Anthony (Tony) Robbins - Green Drink (Alkaline) Truths and thoughts

Anthony "Tony" Robbins is an American life coach, self-help author and motivational speaker. He became well known through his infomercials and self-help books, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.

I really like the concept of alkaline and acid and do think there is merit. I started drinking more green drinks and did feel the change, but as everything, there is some claims that it does not do. Please read at the bottom what alkaline eating does not do, however I also stated what it helps for.

I heard him speak about his green drink ans started looking into this drink and found one that was said to be even better... Green Vibrance.

Green Vibrance is a well-known, green super food drink powder, produced by a company called Vibrant Health, described as a product that provides trace nutrients to every cell in the body.  There are a lot of Green Vibrance reviews.  The following is an honest Green Vibrance review that examines the label and breaks down the formula objectively.

It scored a 9 against Tony's 5.. but I will give Tony the honor of introducing the green drink to me. The only difference that there is that his drink contains MSM, which I got as a supplement with the Green Vibrance.


Here are the principles of the version of the 10-Day Challenge that I attempted to adopt:

•     Drink lots of water each day, half your body weight in ounces.  And add lemon juice to it (lemon juice is acidic outside the body but is somehow alkaline inside the body).

•     Make 70% of your foods water-rich.  Lettuce, non-starchy vegetables, fruits, baked fish, etc.  Things that are watery.  An easy way to get more water-rich foods is to have a big salad before lunch and dinner.

•     Get lots of omega-3′s and some omega-6′s.  See my smoothie post for more information about these. Try avocado, almonds, flax seed oil, Udo’s oil blend, krill oil, etc.

•     Eat mostly alkali-forming foods.  Green vegetables, almonds, lower-sugar fruits, and more.   Here’s a chart.  An easy way to get more is to take a “greens” supplement. I bought Barlean’s; it tastes terrible.  But tolerable in a smoothie.

•     Do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 3-5 times per week, at an intensity where you could carry on a conversation during it.

•     Don’t drink water during meals, don’t eat fruit with any other foods, don’t eat protein and carbohydrates in the same meal.  Green vegetables are ok with either protein or carbs.  These rules are aimed at lessening the demand digestion places on your body.

•     Eliminate processed fats, animal flesh (except fish in moderation), dairy products, caffeine (I love coffee so this was a big one for me), alcohol, vinegar, nicotine, and white sugar, white bread, and white rice.  For the most part these foods are highly acidic, difficult to digest, or foods of decay.

•     Take ten deep breaths, three times per day, to help your lymphatic system.

•     Take a food-based multivitamin, digestive enzymes, and acidophilus.  Any vitamin store should have these.

•     Do a full-body cleanse; I used Enzymatic Whole Body Cleanse.

Here is  the list of what the Green Vibrance contains:

If you can't afford Green Vibrance for R 1000.00  you can also get Green Power at Dischem for around R 150.00 it still better than not taking anything:

Taking this into account there is some things that the Alkaline claims does not do:

• It is not a solution to Osteoporosis
• Your blood does not change drastically it's pH levels
• Your urine only show the excretion of the left over foods.

What is the Alkaline Diet?

The alkaline diet is also known as the acid-alkaline diet or alkaline ash diet. It is based around the idea that the foods you eat can alter the acidity or alkalinity (the pH value) of your body.

When you metabolise foods and extract the energy (calories) from them, you are actually burning the foods, except that it happens in a slow and controlled fashion. When you burn foods, they actually leave an ash residue, just like when you burn wood in a furnace. As it turns out, this ash can be acidic or alkaline (or neutral)… and proponents of this diet claim that this ash can directly affect the acidity of your body. So if you eat foods with acidic ash, it makes your body acidic. If you eat foods with alkaline ash, it makes your body alkaline. Neutral ash has no effect. Simple.

Acid ash is thought to make you vulnerable to illness and disease, whereas alkaline ash is considered protective. By choosing more alkaline foods, you should be able to “alkalize” your diet and improve health.

Regular pH Levels in the Body

When talking about the alkaline diet, it is important to understand the meaning of the pH value. Put simply, the pH value is a measure of how acidic or alkaline something is.

The pH value ranges from 0 to 14:

• 0-7 is acidic.
• 7 is neutral.
• 7-14 is alkaline (alkaline is often called basic).

Many proponents of this diet suggest that people monitor the pH value of their urine using test strips, making sure that it is alkaline (pH over 7) and not acidic (below 7). However… it’s important to note that the pH value varies greatly within the body. Some parts are acidic, others are alkaline. There is no set level. The stomach is loaded with hydrochloric acid, giving it a pH value between 2 and 3.5 (highly acidic). This is necessary to break down food. On the other hand, human blood is always slightly alkaline, with a pH between 7.35 and 7.45. The blood pH value falling out of the normal range is very serious and can be fatal if untreated. However… this only happens during certain disease states, and has absolutely nothing to do with the foods you eat from day to day.

Food Affects the pH of Your Urine, But Not Your Blood

It is critical for health that the pH of your blood remains constant. If it were to fall outside of the normal range, your cells would stop working and you would die very quickly if left untreated. For this reason, the body has many effective mechanisms to closely regulate the pH balance in your body. This is known as Acid-Base Homeostasis. Fortunately for us, these mechanisms make it near impossible for outside influences to change the pH value of the blood. If that wasn't true, we would surely be in trouble. The fact is… food simply can not change your blood pH. Period. However, food can definitely change the pH value of the urine, although the effect is somewhat unreliable (3, 4). This is actually one of the main ways your body regulates blood pH… by excreting acids in your urine. Eat a large steak and several hours later your urine will be more acidic as the body removes it from your system. That being said, urine pH is actually a very poor indicator of overall body pH and general health. It can be influenced by many factors other than diet. Therefore, even if you’re using test strips and seeing that your urine has become alkaline, this has very little (if any) relevance to the alkalinity of your blood, or your overall health.

Your kidneys regulates your blood's pH levels and not your bones. When we digest things like protein, the acids produced are quickly buffered by bicarbonate ions in the blood. (7) This reaction produces carbon dioxide, which is exhaled through the lungs, and salts, which are excreted by the kidneys. During the process of excretion, the kidneys produce ‘new’ bicarbonateions, which are returned to the blood to replace the bicarbonate that was initially used to buffer the acid. This creates a sustainable cycle in which the body is able to maintain the pH of the blood, with no involvement from the bones whatsoever.

Taking that into account I would say having a balance pH level is still good as the results means that you will make less work for your kidneys to handle high acid foods. The less work these organs needs to do the more energy is available for other organs.

Acid-Forming Foods Do Not Cause Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is particularly common among postmenopausal women, and can drastically increase the risk of fractures. Many alkaline diet enthusiasts believe that in order to maintain a constant blood pH, the body takes alkaline minerals (such as calcium) from your bones to buffer the acids from the acid-forming foods you eat. According to this theory, acid-forming diets such as the standard Western diet will cause a loss in bone mineral density. This theory is known as the “acid-ash hypothesis of osteoporosis.” The glaring problem with this theory, is that the function of the kidneys is completely ignored. Our kidneys are fundamental to removing acids and regulating body pH. It’s one of their main roles.
Our respiratory system is also involved in controlling blood pH. When bicarbonate ions from the kidneys bind to acids in the blood, they form carbon dioxide (which we breathe out) and water (which we pee out).

The bones are actually not involved in this process at all.

Another problem with the acid-ash hypothesis, is that it ignores one of the main drivers of osteoporosis, a loss in the protein collagen from bone (6, 7). Ironically, this loss of collagen is strongly linked with low levels of orthosilicic acidand ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in the diet (8). Looking at the research, zero observational studies have found a relationship between dietary acid and bone density or fracture risk. In fact, there is not even a relationship between urine pH and bone health (9, 10, 11). Contrary to popular belief, high protein diets (acid forming) are actually linked with healthier bones (12, 13, 14). This area of research is not definite by any means, but it does suggest that animal protein, the most acid-forming food of all, is actually beneficial for bone health.

Looking at clinical trials (real science), many large reviews have concluded that acid-forming diets have no impact on calcium levels in the body (15, 16, 17). If anything, they improve bone health by increasing calcium retention and activating the IGF-1 hormone, which stimulates repair of muscle and bone (18, 19). This reinforces the studies that link a high protein (which happens to be acid forming) intake with better bone health, NOT worse.

Remember we are not carnivores or herbivores, our bodies still need both meat and veggies to function. 

What About Acidity and Cancer?

The most comprehensive review available on the relationship between “diet-induced” acidosis and cancer concluded that there is no direct link (20). Despite this evidence, many still argue that cancer only grows in an acidic environment and can be treated or even cured with an alkaline diet.

But this idea is flawed for several reasons.

First and most importantly, as mentioned earlier, food can not influence blood pH (4, 21).

Secondly, even if we assume that food could dramatically alter the pH value of blood or other tissues, cancer cells are not restricted to acidic environments.

In fact, cancer grows in normal body tissue which has a slightly alkaline pH of 7.4. Many experiments have confirmed this by successfully growing cancer cells in an alkaline environment (22). And while tumors grow faster in acidic environments, the tumors actually create this acidity themselves. It is not the acidic environment that creates the cancer, it is the cancer that creates the acidic environment (23). 

But as our bodies are also 70% water and this water comes from what we drink and eat I would say regulating that to a more alkaline is a better way for you to help your organs. But this will NOT cure cancer. Micro forms like Bacteria, Yeasts and Fungi create acidic toxins in your body. They can be in your blood or in your bodies water, they live in more acid environments. Better to ensure that your water levels are good so that your blood can use all the energy to fight the ones in there.

Summary

Unlike many other strange diets, the alkaline diet is actually quite healthy. However, the claims about the mechanism behind the diet are NOT supported by evolutionary evidence, human physiology or any reliable study in humans. Acids are actually some of the most important building blocks of life… including amino acids, fatty acids and your DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).

The alkaline diet is healthy because it is based on real and unprocessed foods. I do believe that is the core of what we need, the more processed foods we eat the more unhealthy we will be, We need to ensure that we have a balance way of eating and keep the ratio's in check.

Reference:

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/coral2.html
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html
http://chriskresser.com/the-ph-myth-part-1

http://themindunleashed.org/2015/01/list-alkaline-foods-ph-balanced-diet.html

List of Foods and their Acid levels:


FRESH FRUITS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
	Golden Delicious Apples	Winesap apples
	Pears: Bartlett, Comice, Bosc, Seckel	Other pears
	Grapes	Nectarines, Greengage Plums
	Plums	Other apricots
	Very ripe apricots	Morello Cherries
	Bing Cherries
	Peaches
	Figs
	Yellow plums (mirabelles)
	Melons
	Watermelon

BERRIES

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
	Strawberries, big and sweet	Strawberries, small and tart
	Gooseberries	Red Currants in bunches
	Blueberries	Black Currants
		Sea Buckthorn
		Mulberries

CITRUS FRUITS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
	Clementines	Mandarins
	Lemons	Oranges
	Blueberries	Citron
		Grapefruit

EXOTIC FRUITS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Bananas	Mangos	Pineapples
	Pomegranates	Kiwis
	Persimmons	Citron
		Grapefruit

DRIED FRUIT

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Raisins	Prunes	Tart apricots, sulfur treated
Sweet Apricots, dried naturally	Pears
Bananas	Apples
Dates	Peaches
	Figs
	Mangos

VEGETABLES

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Potatoes	Green Vegetables
Grasses
Salad Greens: Chicory, Escarole, Lettuces, Mache, Dandelion
Green Cabbage
Celery Stalks
Green Beans
Fennel
Beet Greens
Artichokes
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Asparagus

COLORED VEGETABLES

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Spinach	Carrots
Red Beets	Endive
Red Cabbage	Celeriac
Yellow Beans	Salsify
Sweet Potatoes	Artichoke
Peppers	Cauliflower
Garlic	Radishes
	Turnips
	Onions
	Shallots

FRUITING VEGETABLES

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Edible Gourds	Avocado	Eggplant
Zuchini	Tomato	Sour Pickles
Squash
Cucumber

NUTS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Almonds	Cashews	Walnuts
Brazil Nuts	Sesame Seeds	Hazelnuts
Black Olives in oil	Pine nuts	Peanuts
	Coconuts	Pecans
	Green Olives	Pistachios
		Pumpkin Seeds
		Olives in Brine or vinegar

CEREAL GRAINS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Corn	Wheat	White Rice
Buckwheat	Brown Rice	Couscous
	Rye	Semolina
	Barley
	Spelt
	Millet
	Quinoa
	Pilpil
	Whole Semolina
	Cream of Rice

BREADS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
	Whole Grain Bread (without yeast)	Yeast Bread
	Dark Bread	White Bread

OTHER GRAINS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
	Crackers – Whole Grain	Crackers -White Flour
	Pasta – Whole Grain	Pasta – White Flour
	Cereal – Whole Grain soaked for about 10 hours	Sugar Frosted Cereal
	Naturally Baked Corn Flakes	Sweetned Granola
	Granola Bar – Whole Grain with little sugar	Granola Bar – With lots of sugar
	Cookies and Cakes – Whole Grain with little sugar	Cookies, Cakes – White Flour with sugar
	Cookies and Cakes – Whole Grain with little sugar	Cookies, Cakes and – White Flour with sugar
	Cookies and Cakes – Whole Wheat	Pies and White Cake Flour

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Raw Whole Milk	Pasteurized Milk	Ultrapasteurized Milk
Banana Smoothie	Fruit Smoothie	Chocolate Milk
	Creme Fraiche
Fresh Butter		Heated Butter used in cooking
Soft Unriped Cheeses – Well drained	Soft Unriped Cheeses – Slightly drained
	Soft Cheeses – Camembert, Brie, fresh young cheese with little fat content	Soft Cheeses – Camembert, Brie, old cheese with high fat content
	Hard Cheeses – Swiss, Provolone	Hard Cheeses – Stronger flavor, Parmesan
Acidophilous Milk	Yogurt Drinks without sugar	Yogurt Sweetened with Fruit
Fresh Whey	Slightly Aged Whey	Aged Whey
Fresh Buttermilk		Aged Buttermilk
Egg Yolk	Whole Eggs

MEAT AND FISH

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
	White Meat – Chicken, Rabbit, Veal, Young Lamb	Red Meat – Cow, Mutton, Pig, Cold Cuts
	Lean Fish – Whiting, Sole, Flounder, Trout, Perch	Fatty Fish – Salmon, Carp, Herring, Mackerel
	Oysters	Crustaceans – Lobster, Shrimp, Crayfish, Mussels

MISCELLANEOUS FOODS

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Raw Cane Sugar – Succanat	Maple Syrup, Honey	White, Brown Sugar
Sea Salt	Table Salt	Fatty Fish – Salmon, Carp, Herring, Mackerel
Virgin Cold Pressed: Sunflower, Olive, Safflower, etc.	Heat Pressed: Sunflower, Olive, Safflower, etc.	Peanut, Walnut, Hazelnut oils used in cooking (heated)
nonhydrogenated vegetable margarine		hydrogenated margarine (palm or coconut oil

BEVERAGES

Alkaline	Slightly Acidic	Very Acidic
Water with pH of 7 – 10	Tap Water	Heavily Carbonated
Herbal Tea – Mint, Verbena, Linden, etc.	Herabl Tea – Green Tea, Birchbark, Rose Hips, Fruit peels	Coffee, Black Tea, Hot Chocolate with sugar
Green Juices from Grasses – Wheat Grass	Tomato Juice	Commercial Lemonade
Fresh Vegetable Juice	Fresh Lemonade	Soda
	Beer	Liqueurs, Cordials
	wine	Strong Spirits