What is the pH of the food you are eating?

So what are foods that we eat that cause a more acidic environment in our body? And which foods neutralize the acid? What percentage of foods should we eat from each category?

Depending on your health, from what I have read it is best to have a 60/40 ratio of alkaline/acid foods. Those of you who are like me, who are trying to regain your health and have been suffering from symptom related problems caused by a lifetime of unhealthy eating habits should aim for 80/20.

You can find many list on the internet of which foods are alkaline or acidic. For one example you can click here)

I will list a few: Most all fruits and vegetables, most beans, spices, herbs, some nuts, some grains, some oils.

Foods that are more acidic are pretty much all animal products, ie meats, cheeses, eggs, fats, etc. most condiments, canned foods, sweets, all refined and processed foods, white flour, coffee, alcohol etc.

Now if you are like me when I first saw the list of acidic foods I thought… well what else is there to eat. I do love my veggies and fruit but how can you get enough to eat when you try to avoid those on the list?

Please don’t get discouraged. Habits take time, and it’s good to continue to educate ourselves. Take small steps each day and it’s amazing what kinds of changes you can make to your diet.

Problems that I used to suffer from severally have either disappeared completely or have improved greatly by eating this way. I am convinced that if you have a problem with insulin resistance, that you will find complete improvement by eating most of your foods from the alkaline list. You will also find weight loss to be much easier. I have lost nearly 50lbs in 5 months, with no exercise. (no exercise because of still struggling health issues) And I’m still going.

Hopefully more to come…

Is pH important?

I was introduced to pH in junior high chemistry, but I didn’t really understand the importance of how it related to my health until I read the book “How to be Well…” by Leah D. Widtsoe. I’m considering making a few post on the importance of pH in the foods that we eat and how it effects our overall health. (I will mention more about Leah Widtsoe's book later)

First what is pH?

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at 25 °C (77 °F). Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. pH measurements are important in medicine, biology, chemistry, food science, environmental science, oceanography, civil engineering and many other applications.


The pH of different cellular compartments, body fluids, and organs is usually tightly regulated in a process called acid-base homeostasis.


The pH of blood is usually slightly basic with a value of pH 7.365. This value is often referred to as physiological pH in biology and medicine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH)

If we aren’t careful with the balance of food that we eat, eating foods that are more acidic for example, our body has a way of balancing the pH for us. One major way our body neutralizes acid overload is to release calcium from our bones. If this environment is prolonged it can lead to osteoporosis. The body will also release other minerals like potassium and magnesium from our organs and bones too.


Because our body is about 60% fluid, it is important to help keep that fluid the right pH. If we do not it can be very taxing to our bodies, not just our bones but our organs, cells and tissues.
A high acidic environment promotes unhealthy bacteria and viruses in our digestive system and throughout our body. On the other hand those unfriendly microbes die more readily in a more alkaline environment.


Hopefully this has peaked your interest, if any of you have specific question that you’d like me to answer, feel free to add a comment below.

Surviving the Holidays

Sugar addiction and the holidays are a terrible mix.  Not only are there extra sweets about there is also something much more enticing: memory.  I'm sure each person who grew up in a Christian home has fond memories of helping a grandma or mom in the kitchen.  Sometimes there is more to sweets than just the taste.  I have many happy memories of my grandmother making all kinds of delicious candy from divinity to fudge but what comes to mind more than eating the candy is the act of making it together.  Nothing beats that feeling of being with a loved one.  I knew I was completely loved by grandma and felt very  warm and safe and candy just happened to be there too.  There is also a feeling of excitement at being able to visit with family that are usually far away and renew friendships.  That is always associated with good food and sweets.

It's a tough choice in a way.  I know how sugar makes me feel (like I've been poisoned).  But I also want to take part in all the festivities and not be a sugar scrooge.  But I also know that an addiction is ever present and anxious to be reignited. 

When Corey and I decided to take responsibility for our sugar eating problems we also recognized the danger of zealousness.  After much discussion we came to an agreement that we would have 1 allowance per month per person, so a total of 2 allowances for a sweet per month.  We both wanted to be part of other family members birthdays and certain holiday celebrations and traditions.  So far this has been perfect for us.  It has eliminated the feeling of "can't ever have any" and replaced it with "can have, but don't need right now."  It eliminated the danger of all or nothing behavior.  

This attitude has been instrumental in disallowing sugar to rule our lives.  Why?  Because if we have more than what we are supposed to in a moth, we loose a predetermined reward.  But also because when an 'all or nothing' belief is in place there is no room for failure and when failure happens (and it always does) the belief inhibits rebound.  You know, makes it harder to try again, to do better next time. 

In a previous post, Sarah asked the question "is it ever ok?  is there any moderation to (the no) sugar thing?"  My feeling is that there has to be.  I would really like to hear Laura's take and anyone else as well.  I have never succeeded at anything that I got zealous about.  Excelled for a time, yes.  But succeeded, no.  I always succeed when I stride myself and work realistically toward something.  But you know, it's taken me 30 years to get to the point that I finally recognize how to go about this lifestyle practically.  It's a delicate balance right now.  But balance is the key.

So ultimately I think that "is it ever ok" is a personal discovery and the answer to the equation is tailor made to the individual. For me it is not ok to eat sweets more than 2 times a month or I can't control my desire for sweets very well.  The realistic limitations are actually welcome safety nets that have kept me from suffering many times.  Would I tell an alcoholic to go drink twice a month to pad his loss of alcohol?  No way.  With some addictions and some people it just doesn't work that way.  I'm always disappointed after eating a sweet.  It is never fulfilling. And truthfully sweets are loosing their charm and appeal.  Hurray for me.  But that strange problem of wanting to consume all sweets everywhere is still there, and may always be there and is especially heavy the day after an allowance.


This isn't an end all decision but rather a lifelong travel of finding inner strength and learning how to take care of myself.  All while striving to achieve balance against the adversity of an addiction.  Because balance and addiction don't compliment each other.  But I'm proud of myself for trying and I'm doing well at what I set out to accomplish and there is a lot to be said for that.

Sugar and Sex Hormones

There is a gene in our body, named SHBG, that regulates estrogen and testosterone.  This gene is closely linked to the condition of the liver.  Why does this matter?  Sugar is metabolized in the liver and when the liver is overloaded with sugar it converts the sugars into fat.  Too much fat in the system shuts of the gene SHBG, which gives direction to the sex hormones in the body.  The troubles that can follow are cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, PCOS and INFERTILITY and more!  The gene is especially affected by High Fructose Corn Syrup and refined table sugar.

“This gene produces a protein that binds to the sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen and carries them into the bloodstream. Only the hormones that are free and unattached to the protein can enter cells and be active. Hence, if the SHBG gene is shut down and is not releasing any SHBG protein, then greater amounts of estrogen and testosterone are released throughout the body.”  Tamara Hardison, Too Much Sugar Affects Sex Hormones.  Full article HERE.

An increase in these hormones is particularly hard on the body.  Acne, infertility, polycystic ovaries, uterine cancer and more.

Another great article: Hormone Disorder Could Be Caused By Sugar.

But are the sex hormones all that is affected by high sugar and fat intake?  You tell me - below is a list of what hormones do.  (source: wikipedia Hormone)

• stimulation or inhibition of growth
• mood swings
• induction or suppression of apoptosis (programmed cell death)
• activation or inhibition of the immune system
• regulation of metabolism
• preparation of the body for mating, fighting, fleeing, and other activity
• preparation of the body for a new phase of life, such as puberty, parenting, and menopause
• control of the reproductive cycle
• hunger cravings

I think it's safe to say that too much sugar has a full scale effect on our health - mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Giving Thanks

Happy thanksgiving to you all. Today I felt like I should do a message on gratitude which is a powerful aspect of positive thinking. This might be more for me than anyone else. Sometimes I need to remind myself of the goodness of God. Maybe you are wondering what this has to do with sugar :) Well, depression can be a trigger for me to give in and have something sweet to “release” me from the pain.

Holidays can be a trigger for me to, not because there are allot of sweets, but because I miss my parents so much. This will be their 5th Thanksgiving they have been away from home. They have been in Africa serving the Lord. And they won’t be back until after they have missed their 6ths consecutive Thanksgiving (not to mention Christmas) home.

I was reminded the other night of the impact our negative thoughts can have on our brain. I may not agree 100 percent with what Dr. Amen has to say, but I feel like he can be a great resource. Follow this link for more info. This first quote is from that link.

“The thoughts that go through your mind, moment by moment, have a significant impact on how your brain works. Research by Mark George, MD and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health demonstrated that happy, hopeful thoughts had an overall calming effect on the brain, while negative thoughts inflamed brain areas often involved with depression and anxiety. Your thoughts matter.”

Dr. Amen has a clever acronym for negative thoughts, “ANTs” (or Automatic Negative Thoughts)

Quoting a paragraph from his book, “Change your brain change your life.”

Our overall mind state has a certain tone or flavor based largely on the types of thoughts we think. When the deep limbic system is overactive, it sets the mind's filter on "negative." If you could look into the thoughts of people who are depressed, you would find one dispiriting thought following another. When they look at the past, there is regret. When they look at the future there is anxiety and pessimism. In the present moment, something is most often unsatisfactory. The lens through which they see themselves, others, and the world has a dim grayness to it. They are suffering from Automatic Negative Thoughts, or ANTs. ANTs are cynical, gloomy, and complaining thoughts that just seem to keep coming all by themselves.

(to read a section from his book click this link)

Here is a summary of the “ANTs”

1. "Always" thinking: thinking in words like always, never, no one, every one, every time, everything.
2. Focusing on the negative: only seeing the bad in a situation.
3. Fortune telling: predicting the worst possible outcome to a situation.
4. Mind reading: believing that you know what another person is thinking, even though they haven't told you.
5. Thinking with your feelings: believing negative feelings without ever questioning them.
6. Guilt beatings: thinking in words like "should, must, ought or have to."
7. Labeling: attaching a negative label to yourself or to someone else.
8. Personalization: innocuous events are taken to have personal meaning.
9. Blame: blaming someone else for your own problems.

That was me, and in moments of relapse it is me again, if I am not careful or use my “ANT eaters”

Feed Your Anteater and Feel Better

Whenever you notice an ANT entering your mind, train yourself to recognize it and write it down. When you write down automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) and talk back to them, you begin to take away their power and gain control over your moods. Kill the ANTs by feeding your emotional anteater.

FEED YOUR ANTEATER AND FEEL BETTER EXERCISE is for whenever you need to be in control of your mind. It is for times when you feel anxious, nervous, depressed or frazzled. It is for times when you need to be your best.

Here are some examples of ways to kill these ANTs:

ANT / Species of ANT / Kill the ANT

You never listen to me. / 'Always Thinking' / I get frustrated when you don't listen to me, but I know you have listened to me and will again.

The boss doesn't like me. / 'Mind Reading' / I don't know that. Maybe she's just having a bad day.
Bosses are people, too.

The whole class will laugh at me. / 'Fortune Telling' / I don't know that. Maybe they'll really like my speech.

I'm stupid. / 'Labeling' / Sometimes I do things that aren't too smart, but I'm not stupid.

It's your fault we have these marital problems. / 'Blame' / I need to look at my part of the problems and look for ways I can make the situation better.

Getting back to gratitude, this talk was given at our most recent General Conference from our wonderful Prophet:

“We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that ‘gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.’ Cicero, in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles, sel. H. L. Mencken (1942), 491.

“When we encounter challenges and problems in our lives, it is often difficult for us to focus on our blessings. However, if we reach deep enough and look hard enough, we will be able to feel and recognize just how much we have been given.”

Lets help each other this holiday season to see how richly blessed we really are. Approaching life with an attitude of gratitude will not only bless our lives, but lift those around us.

Sugar: Emotions

What we eat, good or bad, has an effect not only on our physical health but also our mental health.  For example, a hungry individual is more likely to be irritable and easily frustrated.  Refined sugar is especially devastating due to it’s effect on insulin.  Insulin imbalance is associated with depression, anxiety and frustration.  Less talked about are the effects of food on emotions.  It is obvious that emotions affect the way we eat if we aren’t aware of whats going on.  How many times were you stressed and thought a donut or soda would lift your spirits?  My personal favorite was Oreo’s and milk.

Isn’t that why we are addicted to sugar anyway- to regulate or change a mood?  This is an incredibly dangerous practice as it sets up the groundwork for a cycle of sugar addiction.  Stress –> response: eat for comfort –> Insulin surge –> response: physical fatigue –> eat for energy (usually more sugar) -> let down as sugar effect dissipates -> More stress -> and on and on.

The Limbic system is the most primitive part of the brain.  This is where emotions are both stored and generated.  When addiction is present it is no longer reacting clearly.  “For instance, when we eat chocolate, notes the National Institute for Drug Abuse, we may feel a noteworthy amount of pleasure (via the limbic system), leading us to repeat the behavior. Unfortunately, repeating this action for the sake of pleasure and using this habit to cope with daily life can create a cycle of not only crashing blood sugar, but frustration.”  Click here for complete article.

Giving into addiction is essentially allowing the substance you are addicted to take care of the uncomfortable emotion for you.  Stress, anger, anxiety – all emotions typically avoided by addicts.  It is my belief and experience that if you want to overcome an addiction, you have to face your troubles.  You can no longer run from what is upsetting you.  Negative emotions can be very frightening because they are usually associated with mental thoughts and ideas or perceptions.  If I perceive that my boss is a real jerk to me, naturally my thoughts instruct my brain to feel either anger or fear.  If I don’t feel capable of dealing with the anger or fear what happens in my body?  The chemicals (hormones) that my brain generated in response to the stress are stored in fatty tissue or the body attempts to eliminate the excess through the waste process.  If my body is already in overdrive trying to compensate for sugar overload then eventual illness will result.  All because I chose to allow sugar to deal with my boss instead of being responsible for myself.  Sadly, when anger or fear isn't dealt with it often becomes shame and self loathing.

I believe (from my own experience) that emotional dependence on a substance facilitates an inability to see life as it really is. I feel that it makes problems worse, not better or easier because it keeps us from growing through an experience.  A problem rarely goes away if we choose not to deal with it.  Usually the problem is always there and more problems start to heap up when we choose to ignore or hide from them.  (In a future post I will talk more about emotional intelligence).

It's actually easier to cope with emotions when an outside chemical isn't influencing hormones and the brain.  As sweet as sugar is, it does not make life sweet.  The only thing that can make life sweet is what comes from within us.  Self respect, positive attitude and a desire to do what's right.

Withdrawal: My Story

A few months ago Corey, my husband, planned a day outing to a mountain lake.  At the time we were sporadically working on living more healthy but hadn't eliminated desserts and treats from our diets.  When I asked him what kind of goodies I should buy for the short trip he looked thoughtful for a moment and said, "We don't need anything, do we?"  I felt my throat closing up in panic at his question but managed to choke out a "probably not".   I slipped into the other room to take a moment and figure out why my world was spiraling because of junk food.

The hour long ride up to the lake was very distressing to me in many ways.  I was most distressed because of my reaction.  Couldn't I have fun without candy anymore?  I was distressed because I didn't have my sweets to provide an extension of fun.  I was distressed because I felt panicked without something sweet - I could no longer function without a fix.  It became seriously apparent at that moment that I had a problem.  An addiction.

More phenomenal was the experience that came after arriving at the lake.  I had fun.  I actually had a lot of fun.  Because I didn't have sugar to pull at my mind constantly I was able to freely use all my senses to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Corey and I discussed the experience and confirmed what we already suspected, that each of us has a problem.  We decided to make changes and began the planning process (which will be discussed in another post) and started our new lifestyle on the following Monday. 

Monday came.  All fine and only mild cravings after dinner.

Tuesday.  Headache.  Mild anxiety.  No energy.

Wednesday.  Headache still there.  Anxiety tightening my throat.  Heavy irritability.  Low energy.

Thursday.  Mild irritability.  Low energy.  Whiny and intense cravings. (Should I mentions a change in bowel habits for the worse?)

Friday.  Subdued but hopeful cravings.

The Weekend.  Not pleasant.

Monday.  Not so bad....

Tuesday.  A sense of accomplishment and pride for making it 1 week.  Feeling a lot better physically.

Weekends are still hard.  My brain is so used to weekend fun eating that just the word 'Friday' starts a dessert quest in my mind.  And then I remember that I don't do that anymore.  I don't need to. 

Many years ago my dad suffered from alcoholism.  I sought his advice when planning my recovery from sugar.  I asked him if the cravings ever just go away.  His reply is the very core of why I'm a recovering sugar addict.  He said "No.  My body still wants alchohol."  This is coming from a good man who attends the temple and strives to live a Christlike life.  At that moment I realized that I could no longer keep one foot in Babylon.  I had to make a choice:  to be ruled by sugar or to be my own master.  Accepting that sugar will always have a siren's call to me was a hard bit to swallow and initially seemed bitter and unfair.  But like my experience at the lake I have found that life is much more sweet without it anyway.

"In order to experience the symptoms of withdrawal, one must have first developed a physical dependence (often referred to as chemical dependency). This happens after consuming one or more of these substances for a certain period of time, which is both dose dependent and varies based upon the drug consumed."   Wikipedia

Emotional Withdrawal Symptoms

• Anxiety
• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Poor concentration
• Depression
• Social isolation

Physical Withdrawal Symptoms

• Sweating
• Racing heart
• Palpitations
• Muscle tension
• Tightness in the chest
• Difficulty breathing
• Tremor
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea