INTRODUCTION  
All activities experienced by man whether they be physical, emotional or mental affect the body and metabolically leave a foot print that is either an alkaline or acid ash residue that can be detected in the urine. In referencing an acid state we are addressing the stored acid wastes in cells and in tissues of the body. These tissue acid waste accumulations can occur in organs and glands and in fact, our glands and organs function in almost exact proportion to the amount of alkaline and acid levels in the system. The various alkaline and acid molecules produced in the body are either providing energy or taking energy away from the body. Looking at a definition of alkaline and acid forming reactions in another way, an alkaline-forming reaction refers to any chemical alteration in the body that produces an increased ability to energize the system and leaves an alkaline residue in the urine. Conversely, an acid-forming reaction refers to any chemical alteration in the body that produces a decreased ability to energize the system and leaves an acid residue in the urine. This activity occurs through the process of oxidation which is the loss of electrons (packets of energy) from an atom or a molecule. It may be viewed as decay of high-energy molecules into low-energy molecules and is a spontaneous process in nature requiring no outside initiation. Examples of this phenomena is the spoiling of fruit or fish. This is a natural process. When this process goes awry oxidosis occurs which is excessive loss of energy through rapid loss of electrons. This rogue destructive process of oxidosis is one of the direct causes of disease and premature aging due in part to excessive oxidation (Ali) and causes acidosis as well as dysoxygenosis which is dysfunctional or defective oxygen metabolism. Acidosis (a more acidictissue state) accelerates the rate of oxidation and interferes with proper oxygen metabolism. This in turn can produce cellular anoxia (lack of proper oxygen levels) which leads to excessive production of lactic acid and many related organic acids which can directly poison enzymes that regulate oxygen metabolism. Excess tissue acidity further increases oxidative stress on cells and the resulting anoxia damages cell membranes, causing leaky cell membranes, damage to DNA material as well as triggering cell death. Therefore, we can see that by favoring the ingestion of alkaline-producing ash foods and keeping our tissues more on the alkaline side that a more normal oxidation cycle can be maintained and permit the body to more efficiently operate and carry out its metabolic activities and functions. One might say that within the limits set by our genetic make-up, our lifespan is governed by oxygen metabolism and indeed, our genes function well only when oxygen metabolism is normal (Ali). 

MEASURING ACIDITY AND ALKALINITY
The pH (potential Hydrogen) is used to measure whether a substance is alkaline or acid by measuring the number of hydroxyl (OH-) ions which are negative and alkaline-forming, as opposed to the amount of hydrogen (H+) ions that are positive and acid-forming. Excess acid wastes when present in the body can attack the joints (and can cause arthritis), muscles (and cause aching muscles or fibromyalgia) or attack any organ or gland. It is therefore imperative to continuously provide the necessary nutritional and body-mind balance to favor alkaline-forming substances and events thus creating powerful and sustaining electrochemical results which lead to a more positive state of health and wellness. 

ACID SYMPTOMS CLINICAL CHECKLIST.
Listed below are some of the many common symptoms and disease states that individuals may experience that have varying degrees of tissue acidity . Depending on the level of acidity and the overall health and immune integrity of each individual one or more of the below listed symptoms or disease conditions may manifest themselves in compromised individuals: acne, muscular pain, dizziness, low energy, food allergies, cold hands and feet, joint pains, chemical sensitivities, hyperactivity, panic attacks, bloating, heartburn, diarrhea, sinusitis, constipation, strong smelling urine, headaches, rapid and irregular breathing, irregular heartbeat, excess head mucous, difficulty in getting up in the morning, brain fog, forgetfulness, depression, cold sores, loss of memory and concentration, insomnia, migraine headaches, asthma, bronchitis, hay fever, ear aches, hives, viral, bacteria and fungal infections, arthritis, cystitis, urinary infections, gastritis, colitis, psoriasis, numbness and tingling of extremities, menstrual problems and excessive falling hair but to name a few of the more common clinical symptoms. Some of the more advanced clinical manifestations of chronic excessive tissue acidity are: Learning disabilities, Hodgkin’s Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Myasthenia Gravis, Leukemia, Tuberculosis, All Other Cancers, Candida Albicans Infections, TMJ Disorders, Periodontal Disease, Obesity, Heart and Circulatory Disease but to name a few disease states. 

PHYSIOLOGIC CHANGES WHEN SHIFTING TO ALKALINE-STATE
It is important to see a qualified practitioner to assess any adverse clinical symptoms experienced or expressed suggestive of an overly acidic-tissue state and to also judiciously restore proper alkaline metabolic balance in the body so as to better maintain an optimal level of health and wellness. Changing one’s diet to more alkaline-forming one can result in tissue acid wastes dispersing towards the bloodstream and lymphatic elimination channels. Here again, whatever acid wastes were stored in the tissues will ultimately be dumped into the general circulation for proper removal. The purging of these acid wastes and toxins may often be accompanied by a variety of unpleasant body symptoms such as chills, low grade fever, sweating, odors, skin eruptions, nausea, diarrhea and body aches and can take anywhere from several days to a month (depending on how acid-laden the body is and how strong one’s system is) before this “healing process” runs its course and restores the body to a better state of repair and good health. This detox process should be done under the direction of a suitably trained professional who is familiar with the many steps and details involved in working with patients to help provide them with the necessary skill, care and support they will need to return their bodies and minds to a more healthy level of activity and health. 

ALKALINE / ACID DIETARY CONSIDERATIONS 
One should eat as many raw fruits and vegetables as possible. Uncooked fresh and raw foods contain enzymes that are ordinarily destroyed in the cooking process and which are extremely important for proper digestion and maintenance of a high level of tissue alkalinity. When enzymes in foods have been destroyed by heating, our body must provide enzymes from its storehouse of enzymes from the salivary glands, intestine, pancreas and liver which are part of our “enzyme reserve complement.” Present research seems to support the fact that the body is programmed to produce a certain amount of enzymes during our lifetime and once we have reached this level and use up this “enzyme reserve” we can no longer sustain life and die (Howell). Thus, we do not want to needlessly use-up our enzyme reserves by eating junk foods, micro-wave cooked foods and commercially processed foods that contain no viable food enzymes and have no nutritional value in many instances and are acid-ash producing when metabolized. We must take supplemental digestive enzymes with ALL cooked foods to take the “load” off our already stressed and overworked pancreas, intestines and salivary glands to keep them from continuously having to produce the entire complement of digestive enzymes to metabolically process the huge amounts of cooked and junk foods we eat. The judicious use of supplemental digestive enzymes taken with meals and with filtered water is not only an important alkalizing body activity but acts to preserve an enormous amount of energy by the body that is normally expended in making large amounts of enzymes to be used to digest the cooked foods eaten that are devoid of any food enzymes. This supplementation becomes critical and necessary as a therapeutic measure that should be practiced by all of us as part of our daily nutritional supplementation. 

ABOUT OUR DIET
As a start-up diet, eat 75% alkaline-ash producing foods and 25% acid-producing foods. When you consider that 41% of Americans do not eat any fruit, 82% do not eat cruiciferous vegetables, 72% do not eat any fruits or vegetables high in vitamin C, 80% do not eat any fruit and vegetables high in vitamin A and 84% do not eat any high fiber grains, cereals or breads, you can better start to understand the serious nutritional plight of Americans. If you add the following staggering negative statistics of what the average American eats yearly in the form of junk foods such as 756 donuts, 60 pounds of cakes and cookies, 23 gallons of ice cream, 7 pounds of potato chips, 22 pounds of cookies, 90 pounds of fat and 134 pounds of sugar (all acidic-ash forming foods) we can appreciate an old Chinese Proverb that says “whatsoever was the father of disease, an ill diet was the mother.” 

Once steps are taken to change our diets and nutritional intake and the body has adapted to this dietary change, then we can move slowly to a more demanding and recommended 80% alkaline and 20% acidproducing ash diet with as much raw fruit and vegetables as possible. Remember that virtually all fruits and vegetables and supporting enzymes and nuts and sprouted seeds are alkaline in nature whereas meats, cheeses, dairy products, wheat, refined, processed, enriched, or preserved sugars, salts, chemicalized foods are acid-forming. The fact that the American Cancer Society, the National Institute of Health and many scientists, medical institutions and research facilities and foundations across the world have produced thousands of studies that recommend the virtues of eating raw fruits and vegetables, grains and nuts daily to preserve good health and prevent chronic disease is of great importance and everyone should heed this information. In fact, The American Cancer Society has produced a colored chart showing 30 fruits and vegetables on it with a caption stating that eating 5-7 helpings each day of the depicted raw fruits and vegetables will in all probability prevent cancer and other chronic diseases. This is a very powerful endorsement by a major health organization and once again shows the clinical significance of proper nutrition and its impact in preventing disease. One of the key reasons why eating these raw nutrients is so beneficial is the fact that most are alkaline-ash producing foods containing live enzymes along with a complement of essential minerals, vitamins, antioxidant capabilities and fiber, all unadulterated by heat or commercial processing and efficiently absorbed by our bodies. Here are some studies and excerpts as to the nutritional value of eating more raw fruit and vegetables every day: 

“A recent survey of 170 studies from 17 nations revealed that people who eat the most fruits and vegetables consistently have half the cancer rates of those who eat the least.”
Jean Carper, Food, Your Miracle Medicine. 

“Studies show that your risk of cancer is often doubled - and sometimes tripled - if you are in the lowest percentile of the ingestion of fruits and vegetables.”
Dr. Richard DuBois, Chief of Internal Medicine Georgia Baptist Hospital 

“Following a recommendation to increase fruit and vegetable consumption produces a change in plasma concentrations of vitamin C, alpha carotene and beta carotene likely to reduce incidence of cancer.”
British Medical Journal June, 1997 

“The beneficial role of most vegetables is confirmed, with more than 20% reduction in risk of colorectal cancer from the addition of one daily serving.”
International Journal of Cancer July, 1997 

“Men who ate fresh fruit every day had 70% less chance of dying from cancer of the digestive tract than those who ate almost no fruit.”
Cancer, Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention September, 1996 

“People who ate fresh fruit every day had a 32% less chance of a fatal stroke and 24% less chance of a fatal heart attack.”
British Medical Journal In Sweden, researchers found that people who ate an apple a day had 60% less risk of kidney cancer than non apple-eaters. 

According to a study done at Johns Hopkins, animals fed cruciferous vegetables had a 90% reduction in cancer rate after exposure to aflatoxin, a cancer causing agent. 

“The best nutritional strategy for promoting optimal health and reducing the risk of chronic disease is to obtain adequate nutrition from a wide variety of foods.” American Dietary Association 

“In ancient Egypt, Pliny declared that consumption of cabbage would cure as many as 87 diseases and that consumption of onions would cure 28 diseases. Garlic was considered a holy plant. Cruciferous vegetables were cultivated for medicinal purposes and were used therapeutically against headache, deafness, diarrhea, gout and stomach disorders.”
Dr. John Potter University of Minnesota With respects to taking individual vitamins, 

“The problem with taking a compound out of a food source is that it was originally combined with 11 closely related brothers and sisters and it may be that the combination is what makes for the overall beneficial effect.”
Phyllis Bowen Functional Foods For Health Research University of Illinois at Chicago 

THE BALANCE BETWEEN ACID AND ALKALINE PRODUCING FOODS. 
Since “you are what you eat” and eventually eliminate, it becomes apparent that the RULE OF 80% ALKALINE-FORMING and 20% ACID-FORMING foods is no longer a matter of curiosity but a high priority to maintain good health. Therefore, one should make an effort each day to pick 8 out of 10 foods that are alkaline-ash producing foods and only 2 out of 10 foods that are acid-ash producing when eaten and processed by the body. Remember, it can be a matter of life or death in many already ill persons and those with compromised immune systems who are on the marginal edge of having their immune systems break down and be more susceptible to disease. As the well-known Dr. Andrew Weil says, “Health is the balance between the body’s healing system and whatever outside stresses we come across... optimum health is that inner resilience that allows you to come in contact with millions of germs every day and not get an infection or to be exposed to carcinogens and not get cancer... over time it means not getting heart disease or cancer in middle age or being crippled by diseases like arthritis in later life.” Is that “inner resilience” that Weil alludes to a state of alkalinity in our bodies? Is this the long sought “golden fleece” of good and ever lasting health... the proverbial “fountain of youth?” Perhaps time and more research will give us the answer some day. 

THE EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON ACID-ALKALINE BALANCE 
The role of physical activity and planned exercise at all age levels is critical in maintaining proper health throughout life. Exercise can create either a state of alkalinity or acidity. Over-exercising or producing too much physical stress when someone is weak and overly acidic will result in more rapid fatigue in muscles that is in proportion to how much lactic acid is produced in a given situation. Generalized fatigue, weakness and lethargy are usually the results of an overly acid body in which waste acids have accumulated over many years due in most part from eating an acid diet or long term exposure to environmental toxins. An example of such environmental exposure would be individuals working at an asbestos plant without proper protective clothing and masks. Another example are the thousands of dentists over the years being exposed to handling and manipulating mercury and other chemical agents used in dentistry without the benefit of face masks and rubber gloves and proper ventilation. Also a lack of proper stomach absorption, intestinal dysbiosis, lack of proper hydration (drinking 8-10 glasses of distilled or treated drinking water daily), improper bowel elimination habits and not enough physical exercise (daily walks) and positive mental and lifestyle activities contribute to causing and perpetuating an acidic-body state. It is very clear that one must consider a multifactorial approach to maintaining proper health and not rely on any single method of support. On the other hand, if one is in good physical condition and has a proper and balanced diet with the right combination of alkaline-acid forming foods and is properly hydrated, sensibly exercising with good aerobic activity, they can create an alkaline response because of increased oxygen consumption. Appropriate resting combined with nutritional supplementation will allow for repair and elimination of the accumulated lactic acid and other metabolic acid wastes through normal elimination pathways and the body will quickly return to its balanced alkaline state. Exercising beyond the point of exhaustion particularly in immune compromised individuals may cause the body to release excess stored acidity and when this acidity reaches the level wherein long term weakness and fatigue occur, the body is on its way to a more serious state of illness and many symptoms will start to appear. An example of serious acidic-ash accumulation is fibromyalgia which disabled over eight million people in 1997, as reported by The Wall Street Journal and in which many muscle and associated support tissue systems are adversely effected with abnormal levels of lactic acid and other acid-wastes from improper metabolic pathway disruptions along with microtrauma to muscle fibers. The damaged muscles become swollen, inflamed and sore. Chemical irritants released from the damaged muscles, irritate pain receptors and cause inflammation. The repetitive and cyclical effect of oxidosis, dysoxygenosis and acidosis unless promptly broken and modified will perpetuate and induce a disease state and chronic illness. 

THE LINK BETWEEN DISEASE AND AN ACIDIC-TISSUE COMPOSITION. 
Bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasites constantly entering into our bodies or those who naturally reside in our various body systems (candida, intestinal bacteria, oral microorganisms, primordial life forms, etc) are for the most part in balance and harmony and in a state of homeostasis with our body tissues and systems if the body tissue systems are in an alkaline state. There are certain areas of the body that normal physiologic acidic functions are necessary and not in opposition to normal metabolic activities such as in the stomach with the production of hydrochloric acid and in the bowel where mild acidity (lactic, acetic acids manufactured for the most part by friendly microorganisms such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus) helps in peristaltic bowel activity and proper elimination of body residues. The more imbalanced we allow our bodies to become, emotionally, mentally and physically, the more likely we are to suffer disease from such pathogenic organisms who are opportunists that thrive on eating waste acids, debris, xenobiotic products and propagate in an environment of congestion, ischemia, acidity and in areas of deficient oxygenation and will start to become Jekyll and Hyde species and turn pathogenic and in so doing create even more acid waste and toxicity through their altered metabolic activities. Basically, disease caused by microorganisms in our bodies can best survive in an acid environment. Therefore, it would seem logical to speculate that most, if not all, disease could be the result of an altered metabolic state brought about by oxidosis that results in an elevated and critical acidic-tissue imbalance brought about by a series of modified biologic reactions that provide the impetus for a continuing state of acidic-tissue activity thereby promoting the proper environment and opportunity for various disease processes to manifest themselves anywhere in the body where there has been appropriate organ damage either through genetic aberrations, or direct organ assault by xenobiotic-like molecules and perpetuated by the inability of the immune system to properly function in an acidic-tissue state and prevent host damage. The good news is that our body is extremely resilient and given the proper nutrients and lifestyle changes has the remarkable ability to heal itself . There is much data and evidence both testimonial and in research studies of thousands of people over the years with terminal cancer and other serious chronic diseases that have completely cured themselves when they adapted and followed stringent nutritional, dietary and lifestyle changes and reversed their acidic tissue state to one of alkaline balance. This has allowed the body to heal itself by providing the proper oxygen levels and complement of vital nutriments needed to repair damaged organs and tissues as well as repair damaged chromosome components. An example of this “healing process” are ill persons embracing a rigid macrobiotic dietary program which tends to be very alkaline in its nutrition protocol selections and which has positively benefited many thousands of individuals in restoring and maintaining good health and wellness. 

IATROGENIC MECHANICAL PROCEDURES 
Doctor induced mechanical procedures are a major contributor to acidic-state imbalance in millions of patients annually. Visits to health care professionals (white coat syndrome) produce a high degree of psychological stress and anxiety for many

the media who often picture dental visits as very torturous and stressful and the anxiety suffered by countless millions of patients is compounded by patients being subjected to a host of seemingly medieval mechanical devices and procedures such as needles, drills, rubber dams, use of a wide variety of restorative materials, instrumentation, surgical procedures to bone and tissue such as carried out in periodontal, implant and root canal therapy, and more prolonged iatrogenic mechanical procedures as performed in orthodontic therapy with the use of headgears, palate separation appliances, brackets, bands, springs, wires, elastic and rubber bands, but to name a few of the hundreds of auxiliary attachments available. These procedures because of the oxidative stress placed on many of the body tissues, metabolic pathways and enzyme systems from the chemical make-up and the stressful mechanical activity caused by such materials used in treatment protocols and often coupled with the dispensing of anesthetics, drugs, flushing solutions, medications, analgesics, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory agents, narcotics and bonding agents are powerful acidic-ash producing events that are damaging and disruptive forces that place great stress on normal body metabolic pathways and can adversely affect the alkaline-acid balance in a serious manner by shifting it to a more acidic-state. Practitioners should always keep in mind the time honored creed to do “no harm to their patients” and take prudent steps at all times to minimize stress producing iatrogenic treatments and consider to the greatest degree possible more holistic and non invasive type applications and natural alternatives as well as enhancing nutritional support as a first choice application. 

A NEW PARADIGM IN PATIENT MANAGEMENT 
It is the opinion of this author that major intervention by health care practitioners in suggesting and implementing preventive, therapeutic and post treatment enhancing targeted nutritional supplemental protocols and lifestyle changes as an adjunct to doctor-induced mechanical therapies should be an intricate part of a practitioner’s total treatment program for each patient. Such protocols can very often effectively counter many of the anticipated negative effects that might be produced by treatment mechanics and greatly lessen the ensuing trauma and post treatment complications and more quickly allow the body to heal itself and return to a more desirable alkaline state and help restore and maintain body chemical balance. 

ABOUT DRUGS AND MEDICATIONS 
There is great concern by many in our nation that the over-use of billions of prescriptions and overthe- counter drugs and medications has gotten out of hand. These xenobiotic (toxic) drug molecules for the most part are producers of acidic-ash in our bodies and the more pills assimilated, the greater the potential damage to our various biologic systems from the serious side effects that most of these molecules can produce in the body. We are not talking about the occasional use for legitimate emergency and lifesaving circumstances where drugs can save lives, but the repeated and improper use of such medications. Once we alkalize our system through our own intervention, lifestyle and nutritional awareness and keep our tissues in a more alkaline state, we will greatly diminish our need to take drugs and medications and we can be free of the scourge created on mankind by commercial interests through media advertising to be depended on these “poison pills.” Prevention of disease is our main goal, not to get sick and then keep treating symptoms with drugs and thus perpetually be on a drug treadmill. 

WHICH FOODS ARE ALKALINE...WHICH ARE ACIDIC. 
Listed below is a partial list of some of the more common foods normally eaten, as well as familiar household products to give you an idea as to the acid-ash and alkaline-ash producing capabilities of these foods. Remember that there is an alkaline/acid adjustment scale that assigns values to foods and substances that are ingested, inhaled or absorbed directly into the body. Familiarizing yourself with such information will help you in making better choices for attaining your targeted 80% alkaline-ash producing foods daily. You can find more detailed information about the alkaline/acid adjustment scale and food values in Theodore A. Baroody’s book Alkalize or Die, published by Eclectric Press, Waynesville, NC 28786 or Victor Zeines’ book Healthy Mouth, Healthy Body published by Kensington Books, 850 3rd Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022. Additional information may be obtained from Foods That Alkalize and Heal, Mary Hogle, Mokelumne Hill, California. There are many excellent books on this subject obtainable through your local health or nutrition store, commercial book stores or over the internet. 

ALKALINE-FORMING FOODS 
Fruit Apples, avocados, bananas, berries (except blueberries), breadfruit, cactus, carob, cantaloupe, cherries, citron, currants, dates, figs, gooseberries, grapes, grapefruit, guavas, kiwis, kumquats, lemons, limes, mangos, melons, nectarines, olives (ripened and sun dried),oranges, papaya, passion fruit, peaches, pears, persimmons, pineapple, pomegranate, quince, raisins, raspberries, sapodillas, sour grapes, strawberries, tamarind, tangerines, umeboshi plums, watermelons. Vegetables Artichokes, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beets, broccoli, brussell sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, chicory, collards, corn, cucumber, daikon, dandelion greens, eggplant, endive, escarole, ginger, horseradish, kale, kelp, kohlrabi, kudzu root, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, mustard greens, okra, onions, oyster plant, parsley, parsnips, pepper, pickles, potatoes, pumpkin, radishes, rhubarb, rutabaga, sauerkraut, seaweed, spinach, squash, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips, water chestnuts, watercress. 

ALKALINE SUPER-FOODS 
Bee pollen, royal jelly, Bio-Strath, Km Matol, chlorophyll products (algae, seaweeds, spirulina, wheat grass, barley grass, alfalfa grass, raw fruit and vegetable unadulterated phytonutrient powders), alkalized filtered water. Some commercial brands that contain super-foods are Juice Plus+, Barley Green, Kyo-Green, Spirulina, Green Magma, Barley Essence, Super Blue-Green Algae, Sun Chlorella. 

ACID-FORMING FOODS 
Fruits Blueberries, cranberries, prunes. Grains Barley, brown rice, buckwheat, corn meal, oats, rye, spelt, wheat, white rice. Beans Aduki, broad bean, garbanzo, kidney, lentils, mung, navy, pinto, red, white. Starches. Bran, breads, cold cereals, hot cereals, crackers, pastas, pastries, popcorn, tapioca. Nuts. Brazil, cashews, coconut, filberts, macadamia, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts. Seeds (unsprouted) Pumpkin, sunflower, wheat germ Meats. Bear, beef, chicken, deer, fish, shellfish, goats, lamb, pheasant, pork, rabbit, turkey. Miscellaneous List of Acid-Producing Ash. Liquor, wine, beer, coffee, caffeine drinks, carbonated drinks, soft drinks, tea (black), gelatin, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, soy sauce, spices, vinegar, tobacco, cosmetics, drugs, processed cakes, cookies, hydrogenized and partially hydrogenized foods, artificial sweeteners, barley malt syrup, processed beet, cane, fructose sugars, processed honey, maple syrup, milk sugar, molasses, turbinado, cheese, butter, cow’s milk, cream, custards, eggs, goat’s milk, whey, sweetened yogurt, animal fats (such as beef, pork, lamb, chicken and fish), drinks containing artificial sweeteners and black tea as well as condiments such as ketchup (refined, sugared), mayonnaise (refined, sugared), mustard (refined, artificially flavored with preservatives), salt (refined, table), soy sauce (chemically processed and often contains sugar, food coloring and chemical additives), spices such as mustard (dried), nutmeg, vinegar (white, processed), cosmetics such as shampoos, soaps, make ups, hair-dyes that are not organically based and can be absorbed through the skin, drugs and tobacco. Air travel because of excess positive ions in the sealed cabins is acid-producing, chlorine and fluorine added to our water supplies are acid-producing chemicals in the commercial form they are used. So too is acid rain and the over use of herbicides and pesticides (acid-producing). Other damaging toxic molecules such as asbestos, carbon tetrachloride, formaldehyde, talcum, dioxin, aluminum, are but a small list of thousands of items found in our society that get into our bodies and reap death and destruction on our immune and various body systems by their adverse metabolic effects which promote among many deleterious actions the production and sustaining an acid-tissue state. 

THE BENEFITS OF RAW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 
The evidence is conclusively overwhelming as to the merits of eating seven or eight helpings each day of multiple raw fruits, vegetables and grains to maintain an optimal state of good health and to help prevent cancer and other debilitating chronic diseases. These are facts verified by research! We know the combination of a mixture of multiple fruits and mixture of vegetable combinations offer powerful nutritional benefits. Research seems to indicate that it is the interplay of the various diverse combinations of these raw fruits and raw vegetables working in combination that potentiate their positive nutrition roles in our bodies. This synergism gives a better and more powerful umbrella of thousands of phytonutrient antioxidant molecules working in harmony to provide protection against damaging free radicals and greater and more efficient bioavailablilty in our bodies by the natural containment of food enzymes in the raw supplements as compared to isolated commercially produced synthetic vitamins and other produced nutraceuticals that are foreign to our body metabolic pathways. In addition, and rarely mentioned, is the extremely important fact that inclusion of multiple raw fruits and vegetables in our daily dietary protocol is extremely alkalizing to our body tissues and is probably one of the key reasons why it promotes such good health particularly in our American lifestyle where acidic-ash producing foods, stressful living, environmental pollution all combine to acidify our bodies and promote a nation of obese and chronically ill individuals. 

THE NEXT BEST THING TO EATING RAW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 
We recognize that the daily ingestion of 5-7 helpings daily of multiple raw fruits and vegetables, select grains and seeds is most vital and necessary for good health for the many reasons that have already been stated. The American Cancer Society in its famous chart showing some 30 different fruits and vegetables also suggests we should be eating to the greatest degree possible a diverse selection of raw fruits and vegetables daily for preventing cancer and other chronic diseases. But how does one go about purchasing, preparing and consuming this array of some 5 lbs of diverse raw fruits and vegetables day after day, week after week? Is there a viable alternative to this time consuming logistic supply and implementation problem? The answer is yes! There are at present one or two exceptional commercial raw fruit and vegetable supplementation products available that consist of powdered phytonutrients of multiple fruits and vegetables and prepared in capsules and / or tablets with no pesticides, herbicides, salts, preservatives, sugar or water and have live enzymes and adequate levels of fiber contained and one preparation even has acidophilus added to the formulation. All have been developed and tested under the highest laboratory FDA standards of excellence and are considered nutraceutical preparations because they are food supplements. One of the companies even states that its product is the “next best thing to actually eating raw fresh vegetables and fruits” and is considered by many eminent scientists as somewhat of a superfood. The combination of fruits such as apples, oranges, pineapples, cranberries, peaches, cherries and papaya found as an example in one of these select formulations along with vegetable combinations which contain carrots, parsley, beets, kale, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, tomato’s but to name some of the more common vegetables, are to the greatest degree alkaline-ash producing in the body when consumed and when taken as recommended and offer a powerful cascade of multiple and varied raw fruit, vegetables and even added grains and in an equivalency of 5-9 servings daily and is considered a powerful antioxidant combination and most health enhancing. All this with no acidic or health compromising pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, salts and sugars. One of the top commercial products has even had the foresight and sensitivity to eliminate the gluten in the grains contained in its formulation for those many persons who are allergic to gluten thus providing them with an exceptional good option. Most of the top rated products contain no animal matter included in the formulations which makes them suitable for vegetarians and certain religious groups. In addition, because of being natural food combinations these select raw food supplements are practically 100% bioabsorbable in the body which is a huge advantage over some commercial individual vitamin supplements that may only be absorbed at less than 20% of their ingested dosage with some passing through the gastrointestinal tract and eliminated without being absorbed at all. With few exceptions, natural products and foods are always more bioavailable to the body and should be favored over commercially prepared synthetic products. In this era of contamination of our food supply by a whole host of xenobiotic molecules it is comforting to know that there are a select group of powerful, natural and pesticide / herbicide free raw food products conveniently available for daily consumption in a “reduced format” that just might be “the next best thing to actually eating the actual raw fruits and vegetables.” As in any nutrition program there is no substitute for actually eating fresh fruit and vegetables that have been properly washed and scrubbed when warranted with hydrogen peroxide or other suitable agents to remove any residues or contamination.