Are there foods you eat every day for health reasons?

[Jenise]

Frank, I'm now 3000 miles away from that book (aloha!) but it has one of those titles that seem to be de rigeur for health food store sales...The Ph Miracle or something like that. Can't remember his name. Do know that I'm not a follower--I read the book, tried one thing and found it made sense to continue that one thing, but that's it. Alkalinity is his religion and he carries it to a religious extreme--plus, he has a spa or something so there's a promotion angle. He's a vegan, but his shtick is pro-alkaline vegan as a cancer cure--he even calls himself (prepare to roll your eyes) an Alkatarian, or something like that.

Jenise, could he be Robert O. Young, The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044669049X

I got a review copy a while back, but haven't read it yet.

Bob

I didn't go to Med School... well, I -did- go to Med School but it was for a PhD. At any rate, I learned about blood buffers there, kind of a thorny thing that med students need to study. It is absolutely true that your blood pH ought to be around 7.4. It is not true that any food or drink you ingest will be likely to shift that pH. Carbon dioxide can, that is why you can pass out from breathing too much CO2. It is also true that your blood has to have a certain amount of that "acidifying" sugar in it for you to stay alive and conscious. I think it is all way more complicated than these people are claiming, and they are over-simplifying often in hopes of selling things. I found a lot online, including $6000 machines to make your drinking water safely "alkaline."

At any rate Jenise I understand that you are just saying you drink lemon water and you like the effect it has on you. Nothing whatever wrong with that. I am glad it works for you. And I'm glad you didn't take anything more away from the book than that...

http://www.apswater.com/article.asp?id= ... s_Nonsense

Page below has an interesting (voice) podcast embedded

http://www.apswater.com/article.asp?id= ... le_Science.

Frank, Joe (and Jenise),
What Jenise is talking about is not modification of blood pH, but modification of the acid balance in the stomach, a very different thing. If she was taking Prilosec, she was trying to reduce acid secretions in the stomach, which are under histamine H2 receptor regulation. Whether there's anything in lemon juice that might have an antihistamine activity, I have no idea, but as Joe said it would be modifiying stomach pH by an indirect, rather than a direct, mechanism.

Mark Lipton

p.s. Bob Ross!! It's great to see you posting here again.

p.s. Bob Ross!! It's great to see you posting here again.

Thanks, Mark, it's great to be back in action. Regards, Bob

Mark,

If the 'PhD microbiologist' in question is indeed Robert O. Young, he is claiming the source of all sickness is an over-acidificaton of the blood, which is clearly daft.
It should be noted that the PhD in question is from what is described in wikipedia as 'a now defunct unaccredited distance learning school', the famous Clayton College of Natural Health. A cursory look round the web shows he certainly seems to have a following, though.

Mark, while you are correct that ideas about food changing the pH of blood are loony, Joe's reply is correct, that is exactly where this guy is coming from. Nothing about stomach acidity in his theory. Obviously that is what Prilosec does.

Is this "Clayton College" in Denver? I have a good reason for asking...

Mark, while you are correct that ideas about food changing the pH of blood are loony, Joe's reply is correct, that is exactly where this guy is coming from. Nothing about stomach acidity in his theory. Obviously that is what Prilosec does.

Is this "Clayton College" in Denver? I have a good reason for asking...

It is in Birmingham, AL. Wish I did my PhD at a correspondence school - could have avoided all those late nights in the lab!

Joe and Frank ("We three PhDs of [Bio]Chemistry are...")
I understand your concerns about the messenger, but on the larger issue of whether lemon water could eliminate the need for antacids, I see the possibility regardless of the rationale being provided. There is a long history of therapies being discovered for completely mistaken reasons, whether it's the use of salicylic acid as an antipyretic or the use of acupuncture for pain reduction.

Mark Lipton

There was a place in Denver known as "Clayton College" -- and my dad spent time there (it was not a college in the usual sense of the word).

CCNH, now out of business, had the real disadvantage of a complete lack of accreditation -- so that if you obtained a degree as, say, a nutritionist, you could not actually get a job doing that in any of the 50 states. And if you did so, fraudulently (by claiming to have gone somewhere else) there were thousands of dollars in fines and maybe jail time awaiting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Co ... ral_Health

Mark, the Berg/Stryer Biochemistry textbook that I use has a chapter on drug design, and that chapter has a section on "Serendipity." Serendipity can be a factor in any area of science but I think its importance in finding new drugs has been unusually prominent.

Mark, the Berg/Stryer Biochemistry textbook that I use has a chapter on drug design, and that chapter has a section on "Serendipity." Serendipity can be a factor in any area of science but I think its importance in finding new drugs has been unusually prominent.

Lubert Stryer is da Man, Frank. I've always liked his textbook (with a secondary nod to Lehninger), probably because it's the most "chemical" of the major biochem texts, but also because I used to follow his research articles. Anyway, I'll have to locate a recent version of the text and look up that chapter.

Mark Lipton

Mark, there is a new 7th edition of the "Stryer" text -- and if you do buy it be sure to also buy a copy of the "Student Companion"

[Jenise]

Jenise, could he be Robert O. Young, The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044669049X

I got a review copy a while back, but haven't read it yet.

Bob

That's the one, Bob.

Speaking of his followers, one of them turns out to be the sister-in-law of a seriously good friend of mine (discovered since I read this book at a different friend's home). That SIL is herself a doctor (chiropractor, as is the brother/my friend's husband) who had stage IV breast cancer -- and claims to have reversed it clean out of sight by following this guy's diet (which included buying one of those $6000 water purifiers ). But she also lives in Sedona, Arizona, in a house full of crystals. Meaning: I never know what to make of such people. Obviously intelligent and well-educated, but a bit "out there". I always come back to thinking something along the lines of, "If this really works, why aren't we seeing it on CNN?" Doesn't seem probable that the news would be confined to a relatively small cadre of the faithful.

[Jenise]

Interesting question, Jenise -- I seem to have become a sort of health nut on foods these days. In part it is the result of habit -- we ate a fairly restricted diet for several years while I did most of our cooking -- and now that I'm cooking for one, my diet is even more restricted.

No other oils of any kind, no dairy, no sweets -- only black or blue berries once a day.

As a result, lots of soups, stews and souffles. Roasting without oil on parchment paper has become my "standard".

Wow, NO oil? Even Agatson allows some sensible uses, I know you were following that for awhile. The fruit restriction really surprises me though--at least now that (I presume) weight loss isn't one of your goals. Don't mean to pry, but is this a particularly severe cardiology program or are you dealing with another health issue, like diabetes?

Wow, NO oil? Even Agatson allows some sensible uses, I know you were following that for awhile. The fruit restriction really surprises me though--at least now that (I presume) weight loss isn't one of your goals. Don't mean to pry, but is this a particularly severe cardiology program or are you dealing with another health issue, like diabetes?

I followed Agatson for a long time with success, but started to read and listen to Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., a clinician at the Cleveland Institute, and have moved over to his approach. (In a sense, it's almost the same as Agatson Phase 1 approach, which even Agatston himself seems to follow in major part.) I've been considering starting to post a few of my adventures on that journey -- my cardiac results have improved incredibly over the past two years, although stress from the caregiving caused a bit of weight gain.

The fruit was my own discovery under Agatson -- except for berries every morning, I found that the sweetness of fruit made me as addicted to sugar as ice cream, for example. Under Agatson, I added a second serving of fruits and berries and almost immediately developed that craving with great force.

One a day -- and there are no cravings for sweets -- even when I have tomatoes amazingly enough.

Regards, Bob

PS: welcome back. I've sent you a PM about your trip east this fall. B

Regards, Bob

[Jenise]

Bob, you're forgiven on the weight gain. You didn't have much else to comfort you, and food is SOOOO good at that. Believe me, I know it too well. Haven't heard of Esselstyn, but I understand what Agatson Phase I is all about. That's about how we're living these days too--neither of us had super-high cholesterol but it was time to put some effort into lowering the numbers. Pretty boring, though I'm starting to get interested in the challenge of finding a way to be less bored, like tonight's lamb/mushroom/oats meatloaf.

Would LOVE to hear more about your improved results if you'd like to share. You've been through and learned a lot, I know, that many would find useful and encouraging.

I smiled at your fruit issues. You are REALLY sensitive. I don't have any issues with fruit, but have your identical problem where carbs are concerned. It's just easier to do without than accept, or struggle with to put it more accurately, meager half cup limitations. The cravings are madness.

I'll check for that other message.

I eat a banana everyday. I don't like the usual commercial variety of banana, but I eat them for potassium, zinc and fiber.

I do like the off varieties of banana that are hard to find in stores. The red bananas, apple bananas, etc. We used to have a local grower of many such varietals, just down the coast from Carpenteria. They went out of business about 10 years ago.

Would LOVE to hear more about your improved results if you'd like to share. You've been through and learned a lot, I know, that many would find useful and encouraging.

Jenise, I'll start another thread discussing the approach and giving examples of the meals I'm eating now. Folks tend to find it kind of nutso, and I did at first, but there is a librarian in Chicago who buys into it all and has the medical support to back it up.

More anon.

Bob

[Jenise]

Six almonds.

Why only six?

Seven is a fatal overdose. And, five, ha! Well, five have no effect. A waste of good chewing.

[Jenise]

Would LOVE to hear more about your improved results if you'd like to share. You've been through and learned a lot, I know, that many would find useful and encouraging.

Jenise, I'll start another thread discussing the approach and giving examples of the meals I'm eating now. Folks tend to find it kind of nutso, and I did at first, but there is a librarian in Chicago who buys into it all and has the medical support to back it up.

More anon.

Bob

Listen, everyone who knows me and the changes I've made thinks I'm nutso too these days. And I'm completely okay with that--a lot of those people have problems as serious as mine or worse but they aren't reading the books or making half the changes they should because that would be so unfun and inconvenient. Their choice. I choose differently, and on Friday after looking over my progress so far my doctor called me his "star patient" for seeking out and going down "the hardest road possible" where most look for the easiest if they look at all. So: I'm all ears. Will look forward to your thread.

[Jenise]

Seven is a fatal overdose. And, five, ha! Well, five have no effect. A waste of good chewing.

Jeff, go sit in your corner.

Seven is a fatal overdose. And, five, ha! Well, five have no effect. A waste of good chewing.

Jeff, go sit in your corner.

I only have 2 almonds, 3 pignoli and a filbert. It won't do any good.

[Jenise]

I eat a banana everyday. I don't like the usual commercial variety of banana, but I eat them for potassium, zinc and fiber.

I do like the off varieties of banana that are hard to find in stores. The red bananas, apple bananas, etc. We used to have a local grower of many such varietals, just down the coast from Carpenteria. They went out of business about 10 years ago.

Banana Bob! I remember him well, rarely drove past without stopping. He introduced me to many varieties but especially the apple banana, which I now live on when we visit Hawaii. Never see them here. Do you grow bananas at home? They're such fantastic looking plants.