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There is a lot of confusion about osteoporosis. Most people think that if you take a calcium supplement you’ll be okay. However, not only will this not help, but it is totally disregarding the other side: negative prevention.

Allow me to explain. You must not only take a positive step towards preventing osteoporosis (in many peoples’ cases, adding a calcium supplement), you must also take a negative step towards preventing it (as in, taking something away).

However, what could we possibly take away that would prevent osteoporosis? After all, what causes it is a lack of calcium density in the bones, not too much. Taking things away will only lead to more of a deficiency, right?

While this logic may seem pretty basic, almost like 1+1=2, 1-1=0. If you take away from the equation, you take away from the solution. However, with health it is not that simple. There is something called the acid-alkaline balance that I would like to bring to your attention.

Human blood and urine are meant to be slightly alkaline (about 8 pH). Very few liquids in the human body are meant to be acidic, the most obvious being stomach acid. Our bodies maintain homeostasis, so your stomach acid alway remains acidic (a pH of 1) and your blood remains alkaline. However, our urine tends to change to slightly acidic to slightly alkaline depending on the food we eat, since it gets expelled this way. Testing urine pH is very telling to what is going on in the body.

Now, because the body is constantly creating homeostasis, many people want to call the acid-alkaline theory bunk. I assure you that it is not. The argument goes that if the body maintains homeostasis, then we don’t need to worry about what we eat because this balance never changes. They would be correct in one respect: our bodies do a good job and do keep things relatively equal. The process does, however, come at a price.

I will now explain why our urine pH is to telling as to what is going on inside of us. When we eat an acidic food and it is broken down and sent to our blood stream, our blood must respond by making the pH alkaline again. How it does this is similar to how someone with heartburn takes Tums to lessen their stomach acid. The body takes calcium and pumps it into the blood to create homeostasis again. There is always calcium in your blood. However, your body needs to store it sometimes, and where do you think your body stores calcium? That’s right, your bones. And every time you eat an acidic food, that calcium leaches from your bones into your blood to create homeostasis again. So, when you eat acidic food, you leach calcium through your urine and are in fact losing calcium, not gaining it.

Some acidic foods are touted for their high calcium content. However, this calcium is almost always (if not always) difficult to absorb and is itself passed out of the body. In short, the amount of calcium you may obtain from an acidic food in no way makes up for the calcium it leaches from your body. Keep in mind, not all calcium is equal. There are foods out there that contain perfect types and quantities of calcium for us.

Here’s the real question: What’s acidic? What must I stay away from to prevent calcium leaching from my bones? What should I eat so I can get adequate and easy to absorb calcium?

The answer: The most acidic foods are none other than the amazing dairy and meat that (not counting actual acids like vinegar) we all love so much. Add to this list eggs, fish (in case you weren’t counting it in meat) and other creatures of the ocean, and its pretty safe to say that anything that comes from an animal is best left alone.

And foods that are alkaline and good for us? Fruits, leafy greens and pretty much all vegetables. We get plenty of calcium from all of these things, in its natural state and ready for our bodies to absorb. Eating in this way will bring our urine pH to the alkaline side, which shows that inside our body our blood is not being rampaged by acidic food.

The short of it is to eat less animal products and more fruits and tender leafy greens/vegetables (preferably raw) if you want to avoid osteoporosis. Stay away from calcium supplements because they are honestly just a waste of money and can harm you by taxing your kidneys to detox all of the extra, difficult to absorb nutrients. A tell-tale sign is that if your urine is yellow (or anything other than mostly clear), you are leaching nutrients and should reconsider the foods and supplements you are taking. If you leach vitamins and minerals, then your food or supplements aren’t doing you any good.

Lia Cross

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It seems that everywhere you look now there’s an ad for Viagra or one of its many spin-offs. If this tells us anything, it certainly makes it clear that men in America have a serious problem. Unfortunately, many of those men are in the dark as to what their problem is exactly. They think the problem is the erection, when really it goes much further than that. Erectile dysfunction isn’t just something everyone must deal with and that an affluent society can afford to correct. It isn’t just something we want fixed so we can get back to our sex lives. ED is a warning sign for underlying blood circulation issues, and is a clear sign that you’re heading toward a heart attack or stroke.

Recently, I noticed one of the ED drug commercials mention that a man had ED and high cholesterol. He was amazed and didn’t know that his high cholesterol could have “caused” his ED. I put the word in quotes to signify that those are the commercials words and not mine. Listening to this blasphemy being played to so many Americans on a daily (even hourly) basis made me irate. High cholesterol cause ED? No. Not even close.

What they could have said (and that would be true) is that high cholesterol was a warning sign that he might get ED. Why? Because high cholesterol is a warning sign of heart disease, and part of heart disease is clogged arteries, and what causes ED? Clogged arteries.

It seems pretty obvious to me that this is the case. An erection is caused by blood flow to the penis. What else would cause you not to be able to one? There are only two solutions: You aren’t aroused OR you aren’t getting blood flow down there. Simple. If you’re aroused mentally and fine you aren’t physically responding, you better watch out. You’re on course for a heart attack. And guess what, going for some Viagra won’t help.

The cure for ED (and for any other disease caused by clogged arteries) isn’t drugs. Even modern medicine simply says you can “treat” or “manage” your disorder, dysfunction, disease, cancer, etc. by taking drugs. Not cure it. Why waste your time with anything that won’t make you better?

In order to make yourself better, you must first understand why you are sick. What causes clogged arteries? The simple answer is: Animal products. Why? Because animal products are the only things on this planet that contain dietary cholesterol, and dietary cholesterol is linked significantly to not only raised blood cholesterol, but also to just about every other disease plagued by our society, not to mention the big hitters: heart disease, diabetes, cancer.

Another interesting statistic, to support the above: Based on blood cholesterol levels, the incidence of heart disease might be 24% lower in lifelong vegetarians and 57% lower in lifelong vegans compared to meat eaters (Oxford Vegetarian Study).

If heart disease is lowered, then so are other side effects of it such as erectile dysfunction.

While you may not be interested in going vegan, you can see that it would obviously be to your benefit (male or female) to cut way down on animal products. Eat lots more fruits, lots more veggies, and preferably keep them raw! Learn how to make yummy green smoothies with lots of fruit so you don’t taste the greens. It will go a long way for you health.

One of my favorite green smoothie recipes is as follows.

-2 frozen bananas (well ripened but not black before freezing — you can add more bananas if you want)

-1/2 or more cup mixed berries (optional, as they will make your green smoothie look brown)

-apple slices

-orange juice (fresh squeezed please! Also optional)

-whatever fruit you have on hand, frozen or not.

-add some cold filtered tap water

-stuff the rest of the blender with lots of spinach (I prefer baby spinach)

Blend, pour into a glass, and enjoy! This makes quite a lot so experiment with less until you find a mix that you like. Some people just like orange juice and spinach and find that to be quite tasty.

Making dietary changes, like adding more raw fruits and vegetables and cutting back or eliminating animal products, will help you get rid of ED and any other issues associated with heart disease. Don’t settle for modern medicine’s “treatments”. Seek a cure. There is enough information out there that you can find a solution that works for you.

Sources:  The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II

Lia Cross

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