Osteoporosis
is a silent disease in which the bones become fragile and are easily broken. In
our country alone, it is considered a major health threat especially in older
adults. While women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis, men
also suffer from this dreaded disease.
Arthritis, a different ailment but with similar associated symptoms, is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally
include joint pain and
stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and
decreased range of motion of the affected joints. People suffering from
arthritis feel that it is a one-way street. They can’t open a jar, or shake
someone’s hands without getting that terrible grinding pain in their joints. This
is called an autoimmune reaction where the body is making antibodies that
attack the joint, hence the pain, the stiffness and the swelling.
Now,
most people know that osteoporosis is a disease caused by a lack of calcium as
there is no shortage of advertisements to tell us this but the question I wish
to address here is this. Why are we losing calcium?
The
Harvard Nurses’ Health study has shown that the more milk women drink, the less
benefit they get. The women who drank the most milk in this study had no
benefit whatsoever from the standpoint of reducing osteoporosis, arthritis or
fracture. People think that they are deficient in calcium; that they need
medications or that it’s just a natural product of aging but it is really not.
Researches have also shown that countries who
take in the highest levels of dairy products have the highest levels of
osteoporosis and those with the least intake have the least amount of
osteoporosis. Why is this so? It must be the high consumption on protein that
is the problem!
Many
doctors also cite a diet high in protein as one of the main culprits of
arthritis. The body can process the uric acid of only a very small amount of
meat every day which is about 4 ounces. Excessive intake of about 25 ounces of
meat a day provides the body with so much uric acid it cannot eliminate. It
then crystallizes and, like a broken glass, it tends to settle in the joints,
actually shredding the cartilage.
So
what does consuming animal products (protein) have to do with calcium
deficiency in the bones?
First,
we have to look at what is causing the body to lose calcium by examining the
delicate acid/alkaline balance in the pH of our body. On the pH scale, 7.0 is
neutral. Everything above 7.0 is alkaline and everything below 7.0 is acidic.
When
we consume fruits and vegetables, it leaves an alkaline ash, keeping the pH in
the normal range but when we consume animal food products and junk foods, they
leave an acidic residue. (Soft drinks have a pH of about 2.5-3.0. Very acidic!).
When you consume large amounts of these foods, you are creating a relative
acidic pH in your blood so, to keep you alive, the body must neutralize this pH
as it is designed to run in an alkaline environment. In order to do that, the
body seeks out the most alkaline substance in greatest quantity within you –
calcium! – and leeches it from the bones and teeth in order to maintain the
vital alkaline pH in the blood of around 7.35. Mission accomplished! You are
still alive but continuous consumption of high protein and junk-food diet on a
daily basis will promote this leeching of calcium out of the bones and teeth,
ultimately lead to osteoporosis and arthritis.
How do we solve this?
Biological
research has shown that the initial trigger of these processes in some people
is food such as dairy products, meat, junk foods, etc. When a person takes
these foods out of their diet even for a temporary time (3-4 weeks), symptoms
begin to improve.
We
have seen wonderful results with just a simple change of diet. When junk foods are
eliminated from our diet, we do away with some of the main causes of arthritis.
The solution lies in getting rid of the arthritis and osteoporosis triggers.
A
lot of people would rather just take pills and continue their lifestyle but you
cannot keep creating a problem and then try to take something to undo it. It
just doesn’t work that way. People taking fistfuls of painkillers don’t need
them as much and for many folks, their diseases are pretty much far gone.
We
have often been programmed to think it is never our fault; we are taught to
fear germs and bacteria and we are told our physical ailments are in our genes
but are they really? I have seen individuals and patients whose ailments
improved tremendously with better diets so was it in the genes? Or was it in
the diet?
It
is a huge question and the answer will either put responsibility for your
health in your hands today (literally in the knife and fork you wield) or in
the hands of a surgeon tomorrow who will wield whatever instruments of
treatment he/she was taught to trust. The first and foremost choice we must make
if we want get well is to stop doing what created the problem. Stop putting
into your body food products that clog up your system and compromise your immune
system while providing no fiber or real nutrition. Stop depending on beverages
which rattle your nerves while depleting your body’s calcium.
Once
you have made the decision to stop this internal injury, take positive steps to
putting in foods that will rebuild your body. Begin eating whole foods, seeds,
raw fruits and vegetables and their juices. Learn new ways to prepare and cook
your foods. Drink lots of water and exercise. These will help to decrease the
inflammation and pain almost immediately and, over time, get rid of toxins left
in the body.
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