The PH Diet: The pHenomenal Dietary System. Bharti Vyas
for a long period, don’t make any sudden alterations to your eating habits. Such abrupt changes may result in withdrawal symptoms or a ‘healing crisis’, in which you may experience headaches or other unpleasant symptoms. We do not want this to happen to you, so we encourage you to take on the new programme slowly.
The pH Diet is not a race or a three-week wonder – it is an easy, flexible and healthy way of eating and enjoying food with the ultimate goal of regaining your health, losing weight and looking great. You should take the time to tune in to your body, its needs and responses, and take personal responsibility for it. Ultimately, no one knows more about you than you.
There are three levels to the pH Diet. The amount of time you spend at each level is flexible, allowing you to build the programme around your lifestyle. However, the longer and more thoroughly you do each level, the greater the benefits will be. Doing it right is far more important than doing it quickly!
If you measure your pH status with the special paper as described in Chapter 4, it will be easier for you to decide when to move from Level 2 to Level 3. However, we recommend that you start at Level 1 and work through each level until symptoms improve and you feel and look better. Even if you have no current symptoms and your pH levels are ideal, prevention is better than cure. Following the programme can only benefit your long-term health.
Breakfast may be a challenge as it will probably be the meal with the most change. Level 1 introduces water and lemon juice on rising and reduces coffee or tea. Level 2 introduces millet flakes, Breakfast Rice and the ‘3&6 Mix’. Level 3 takes this further and introduces ‘nut’ milks while increasing fruit juices and fruit, maintaining the ever-decreasing intake of detrimental beverages.
The most important rule for breakfast is that you have some. So many adults and children leave home with no breakfast, snatching something unsuitable with no nutritional value on the way to work or school. A start to the day like this will only leave you feeling fatigued later in the day.
If you slip and have something you know to be extremely acid forming, such as a strong cup of coffee and a croissant or a bar of chocolate, drink more water to help dilute the toxins. Don’t give yourself a hard time – just get back on track quickly. Start thinking of what your next meal will be. By thinking about alkaline super foods, you are more likely to eat something to help rebalance your system.
The pH Diet in a Nutshell
Level 1 – Reducing the toxic load
Level 2 – Increasing alkaline reserves
Level 3 – Maintaining the balance
Level 1 – Reducing the Toxic Load
Level 1 gets you started on banishing the acid wastes stored in your body. You need to start eliminating all the pollution that has built up in your body, especially the colon, from years of eating and drinking too many acid-forming foods and drinks. You do not, however, have to embark upon a sudden ‘detox’ regime. At this level you eat what you normally eat. The main emphasis here is liquid intake, not food intake. It makes good sense to reduce detrimental beverages and other anti-nutrients before embarking on changing your diet.
This is not a short-term programme, so you can do Level 1 for as long as you like, or as long as it takes for you to decrease your intake of harmful drinks and anti-nutrients. You need to clear out the old to make way for the new. Levels 1 and 2 will cleanse your body of impurities, normalize digestion and metabolism and regain alkaline balance. Leaving out the harmful beverages and anti-nutrients, before increasing beneficial foods and drinks, will give you an excellent start to reducing your weight, regaining your health and improving your looks.
Step 1: Cut Down on Harmful Drinks and Anti-nutrients
Many beverages contain caffeine. With every cup of coffee you drink, your body’s calcium balance – the difference between calcium intake and excretion – becomes negative. If you drink more than a couple of cups (not mugs!) of coffee a day, the calcium loss can be substantial, especially if you are absorbing too little calcium in the first place. Drinking several cups of strong coffee or tea a day clogs up your body with toxins and slows you down mentally and physically.
Start now. Reduce your intake of the following drinks and anti-nutrients. Replace beverages with a healthier alternative from the ‘Acid- and Alkaline-forming Drinks’ table on page 8. Aim to reduce and eventually eliminate the anti-nutrients.
Beverages
• Coffee – including decaffeinated coffee
• Tea
• Alcohol – all wines, spirits and beers
• Fizzy drinks, including energy drinks and diet drinks
• Milkshakes – made from cow’s milk
• Water flavoured with artificial sweeteners
Anti-nutrients
• Cigarettes
• Junk food – including sweets, ice cream, cakes, chocolates and crisps
• Processed foods – all ready-made meals
• ‘Diet’ foods or any ‘low-fat’, ‘fat-free’, or ‘99% fat-free’ products (usually high in sugar, salt, preservatives and additives)
• Sugar
Step 2: Drink Water
Introduce water into your daily routine, starting each day with a glass of warm or cold water with added lemon or lime. The lemon or lime juice is very alkalizing and gives a good start to the day. Additionally, drink a glass of water on the hour every hour until 6pm. It may take a couple of weeks to get used to this, but it will become a habit. Still mineral water is more beneficial than carbonated water. Practise saying ‘no’ whenever you are offered an alcoholic drink, a coffee or anything you are trying to decrease or avoid – you are in control.
Step 3: Eat Breakfast
Have your usual breakfast. If you usually go without, choose something from the Level 2 breakfast list (see page 22). Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so be sure to eat something every morning – no excuses. If you are keen to start reducing your toxic load, you can also begin to improve your breakfast by choosing something from Level 2 breakfasts.
Step 4: Enjoy Your Usual Lunch and Dinner
Have your usual lunch and evening meal. The objective at Level 1 is to reduce your toxic load by improving the quality of the liquids you are consuming and reducing the anti-nutrients. We concentrate on food more in Levels 2 and 3.
Beware Anti-nutrients
Just as nutrients maintain life, anti-nutrients are harmful to life. In following the pH Diet, you learn not only what to eat and drink for good health but also what not to eat and drink, which is equally important.
An anti-nutrient is any substance