Our feet are critical for our balance, coordination and of course, walking. We take them pretty much for granted until they hurt. Then we are really aware how important they are for our comfort. Thousands of people suffer from different conditions with the feet. One of the most painful is called plantar fasciitis. This is where there is sharp or throbbing pain in the heel and under part of the foot, particularly the arch.

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common and frequently seen conditions by medical doctors and foot specialists. More people hobble in to their doctors seeking relief. The tissues on the underside of the foot become irritated and inflamed to the point that it is almost too painful to walk.… Read the rest

Meniere’s disease is a disease of balance. The person gets the perception that they are spinning or that their surroundings are spinning. It can be very disconcerting, as it is like you spun yourself around really fast, then tried to stand still while keeping yourself upright. Balance seems to disappear and the sensation of falling is very real. Sometimes vomiting accompanies the dizziness, just like the feeling you experience being on a fast spinning carnival ride. One of the unfortunate effects of Meneire’s is hearing loss. Nystagmus, which is an involuntary side to side eye movement, which usually accompanies Meniere’s can also affect vision acuity.

In the inner ear, balance is maintained by the semicircular canals which are filled with fluid and act like gyroscopes, keeping us balanced and upright.… Read the rest

Kidney stones are a symptom of an acidic lifestyle and dietary choices. The first major cause of kidney stones is sugar. I guess I’m dating myself here, but when I was a child, I remember a song I would hear on the radio called Sugar In The Morning, Sugar In The Evening… The babysitter I used to go to after school would give me sugar sandwiches on fluffy white bread as an after school snack. Now, of course, there is so much evidence out there that sugar in ALL forms causes terrible things to happen in the body, one of them being kidney stones. The second major acid producer in the body that can cause kidney stones is animal protein. When someone can eat half a bucket of fried chicken or that 16 ounce steak at a single sitting, then there is really cause for concern.… Read the rest

According to the US National Kidney Foundation, 1 in 9 Americans have Chronic Kidney Disease. Scientific studies show that at least 75% of Americans are dehydrated enough that it affects their health in a negative way, so for those 1 in 9, it has developed into kidney disease. In my article The Kidneys And Alkaline, Ionized Water, I explain what the kidneys do in the body and how dependent they are on water for their efficient and normal function. So now what happens if you have reduced kidney function because of chronic dehydration and acidosis?

According to scientific studies, there are several causes of kidney disease, some of them are supposed to be genetic. Scientific evidence shows that 35 per cent of what goes on in the body is genetic, the other 65 per cent we can control with lifestyle, so I don’t know how much of an excuse we can give to genetics.… Read the rest

While most people want their nails to look presentable, some people turn them into fashion accessories, getting artificial fingernails, using striking polish colors or having decorations applied or painted onto their nails. Despite our need to manicure them, nails play a very important role as a window to our overall health. They obviously protect the underlying tissue and we use our nails to scratch places that are itchy. Looking at fingernails can show sign of ill health and nutritional deficiencies. Some Eastern practitioners diagnose directly from the look of the fingernails.

Nails are made up of layers of a protein called keratin which is also found in our hair and skin. The nail and its surrounding structures are made up of six parts.… Read the rest

The most alarming statistics around breast cancer are coming out. “Every 13 minutes another woman dies from the environmental, dietary and metabolic acids that cause breast cancer, an acidic condition of the breast tissue that has more than tripled in incidence over the past 50 years,” states Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of the pH Miracle Living Center, in San Diego County, California.

Chlorine is a recognized pesticide. It has been added to our drinking water supplies, as a disinfectant, since the late 1800’s. When chlorine combines with organic compounds in the water (sediment) or our bodies, organochlorines are formed. According to Wikipedia, organochlorines include chloroform, dichloromethane, dichloroethene, and trichlorotheane. Other organochlorines include haloacetic acids and trihalmethanes.

Scientific studies have linked the accumulation of chlorine compounds in breast tissue to cancer.… Read the rest

Multiple Sclerosis or MS is a progressive disease that seems to have no real medical cause, at least from what the medical community is prepared to accept. They do agree, however that it appears to be an auto-immune disease. In other words the body’s immune system starts attacking itself. In the case of MS, the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord where the myelin sheath on the nerves of the body is damaged or destroyed. The myelin sheath is the insulating skin covering the nerve core that facilitates the movement and transmission of nerve impulse signaling along the nerve. MS is the progressive deterioration of the myelin sheath throughout the body and its subsequent signaling failure.

Nerves in the body give us signals as to conditions in our environment, in addition to helping to create movement so we can move about and get from here to there.… Read the rest

Did you know that the sun’s rays are actually healthy and good for you under certain conditions? The good news is that the sun’s rays are actually alkalizing to the body. The problem arises when the dietary and metabolic acids emerge on the skin and “interrupt” the sun’s rays causing skin damage. Researchers at Manchester and Newcastle Universities in the United Kingdom found that eating alkalizing foods made with tomato sauce helped protect against both sunburn and premature aging.

Researchers studied the skin of twenty people. Ten of them were given five tablespoons of tomato paste to eat(the equivalent of five or six cooked tomatoes) with olive oil and the other ten were given just olive oil. At the end of the twelve week study, the group that had eaten the tomatoes had a protective boost to the skin of 33 percent.… Read the rest

If your living space was build before 1989 in Canada, you probably have lead solder in your pipes. I remember when I was in        school and the boys thought it was great fun to have pencil fights and poke each other with pencils. The teacher told them not to do it  because it could cause lead poisoning. Our pencils in those days had lead in them. We didn’t seem to be as environmentally conscious in those days.

You can get lead poisoning from water, too and it is no joke. Lead poisoning can cause many types of disorders, including sleeping difficulties. In the US the statistics are alarming. Approximately 30 percent of Americans are drinking water that contains lead. It leaches out of the pipes into the water.… Read the rest

Since so much of our body consists of water, water affects every cell of our body. You bones even need water. They are just a little denser than some of the other parts of your body. One of the parts of your body that is particularly vulnerable to dehydration is the discs in your spine and the cartilage in your joints. The lack of proper hydration can affect your back to the extent that it becomes painful.

Let me explain. Between every two vertebrae lies a disc. The outer part of the disc is called the nucleus fibrosis. It is made up of tough fibrous material. Inside of this is a soft gelatinous substance called the nucleus pulposa. That inner substance is mainly water.… Read the rest