Acidosis

Hydrogen ions (H+) determines the pH on a log rhythmic scale. The higher the concentration of H+ the lower the pH or the more acidic. The lower the concentration of H+ the less acidic or more alkaline. On the scale above neutral pH is at 7, which is where pure water is. For reference the pH of the stomach is between 1.3-3.5. Normal blood pH should be [7.36-7.42]. Anything less than 7.36 pH is considered acidic and anything over 7.42 is considered alkalosis. Going too far in either direction is FATAL! Remember, the body likes homeostasis or to be in balance.

So let’s talk about acidosis, well as the term suggest it means your body is acidic internally. Let’s see some complications of acidosis:

• Acidosis increases cellular levels of calcium in the body encouraging tumor cell growth.

o This causes the body to be more susceptible to invasion by bacteria, parasites, and cancer. On top of that calcium is leached from the bones to help alkaline the body.

o Low pH activates osteoclast, which leads to increased bone reabsorption and inhibits matrix mineralization. Basically leading to bone loss, osteoporosis, fractures, and kidney stone formation.

• It affects immune cells, impairing lymphocytes proliferation and cytotoxicity.

Acidosis is primarily diet induced

• Increased by sulfur containing amino acids and sodium chloride.

• Decreased by potassium and most minerals.

• Low blood pH (below 7.35) affects the rate of cellular metabolic activity and weakness all body systems.

• Diets high in proteins, cereals, and sugar, as well as stimulants such as tobacco, coffee, tea, and alcohol promotes acidosis.

• Stress and nervous tension further contribute to the problem.

Diet influences pH systemically by either producing a net acid or net base effect as a result of the acid/base forming constituents of the food. So it is important to eat the right combination of foods in order to make sure you are not tipping the scale towards acidosis. Acidosis is a process where as acidemia is where your blood pH is in the Acid pH range [1-7].

The body has several compensatory mechanisms to help regulate acidosis such as:

• Intracellular and Extracellular buffers

• The kidney’s

• The lungs

All of these help with keeping the pH of the blood in the optimal range.

Early symptoms include

• Acne, muscular pain, cold hands and feet, dizziness, low energy, food allergies, hyperactivity, low sex drive, bloating, heartburn, constipation, hot urine, strong smelling urine, rapid panting breath, rapid heartbeat, white coated tongue, metallic taste in mouth.

Advanced symptoms

• Cold sores, depression, loss of memory, loss of concentration, migraine, headaches, insomnia, asthma, hay fever, ear aches, hives, swelling, viral infection, bacterial infection, fungal infections, impotence, urethritis, cystitis, UTI’s, gastritis, colitis, excessive hair loss, psoriasis, diarrhea, sinusitis.

Ways to prevent acidosis:

• Diet high in fruits and veggies and low in animal protein and sodium reduces acid load

• Diets high in potassium and magnesium citrates are protective against acidosis

Everything in God's creation is either right or left, east or west, north or south, positive or negative. Some foods are acids, others are alkaline. And hence, because the one is practically worthless without the other, it is necessary that the health-seeker avail himself of both. The correct proportions of which the diet should consist, may be judged from the fact that the greater percentage of garden produce is alkalinizing. It is also enlightening to observe that the foods which should make up 80% of the diet are predominantly alkalinizing, whereas the foods which should make up 20% of the diet are predominantly acid-forming. The truth, then, is obvious: Alkalinizing foods should be used more freely than the acid-forming. (See list on pp. 72-75.)

66 Alkaline Forming Superfoods

Alfalfa, almonds, apples, apricots, artichokes, asparagus, avocados

Bananas, beans, beetroot, blackberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, buckwheat (flour)

Cabbage, carrots (organic), cauliflower, celery, chestnuts, chicory, chives, cucumber, eggplants, endive, fennel, figs, flaxseed oil

Garlic, ginger, grapefruit, green beans, honey (raw)

Kale, Kohlrabi, Kelp, Kiwifruit

Leeks, lemons/limes, lettuce, mangos, mushrooms, okra, olives (green), onion, oranges

Papaya, parsley, parsnips, peaches, pears, peas, peppers, pineapple, potato, pumpkin

Radishes, spinach, strawberries, sweet corn (fresh), sweet potato, tomatoes, turnips, watercress, watermelon, wheatgrass, zucchini

Proverbs 17:22

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

Hypertension…

Hypertension in laymen’s term is also known as high blood pressure. High blood pressure is called the Silent Killer because it can creep up on you with no apparent symptoms. The top number is called the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the bottom number is called the diastolic blood pressure (DBP).  SBP is the pressure that the heart has to overcome in order to push the blood throughout the body when your heart beats. DBP is the pressure exerted by the arteries when your heart is at rest in between beats. Normal blood pressure is typically at <120/80 mmHg according to current JNC-8/and 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines. Keep in mind hypotension which is blood pressure <90/60 mmHg is not good either. In regards to health you do not want to be at either end of the spectrum, either too high or too low. You want to be somewhere in the middle or what we call homeostasis. The body loves to be in balance, because there it functions at its optimum. 

There are different stages of hypertension.

Elevated Blood Pressure

·       Systolic: 120-129 mmHg

·       Diastolic: <80 mmHg

High Blood Pressure: Stage 1 (Hypertension)

·       Systolic: 130-139 mmHg

·       Diastolic: 80-89 mmHg

High Blood Pressure: Stage 2 (Hypertension)

·       Systolic: 140 mmHg or higher

·       Diastolic: 90 mmHg or higher

Hypertensive Crisis: Seek medical care immediately

·       Systolic: Higher than 180 mmHg

·       Diastolic: Higher than 120 mmHg

So what are the risk factors that can lead to one developing high blood pressure? Note: these are all modifiable meaning we can change them.

·       High Sodium (salt) intake

·       Low Potassium

·       Alcohol

·       Smoking

·       Diabetes

·       High Cholesterol

·       Being overweight or obese

·       Physical inactivity

·       Unhealthy diet

What are some dietary things you can do to help decrease your blood pressure?

·       Eat a diet that is rich in fruit, vegetables, legumes. You want about 4-5 servings of fruits, and vegetables each day.

·       Decrease sodium to 2.4g per day (1 tablespoon), if you can reduce it to 1.5g per day you can expect to see even greater reductions in blood pressure. Remember to look for hidden salt in your favorite snacks, canned foods, and packaged foods.

·       Increase your physical activity.

·       Increase your hydration if you do not drink enough water. You can tell if you are dehydrated because your urine would be dark yellow. You want to aim for straw colored urine. If it looks like the toilet bowl water then you drank too much water. Aim for the middle, remember homeostasis.

What are some of the dangers of having prolonged hypertension?

·       You run the risk of having a hemorrhagic stroke, which can occur when a blood vessel burst in your brain leading to bleeding in the brain.

·       Your heart will begin to remodel and becomes enlarged in order to overcome the pressure. The heart can actually become too thick to pump properly. This will lead to heart failure.

·       Prolonged hypertension can damage the blood vessels in your eyes, kidneys, heart, brain and lead to blood in your urine.

What are some symptoms to look out for if you have prolonged elevated hypertension?

·       Severe chest pain

·       Severe headache, with blurred vision and accompanied with confusion

·       Nausea and vomiting

·       Shortness of breath, difficulty breathing

·       Blood in the urine

·       Pain in the lower back or on the side of the body

·       Pain in the upper back or between the shoulder blades

·       Severe anxiety

In a nutshell high blood pressure is a serious condition, that if allowed to continue for a prolonged time with no intervention can have catastrophic results. The reason why many people do not take immediate action is because there are no symptoms early on. Next thing they know years has gone by with their blood pressure continuing to worsen. However, all is not lost if we can take some actions to lower it over time. Eating a diet high in fruits and veggies is not only helpful but beneficial. Fasting can also drastically decrease blood pressure in short time. For most people this a reversible condition, especially if there are dietary and lifestyle changes brought on board. That intervention is the least harmful and most helpful and there is no need for drugs. If there is some other reasons for hypertension, which a small subset of people do experience, then pharmaceutical drugs would have to be brought on board in order to control the blood pressure.

Constant Numbness and Tingling in your feet? Excessive nighttime urination? Excessive thirst? Excessive hunger? Poor wound healing?

You may have a metabolic condition called Diabetes. This is a condition where your pancreas is not able to produce enough insulin. Insulin is like a key that opens the door to allow glucose (sugar) entrance inside the various organs and tissues of the body. This biochemical process is necessary in order to feed the body and allows it to produce energy from the foods you consume. With diabetes however, there is a problem with this process, with the high levels of sugar circulating in the blood stream. The body being the marvelous biochemical machine that it does not like having high levels of sugar in the blood, so it is filtered in the kidney and is then passed out in the urine, which is why you have excess urination. The excess urination causes the body to feel dehydrated leading to excessive thirst. Since the correct amount of sugar is not getting into the cells of the body to make energy, it is like your body is starving, which is the reason for the excessive hunger. Excess sugar in the blood also clogs up the kidney, the eyes and the nerves, this can lead to blindness, chronic kidney disease, and nerve damage, which is why there is numbness and tingling felt in the lower extremities. Since this is a silent disease most people don’t realize that it has been happening for years and left untreated can lead to a host of other conditions that will eventually lead to amputation and ultimately death.

There was a man who use to be active in his teenage years and early 20’s, he was into boxing and eating right in order to be the correct weight for bouts. Once he moved on from highschool and that rigorous lifestyle, he started to drink with his buddies every night and eat whatever he wanted to eat. Doing this for years, he noticed in his late 30’s that he had to use the bathroom frequently at night and that he was always thirsty no matter how much he drank. When he decided to go to the doctor he discovered that he had type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. His poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and drinking over the years has led him to this silent condition. The obstacles he faced on top of that was that he was alone and did not have the motivation from another loved one to push him into doing the right things. The individuals he ate out and drank with all had the same issue. So he did not feel motivated, neither did he have the support necessary to make the recommended lifestyle changes needed. He ended up needing to take medications in order to lower his blood sugar, and he was on meds for high cholesterol, as well as high blood pressure.

Had this man been able to get help earlier it would have been possible for him to not need any medications at all. He actually was placed on two medications given to individuals with diabetes, his PCP even threatened that if he was not able to get his blood sugar levels under control that he would need to take insulin injections. These injections are generally injected into the abdominal area or buttocks and you have to rotate your injection site constantly. I know first hand about this because my own dear grandmother has had diabetes since I was a small child and I saw her inject her insulin over the course of my life. It is an arduous task and insulin cost money that without insurance is difficult to buy. With all that being said there are things an individual can do in order to LOWER your blood sugar naturally. Now naturally doesn’t mean you take a pill and BOOM you don’t have to do anything else. This requires a total lifestyle change! With Naturopathic Medicine we are able to tailor an individualized plan in order to bring down your blood sugar levels to a point where it won’t continue to damage your body. These lifestyle changes include, exercise, dietary changes and if necessary herbs that are effective at lowering blood sugar levels. Now depending on how high your blood sugar has been and how long it has been that high will determine how aggressive a treatment is necessary to bring the body into homeostasis. Basically you are the solution to this metabolic disease and I am here to help facilitate and empower you to make those changes that can drastically improve your life for the better. If you want to see this change in your life and you are motivated and dedicated to this, then let’s go on this journey together and regain the health you had in your younger days.

image shot at Ara Ha

Do you have concrete pipes?

This may sound like a ridiculous question to ask and the pipes that I am speaking of are not the ones in your home. Our arteries are the pipes that I am speaking of, they are the ones that convey blood pumped from our heart out to the rest of our body. They are flexible tubes that increase or decrease in diameter depending on the pressure needed to move the blood around. Now here is the thing our pipes, like regular pipes in your house, can become clogged and when the pipes in your house becomes clogged then all the water becomes backed up and if it is not relieved the pressure can bust the pipes! Our pipes are a bit more sophisticated than regular household pipes in that they are flexible and can adjust to pressure differences. With that being said, over time though our pipes can become clogged and start to restrict blood flow. Once that happens wherever that blood was going, starts to see a decline in blood to a particular area of the body, which causes death of the tissues there due to no oxygen being able to be delivered to that area. Then too, the flexibility of the pipes starts to loose the ability to decrease and increase in diameter, which leads to our pipes becoming hardened. This leads to a host of other problems but the main problem is the arteries becoming hard as concrete which is called atherosclerosis.

Now you may wonder where the stuff comes from that causes arteries to become hardened. Here is the kicker, it comes from our liver. You see, the liver manufacturers cholesterol, which is necessary and important for bodily functions. Too much cholesterol is the problem. Your body usually gets rid of excess cholesterol by way of fiber, or HDL. HDL is called the GOOD cholesterol and it is basically a mop that gets rid of LDL, which is called the BAD cholesterol. What happens in the body is that LDL becomes stuck in the blood stream when a type of white blood cell (macrophages) come along and try to get rid of it. They can’t get rid of it and they are oxidized, which causes them to turn into plaque in the arteries thereby hardening them.

Don’t despair though there is still hope and this process can be reversed if you make some key changes in your life. Those changes include regular exercise, a healthy diet that includes whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes and olive/sunflower oil. These things are important and can lower your cholesterol. Naturopathic Medicine can help you construct a healthy diet plan that will lower your cholesterol thereby preventing it from building up in your arteries. You see we want introduce lifestyle changes to help kickstart your body and point it in the right direction so that it can lower your cholesterol and prevent plaque from building up in your pipes. As naturopathic doctors we would assess where you are at metabolically and that will determine whether or not we need to introduce a higher force intervention like a statin or a lower force intervention like herbs and lifestyle modifications. We just want you to know that we are committed to helping you on this path to improved health and a better quality of life.

Citation

• https://www.healthline.com/health/atherosclerosis

photo shot at Aro Ha