beginning the cleanse

today is the official beginning of my body cleanse, a deep detox. i am going to be writing about it here with regularity and hope to make it the whole 14 days. i'd love to have you all follow along and cheer me on. maybe you'll get inspired or glean some ideas for your own healing journey!

i am following the ph miracle for weight loss, by robert young and his wife, shelley young. to prepare, in the past 8 weeks, i have read several books on the importance of ph balance in the body and have been learning alot about how having a too acidic body causes (or creates a perfect environment) for a host of problems and diseases. in fact, cancer cannot survive in a ph balanced system.

so my cleanse has a few purposes. to help prevent cancer by kicking off a new way of eating, to flush my system of acid wastes that cause, amounst other things, bone spurs and inflammation, and to drop the pounds i need to before my next surgery. in the last month, as i have prepared to begin the cleanse, i have dropped six pounds, just by making a few changes.

the biggest change is water. yes, simple water. the ph of your average tap water is about 5, which is acid. a balanced water is 7, and a water that will help heal and make the body less acidic and more alkaline - that water has a ph of 9 or more. even most bottled waters are actually creating a more acidic state in the body. so drinking the right water is important. and drinking enough of it! for my body weight, the program calls for drinking 6 liters of alkaline water a day...so far, i've made it up to 4 liters a day. i adjust the ph of all my water now with trace mineral drops, which adds extra oxygen and makes the water into a base instead of an acid.

chemistry anyone?

let me tell you, drinking this (good for you) water, and so much of it - really gives you energy and curbs your craving for sugar and protein. both of which have had too prominent a place in my diet. in fact, during rads, i was told to eat extra protein, up to 80 grams a day! this was to aid my cells with repair. i only began eating meat again about 3 years ago, after being veggie for 20 years. and my weight gain has all happened in that time. which is not to say i am going back to being a vegetarian. just that the ease of meat protein made me a lazy eater (understandable when you are busy working 3 jobs) and my ratio of veggies to protein got out of whack.

if you are really interested in the program i am following (with the help of my doctor) then do a little goggling on ph balance. i am sure i won't cover the concept in depth here enough for anyone to be convinced. but i'd like to chronicle the experience for myself and share it with you all.

a couple of things jumped out at me when i started reading about this ph balance stuff. one, that having a too acidic system and blood will cause inflammation in the intestine that blocks nutrients from being absorbed. my doctor and i have been trying to figure out how i could be taking so many supplements and eating to reduce my chronic inflammation in my heel and arms, yet have so much continuing pain and problems. it just doesn't add up. two, that over and over in different sources, i have read that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment. and three, that if your body is too acidic, it will hold on to fat to protect itself from that acid.

there may be some of you shaking your heads about now and thinking i am crazy. it's ok. when you read about the ph balance diet, you see that it's a healthy diet no one could argue with. lots of fresh raw veggies, healthy fats like fish oil for omega-3, a 70/30 split between raw and cooked foods. complex carbs, low sugar, no processed foods. eat more fish and less red meat. drink lots of good water.

it's really incredibly sensible. the alkaline water is the most radical thing, really. and so far, it's working.

so the cleanse itself is called a "liquid feast", a fancy term for an all liquids diet for two weeks. don't worry, there is soup as well. i won't be starving at all. I'll be keeping you posted as i go, so do stay tuned. it will be interesting if nothing else.

ok, i've got some serious water to drink!