We’ve discussed in my last blog that balance is key to more energy. Today, let’s dive into these types of drinks to boost your immune system and fight these power drains.
Beverages
Another striking discovery you may have noticed from this chart is the power draining effect created by many common beverages. And since water consumption is a significant piece of the power puzzle, we’ll need to dial this one in.
As you can see from the chart, the most acidic beverages are carbonated water, club soda, energy drinks and soda pop. And if you love America’s most favorite beverages, Coca Cola or Pepsi, I have some good and bad news.
First the bad news: both barely register on our chart, weighing in at a dismal 2.3 pH level. And while you may not think that’s a big deal, when you consider the fact that each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value, you’ll start to grasp the massive potential for disaster here.
For example, a pH of 3 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 4 and 100 times more acidic than a pH of 5.
Sadly, that Coke you may or may not be drinking could more aptly be related to battery acid than a power producing beverage.
But this is just the beginning as these beverages also include that omnipresent creator of inflammation called “sugar!” Of course, excess sugar jacks up your insulin and not only leads to inflammation but heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. To top it off, combining sugar with carbonation creates severe tooth decay.
What about fruit juice?
While you may think that natural fruits are safe to slog down in some form of condensed fruit juice, you should also understand that these contain highly concentrated amounts of fructose, a sugar that when consumed in excessive quantities can also lead to insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity.
And if that isn’t enough to convince you to give up or at least cut down those concentrated fruit juices you may want to consider the fact that any amount of fructose consumption increases appetite and promotes overeating.
What about carbonated water?
You may have also noticed carbonated water didn’t exactly score huge points in pH power but unless there is sugar in your carbonated beverage this is not something to be overly concerned about. According to studies, plain sparkling water does not appear to pose any health risks, only the ones with sugar do. This is because your kidneys and lungs remove excess carbon dioxide, which then keeps your blood at a slightly alkaline level.
Additionally, if you drink beverages like Pellegrino, which comes from a natural spring source, you’ll find they have much higher pH levels due to their natural mineral content (Pellegrino has a 5.6 pH level).
What about alkaline water?
Current trends promote buying commercial water with super high pH levels of 8.8 or higher. These products contain a high amount of dissolved minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium and can actually drain your power. This may sound contradictory but it relates back to the delicate balance of your microbiome.
According to New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned health expert, Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, Ph.D. (aka The Paleo Mom):
“Probiotic species are adapted to an acidic environment, and in fact produce organic acids, like lactic acid and butyric acid, that help control the growth of pathogens by lowering the pH of the intestines.”
While you need calcium, salt, potassium, and magnesium to boost your alkalinity, unfortunately, these alkaline waters neutralize your stomach acid needed to digest your food. As Dr. Ballantyne continues:
“Studies also confirm that drinking alkaline water causes an undesirable shift in gut microbiome composition. A randomized, controlled crossover intervention in adult men compared the impact on the gut microbiome of consuming 2 liters per day of alkaline water (pH 9) compared to neutral water (pH 7) for two weeks. While the alkaline water had no effect on overall species diversity or richness, the men benefited from higher hydration levels from neutral pH water, which significantly increased richness by 15% when comparing pre- and post-intervention samples.”
In contrast to these highly alkaline products, you may have noticed that the natural water sources on our chart run slightly acidic to just slightly alkaline.
So while you may want to stay away from these highly alkaline commercial waters, especially when you are digesting food, you can get a power boost from adding natural minerals to your water or buying water that has natural mineral content.
This is especially true if you’ve been eating acidic foods or have an abnormal amount of stress from work, relationships or illness and need to boost your alkalinity.
Minerals / Electrolytes / Hydration
Regardless of your circumstances, these minerals like potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium raise your pH level, make you more alkaline and help you remain hydrated. As such, you should add minerals to your diet regularly.
This can be achieved quite simply by adding a pinch of Himalayan pink salt to your power meals as well as drinking water. Dr. Dominique D’Agostino, founder of Keto Nutrition, recommends 1-2 teaspoons per day as a healthy level of consumption.
And if you’re not already hip to the Himalayan stuff, you’ll be surprised to learn that it contains a full spectrum of 84 minerals including calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper and iron. So by adding the pink stuff to your food and water, you’ll not only get an instant boost in alkalinity but the salt will also help you retain water and stay hydrated.
In contrast, if you chug a big glass of water with no minerals you’ll most likely just pee most of it out within a short period of time.
Keep in mind; regular table salt does not do this. In fact, regular table salt is a power drain, which you should avoid. This is due to the fact that table salt is highly processed and the balance of sodium in comparison to other valuable minerals is lost.
In addition to mineral loss, anti-caking agents are added, which contain carcinogenic aluminum and can accumulate in your brain and lead to neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Lastly, as an outdated practice, Iodine is also added to table salt to avoid goiters, which is no longer the crisis it was in the 1960s when companies began adding it.
Besides, if you are eating power boosting foods from The Power Diet you’ll get plenty of iodine.
And if you’re worried about all the hype around ingesting too much salt, you should know that the problems of hypertension and heart disease from overconsumption of salt is found primarily in people who have a diet high in processed table salt and processed foods, which contain way too much salt.
So if you’re using processed table salt or eating a lot of packaged and processed products like potato chips, pizza, condiments, crackers, canned soups, lunch meats, salted nuts and cheese you’ll need to start eliminating these, as they will create inflammation and drain your power.
If you simply follow The Power Diet protocol you won’t crave these power drains. Instead, you’ll look forward to natural, nutrient dense, whole foods that are deeply satisfying and allow you to bypass the surgery (pun intended) that results from nutrient deficiencies or overconsumption of salt.
To maintain alkalinity, again you can simply add a pinch of Himalayan sea salt to your meals and when you drink water you can do the same thing and/or add lemon or lime or trace minerals.
How much should I drink per day?
As for water consumption recommendations, make sure you stick to natural mineral water or filtered water and avoid tap water as it is typically loaded with chlorine and fluoride, two massive power drains, which can lead to bladder and bone cancer.
Specifically, you should aim for .5 to 1 ounce per pound of body weight per day. So for example, if you weighed 150 pounds, normal consumption would be anywhere between 10 and 20 cups of water (8 ounces = 1 cup).
Now let’s recap what we know about the power drains and power boosters.
There you have it, folks! But know that this doesn’t end here. If you want to learn more, you can definitely check out the most comprehensive and easy to use guide: “The Power Diet” by Chad Scott.
