Immunity - Keeping Yourself for the Future

Did you know that we have our own personal electrical grid?  Many bodily functions are carried out through electro-chemical processes.  Of course, these processes are done without our conscious knowing about them.  BUT, we have to provide the "tools" in the form of food, vitamins, amino acids and minerals in order to get that job done.  Without the full spectrum of nutrients our personal electrical grid misfires.  So in a very condensed version of science, when our bodies begin to malfunction, it could very well be a sign that we are missing something in the nourishment department.  Quite often, especially in the early stages of discovering that we're not at 100%, finding the deficiency in our diet can bring our bodies back into balance. 


Back to the electric part.  Certain parts of our body function at specific pH levels.  This means that there is an electrical charge or pH level required to initiate that function.  Whether it's exchanging the oxygen for carbon dioxide in our lungs, triggering the release of bile from the liver for food breakdown, passing information via the brain, or absorbing the nutrients from food particles at specific places along our digestive tract; our bodies rely on the electrical charges needed to make those things happen.  Keeping our food intake at the proper electrical levels (pH) is going to be really important. 

What exactly does that mean?  Generally it means that you want to eat foods that measure between alkaline or near neutral pH on the food scale.  Another word for that is Anti-inflammatory; in other words foods, that do not cause inflammation to your digestive tract or other organs as a result of eating them.  Sounds complicated?   It doesn't have to be.
Whenever you make a lifestyle change like this one, you need to start with a few principles and build as you learn along the way.  This cannot be accomplished overnight, but the more you can understand what your anti-inflammatory foods are, the faster and better you can build the road to better health.

Here are a few principles to get you started:  And above all be kind and graceful to yourself! Realize it takes time and patience to learn new skills. You will fall down at times, but you will begin to gain confidence and have success.

.  Get an anti-inflammatory food list that will give you the general low, moderate, neutral and high pH levels and start using that to combine and make your meals.  We have those here at Healing Leaves Center and you are welcome to email Cathy at thrushsong60@gmail.com to have one sent to you.  You get also get a large amount of information and recipes at a site www.liveenergized.com   He has lists, recipes and articles all focused on alkaline eating.

.  Make sure your digestive tract is healthy and digesting your food properly.  If not, you may need to begin by using probiotics to help get the proper flora into your digestive tract and enzymes to ensure that you are breaking your food down into small absorbable particles.
.  Get a couple of good resources in the form of cookbooks or professional overviews of the principles of proper food combining.  (we are starting a resource book list later in this newsletter)

 .  Work with a nutritional consultant/coach who can help you get good foundational food building blocks to form the center of your digestive habits.  (Cathy is a nutritional consultant and can help you one-on-one if you want to email for an appointment)

.   Take a class with an experienced teacher.  It may be just the thing to jump start your understanding and your motivation. (We will be offering an introductory video class on March 30th and a couple of other topics in the next few months.  Check the class listings in the newsletter)

.  Stay well hydrated with good water to keep all those electrical charges functioning like a well working battery.  Add slices of citrus, fruit, cucumbers, herbs like mint or infuse your favorite iced tea to keep the flavors interesting.  Drinking water does not need to be boring.  Water dense fruits like watermelon or veggies like cucumbers are great to add to your newfound habits. 

Keep moving no matter what age you are, but especially if you are over 50.  Even if it is just walking, movement keeps muscles toned, bones dense and those electrical charges stimulated and moving, thus activating their activity.

Check your spiritual pulse.  Especially in this covid season where we are restricted more than usual, we are seeing more cases of anxiety and panic attacks.  Any kind of stress can also help to short circuit our personal power grid.  It is important to find a creative outlet that brings a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to our daily lives.  Everyone's is different, nonetheless important. Prayer with follow through can often be a good outlet; or meditating on a scripture like Jude 1:21  "Keep yourselves in God's love"  Fear is a spiritual enemy that can sidetrack your health plans by making your body inflammatory.  Hormones and nerve responses can be interrupted by the stress of fear.  Let's turn off this negative emotion and begin taking action to maintain a personal electrical grid that fights existing disease and any new ones that we'll see in the future. 

The idea of "keeping ourselves" brings us back to establishing alkalinity to sustain our immunity for the long haul.  Many of us opting out of vaccinations, are learning to make our immune systems stronger against viruses and other disease problems.  Focus on creating good tasting, alkaline meals and recipes; watching for dietary deficiencies, and supplementing with vitamins, minerals and herbs; and stay away from sugars and additives that counteract our goals.  No one can make us do this, we have to take that responsibility into our own hands.  No one knows how you feel better than you do.  Once you have committed to a vision of better health maintenance and increased energy, nothing can stop you.  A little help from your friends may be in order, but you're steering the ship.  Don't stop looking until you find the answers.

We have a great future ahead of us - keep yourselves - find a way to establish your immunity!


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How To Take Your pH
You can often tell that you're eating right because you begin to feel an increase in your energy.  That said, it is good to have some kind of a measurement as you go along as to how well you are doing.  Your pH will give you a good idea where you are in establishing an alkaline system.


You should be able to get pH strips in your local pharmacy.  If that is not possible, you can order them from Dr. Anna Cabeca's website www.dranna.com/resources  Your urine should be in the 7 range in the morning.  Allow the pH strip to be wet by your urine stream half way through it's release or you can collect some mid stream and dip the strip.  Lay it on a piece of toilet paper for about 60 minutes or as directed on the package and compare to the color chart.  Morning will always be your most accurate overall reading for a 24 hour period coming after an 8 to 10 hour fast from dinner the night before.  Create a place where you can record your pH at different times of the day over time.  You may find it takes you a while to get to the 7 level you want; but you will find patterns that tell you about what you eat during the day and how it affects your levels.  Your daily readings will tell you how your previous meal/foods have affected your alkalinity.    Those patterns will help tell you where you may need to change eating habits.

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