The pH has it!

It's cold wet and dreary here in the Northeast today.  I'm not feeling all that great either.   I can't figure out if it's a healing crisis or a hormonal issue.  It's probably a combination of both.

Anyway, I was reading one of my juicing books earlier and it was talking about how our bodies, all of our organs down to the cellular level, function best when their internal pH is alkaline.  Check the research.

So what is an alkaline environment?  Well, if you ever took a science class you probably had to learn about acids and bases. Acids are obviously acidic and bases are alkaline. The scale for acids and bases is measured on the pH scale.

I won't get into the whole science behind it, but the human body functions best when around the neutral pH of 7-8.  When we eat a mostly plant based diet, our body becomes more alkaline which in turn gives our organs and cells the optimal environment to live in.  When we eat meat and diary, the opposite occurs.

As you can see from the chart (courtesy of kangensui.us), it's processed food, meat and dairy that will cause the body to be more acidic and prone to a variety of diseases like cancer and heart failure.

So that's what I got for ya today. Keep it fresh, keep it raw, keep it juicy!

Juices of the Day

Cucumber Squash

1 Cucumber

1 Yellow Squash

1 Small Apple

1 Lime

5 Bok Choi stalks

Handful of Chickory

Orange Radish

1 Orange

2 Small Apples

1 Dongchimi Radish

4 Carrots

1 2 inch piece of Ginger

Oh No! A Healing Crisis

Today is Day 6 of my juice cleanse.  I felt good this morning, but now I have a headache. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm not going to quit my fast or anything, but I am going to take it easy for the rest of the day.

On a cleanse like this, what I am experiencing is normal.  It's called a healing crisis.  My body is pulling fat, toxic fat, from my body for fuel which also released a bunch of toxins from the fat into my body.  Now those toxins are being dumped into my bloodstream and my body is struggling to keep up with them which is why I have the headache.  I read about this in a few of my books and what I learned is that this is totally normal.  In fact, I totally expected it.  I just didn't know when it was going to happen or what symptoms I would have. 

So what are the symptoms of a healing crisis and how to you alleviate the symptoms?

From my understanding, when you have a healing crisis you may have a headache, body aches, sore throat, acne, itchy skin, constipation, diarrhoea, tiredness, lethargy, or a runny nose.  Thee are other symptoms, but the ones I listed are the most common.

To help your body out when you have a healing crisis, you should rest. It's the best thing to help the body repair itself.  It's like when you are sick and the Dr. prescribes REST as part of your healing plan.  So when I am done with this blog, I will hang up my work hat and lie down to take a nap.

Another thing that helps with a healing crisis is to drink more juice and water.  I will definitely be drinking more water later before and after my nap.

So that's where I am at today.  A little tired and having a bit of a headache, but I'm still juicing it up. 

Juice on, juicy fruits :)

Oh and here is today's video.