Heal Your Body: Go Green and Alkaline

By Todd Borron

Spring is around the corner and everything is turning green. Spring rains, longer days and the rays from the sun provide the energy to allow plants and trees to come back to life. As plants and trees green up, the process called “photosynthesis” goes about its work to produce oxygen and is unarguably one of the natural wonders of creation. This amazing process uses the sun to help plants produce pure oxygen which eliminates volatile organic compounds harmful to our health and aids in cleaning up our environment. Like plants, our bodies need lots of water and oxygen. Without them we can’t exist.

Photosynthesis isn't just important to plants; it's also essential to most other living things on Earth. Through photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air, which is the oxygen required to breathe. Photosynthesis is also important because plant eating animals use the energy that has been converted from the sun to fuel their own bodies. Essentially humans do the same providing we are eating our greens!

The chlorophyll produced by plants is excellent for human bodies and provides many health benefits. Chlorophyll is very alkalizing and aids in detoxifying our bodies which are very similar to plants because we need lots of nutrients, oxygen and the energy from the sun to keep us healthy. If we don't take in enough nutrients and oxygen our body can become very acidic making it hard to fight off the disease process. Studies suggest it’s very hard if not impossible for disease and bacteria to flourish in our body if we are alkaline and oxygenated. We want our internal body clean, green and alkaline. Have you ever done a pH test to see how alkaline your body is? It might be an eye opening experience and might make you think about your health if you see how acidic your body is. I refer to it as ' Dirty Blood" and it can stem from hundreds of reasons but the bottom line is your body is toxic and needs to be cleaned up. Much like a hot tub that gets chemically out of balance as the pH is altered it will become cloudy and smelly. That's exactly what goes on inside our body when our pH gets out of balance. The longer you let it go the more likely your health will decline and the harder you will have to work to reverse the problem. When our body’s become acidic we use huge amounts of mineral (which our bodies need to rebalance and repair at the cellular level) to buffer the pH which can lead to mineral deficiencies. Eating dark leafy greens rich in chlorophyll or adding mineral rich green powders to your foods are excellent way to help improve pH levels. I use several green powders of which my favorite is an organic blend that's derived from extracts of many different sprouts. It packs a serious punch and even has broccoli sprouts extracts which have been shown to kill mutated cells.

Don't get me wrong, you can be very healthy and still be very acidic. I’ve coached many high level athletes who find it hard to keep their pH in normal range because the body produces large amounts of waste products (lactic acid) during high intensity exercise. Mineral supplementation and eating chlorophyll rich foods or juicing can help alkalize and keep your pH within normal range. Most Americans eat way too much processed foods, sugars and animal products which are mostly acid foods. (www.acidalkalinediet.net) On top of that most people drink very acidic drinks that has to be buffered by minerals which your body is probably robbing from places you don't want it too. Have you heard of osteoporosis and weak brittle bones? The bones are one of the last places your body tries to rob nutrients from when the nutrients are lacking in your daily diet. When not replenished your bones can become brittle and break. My favorite mentor coaches Olympic and professional athletes and he once said most people are 1000% deficient in minerals. When the basic health of your body is largely determined by how many nutrients you are getting on a daily basis it’s easy to see how we get deficient. That's why you want nutrient rich dark leafy greens in your diet and lots of green powders.

One of my favorite ways to get my power nutrition is to eat sprouts. (www.sproutman.com) My favorite sprouts are black lentils and buckwheat groats. It only takes a couple of days to sprout them which turns them into super foods by increasing the nutrient density many times over. The sprouting process already helps predigest the foods and provides many more nutrients than eating the foods in their natural state. I love throwing a handful into my protein shake in the morning along with about 25 other power foods. Sprouting is very easy, doesn't take up much room and you can do it year round. I hope by now you’re asking yourself...... ”How green and alkaline is my own body"?

Todd Borron is a Functional Health Coach and Kinesiology Specialist. He evaluates every part of the body for stress and checks the functioning. Dysfunction can be structural, neurological, nutritional, emotional, electrical or increasing toxicity levels, which affect the body. Todd can be reached at tborronmo@gmail.com or 573-692-0000 and has offices in Lee’s Summit and Overland Park.