phase our organism CAD and DOES Rebuild / repair majority of "damage" done during "normal" activities during the day, that no longer are normal, since we eat junk, we think, junk, and so many people around us do that, so we start to be convinced, that IT IS normal state. so we become " "junk" ": sick, nervous, and we start think based on satisfying our WANTS, rather than the NEEDS, or Logical "SHOULD 'S"

Since i got to go// I'll start on what you Might be doing wrong, as for your current conditions, and what I THINK, that You Definitely do NOT in a compliance with nature laws/order, that I've showed above.:.

TIME of a "energy" phase ranges approximately from 5 am, till 12 am.
Acidic, rebuilding/converting phase starts around 12 am, and goes till 6 PM.

From Your "timetable" I Can read, that most likely you have had late night meal the day before, possibly high in proteins, but it could be concentrated dehydrated(low water content foods), that caused Your next day choices to be:
No.1 Water only,(Your body felt no need to eat, since it had "leftovers" from the previous meal"
But also it caused You to "SKIP" the energy phase, and started it at "ACIDIC" phase.
Since You have had no energy Your body asked for it, an You Complied giving Fruit, an easily digestable food, that when eaten at "WRONG" time can become a "disturbing ingredient" in Your nature dictated DIFFERENT environment.
"delaying acidic phase have consequences, of starting it too late to be fully utilized(protein/fat food to be digested and have a whole night recovery sub phase(10 PM till 2 AM,) and rest/alkalizing sub phase (till 4 AM)

That's just beginning.
"correct" from that standpoint should be:
*6-8 am water only, or watery sweet, alkalizing fruit like an apple
*9 am LOTS of sweet food
*12 am last time to east some sweet food, good time to eat some light, neutral fruit/vegetable, like an tomato, or cucumber/ lettuce / salad
*1 pm to 4 pm the later during the day the more vegetables/ higher content fat food You should have ALWAYS REMEMBERING That fatty, high protein foods can sometimes take up to 5 hours to digest(RAW ONLY in proper amount and ideally separated from each other: sweet watery first, low water, acidic as lats, during the meal, AND During the Daily meal plan.
***6PM the LAST Meal of the day should be at 6 PM. This factor alone gives enough time for food to be digested, and for body to "CALM DOWN" before the night.
When eaten mono diet, always recovery IS Faster, than when mixed too many ingredients. I Shall say regardless of what diet one might have, but while it is true, eating highly concentrated foods, like : Bread, Will cause the incredible amount of energy NOT To be digested, therefore POISONING Our body.

Drinking Water 30 minutes before each meal can be a good starting point for observation of Your acid levels. Larger quantities(2 glasses up to 1 Qt. of Water helps to remove excess of acid by diluting it , and when drank HOT , Like a tea, it can help additionally by causing Your body to sweat off the excess acidity through skin, as it does so much more than "JUST" that.

Cheers!

Free, Open source.Healthy
F.E.A.R. is
an acronym that stands for, False Evidence Appearing Real
F.A.I.T.H. - the First Attribute IN Thoughtful
Health

fruitgirl, thanks for your kind words

mtnkathy, thanks for relating your experience

khale, unfortunately after months on Nexium, I stopped using it, as it was doing nothing for me and now hoping to find some other way of dealing with it. The food I'm eating and the way I'm eating should not be causing a problem. If the food was a problem, I would be fine when not eating. But I hope some of your suggestions here will help me beat this awful pain and suffering. If it is not asking too much, based upon your experience and knowledge, could you make me a suggested menu for a day, that would be a wise choice and have sufficient calories for a 5ft 7in 120 lbs man. I would be forever grateful.

Witarianin, there's a lot to "digest" here, will study it closely, as I will leave no stone unturned, as I hope to beat this acidity problem. Thanks!

Witarianin, If I could ask the same question, if it is not asking too much, based upon your experience and knowledge, could you make me a suggested menu for a day, that would be a wise choice and have sufficient calories for a 5ft 7in 120 lbs man. I would be forever grateful.

Thank you all for taking the time to help me.

Felix, what are you eating now? Are you 100% raw? If so it's not really a matter of menu planning per se as it is when you eat what and with what and witanarian already provided good principles for planning that.

Not being a nutritionist or doctor of any sort I can only suggest based on what I've experienced or by what I feel I would do in your shoes.

If I were 100% raw (and even if I wasn't) and suffering severe acid reflux I would lay off solid food for awhile and consume primarily fresh vegetable juices. I'd stay away from acid-ey fruits and maybe even avoid fruit altogether. (I know THAT will get a boo! from the chorus but the purpose is to eat as alkaline as possible) I'd also take therapeutic doses of digestive enzymes and probiotics. (2 digestive enzymes 3 times a day on an EMPTY stomach or a half hour before meals and probiotics according to the directions given on the brand you purchase) I'd also supplement with a quarter cup of aloe vera gel in water, once in the morning and once at night.

I'd also strongly consider taking a magnesium supplement. (I like Peter Gillhams' magnesium "tea" taken as directed)

Keep in mind that these recommendations are only temporary or until you get some relief. Obviously you are not gonna get the calories you need long-term eating this way. But if memory serves even a cucumber will cause major discomfort while acid reflux is flaring up, which indicates to me that the digestive system is just begging for a good ole rest.

Don't forget to "chew" your juice! Mix everything you eat and drink thorougly with saliva enzymes before swallowing.

Let us know how it goes.

khale