The Whole Food Blog

While there is much confusion about pH balance, it is important to understand how alkaline foods and acid foods affect overall health. There are several different ways to measure pH levels, but here we are talking about what happens to foods after they have passed through the digestive system.  Once the nutrients have been turned into energy you are left with either an alkaline ash or acid ash in the bloodstream, depending on whether you consumed alkaline foods or acid foods.

Your body is so efficient that it will not allow the pH balance of your blood to deviate far from 7.4.  This is considered the optimal pH and your body will do whatever is necessary to maintain that balance.  Unfortunately, this means that your body often has to seek out the best possible sources of alkalinity to counteract excess acid in the blood, and that source is usually calcium from your bones.  So, you can begin to see how your body benefits from more alkaline foods to draw upon in order to manage a healthy pH balance.

This is why experts recommend a daily diet consisting of 80% alkaline foods and only 20% acid foods. When there is a lack of alkalinity in the diet to help manage that delicate blood pH balance, then the body has to pull calcium from bones in order to neutralize excess acid in the bloodstream.  This may cause bone weakness as well as other possible challenges to fitness.

It’s not easy to consume an 80/20 ratio of alkaline foods to acid foods every day, but it is possible to at least take steps in that direction.  As you research this topic more, you will find that the benefits of a healthy pH balance are numerous and the dangers of an imbalance are even more so.  To gain a better understanding of how your daily diet affects your alkaline/acid balance, take the Alkaline Food Test for your own personal results.

It’s not always easy to determine what’s really healthy, but online health food stores are now offering greater details on products like health drinks.  As an owner of one such store, we often go to great lengths assuring customers that things like preservatives, isolated vitamins, artificial dyes or sweeteners are not included in our all natural foods and health drinks.

In addition, at our online health food store we have investigated the manufacturing facilities for the products we carry to be certain that they are processed at low temperatures.  This is the extra care that certain manufacturers take to maintain the complete food structures and live enzymes inherent in the whole food ingredients they use.  Unfortunately, some of the so-called health drinks and all natural foods at typical stores are devoid of nutrients because of the high temperatures involved in the packaging processes.  This is one of the major benefits of shopping with an online health food store.  You can know greater details about how your foods and drinks are prepared for you.

Today, some people avoid alternative methods of shopping for health foods and drinks because they fear a loss of modern day conveniences.  Of course, you know that if you can Google, you will easily find an “online health food store with all natural health drinks”.  Then, you will most likely uncover more detailed information on what you are buying than you could ever get from a typical retail store.

It’s as easy as a mouse click to understand how you and your family can live the healthiest life possible without being sold a shopping basket full of fake foods or candy-colored bottled waters.  This is not a passing fad. It’s a long lasting trend that is just beginning to develop as online health food store owners are leading the way for a new generation to discover a smarter way of shopping for truly all natural foods and health drinks.

Live enzymes are often mentioned in discussions about nutrition and whole foods, but what are they, why does anyone need them, and where do you get them?  Enzymes are not vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats or protein, but they are catalysts for the chemical reactions that get those nutrients from whole foods working in the body.  While there are 1,300 different kinds of enzymes that help your body function, the most familiar are digestive enzymes.  Equally important are metabolic enzymes that are critical to burning fat and generating energy.

To understand why live enzymes are an important component of whole foods,  you should understand the definition of enzymes from The Nutrition Almanac-4th Edition (1996 McGraw Hill, Gayla J. Kirschmann and John D. Kirschmann), “The active chemicals in the digestive juices which cause the chemical breakdown of whole foods are called enzymes, combinations of amino acids that are capable of inducing chemical changes in other substances”.

As you search for the best whole foods, keep in mind that live enzymes are not nutrients like vitamins and minerals. They are catalysts, which act as biochemical agents joining two compounds so they can react with each other, while the enzyme itself remains intact.

Their importance cannot be overstated, “In short, virtually nothing happens in the body without the help of enzymes”, says Ellen W. Cutler, co-author of Micro Miracles. To make sure your body is functioning at full potential, experts agree it is a good idea to load up on whole foods that contain live enzymes.

To be certain you are getting the right digestive juices to turn nutrients into energy, search for all natural foods, especially real fruits and vegetables.  Be careful that the foods have not been overly heated.  Raw, whole foods provide the surest way to consume live enzymes.   However, there are some amazing, all natural food concentrates available today that are processed at low temperatures to keep the live enzymes intact.

Feed your body the nutrients it is crying out for, including live enzymes to absorb those whole food nutrients more effectively, and it will perform better for you over the long haul.

Whenever you are feeling an energy slump and want a surefire boost, focus on consuming as many all natural foods and health drinks as you can.  At one time or another, we all become lazy and fall out of the groove of exercising regularly, so if you need a jump-start to get back into healthy habits, try this natural approach.  By adding more “live”, all natural foods to your diet and consuming fewer processed,  “dead” foods, you will begin to feel like a workout is necessary just to burn off all the excess energy.

When you hear the term “live foods” it usually means they contain active, living enzymes.  Often overlooked by the average consumer, these live enzymes are an important component of raw, whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.  They are the “life force” in all natural foods and health drinks made with whole food ingredients.  Different from processed foods and drinks, these energy boosters are not “enhanced” with isolated vitamins and minerals, but instead contain nutrients in their whole food structure.

Your body literally wakes up when you start consuming more whole foods that are closer to their natural state. Enhance your water with health drinks that contain live enzymes and you get an even bigger boost. This works best if you avoid sugary drinks or caffeine, so stay away from those convenience store energy drinks and candy-colored bottled waters.  While they may give you a short-term boost, the inevitable crash will just make it harder to get going again.  Look for health drinks made with whole food ingredients that are carefully formulated to keep those plant enzymes alive and active.

By adding something powerful to your water, like natural health drinks with live enzymes, you are boosting your body’s ability to absorb nutrients.  Those living plant enzymes are the catalysts that speed up the processes allowing your cells to take in vitamins and minerals.  This gives you better hydration and more energy, faster.

The fastest, easiest way to get a boost from all natural foods and health drinks is to try some of the concentrated formulas available today.  Just blend the powder mixes with healthy liquids, and within seconds you are on your way.  If you are buying foods and drinks that have been heated or pasteurized in the packaging and bottling process, then it is more likely that the live enzymes have been destroyed.  Cooking whole foods for too long at high temperatures, or blasting them in a microwave, may destroy the valuable nutrients as well.

This natural approach is one step toward gaining the kind of energy that will help you get out of lazy mode and into a more active state. Everyone needs a boost now and then to find the motivation for reaching new heights of health and fitness.  All natural foods and health drinks with live enzymes may be just the kick-start you need.

While there are numerous characteristics of a healthy body, these three ingredients are essential starting points.  Keep them in mind to maintain youthful energy, avert premature aging and stay healthy for life.

1.  Consume enough alkaline foods and drinks - Experts recommend a ratio of 80% alkaline foods to only 20% acid forming foods for optimal health.  Do you know your daily alkaline/acid consumption?  Take the free Alkaline Food Test to find out.

2.  Stay closer to nature – Choose more all natural foods.  These are considered to be minimally processed and do not contain any artificial ingredients.  All-natural foods are not “enriched” with isolated vitamins and minerals made in a laboratory.  They do not include ingredients such as refined sugars, refined flours, milled grains, hydrogenated oils, chemical preservatives, artificial sweeteners, dyes or, flavorings. Many experts agree that a diet consisting of mostly all-natural foods will give you a better chance of preventing health challenges such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

3. Choose natural health drinks - Avoid those candy-colored sport drinks and vitamin waters that are usually loaded with sugars and high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners and isolated vitamins.  Instead, look for health drinks  made with natural, whole food ingredients such as fruits and herbs.  These will be more alkaline and they will contain real vitamins, not man-made.  Try to find healthy energy drinks with live enzymes as they promote better absorption of the nutrients.  Some powder drink formulas are more likely than bottled liquids to contain live enzymes, as they have not necessarily been heated or pasteurized in the bottling process.

In this era of highly processed foods it’s not always easy to make the most positive nutritional choices.  You have to think carefully about what you are putting in your body every time you open your mouth, and your wallet.  Look beyond the nutrition fact labels to be certain that you are giving yourself the highest quality ingredients for a truly healthy body.

With so many questionable weight loss products on the market, it’s nice to know that you can achieve natural weight loss simply by eating more high fiber foods.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, best selling author and professor of surgery at Columbia University, is featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show frequently.  During one program he talked about achieving natural weight loss with high fiber foods.

The doctor described an experiment where a group of people ate 11 pounds of raw fruits and vegetables for 12 days. The results were astounding as cholesterol levels were reduced 25%, blood pressure fell 10%, and each participant lost about 10 pounds.

Dr. Oz says the positive effects of getting enough high fiber foods will happen “almost immediately.” The fiber can help move things through your system—including toxins—very quickly.  He went on to say, “Bile, when it gets absorbed through the bowel, turns into cholesterol. So when you take a lot of fiber in your diet, you suck the bile out of you, and your cholesterol drops automatically. It also gets rid of sugar, which helps the diabetics. And it’s a great tool if you want to lose weight because it makes you feel full.”

Once again, the link between high fiber foods and natural weight loss is revealed in this experiment. Try it for yourself and see what happens. I have known about the power of high fiber foods since losing 30 pounds in one month seven years ago.  This feat was achieved primarily by changing my diet to more fruits and vegetables.

I made that change and have stuck with it thanks to some help from concentrated high fiber foods.  Fats and toxins were flushed out at a rapid pace with no discomfort or loss of energy. In fact, I developed more energy and better digestion than ever before.

“When you eat this kind of food, you’re sending a very clear message to your brain,” Dr. Oz says. “You’re taking in calories and nutrients. What we normally do in America is we give calories to people without nutrition…The natural colors are gone, and so your brain sits back there and says, ‘Am I still hungry or not?‘”

If eating 11 pounds of fruits and vegetables every day doesn’t sound too appealing, then add some concentrated, all natural, high fiber food formulas to your diet. Make it convenient by searching the Internet for all natural high fiber foods and drinks that are quick and easy to consume.