Imbalances

 

I like to include an explanation of all ten imbalances in the appendix of all of my books.  This allows you to use this section as a reference source and gives me the chance to cover any imbalances that may not be covered from book to book.  With that in mind, some of this material may be review for you.  However, since I didn’t cover four of the imbalances in Kick Your Fat in the Nuts, I include explanations of the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Imbalances, and the Acid and Alkaline Imbalances here.

 

Electrolyte State

 

The electrolyte state is defined by blood pressure (though a professional health coach may have equipment that can look at other variables in this equation, like conductivity of urine and saliva).  In the world of natural health, where the terrain of the body gives so many insights into how the body is functioning, if an imbalance can exist in one direction, there must be an opposite to that imbalance.  Otherwise, there would be no middle ground, no place where the body could be considered “balanced.”  Seems reasonable, right?

 

Imbalance – Electrolyte Deficiency

 

Very few doctors will ever complain about your blood pressure being low.  Since there is no drug for low blood pressure, the ramifications are not in their training.  We all know that high blood pressure can cause heart attacks and strokes (blowouts).  When they say your blood pressure is great even though it’s too low, they’re saying that you’ll never have a blowout.  But is it fun to run around on flat tires all day?  An optimal blood pressure reading is said to be 120 over 80.  So, if 140 over 90 is considered high blood pressure in the medical world, wouldn’t having those numbers off by the same amount in the other direction be regarded as low blood pressure?  Shouldn’t a reading of 100 over 70 be considered low?

 

When blood pressure is low, this is often a reflection of low mineral content in the bloodstream.  When the mineral levels decrease, it is a reflection of a decrease in your salts or the vascular system being too open (dilated).  Our mineral content not only comes from actual salt, but from our food too.  If your digestion is not working properly, you can’t assimilate the minerals from the food you’re eating and the mineral content in the system can decrease.  (I go over this in more detail when I talk about digestion in chapter seven.)  There are a few other possible contributing factors that can result in low blood pressure.  In most cases, however, digestion is the most prevalent contributing factor to low blood pressure.  When we see low blood pressure, for example, anything lower than a systolic reading (the top number) of 112 and a diastolic reading (the bottom number) lower than 73, we consider that there is likely an Electrolyte Deficiency Imbalance present.

 

The minerals, or salts, in the system represent the conductivity, or ability for electricity to flow through the system.  When the mineral content is low, there’s no spark; and energy can be low.  Without this energy, the brain can’t function at its full potential, a result created by the lack of minerals required for signals to travel through.  Many people with depression, and even other manifestations of “mental illness,” are often just cases where there is not enough mineral in the system.  Low mineral levels often mean there’s not enough spark to give the brain what it needs to function correctly, or there is not enough mineral to control blood pH sufficiently.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with an Electrolyte Deficiency Imbalance:

• chronic fatigue
• low blood pressure
• menstrual cramps
• poor circulation
• decreased libido
• depression or anxiety
• vertigo or dizziness when standing
• cravings
• insomnia

 

Imbalance – Electrolyte Excess

 

If an Electrolyte Deficiency Imbalance normally indicates a lack of electrolytes, the opposite would be a state where too many electrolytes are present.  This is called an Electrolyte Excess Imbalance.  

 

In general, high blood pressure can be an expression of insufficient, or lousy, kidney function.  This means that, when excessive electrolytes become concentrated in the bodily fluids, it’s usually a result of insufficient hydration (not drinking enough clean water) or impaired excretion of mineral salts through the kidneys.  High blood pressure can also result from a constricted vascular system.  In any case, electrolyte stress can lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) and other circulatory and cardiovascular problems.  A vascular system that is constricted often points to an autonomic nervous system issue or a buildup on the arterial walls.  (I talk more about the autonomic nervous system when I talk about Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Imbalances later in this appendix.)

 

Stiffening arterial walls can lift pulse pressure, which is the difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure numbers.  When the pulse pressure becomes greater and greater as the arterial walls become stiffer and stiffer, the heart becomes weaker and weaker.  If you are a person with high blood pressure who is trying to bring it down naturally, watching the pulse pressure correct itself helps to validate that you are doing the right thing.  Remember, The Coalition for Health Education has a tool that calculates your pulse pressure for you so you can just monitor the changes without worrying about the math or really understanding what pulse pressure is.

Possible symptoms that can show up with an Electrolyte Excess Imbalance:

• high blood pressure
• hardening of the arteries
• heart attack
• stroke
• poor circulation
• inability to properly transport oxygen, nutrients, waste products, antibodies and more, throughout your system

 

Catabolic/Anabolic States

 

At the cellular level, the body is always in an anabolic or catabolic state, or in the process of switching back and forth between the two.  During the day, our cell membranes are intended to open up (much like a flower) so nutrients can get in and out more easily.  This “more open” state is called a catabolic state.  At night, our cell membranes are intended to become more closed (again, like a flower) so nutrients cannot get in and out as easily.  This “more closed” state is called an anabolic state.  The anabolic and catabolic states, at the cellular level, are as obvious a fact as day and night on Earth or tides in the ocean.  Both states are appropriate, and even necessary, for a body to function optimally.  Due to many possible factors, some people can get stuck in one state and their body will not switch back and forth as intended.

 

Our cells are made up of different types of fats: fatty acids and sterols.  If there are too many sterols in the cell membrane, and not enough fatty acids, the body can be predisposed to become stuck in an anabolic state.  With too many fatty acids and not enough sterols, we could be predisposed to get stuck in a catabolic state (the opposite of an anabolic state).  To make the body operate correctly, we need to oscillate back and forth from the anabolic state at night, while we sleep, and a catabolic state during the day, while we’re active.  Without this natural oscillation, many problems can occur.  When the body shifts from anabolic to catabolic, that’s when the endorphins in the brain are released, which can help people from becoming depressed.  Though there are many other factors that more commonly contribute to depression, you can see that this natural oscillation between the anabolic and catabolic states can be important.  

 

Imbalance – Anabolic

 

First of all, there are many benefits that take place while a body is in an anabolic state.  This is the state where the body engages in most of its repairing or rebuilding processes.  You’ve probably heard the word anabolic in reference to steroids.  Weightlifters take anabolic steroids in order to be in the tissue building, anabolic state when they are not playing fair with muscle building.  

 

While an anabolic state can have its benefits, any state can cause problems when pushed to an extreme.  Although it is very appropriate for the cells to be in an anabolic state at night, some individuals will stay in a more anabolic state most of the time.  These individuals are said to be experiencing an Anabolic Imbalance.

 

If you’re stuck in an anabolic state most of the time, it can be very hard to get up in the morning because your body, at the cellular level, is actually still in sleep mode.  In the same way that many people who suffer from insomnia are stuck in a catabolic state where their body is always awake, anabolic people can have a hard time getting their bodies in motion in the morning.  The snooze button can be their best friend.  Be sure to understand, however, that everyone who experiences insomnia is not necessarily stuck in a catabolic state.  You will soon be able to read more about this topic in Kick Insomnia in the Nuts.  Just don’t think that, if you suffer from insomnia, you must not have an Anabolic Imbalance because a Catabolic Imbalance is only one possible cause for insomnia.  There are insomnia cases that exist quite well in an anabolic state too.  Also, don’t think that if you pop right out of bed in the morning that you can’t have an Anabolic Imbalance.  Remember, imbalances can show their heads in different ways for different people.  There are no “rules” to follow, only guidelines to help you along.

 

This Anabolic Imbalance can also cause constipation by sending too much of the body’s water to the kidneys and not enough to the bowels, making the stool harder and more difficult to move.  An Anabolic Imbalance can also cause individuals to pee high volumes of urine frequently throughout the day.  They will often have to get up in the middle of the night to tinkle.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with an Anabolic Imbalance:

• constipation or hard stool
• tachycardia (rapid heart rate)
• anxiety/panic attacks
• frequent urination
• difficulty waking in the morning
• viral problems

 

Since an overly anabolic state can be described as a lack of fatty acids at the cellular level, increasing your fatty acid intake can be one method to help improve this imbalance.  However, I find that most individuals with this imbalance really need to use more nutrients like specific vitamins, minerals and amino acids, more than fatty acids, in order to see lasting improvement.  Increasing your fatty acid intake may be a place to start when attempting to improve an Anabolic Imbalance, but they are not all created equal and taking rancid fatty acid supplements can be more harmful than good.  Yes, mainstream media loves to cram the benefits of fatty acids down our throats; but not only are fatty acids not beneficial for some imbalances, rancid fatty acids are not beneficial for anyone.  

 

Beyond buying the right supplements, also be sure not to just assume you have an imbalance because you’re experiencing some (or even all) of the symptoms that commonly show up with that imbalance.  Without looking at your specific chemistry, and understanding how your body is operating, you’re really just throwing darts when you try to treat symptoms that way.  

 

Imbalance – Catabolic

 

When it comes to cellular permeability, the catabolic state is the opposite of the anabolic state.  It’s the other side of the coin.  The catabolic state is where the body kind of “breaks down and cleans house,” so to speak.  In a catabolic state, the body is primed to use oxygen to create energy, so it is appropriate to be in a catabolic state during your waking hours to keep you going all day.  This, along with what I just explained about the anabolic state, helps to show how both the anabolic and catabolic states are appropriate during the appropriate times.  However, in the same way that I talked about people who lean too anabolic, some individuals will stay in a more catabolic state most of the time.  These individuals are said to be experiencing a Catabolic Imbalance.

 

If someone is stuck in a catabolic state, the cell walls are too permeable and this individual will often burn up muscle and protein and even membrane fats.  Breaking down tissues and muscle so they can be rebuilt is a beneficial aspect of the catabolic state, but when a person is in that state too often, for too long, that “cleaning house” process can turn into a body that is flat out falling apart.  The more muscle we lose, the lower our metabolism, and we may burn less fat.

 

Insomnia is very common with a Catabolic Imbalance because the cell membranes are more permeable, which is a characteristic of the daytime state.  These people can’t sleep because their bodies are still awake and operating at full speed.  Most sleeping aids will knock you out in the head so you can sleep, but your body will still be wide awake all night.  As a result, you might either wake up exhausted or you become tired again a few hours after waking.  

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with a Catabolic Imbalance:

• insomnia
• migraines
• chronic diarrhea or loose stool
• hair falling out
• muscle loss
• chronic pain
• loss of connective tissue or difficulty in healing
• aging quickly
• joint and muscle pain; arthritis (especially rheumatoid)
• oliguria (insufficient urination, perhaps often but in small amounts)
• low body temperature
• bacterial problems

 

Since an overly catabolic state is sometimes described as a lack of sterols at the cellular level, increasing your intake of sterols and saturated fatty acids, such as real butter or coconut oil, can be one method to help improve this imbalance.  However, I find that most individuals with this imbalance also need to use more nutrients like specific vitamins, minerals and amino acids in order to see lasting improvement.  That being said, increasing your sterol intake while optimizing digestion can be a great place to start.

 

Energy Production

 

The next two imbalances I cover are Fat Burner Imbalance and Carb Burner Imbalance.  These deal with energy production and how the body uses food for fuel.  Before I explain energy production, understand that I will be leaving out complicated methods the body can use to create energy.  They are not important for this explanation.

 

To create energy, simply speaking, our bodies burn either fat or glucose.  Your body is designed to burn both types of fuel for different purposes.  Despite that, changes can occur in our bodies, or in our lives, that will train our bodies to prefer one fuel over the other.  The body may stop burning the other type of fuel almost entirely.  This is another reason why there is no such thing as the diet that is right for everyone.  It doesn’t exist.  Some people burn fats much better than glucose and some people are the opposite.  This really puts all these arguments into perspective about “low-carb,” “low-fat,” “high-protein,” “the drunk diet,” “I only eat things that start with the letter F…” I could go on for days.  They’re still all going to be wrong.  In order to find the right “diet,” you really need to look at a person’s biological individuality, because each person processes foods differently.

 

Imbalance – Carb Buner

 

Carb Burners are people who are predisposed to burn off all their glucose and do not seem to burn fat very well.  Now, it’s not that they won’t burn fat, but they will always prefer to burn off all their glucose first.  This is commonly referred to as hypoglycemic.  Just keep in mind that the hypoglycemic can also be a step away from becoming diabetic.  “But if he’s hypoglycemic, how can he be a step away from becoming diabetic?”  It’s because many hypoglycemics have way too much insulin in the system and their system responds as though there are five furnaces in the house.  Every time the house gets cold, instead of one furnace coming on and slowly warming up the house and then turning off, FIVE furnaces turn on and the house is hot enough to make you cuss by the time the furnaces shut down.

 

A Carb Burner’s insulin can work in this same manner.  These individuals have become insulin resistant, but they have not been insulin resistant long enough that the cells have stopped responding to the insulin altogether.  They’re at that stage where the cells are still responsive enough to the insulin that, when the pancreas produces up to five times the amount of insulin it normally would, it reaches a critical level and all the sugar goes into the cells at one time.  These people can get very severe headaches in the front of their heads.  They may also complain that their head feels full or they’ll get fuzzy brained; this is due to the blood sugar dropping far too rapidly.  Using a blood sugar glucometer can quantify that the blood glucose has gone too low.  This low blood sugar can make these folks extremely miserable, and being around them when blood sugar levels drop can be equally miserable.  If you live with, or if you are this person, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with a Carb Burner Imbalance:

• lack of energy; physical and mental fatigue
• high or low blood sugar
• shortness of breath
• high cholesterol
• overweight or underweight
• irritable when hungry

 

Imbalance – Fat Burner

 

If you find that you show indications of having a Fat Burner Imbalance, you most likely are burning much more fat than glucose.  If you also have high cholesterol, high triglycerides and a high fasting glucose, any of these markers can be another indication that you are not processing glucose effectively.

 

Many individuals who are overweight and have this imbalance will ask, “How is it that I’m burning mostly fat but I’m still so fat?”  This is because their bodies are turning almost every carb and sugar that they eat into fat.  In order to process sugar or glucose, the body is having to take all sugar or glucose coming in and turn it into fat before it is able to be “burned” for energy.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with a Fat Burner Imbalance:

• lack of energy; physical and mental fatigue
• Type II Diabetes
• metabolic syndrome (or insulin resistance)
• high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease
• weight gain
• gallbladder trouble

 

You may have noticed Type II Diabetes on the list above.  This doesn’t mean that if you have a Fat Burner Imbalance that you’re diabetic.  It just means that in this fat burning state, the body prefers to burn fat and can often move into a predicament where it will burn very little glucose, if any.  In these cases, glucose can accumulate in the bloodstream and, abracadabra, you’re diabetic.  Remember, I am only describing an imbalance in this section and not a disease.  However, a neglected imbalance certainly can manifest itself eventually as a disease,  just like neglecting to change the oil in your engine can manifest itself as a blown up engine.

 

By improving this imbalance and allowing the body to once again process both types of fuel, a person could increase energy and lose some weight, since such a large percentage of glucose would no longer need to be stored as fat.

 

Autonomic Nervous System

 

Sympathetic Dominance refers to the autonomic nervous system (ANS).  The ANS is a mechanism in the body that happens without having to consciously think about it.  You don’t have to think about whether your heart is beating, it just does.  The other side of the nervous system is the Parasympathetic Dominance.

 

The sympathetic side is the speed side—the fight or flight response.  The parasympathetic side is the slow side—the rest and digest state.  These two systems are hard-wired, in a sense, to the heart, the entire digestive system, and all the lower level glands, organs and systems.

 

Imbalance – Parasympathetic

 

A Parasympathetic Imbalance is often where I find individuals who suffer from allergies or asthma.  This can be a tricky imbalance because if an individual has a strong ANS imbalance, especially on the parasympathetic side, that person can often see a response that is opposite of what is expected when working to balance the body.  For example, if a specific food or supplement tends to push one measurement, like urine pH, down for most people, that same food or supplement could actually push up that measurement for a parasympathetic person.  I’ve never heard a good explanation as to why this can occur for some, but it seems the defense system and immunological issues affect this anomaly.  It is seen frequently enough in parasympathetics that you need to know this anomaly exists.  That is why learning to monitor your body is so important.  Monitoring your body will also alert you when the time has come to get the help of a professional who understands the wide variety of nuances that can occur when looking at layer upon layer of imbalances in the body.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with a Parasympathetic Imbalance:

• allergies
• asthma
• small pupil size
• frequent urination
• increased saliva
• muscle cramps at night
• eyes or nose watery
• eyelids swollen
• gag easily
• poor circulation

 

Imbalance – Sympathetic

 

The ANS is reactive.  As a stress situation presents itself, the system turns on, does its job, and in doing so possibly reaches its outer bounds of homeostasis (perfect balanced health).  Thanks to this selfish act of the ANS, other systems in the body can be deprived and suffer.  Not unlike the transmission in your car, systems in the body can “lock up” and refuse to shift out of low gear, thus causing a myriad of symptoms such as unpredictable and/or uncalled-for behavior.  The stress situations that are instigating the reaction of the ANS could be emotional, nutritional, or mineral in origin.  If individuals are stuck in a sympathetic state, they can feel stressed and on edge, and even have trouble sleeping since they are stuck in fight or flight mode.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with a Sympathetic Imbalance:

• large pupil size
• low levels of urination
• increased temperature
• sweaty hands
• dry mouth/eyes/nose
• get chills often
• cold extremities (like hands or feet)
• unable to relax
• irritated by strong light

 

pH Balance – Acid/Alkaline Imbalances

 

Everybody just calm down.  This can be a very hot topic in the world of natural health.  If this book is your first taste of natural health, this section may open your eyes to some incredible things.  Kind of like the series LOST, but this will actually make sense.  However, if you have already read, or have been introduced to, information about the pH of the body, I may need to spend time fixing the damage that some other numskulls have created.

 

The bloodstream has a very narrow pH value that it must stay within in order for our bodies to function properly.  If the blood moves too far acid or too far alkaline, we can literally die.  The body doesn’t want this to happen, so it does whatever it can to keep the bloodstream at a balanced pH level.

 

In the natural world, when people talk about pH, they frequently talk about how we all need to “alkalize.”  “Alkalize, alkalize, alkalize.”  “Alkalize or die a slow, miserable death,” they tell us.  These pH “gurus” explain how we are all too “acid” and it’s killing us one by one.  Of course, when someone follows these approaches and tries to alkalize themselves, and they completely fall apart, the guru tells them, “That’s okay, you’re going through a ‘healing crisis’.  Just stick to it and you’ll be fine.”  No, what we’re going through is a guru crisis.  There currently appears to be a crisis where a few gurus need to be punched in the neck so maybe they will stop ruining the well-being of half of their readership.

 

These readers who started to fall apart after “alkalizing” themselves were likely falling apart because they were pushing an imbalance that already existed even further over the edge.  Remember how I talked about the fact that an imbalance can’t exist unless there is an equal imbalance in the other direction?   If someone told you one pair of glasses will fix everyone’s vision, you would question his intelligence or just poke him in the eye.  We all know that reading glasses can help farsighted people while nearsighted individuals need the very opposite type of lens.  Any author who tells the reader that EVERYONE should do ANYTHING is trying to sell something.  

 

The haphazard confusion starts here; some individuals truly are too “acidic.”  I talk about what this means in just a moment.  For now, I’m going to continue using the same ignorant terminology that most of the pH gurus use.  When individuals have an Acid Imbalance, and they truly can benefit from “alkalizing” themselves, these individuals can follow the instructions laid out by a pH guru and they may see tremendous improvement to their health, or at least their well-being.  In some cases, these results could even be considered miraculous.  Still, let’s just calm down for a minute.  If we know that every imbalance (like an Acid Imbalance) will have an opposite imbalance in the other direction, what are these pH gurus doing to the people who have an Alkaline Imbalance (the opposite of an Acid Imbalance)?  They’re making these individuals miserable and calling it a “healing crises,” that’s what they’re doing.

 

To go right along with all of the pH and alkalizing books and experts out there, we also find shelves upon shelves of “alkalizing” products in every health food store.  You can’t throw a stick down the aisle of a health food store without hitting a product that boasts its ability to improve your health through alkalizing.  (By the way, if you do this, the employees will come right up to you and ask you not to throw sticks in their store anymore… like I’m the one doing something wrong here.)  It is also likely that these products will increase in popularity since many people will reap benefits from their use.  Many people with an acidity issue, that is.  To understand the tragedy in this, let’s go over the Acid and Alkaline Imbalances.

 

The most important thing to understand is that, when I discuss an Acid or Alkaline Imbalance in this series of books, I am talking about blood pH.  Measuring urine pH and saliva pH in a context of breath rate and breath hold can be incredibly insightful and useful, but urine pH or saliva pH are not always an indication of the pH of the blood, as many pH gurus will have you believe.  It’s a nice story, it just happens to be a fictional one.  I already showed you how to measure urine pH and saliva pH.  For now, I’m just going to dig into blood pH since this is the crucial parameter when looking at an Acid or Alkaline Imbalance.

 

Imbalance – Tending to Alkalosis

 

Alkalosis is an imbalance where the bloodstream is too alkaline.  When the blood leans alkaline, oxygen can’t leave the bloodstream and go to the tissue level where it needs to be to help your body create the energy required to run properly.  In science, this is known as the Bohr Effect.

 

If a doctor checked your oxygen levels, he would put a device called a pulse oximeter on you and he might tell you that your oxygen is great… you have plenty.  But, because the bloodstream is too alkaline, the oxygen cannot be released from the bloodstream and go into the tissues where it can be used.  The result:  You can feel wiped out.  The oxygen is there, it just can’t get to the right location in order to be properly utilized.  In an effort to correct this, when the bloodstream is too alkaline, the body will slow the rate at which you breathe.  Carbon dioxide (CO2) is acid inducing to the bloodstream so the body tries to reduce the amount that you breathe in order to hold on to more CO2, allowing it to acidify the bloodstream.  Pretty neat trick Mother Nature came up with, don’t you think?  By using the CO2 to acidify a bloodstream that is too alkaline, some oxygen can be released from the bloodstream and make it to the tissue level.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with an Alkaline Imbalance:

• chronic fatigue
• sleep apnea
• joint and muscle pain; arthritis
• allergies; asthma
• muscle cramps
• fluid retention

 

In regard to sleep apnea, many cases are caused by structural issues (such as a flap that doesn’t seem to be flapping correctly), but almost as many are caused by a bloodstream that is too alkaline.  The breath rate drops so low due to an overly alkaline bloodstream that eventually the body says, “I’m gonna acidify this bloodstream and get some oxygen down to the tissues where it needs to be even if it kills this guy,” and this would show itself as sleep apnea symptoms.

 

By looking at all the trouble an overly alkaline bloodstream can cause, do you see how important it is to look at people as individuals and measure where they are before you start blabbing about how everyone needs to alkalize?  Just because something brings about an amazing result for one person, doesn’t mean that it’s not going to turn someone else into a zombie.  This is another example of how people are different.  Why is that so hard for many people to grasp?  I’ve met individuals who can’t get enough Maury Povich; yet if you forced me to watch that show, I might not ever talk to you again.  We know people are different in their preferences; if they weren’t, how would John Tesh have a fan base at all?  Since people can have different tastes, doesn’t it make sense that they could have different chemistry as well?

 

Imbalance – Tending to Acidosis

 

The physiology in a person with Acidosis problems expresses too much acid (or H+) in the bloodstream.  One cause can be an imbalance in potassium, or an inability of the kidneys to properly excrete the acid and balance is lost.  The breath rate in these individuals becomes accelerated because the kidneys, being unable to easily control the acid level in the bloodstream, can be helped by the lungs huffing off CO2, because CO2 acidifies the bloodstream.  These individuals will normally have a short breath-holding time and a rapid breathing rate, exposing the fact that the kidneys are not having an easy time controlling the pH of the blood.  This can be remedied (depending on the cause) by assisting the system to buffer the acids more effectively and excreting them.  But this is not just a failure to excrete acids, it’s a failure to buffer them.  This helps us to understand why using foods or supplements in an effort to “alkalize” an individual can be so beneficial.  This is how a pH guru can hit home runs with some people who will then think he is so brilliant.  These people with the overly acid issues can really benefit by increasing the nutrients that can be used to buffer these acids.  Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

An inability to properly digest protein can often be an issue in these cases since the biggest buffer of acids in the body is protein.  Obviously, it is more profitable for the industry to sell green drinks and alkalizing supplements than it is to help people better digest their protein.  Yet, in some cases, simply improving protein digestion can be a great step toward giving the body the tools it needs to buffer those acids on its own.

 

Possible symptoms that can show up with an Acid Imbalance:

• shortness of breath
• rapid heart rate
• allergies
• poor retention of important mineral nutrients
• fluid retention
• poor function of your kidneys, lungs, adrenal glands and many other organs and glands
• digestive issues

 

Alkalizing Water And Water Filters

 

The first step in digging through this dung is to remember that some individuals have an Acid Imbalance.  Their blood is tending toward being too acid.  If this is you, one of these alkalizing water filters could certainly help you feel better if it was pushing your blood to a more balanced state.  You would know if it was working or not if your breath rate started to come down.  In this scenario, you would start to feel better and would tell all of your friends it was because of the “magic water” that was coming out of your water filter and you’re so excited because you only have sixty-three more monthly payments before it is paid off.

 

Let’s not stop there.  To a lot of my clients, I will hold up a bottle and say, “Have you heard of this?  It’s called WATER!” because it’s so obvious that they’re not drinking any.  Water is one of the most important components to our health and yet so few people drink enough to help their bodies wash out all the junk.  They think that if they’re drinking a soda or coffee, that’s enough.  “It has water in it,” they tell me.  But soda and coffee, or even sport drinks, are hardly a replacement for water.  None of those beverages have the ability to truly hydrate the cells like water can.  Most of those drinks just introduce more junk into the body rather than giving your body what it needs to wash junk out.  But tell me this:  If a guy pays $3000 for a water filter, do you think he might drink some water?  You bet he will!  He’ll probably go fill up a glass every time he opens his checkbook or checks his bank statement.  “Where the hell did all my money go?  Oh yeah, I guess I should go get a glass of water.”

 

When you take a person who hasn’t been drinking any water, and you start getting H2O down his gullet, that can often be enough to turn his whole world around.  You start to hydrate the body, you start to clear out junk.  Pounds get dropped, joints become more flexible, all sorts of happy stuff can happen—just by adding some water.  Too bad he could have done the same thing with a ninety-nine cent jug of spring water.  

 

I’ll call this water filter mortgaging consumer “Bill.”   Bill tells his friend Tanya about this filter and talks her into buying too.  (Certainly this is just about her health and has nothing to do with the fact that Bill will be making money off of Tanya’s purchase.)  But Tanya starts to feel worse.  She’s exhausted and finds it easier to just sit on the couch all day.  If you checked Tanya’s breath rate you might see that it’s around eight.  With a breath rate that low, it could be that Tanya’s blood is leaning too alkaline and this alkalizing water is pushing that imbalance further into the abyss.

 

Since Tanya hears testimonial after testimonial from people who have improved their health by drinking this water, she thinks it must be something else that is bringing her down.  It can’t be the water because every multilevel marketing meeting she goes to plays loud music and people dance around because they feel so good.  Meanwhile, Tanya’s blood is so alkaline that oxygen can’t get down to the tissues and she just wants to lay down on the floor until they turn off the Macarena.

 

When deciding if alkalizing water is right for you, it’s crucial to look at breath rate and understand if your blood could benefit from drinking this water or if it’s just going to make you worse.  Even if you do have an Acid Imbalance, and drinking alkaline water could benefit you, be sure to continue to check your breath rate for improvement.  You don’t want to correct an Acid Imbalance so well that you create an Alkaline Imbalance.  Monitoring yourself and your numbers is what this type of health movement is all about.  It’s not about finding something that makes you feel better and using that product until you die.  It’s about using something until your body is balanced and then reducing it until you don’t need it anymore.

 

As a side note, remember that the first thing that water hits is your stomach.  If you’re drinking alkaline water with your food, that alkalinity is going to reduce the effectiveness of stomach acid levels that may already be too low.