Kate Lyndley from Alkaline by Design has been a blood microscopist for nearly a decade, practicing in London, Europe and Australia. She has been working with and teaching people about alkalising, and how this impacts their health with blood microscopy educational workshops.

Kate runs alkalising and blood microscopy workshops in Melbourne and you can join her on Facebook and Instagram.

It is an honour to have Kate share her alkalising and blood microscopy expertise with the Nourishing Hub in her highly informative article.

What is Alkalising?

The concept of alkalising your body is nothing new, it has been around in nutritional healing circles for years and is now getting a lot more mainstream media attention. However, it is still mystifying. Natalie Imbruglia does it, as do many other celebs, but what does it actually mean?

The food and drinks we consume are broken down through digestion, into what is called alkaline or an acid ‘ash’. Alkaline ash residue being of pH 7 or above, and acidic ash being less than a pH of 7. ‘Alkaline ash’ foods and drinks are good for us, ‘acidic ash’ – not so good. Why? Your blood has an operating pH of 7.365 which is slightly alkaline. Each organ and function of the body also has its own pH. Much research has given evidence that alkaline consumables hugely benefit the body in that they build us up and help create blood, muscle, bone, tissue, stem cells, etc.

Alkaline foods and drinks build strong blood. More evidence exists to show us that acidic foods and drinks really break us down and the degeneration is rapid (just look at daily hospital admissions). We know that smoking is bad for us; it can cause lung cancer. This is an acknowledgment that acidic products (like smoking and drugs) break us down to significant disease.

So quite simply, the more alkaline food and drinks we put into our body, the better we feel because our body is getting what it needs, and we are functioning at a higher level.

Your blood feels better too. When your blood gets what it needs, it does not have to compensate. Your blood will always have a pH of 7.365. However, acidic foods, thoughts, drinks etc make it rock and roll hard and in order to bring itself into balance, the blood takes nutrients from other organs and tissues.

This first picture shows us someone who eats and drinks a lot of vegetables and alkaline food. The red blood cells here are gently bouncing off each other and are uniform in size, shape and colour. They are healthy and functioning properly, and the blood plasma is clear.

Picture two shows us someone who does not have enough vegetables, oils or alkaline foods in their diet. Red blood cells are not shaped or functioning properly and many have a white centre. The centre shows a large crystal mass – yellow for uric acid, white for sugar fermentation, green/blue for mould. This crystal is an arterial blocker – not what you need to have in your arteries. It places a huge amount of stress on the heart to pump the blood around your body at top speed.

Alkalising is about what you eat and drink.

Alkaline foods are your vegetables and some fruits. Cucumbers, Celery, Lemons and Limes, Lettuce, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Ginger, Onions, Shallots, Beans, Peas – all the vegies that we know and love. Potatoes and root vegetables are classified as being ‘more acidic’ because they break down to acidic ash residue and contain sugars which impacts your blood sugar levels. Fruits are generally acidic such as pineapple, oranges, grapes, watermelon, apples, rhubarb, mangoes, bananas because they too break down into acidic ash residue (and some break down like pure sugar) however, we are not dissing these fruits – they do have a considerable amount of antioxidants and are useful in our health and wellbeing. They just get used a different way when you watch your consumption of them.

Animal products such as meats and milk, cheese and its derivatives are considered to be acid and mucous forming and the body does find it harder to break them down. The more you have of these products, the harder your body has to work to digest them, the more energy you use and the more you will accumulate these in your gut (especially undigested meats).

Grains and legumes are also considered acid-forming (rice, couscous, wheat, bread etc) and also get used in a different way.

Coffee, alcohol, fruit juice, soft drinks and anything that is not water or vegetable juice, is acid-forming. Green tea is ‘slightly acidic’ but ever so good for you. Black tea is more acid-forming.

Sugar causes significant acidification of our blood and body tissues, accelerating degeneration, feeding cancers and other disease, and enhancing symptoms you may be experiencing.

They say ‘everything in moderation’, but when your moderation is 90% acid foods and drinks, then you will become ill. People who eat a more natural or alkaline diet report higher levels of energy and vibrancy and I know for myself having been very ill right through from childhood to late 20’s, eating this way gives you a solid foundation from which to heal, and to generate your own wellbeing.

There are many schools of thought on what is alkaline and what is acidic. Best not to get too bogged down in the detail and remember the strategies in this article as good guidelines to improve health.

Handy Hint: Start to look at foods and drinks as either those that switch you on (alkaline) or switch you off (acid). Your mobile battery when fully charged is alkaline, powered and ready to go with capacity to last for hours. When it runs down, it becomes more acidic and needs a recharge. When you recharge with alkaline foods and drinks, you will naturally have more energy. When you constantly ingest acidic consumables you will lose your vibrancy and fatigue and disease will take over. Sugar is an immediate switch ‘off’.

Alkalising is healing to the body and mind
 

Many people take up alkalising to just feel better, and some, because they have a considerable amount of physical / mental ill feeling, or considerable disease that they wish to heal.

Alkalising is not just about the foods and drinks you ingest. It is also about your thoughts, your attitude and your every day behaviours. You will notice how often a dark thought will take you to other topics in your dark spaces, keep you there and take you down further. Stress ultimately makes you ill. While you may start out with a certain level of stress, we often don’t realise when we are taking on more and more that is contributing to our unwellness. Continual stress and dark thoughts (and it’s associated behaviours) create a phenomenal amount of acid that our blood then has to deal with, and it does this by breaking us down from the inside. Then there is the alcohol, medication, chocolate, junk food that you may use as a coping mechanism, just to compound it all.

I am not suggesting that you become all zen, find a tree to hug and a river to meditate by on a daily basis, let alone eliminate all stress. Good for some but not practical for most. What is required is to find a way to manage your life where the stress is able to be dealt with. Personally I tap in to older friends or seek a counselling session to ask ‘what’s the best way to deal with this’ and sometimes just one thing is enough to completely make the difference.

The best reason to alkalise is to clean up your blood and immunity. People who eat cleanly and exercise report that they never get ill (this is also true of me, one cold in 9 years). They also report baby soft skin, less wrinkles and hair colour comes back strongly (where greys once had been).

The first image is someone who feeds their body nutritious alkaline resources. Their blood is tightly woven, and created at full function.

This second image shows abnormalities in the blood. The white raised areas indicate acid pooling and degeneration. You will notice the blood has a more melted look and is not so tight.

Alkalising is about your environment

It is about your home environment, your car, where you live, your work place, the people you spend time with, your holiday spots.

Consider what chemicals you use to clean with. Are they safe? Do you use them a lot?

Just because we can’t see the residue of the products we have been cleaning with does not mean that they do not exist. Residues exist on everything including the fibres your carpets and bedding are made of, what your kitchen table is polished with, what protectants your couch is finished with etc. This then impacts on your health.

Environment is about the people you spend time with. While it is not always easy to limit the time we spend with negative family, overall consider limiting your time with all negative downward pulling people. You may choose new things for yourself, however, others may be vested in you being a certain way and not supportive of those new choices, which can ultimately make it hard to succeed.

Testing to see how alkaline or acidic you are
By this I mean testing your own body’s pH – by way of urine or saliva. You can get pH test kits where you pop strips into your mouth to test saliva or put in the flow of urine. Saliva pH is a more foundation level test of pH and is better over the long term. Do this in the morning upon rising before cleaning your teeth or drinking water.

Urine pH tests a more superficial pH level which is influenced with what you eat, drink and how you exercise during the day. Test your second urine flow of the morning.

Your pH of either should be between 6.5 and 7.5.

Supplements that support alkalising

My favourite alkalising products on Nourishing Hub would be the Synergy Chlorella and Spirulina. These products not only alkalise your blood and body, and improve digestion, but they clean up your blood and tone the bowel (this is a really good thing). Powders can be added to vegetable juices for a power fix while caps are good for on the run or busy people – they pop straight into your bag for any time you need them.

5 Guidelines to help you get started on an alkaline path:

Alkalising is as much about what you do, and what you do not do.

1. Upon rising drink a pint of water and lemon juice, daily. If your morning wake up is coffee, consider weaning yourself off it (another article) as it is highly acidic and do this on alternate days until water and lemon juice take over.
2. Add in a pint or two of vegetable juice per day and increase your water (and lemon) intake
3. Increase your veggie intake – 70-80% of your dinner plate should be salads and vegetables
4. Easy does it – make a couple of changes at a time, not all at once. When you are successful with these, make a couple more. The tortoise always wins this race
5. Change over your breakfasts – if you eat cereal, try eggs and spinach, or a smoothie on alternate days. You can find some recipes here.

This red smoothie is The Smoozie – nothing like a hot pink drink start to your day.

Bonus guideline

Exercise gets rid of the accumulated acid build up in the lymph nodes and other tissues. It supports your digestion and healthy blood creation and generally makes you feel pretty good.

Alkalising is fun
You soon learn new recipes and what your body likes and dislikes, and it opens up new conversations with people and potentially, new doors. Along with new energy, you have nothing to lose by making a few changes to support your health.

A note to those on medication and with diseases including cancer

While a light program of alkalising is good for most people, it will also help you get some energy and healing back to your body. So definitely stick with incorporating juice and more vegetables.

If you are on medication, then you have special considerations. The reason being is that some supplements can interfere with the absorption of your medication, and there are some unqualified goons who give out information on alkalising supplements that do not know the impact on the individual. Please check with your doctor regarding ‘alkaline products’ that are not suggested on the Nourishing Hub, in this article or on my website or eBooks. I have included the safety information for many supplements in my eBook Alkalising and Medication.

If on medication, whatever you do, DO NOT use salt as a supplement under any circumstance unless directed by your doctor. The use of salt is a delicate matter and not one which should go untested. Unfortunately, many websites sell it as a supplement.

If you have a disease to get on top of, or something more serious and life-threatening then this could be a good alternate route to go down or incorporate into your healing program. A stronger alkalising regime under supervision is recommended. Your qualified alkaline practitioner will give you safe guidelines to start, and increase your regime. This is not said lightly, a practitioner knows what to look out for and what alternatives to give you as and when required.