SEEKING 7.0
By Marni Borek, Cofounder at The Healist
I’m a semi-geek who’s been knee deep in digital strategy for the last decade, but today I’m writing about the physical reality of being 5.0.
5.0 pH, that is, on a first-morning urine test.
It’s been 3 years since I left NYC for the West Coast to start my journey to better health as co-founder of The Healist. Like many, I didn’t think I was bad off. I was your typical active New Yorker. I worked really hard, went to the gym and worked really hard there, bought all my food at Whole Foods and only ate (and drank) at the most happening quality restaurants.
Never mind that I was constantly dehydrated, which led to several incidents of tachycardia (scary spikes in my heart rate for hours) and unbeknownst to me I had a mouthful of leaking mercury fillings and an under-the-surface dead wisdom tooth in my jaw that was causing all sorts of systemic issues including a recurrent respiratory infection that just wouldn’t go away. Never mind that I dabbled in Entemann’s raspberry coffee crumbcake, bagels and added conventional dairy to my lattes, becoming a perfect host for my own personal candida colony.
Thank God I’ve made quite a few tangible improvements in the last few years. I drink filtered, re-mineralized water. I eat clean organic GMO-free food from local sources. I’m 80% vegetarian. I’ve had my mercury amalgam fillings and my dead wisdom tooth removed (the right way). I’ve done Blueprint juice cleanses. I just completed my first Dr. Schulze’s 5-day liver cleanse. I’ve done my first Gerson-style coffee enema. I go to yoga and practice asanas in the kitchen. I bike almost everywhere. And I’m building a purpose-driven life starting my own social impact business with a mission to lower chronic disease rates. I’m contemplating having a child naturally with a midwife and doula. I sleep more and I sleep more peacefully. Life is sweeter overall, so surely, so is my health, right?
But despite all these big changes, my first-morning urine pH tested 5.0.
5.0 means I am way too acidic. It means my body is essentially an open house for bacteria, viruses and fungus to move in and throw a party. 5.0 means that I don’t have enough minerals. To prevent chronic disease your body needs to be slightly alkaline. The ideal pH is neutral 7.0… optimum is 7.25 if you really want to be an overachiever.
With my family history of chronic diseases, 5.0 is a BIG FAT RED FLAG. My father died from stomach cancer at 58. My mother has chronic kidney disease. My grandparents had heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and strokes. My aunt has colitis and irritable bowel syndrome. I can only dream of the possibilities that await me if I don’t change.
Looking back over the last few years of improvements, what I see now are all the times I ignored suggestions to give up my daily coffee addiction. Or all the times I ignored recommendations to take whole food supplements that could help me restore metabolic and hormonal balance: probiotics, minerals & trace elements, iodine and selenium for my thyroid (did I say I have constantly cold feet and hands?), vitamin D (ahh, the sun on the beach, so close and yet so far away…), magnesium, B12, glutathione (the mother of all antioxidants). Too many pills, I thought. Too overwhelming. And anyway, I’m healthy, right?
However, over the last few days seeing my acidic pH strip every morning scares the shit out of me. So it’s time for change.
I’ll be documenting my quest for alkalinity (Seeking 7.0) each week here at The Healist. I’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations.
Suggested Read: I’M ACIDIC. WHAT DO I EAT TO ALKANALIZE?