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 Sam Graci is an internationally-renowned researcher, formulator, lecturer, consultant, and author in the field of optimal health and nutrition. |
For Sam Graci, the path to phenomenal health starts at the grocery store. So it was only fitting that I met the Greens Plus supplements magnate near the produce section at Planet Organic, in Old Strathcona.
The store drew a healthy customer base on the evening of our educational shopping excursion, but no one seemed to sparkle next to the kale, parsley and Swiss chard like the charismatic, affable Graci.
It’s hard to believe the internationally renowned superfood researcher from Saltspring Island is 63. His seemingly boundless energy belies the fact he’s almost a senior citizen. Health and vitality ooze from his pores.
Speaking of pores, I eventually mustered up enough nerve to compliment him on his fabulous skin — not something I usually say to another man. To my surprise, he returned the compliment.
“Thank you. Actually, you’ve got beautiful skin,” he says warmly. “I was going to tell you that before. I didn’t know if you’d be embarrassed. You’ve got really beautiful skin.”
My beautiful skin blushed. I figured the greens guru wouldn’t lie, so I chalked it up to one of those unexplainable good hair and skin days.
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But as I would find out on our tour, so-called good hair days happen when the body’s pH level is slightly alkaline.
“We’re born alkaline. Our internal chemistry’s alkaline,” he explains. “But everything we do creates acids.”
The human body is an efficient chemical processing plant and the acids we create naturally during the day are exhaled as carbon dioxide or excreted, Graci notes.
The problem, however, is that today’s North American diet leaves countless people with an acidic pH balance, he adds. That causes fatigue, disruptive sleep patterns, depression and a lowered libido.
“Acidic means no oxygen at the cellular level,” Graci says. “So we get more colds, more flus and more bacterial infections.”
The trick to maintaining an alkaline pH balance, as nature intended, is to eat a diet that consists of 75% alkaline-forming foods and 25% acid-forming foods, he says.
Alkalinizing foods include most fruits, veggies, seeds and nuts. Water, green tea, organic black coffee and dry red wine are alkalinizing beverages.
Acidifying foods include meats, fish and fowl. Soft drinks and most alcohol are among the most acidifying beverages.
“It’s not good versus bad. There’s nothing wrong with acidifying foods, it’s just we need to buffer or neutralize them,” says Graci, who meditates and lifts weights daily.
“When we say we have a bad skin day or a bad hair day, it’s because we’re too acidic.
“When I’m wiped out, I need to get what I call my native natural chemistry back, which is I need to start to be alkaline.”
Being too acidic for too long can lead to serious maladies, Graci notes.
“Today, researchers say the basis to all major degenerative disease is inflammation, but inflammation can only occur in an acidic environment,” he says.
But the good news is anyone can swing the pH pendulum via a diet change. Then profound things happen.
“You look around and you say, ‘Oh my goodness, I haven’t seen colours this crisp in a long time. You know what? My hearing is a little better. Hey, I’ve got staying power,’” he says. “Not necessarily excitatory energy, but mid-morning, mid-afternoon and evening, we’re still functioning well. And when we go to sleep, we hit the pillow. Pow! We’re out. That’s the sign we’re alkaline.”
Another sign is “beautiful” skin. Like mine is occasionally — when I lay off the pop, eat my veggies ... and stand under the subdued lighting of an organic grocery store.
Visit www.genuinehealth.com to take Graci’s 21-day pH challenge. And visit Keeping Fit blog for much more information on pH balance.
Sam’s tips for a healthy pH balance:
1) Stay away from soft drinks, which contain phosphoric acid, as well as processed food because the more a food is processed, the more it gets acidified.
2) If you’re going to drink coffee, make it black.
3) Eat raw food every week – fruits and veggies (or their juice), seeds, salads, nuts, sea vegetables, fermented vegetables or herbal garnishes.
4) Choose the most colourful fruits and veggies, and those that have colour all the way through such as beets and cherries. The more colour, the more minerals and the more alkalinizing the food.
5) Choose small fruits and veggies. The smaller a fruit or vegetable is, the richer the mineral content and the more alkalinizing it is.
Cary Castagna is a certified personal trainer through Can-Fit-Pro.