November/December 2006 Alternative Health
Acid-Alkaline Imbalance: A Toxic Human Wasteland

by Miriam Knight

The quest for a "theory of everything" has been the Holy Grail of science for more than a century. John Ossipinsky believes he has found a theory for the origins of disease.

Healthy Tips for an Acid-Alkaline Balanced Diet

  • Follow the 80/20 rule: try to eat 80 percent alkaline-forming foods and 20 percent acid-forming foods. Measure your portion of acid-forming foods by eye. Then eat four times this amount in fruit and vegetables.
  • Make meat, chicken, fish or pasta the side dish, not your main entree.
  • Don’t leave home without a nutritious snack, such as raw vegetables or fruit.
  • Eat some of your daily vegetables raw.
  • Eat a salad shortly before your meal.
  • Eat fruit on an empty stomach.
  • Keep a supply of cut-up fruit and vegetables at the ready in the refrigerator.
  • Eat more nutritious brown rice instead of processed white rice.
  • Grow your own sprouts in a jar.
  • Eat sprouted or whole grain baked goods.
  • Choose whole grain pasta or one that includes multigrains or added legumes and flax.
  • Eat fewer processed foods.
  • Eat more fresh or frozen vegetables, which retain more of their nutrients than canned vegetables.
  • Add greens and other vegetables to eggs, sandwiches and pasta. Similarly, add fresh or dried fruit to cereals and salads.
  • Eat more potatoes.
  • Give emphasis to super-alkalinizing foods such as avocados, radishes, mangos, kiwis and figs.
  • Go nuts with alkalinizing varieties such as almonds and Brazil nuts, along with seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax).
  • Drink fresh fruit or vegetable juices and homemade fruit smoothies.
  • Prepare a concentrated vegetable broth as a base for soups, sauces, a flavoring agent, or as a delicious alkalinizing hot drink.
  • Drink true herbal teas that are alkalinizing and herbal coffee made from herbs, nuts, fruit and grains.

Top Acidifying Foods

  • Beef, lamb, pork, game
  • Fish, lobster, shellfish
  • Processed white flour and white rice
  • Peanuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews
  • Coffee, soda, beer, wine, hard liquor

Ossipinsky believes there is just one state underlying all disease: lymphatic congestion caused by acid-alkaline imbalance in the body's tissues. There are other circumstances that may slow or stop your lymph flow, such as dehydration, trauma, infection, bad posture or tight clothing, but acidic food and emotional stress top the list.

As an LMT, CranioSacral and Certified Lymphedema therapist, Ossipinsky had been studying the lymphatic system for many years, but it was not until he made the connection with the role of the body's acidity levels that he was able to overcome his own health challenges. Within six weeks of bringing his body's pH to neutral, he lost 30 pounds and his health problems.

He found that an acidic environment around the cells causes stress and a build-up of waste products that clog the lymph system, impairing its ability to move the waste out of the body. As the toxic waste builds up, the body may try to isolate waste in fatty tissue or leach minerals from the bone to neutralize it, but can easily be overwhelmed by the toxic load. This build up of waste in your tissues is the basis of disease.

The acid-alkaline balance theory is outside the current medical model. Accurate information about this undetected acid imbalance and the effect on the lymphatic system seem to be the missing pieces to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, obesity, MS, MD, ALS, cystic fibrosis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, autism and Alzheimer's disease. Interesting new research has uncovered a missed lymph/brain connection that may play a major role in diseases such as ADD, autism and mental illness. While the form and location of the disease are specific to an individual's predispositions and lifestyle, the treatment is the same.

Ossipinsky began routinely testing the pH of his patients and found that 90 percent were acidic, with 43 percent highly acidic. (Relative acidity or alkalinity is measured on a logarithmic scale from 1 to 14, with a pH of 7 being neutral -- pH stands for potential hydrogen.)

Ossipinsky did studies with large groups of patients using a protocol developed at his wellness center in Arizona. His results were promising, but his efforts have not been supported by the medical establishment, presumably because no pharmaceuticals were needed. (Imagine the cost to the drug companies when you can eliminate acid reflux in a few weeks.) To get the word out, he has published a book whose title minces no words: WARNING: An Undetected Acid-Alkaline Imbalance Is Slowly Killing You And Severely Hurting Your Children!

The book demystifies the science and mechanisms underlying different disorders and dis-eases, and gives detailed instructions on how to heal. His "cure" is not another magic bullet, but a five-step approach, demonstrated with thousands of patients, that reverses virtually any condition:

  1.  Learn the warning signs of toxicity. Rashes, blemishes, beauty marks, skin growths or fluid filled cysts, tight muscles, pain, migraines, insomnia, trouble thinking clearly, hyperactivity in children.
  2. Adopt an acid-alkaline balanced diet. Green up your diet using the 80/20 Rule (see sidebar).
  3. Increase lymph circulation with exercise, deep breathing and hydration. Daily exercise is a must. Walking is not enough -- add two 40-second sprints every other day to power your blood through the tissues. Take two deep breaths every half hour. For water, use the proportion of half your body weight in ounces (if you weigh 150, drink 75 ounces of water per day).
  4. Actively reduce and manage stress in your daily life. When you are in fight or flight mode, your body isn't functioning. Take a walk, get a massage or meditate.
  5. Manually detoxify by draining your lymph system daily. Get a therapeutic massage, go to a cellular detox therapist. Pump you own lymphatic system daily, using the well-illustrated instructions in the book.

John Ossipinsky's An Undetected Acid-Alkaline Imbalance is published by Vision Publishing. Visit www.acid-imbalance.com.