"The human body is a tightly controlled pH vessel. Veer up or down from the normal pH of 7.4 by just 0.5 and you're...dead.
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In daily life, the pH of the body is locked at 7.4, thanks to the elaborate control systems in place. By-products of metabolism, such as lactic acid, are acids. Acids drive pH down, triggering a panic mode response from the body to compensate. The body responds by drawing from any alkaline store available, from bicarbonate in the bloodstream to alkaline calcium salts such as calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate in the bones. Because maintaining a normal pH is so crucial, the body will sacrifice bone health to keep pH stable. In the great triage system that is your body, your bones will be turned into mush before pH is allowed to veer off course. When a happy net alkaline balance is struck, bones will be happy, joints will be happy.
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Unlike all other foods derived from plants, grains generate acidic by-products, the only plant products to do so. Because wheat is, by a long stretch, the foremost grain in most Americans' diet, it contributes substantially to the acid burden of a meat-containing diet.
Wheat is among the most potent sources of sulfuric acid, yielding more sulfuric acid per gram than any meat. (Wheat is surpassed only by oats in quantity of sulfuric acid produced.)...The sulfuric acid produced by wheat consumption is undoubtedly dilute. But even in teensy-weensy quantities in dilute form, it is an overwhelmingly potent acid that rapidly overcomes the neutralizing effects of alkaline bases."
Surprise (possible) wheat source of the day...Blue cheese, Cottage cheese, Gorgonzola cheese and Roquefort. Because the cultures used to ferment some cheeses come in contact with bread (bread mold), they potentially present a gluten exposure risk.
I have completed almost a week of being wheat free and I am feeling good. Today I felt like I had more energy. We had a lot to do today and I never felt like I was dragging. Of course now that it's bedtime I am feeling exhausted. I'm feeling better overall and healthier. I've found that I am going to need to take some recipes and make them up ahead of time so that I have some easy to grab snacks. Fortunately, I have found the cereal Crispix...they are kind like Chex, but have one side corn and the other side rice. I inspected the label and there is no wheat. This weekend I plan to make a few snacks to have something to go with the vegies and fruit I am eating. One is Chex Mix, which I'll make with the Crispix, some different kinds of nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I have a recipe for sweet and spicy nuts....basically mixed nuts with different spices and a small amount of brown sugar. I also have a recipe from one of my diabetic cookbooks for garbanzo beans. The goal is to get all these made by the end of the weekend. I am anxious for Monday to see if I have dropped any additional weight. I also plan, at that point, to add in some exercise to see how that affects my weight loss. Obviously I think it can only help. I haven't done any this week bc I wanted to get a true sense of what this new way of eating was all about and what I could start to expect. The biggest thing I have learned is that this has not been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The idea of going without all the wheat products we've come to love was a little intimidating. Now I am glad to be on the path. I am going to bed now because I am falling asleep but will write more tomorrow. Oh, and I forgot to test my blood sugar this morning. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
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