Chapter 5: Alkalinize Before Exercise
Please begin this chapter by watching this short video (https://www.youtube.com/embed/rolzaqR8yFI):
When many people think about improving their health they think “EXERCISE! I HAVE TO EXERCISE!” They then load up on extra protein foods, or grain-based carbohydrates, or both, and hit the road or the gym for a “good, hard workout.”
So, what happens?
- Digested proteins are acid.
- Digested wheat, etc. is acid.
- Muscles produce acids while running or working out.
- The body goes into a critical state of acidosis and begins to seriously malfunction.
If the people doing this are lucky, their leg and arm muscles will cramp up and stop them from continuing to exercise. For many, however, the muscle that cramps is their heart, and they die.
It is not by accident that the chapters on exercise come after the chapters on alkaline/acid foods and proper food combining.
Before beginning any significant exercise program the body must reach a 4 to 1 alkaline ratio. Then, when your muscles are dumping lactic and pyruvic acid into your veins from burning proteins, carbs and fats, your alkaline reserves kick in to neutralize the acidity and save your life.
It is a dangerous myth that additional protein and/or carbohydrates from grains is beneficial to an athlete. They may appear to be beneficial in the short term. The long-term cost on your health is way too high for any short-term benefits.
Exercise is not the path to good health! Good health enables your body to exercise.
As you progress toward a 4:1 alkaline ratio, some light energizing and relaxing exercises are usually okay for most people. If you eat only proteins and carbohydrates, especially if you smoke and/or drink heavily—first you need to change your ways before you do much more than rise up off the couch and walk to the refrigerator.
Walk ’n’ Breathe
If you are healthy (alkaline) or at least progressing toward health, this simple exercise will give you a tremendous boost of energy plus set you up for deep relaxation at the same time.
NOTE: If doing this makes you feel dizzy or nauseas, stop immediately! It may be prudent to consult a qualified health care professional to determine if there is any reason you should not continue. If not, begin your breathing exercises in a deep chair instead, one at a time, until you are able to do them standing, then walking, without dizziness or nausea.
Begin walking at whatever pace you are comfortable with.
If practical, walk outside in clean, fresh air. If that is not feasible, find a place to walk indoors. If you cannot do that, walk in place as a last resort.
As you walk, inhale for a count of 12, hold it for a count of 12, then exhale for a count of 12. (The speed at which you count should be adjusted to the time that you are comfortable inhaling—the purpose is pacing, not endurance.)
Repeat this 24 times or more.
If walking any appreciable distance is difficult for you, walk away for 13 or 14 of those times, then walk back for 11 or 12 more. You will likely cover more ground on the second set of repetitions because of the added energy from oxygen. If the reverse is true for you, focus more on alkalinization, less on exercise until your reserves are up.
If you have been eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) of mostly protein (meat, poultry, fish, cheese, dairy, nuts, etc.) and grain carbohydrates (bread, pasta, pastries, bagels, etc.) then this may need to be the extent of your exercise program until after weeks of an alkalinizing diet.
A way to tell how you are progressing towards alkalinity is by pH testing your first morning urine. This is an indication of how well your body handled the food that you consumed within the previous 24 hours. This is one of the more accurate indicators of how well your bodily functions are getting on.
Complete in-depth instructions are found in the great book “Your Health Your Choice” by Dr. M. Ted Morter, Jr. See chapter 11, “How To Check Your Level of Health.”
(Review the book at http://wwea.com/aff/morter/)
Briefly, you will need pH paper test strips that register between pH 5.5 and pH 8.0, calibrated in increments of pH 0.2. Also very helpful are:
- a notepad that can be left in the bathroom that you use in the morning,
- a pen or pencil,
- a small, clean container for capturing the urine, and
- a tweezer or small tongs for holding the test strip while dipping.
(Note that the last two items are only needed if you are squeamish about touching urine. If you wash your hands thoroughly after, it isn’t really that big of a deal—in fact, if you have ever entered a public pool, you have been swimming in it …)
After capturing some of the first urine following sleeping five or more hours, dip the pH strip, watch it change color, then compare it to the color chart that came with the pH strips. Identify the pH of the color it most closely matches and record that number with the current date
A way to make the test results more meaningful is by recording the reading that you get after protein-abusing your body for two days. This becomes you “baseline reading.” You would not want to do this often, but most people can tolerate it for two days. In fact, most people already eat this way all the time.
To prepare for this baseline test, shun all alkaline foods for two days. Eat only foods like steak, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fish, eggs, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, milk, roast beef, dinner rolls, sausage, oysters, scallops, etc. Then, on the morning of the third day (if you can get out of bed) record the pH of your first urine following at least three uninterrupted hours of sleep.
Eating only those foods may cause so much discomfort that you need to pee at 2:00-ish in the morning. Be fully prepared to capture, test and record the pH so that your inclination to get back to sleep doesn’t prevent you from completing the test.
Now, odd as it may seem, the pH of a healthy person with adequate alkaline mineral reserves will have highly acidic results—in the range of pH 5.5 to 5.8. This is an indication that the body has responded adequately to the excessive protein intake without hitting the panic button.
An indicate between 6.0 and 6.6 indicates that your reserves were somewhat depleted, but only minor emergency procedures had to be taken.
An indication of 6.8 or higher says that the body had to go into “CODE RED” emergency procedures to find alkalinity to sustain life. This may have come from the bones, or from the functional reserves in organs, to keep the body alive until more alkaline minerals were available.
Note that if you have been eating mostly low protein foods—fruits and vegetables—then your urine will have a high pH naturally. This is a good indication. It is when you have been protein loading that it should go low.
To fully understand all this, refer to Dr. Morter’s book “Your Health Your Choice.” Please note, however, if you consistently consume mostly alkaline-ash producing foods, there is little or no need to do any tests. There is no test of any kind that makes you healthier. Wise choices and follow-up action are what make you healthier.
(P.S. If you wish to have natural health knowledge that goes far beyond the scope of this book on basics, check out Dr. Morter’s book at http://wwea.com/aff/morter/. The good news is that it is now available in a Kindle version, so we can easily carry it with us everywhere we go.)
