Tell that to Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D., author of A Race for Life (ISBN: 0-9604190-2-0), or to professional Ironman Triathlete Brendan Brazier, author of Thrive: A Guide to Optimal Health and Performance Through Plant-Based Whole Foods (www.brendanbrazier.com, www.vegsource.com/heidrich), or to raw vegan bodybuilder Stephen Arlin, author of Raw Power (www.RawFood.com). On a diet of 100% raw plant foods for many years, Arlin weighs in at 240 lbs. of solid muscle. Caveatemptor: Arlin promotes a high salt, high fat raw diet, not advised here.
Further vegan athletes: Olympian Carl Lewis, strength trainer Mike Mahler, bodybuilder Robert Cheeke, ultimate fighter Mac Danzig, ultramarathoner Scott Jurek, Minnesota Twins pitcher Pat Neshek, Atlanta Hawks guard Salim Stoudamire, and Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Tony Gonzalez.
Okay, I don’t have much fat on me, so I look thin, but I’m wiry, with sufficient dense, compact, if not big, muscles. If I lifted gradually heavier weights, I’d build up larger muscles. I mainly walk for exercise, at least half an hour each day. Like Arlin, I “hardly ever” get sick.
One reason vegan athletes may endure longer is that the circulatory system may tend to become more flexible after forgoing animal products, so that it can deliver oxygen and nutrients, and sweep out waste products, at a faster rate.
Veygan, vaygan, vedgjan, or veegan? Veygan reminds me of the green bugs from the star Vega. Vaygan reminds me of wagon (when pronounced with a Veygan accent), “vedgjan” of a vegetable. Veegan sounds more vibrant. People tell me I look Veygan, but I swear I’m veegan.
Acid-alkali balance
It’s extremely important and beneficial to maintain one’s blood slightly more alkaline within the alkaline “survivable” range. (Measurement via the urine is discussed below). If the blood is often close to the end of the healthy range toward a less alkaline, more acidotic “bath”, one’s cell walls, arteries, veins, capillaries, and organs corrode and degenerate in a less alkaline, more acidotic, sub-optimal pH bath as surely as acid erodes marble. Most of the degenerative disorders, and premature aging (failing memory and eyesight) plaguing Americans are correlated with such less alkaline, more acidotic blood among other factors. Among many other disorders, heartbeat arrhythmia, blood clots, gallstones, and duodenal ulcers may worsen due to such blood.
When the body is less alkaline, more towards the acidotic, cellular voltage differentials become sub-optimal. Here’s what I mean by that: alkalinity is measured in terms of pH, or potential of H+ ions. “Potential” is the same as saying “voltage”. The body’s voltages depend on the concentration of H+ as well as other ions. The fluid within cells, the cytoplasm, the nucleus and organelles such as the mitochondria, even the membranes of the mitochondria, all vary slightly in their voltages. The mitochondria are where almost all the energy gets generated; they’re the powerhouses of cells, so optimizing their voltages is critical for vibrancy and especially for a robust immune system.
Electrogenic pumps in the cell membranes pump excess H+ ions with their positive charges out of cells to maintain the cytoplasm within healthy cells at a voltage slightly more negative than the intercellular matrix. When the body is more towards the acidotic, the concentration of H+ outside of cells in the intercellular matrix increases, partially clogging the exits of the electrogenic pumps in the cell membranes that are trying to pump excess H+ out of cells against this higher H+ concentration. (Since the increase in H+ in the intercellular matrix is balanced by an increase in negative ions, the voltage of the intercellular matrix remains the same.) This clogging of the exits of the electrogenic pumps slows their pumping rate, allowing the concentration of H+ inside of cells to increase, diminishing the difference in voltage between the cytoplasm within cells and the intercellular matrix, in turn diminishing the functionality of the cell.
When the body is more towards the acidotic, the differences in pH are much more difficult to maintain at the optimal levels. Secondary mechanisms that use other ions are needed to maintain differences in voltage. If cellular voltage differentials become sub-optimal, the rapidity with which cells and tissues respond to challenges by pathogenic organisms decreases drastically. The immune system gets weaker while infectious organisms thrive in a slightly less alkaline ambient, especially candida yeast. Cells also become more vulnerable to free radicals that degrade membranes. And toxic metabolic byproducts accumulate since active transport becomes more sluggish with sub-optimal voltage differentials.
Technically the blood is always alkaline, very close to pH 7.4. (The range is 7.35 to 7.45.) If it were ever acidic or even a little more acidotic than pH 7.35, the body would die very quickly. In this book “acidotic” is the term used to connote blood that is slightly less alkaline within the alkaline survivable range than is optimal for long term healthy survival. The definition of acidotic is “having or being characterized by acidosis, with blood and other body tissues with abnormally low alkalinity, with an excess hydrogen-ion concentration. The usage of the phrase “acidic blood” is technically incorrect, since the blood is always alkaline for survival.
Examples of relevant disorders include starvation acidosis or “ketoacidosis” as in that resulting from the Atkins diet, acidosis in which the excess hydrogen-ion concentration results from lack of carbohydrates which leads to fat catabolism, usage of fat for fuel, which in turn releases acidic ketone bodies. Another example is diabetic acidosis, again ketoacidosis, acidosis with an accumulation of ketone bodies, occurring primarily in diabetes mellitus. A further example is metabolic acidosis, acidosis with excess bicarbonate concentration in the body fluids resulting either from the accumulation of acids during metabolic processes or the abnormal loss of bases from the body, as in diarrhea or renal disease. Yet another example is carbon dioxide acidosis, or respiratory acidosis, acidosis resulting from reduced gas exchange in the lungs, as in emphysema or pneumonia; excess carbon dioxide combines with water to form carbonic acid which reduces the alkalinity of the blood. Certainly maintaining the blood at a healthy alkalinity is critical for optimal health!
A less alkaline, slightly acidotic body tends to deactivate the enzyme that aids in the production of vitamin D, a natural inhibitor of cancer cells. Many bacteria also thrive in a slightly acidotic host, but are inhibited in a slightly more alkaline environment. Conversely, one’s immune system is inhibited when less alkaline, slightly acidotic, but becomes more robust when slightly more alkaline. Thus one plays double jeopardy with infectious disorders when slightly acidotic. (Anecdotally, odorizing bacteria in the skin seem to be less potent when one is slightly more alkaline. Other factors could account for that difference, for example less secretion of oils on a dairy-free diet.)
The symptoms and duration of an infectious illness can possibly be reduced by maintaining one’s blood and tissues slightly more alkaline within the healthy range, thereby reducing the activity of microorganisms and boosting one’s immune system. (Please see “Curing the common cold and other acute infections, flu”.)
Anecdotally, viral colds don’t even seem to start before they’re gone when tissues are slightly more alkaline. In other words symptoms are minimal. Purely speculatively, possibly many other types of virus including HIV also reproduce less rapidly when tissues are slightly more alkaline. If HIV viral reproduction is slowed, surviving immune cells may need to destroy fewer of their infected brothers, possibly enabling liberation from the anti-HIV medications with their debilitating and dangerous side-effects.
An acidic diet can lead to yeast poisoning (mycosis) as well as candida, since yeast thrives in slightly acidotic blood and tissues. Not only does yeast cause gas and deposit toxins in the digestive tract, but also invades the blood stream and tissues. Many degenerative disorders could result from such poisoning. The reproduction rate of yeast increases with slightly lowering alkalinity.
Acid made by the cells as they function is ultimately exhaled, as are byproducts of most organic acids in foods such as lemons. An exception is cranberry acid, which is eliminated by the kidneys. One may want to minimize sparkling and carbonated water, since the bicarbonate ultimately increases the acidic load to be exhaled. Harmful phosphoric acid is added to soft drinks to keep the bubbles from going flat as rapidly.
Since one moves less air in and out of the lungs during the night’s rest, less acid-forming carbon dioxide gets exhaled. Also a substantial fraction if not most digestive activity occurs overnight. Excessive acid ash, mainly from proteins in food, can overburden the kidneys, causing uric acid to be stored in joints overnight rather than eliminated, with consequent morning stiffness that loosens up during the day. One’s tissues may be least alkaline before one first gets out of bed in the morning.
The SAD diet often supplies at least twice the RDA of protein. RDAs are set to cover the needs of 97% of the population, not the average need. The animal flesh and dairy portion of this intake can go to waste, since excess protein is merely metabolized for energy and eliminated.
Damage due to such excess protein includes overloading the kidneys with byproducts, making the blood slightly acidotic with the metabolic product sulfuric acid (sulfate), and consequent leaching of calcium from the bones in an attempt to reestablish equilibrium. (Skeletons in primitive organisms may have originated from the need to store calcium compounds for usage in maintaining pH equilibrium [acid-alkali balance]. Our own bodies respond very rapidly to acidity naturally by removing calcium from the bones to utilize calcium’s alkalizing property.)
In people over 40 years old this leaching of calcium is not reversible by supplementation of calcium and magnesium, merely minimized. Adequate calcium and magnesium are important to minimize bone loss. Adequate quantities can be found in a diet rich in a variety of whole plant foods. Excess calcium contributes to arthritis and atherosclerosis, as well as kidney stones. Medications with hazardous side-effects can induce increases in bone density. Without medications, regular weight-bearing exercise can increase bone mass. Exercise that promotes flexibility appears to reduce the risk of bone fracture and falling.
The usual SAD diet may not support a high level of activity since the body needs to expend so much energy defending itself against foods consumed. The resultant chronic lethargy or periodic crashing may signal developing disorders.
During detoxification endogenous toxins built up during years on the SAD diet diffuse from the tissues into the blood. These toxins can make the blood less alkaline, more acidic, than might be reflected by the acidity of the urine, while the liver and kidneys labor to eliminate the toxins. One may crave the old foods from the SAD diet with the intuition that it may slow detoxification by reintroducing dietary poisons into the blood. For one’s longer term health, one may wish to continue undergoing the rigors of detoxification with a healing diet, at least step-by-step in a transition to a healing diet. Beware: even after the transition, one’s nose tries to mislead one back to the old foods. “The nose knows” not!
The chlorophyll in greens helps make the blood more alkaline, balancing sugary foods that tend to make the blood more acidic.
Six listings of alkali-forming and acid-forming foods were found by searching the web briefly. (Please see Appendices for the listings.) The listings are a little contradictory. [Notes regarding these contradictions have been made in brackets.] The reason for such contradictions may be that many foods leave ash, after metabolization and ultimately oxidation, that is only slightly acidic or alkaline. For example, carob is listed as acid-forming by one group, and alkali-forming by another. Also, unsweetened plums and prunes may leave slightly acidic ash, but almost all other ripe fruits leave alkaline ash.
Several sources recommend consumption of 20% to 30% maximum of calories from acid-forming foods. For example, for an intake of 1800 calories one could consume from 360 to 540 calories of acid-forming foods, 360 being the calorie content of 1.6 cups of boiled lentils.
However, extensive personal testing before going vegan has shown me anecdotally that the acid contribution by even minimal consumption of animal products may be greater than the effects of other foods, except the metabolic acidity of alcohol, coffee (even decaf) and black tea. Over-emphasizing grains or seitan (concentrated wheat gluten protein) can also acidify blood over time. Root veggies alkalize.
Green tea is less acidic than coffee or black tea since it contains less caffeine. Green tea also contains more phytonutrients than coffee or black tea. With mint green tea tastes sweet without other sweetener (Moroccan Mint Green Tea by Choice).
If one is usually slightly acidotic, consuming large quantities of highly acidic ash food or liquid challenges the body to avoid a possibly life-threatening acidotic crisis by drawing from precious stores of buffering and alkalizing minerals such as those in the bones. During this near-crisis, one may feel “wired” and stimulated, but at the price of crashing from exhaustion soon afterward. For those challenged with debilitating disorders, initiating a high animal products diet may make the person feel revived due to this acidotic crisis avoidance effect, but with the possible consequence of depleting the body’s ability to meet the challenge of the disorder, with severe near term worsening of the disorder, and consequent debilitation. As the precious stores of alkalizing minerals get used up avoiding an acidotic crisis, they are no longer available for other urgent, but not as immediately life-threatening, jobs. Such habitual stimulation through near-crisis can greatly increase one’s chance of ultimately suffering from debilitating degenerative disorders.
Bodybuilders beware: Consumption of large amounts of protein of any kind can cause overly corrosive blood and osteoporosis. Excess protein does not support a high level of activity, rather carbohydrates are needed for activity. Many experts maintain that the RDA for protein is too high. Almost all other governments set a lower RDA than ours.
Urine pH varies greatly around the level of blood pH since urine is downstream from the blood. Readings of urine pH depend on many factors such as dehydration. However, if effects that tend to make urine pH extreme are minimal, it can correlate coarsely to whether the blood pH is toward the more acidotic end of its narrow range, or toward the more alkaline end.
Although urine pH is only a coarse measure downstream from the processes in the tissues, to optimize one’s health one could try for neutral (pH 7.0) to slightly alkaline (pH 7.2) within the range of urine pH 6.5 to 7.5. [As pH decreases, acidity increases; as pH increases, acidity decreases while alkalinity increases.] A large part of the body’s digestive “housecleaning” occurs overnight, so the first elimination of the morning may tend toward the acidic. Therefore it’s worthwhile testing at that time and at several other times throughout 24 hours, for several days. (A range of urine pH 6.3 in the morning to 7.2 later is recommended in Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens ISBN 1-55643-285-2.) Urine may become slightly less acidic after eating because of increased secretion of HCl into the stomach causing a post-prandial alkaline tide in the rest of the body.
If one’s pH is usually above 7.5, the body may be overcompensating for a burden of acidic ash and exhaustion of stores of alkalizing minerals by flooding itself with the buffering alkalizer ammonia. Multiple severe health challenges may arise if this occurs often.
Alternatively, if one is eating almost all alkaline-ash foods (more than 80%), one’s pH can possibly become overly alkaline, a condition caustic to the body. Symptoms of excessive alkalinity (alkalosis) include hypersensitivity and even muscle spasms if one maintains urine pH higher than 7.8 for very long (pg.259, Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens ISBN 1-55643-285-2). While I’ve experienced hypersensitivity, I’ve not experienced muscle spasms, even with pH at 8.0 for several hours. Eating onion with meals seems to bring my pH down for hours, although they leave an alkali ash, as do citrus fruits such as lemon, so that the longer term effect may make pH higher. Acid ash foods are listed in the Appendices (“Appendices: Acid-Alkali Balance”).
Diminished renal (kidney) function may lower the body’s ability to maintain homeostasis after eating mainly acid- or alkaline-ash foods.
If one’s pH is usually below 6.5 or above 7.5, one is usually too acidic or alkaline, and thus more susceptible to developing one or more degenerative disorders (pH Your Potential for Health by M.T. Morter ISBN 0-944994-14-8 at 800-874-1478; www.Morter.com).
Test strips for the pH of tap water aren’t accurate for urine. The most accurate and cheapest urine pH test strips that I’ve encountered are those from Micro Essential Laboratory (718-338 3618, www.microessentiallab.com), with the product named “pHydrion 067 Urine and Saliva pH 5-8”. The pHydrion strips are also available from a distributor along with an explanatory booklet “Home Test pH Kit” by New Page Productions (630-355-7746). For comparison of results, Vaxa offers a useful product on plastic strips instead of a paper coil, but a manual step in manufacture results in uneven quality, deposition of reactant, and color development. Vaxa’s website offers information on the subject (www.vaxa.com). A local pharmacy or health store may stock urine pH test strips.
