By Rhio at http://www.rawfoodinfo.com

IS AGING NATURAL, NORMAL AND INEVITABLE OR IS IT JUST A SYMPTOM OF SOMETHING THAT HAS GONE TERRIBLY WRONG WITH NATURE’S PLAN?

I do not think aging is natural, normal or inevitable, but rather is a result of choices we make in our lives.

“We do not degenerate because
we grow old. . . We grow old because
we degenerate!”
—Ross Horne

At any moment in time, you are either aging or rejuvenating. There is no standing still. You are either going one way or the other depending on the choices you make:

Food choices - do you eat vibrant live food or processed dead food?

Do you make the effort to drink clean water and breathe clean air? In former times we could just take it for granted that the air and water were clean but today the situation is different.

Do you have a grateful attitude towards life in general; about the life that you are living, in particular; and about all the potential truth and beauty it can unfold? And if not, are you willing to cultivate a grateful attitude?

Do you choose to think life affirming, life sustaining, uplifting thoughts or negative, pessimistic and life depriving thoughts? Thoughts, feelings and emotions create chemicals
in the body just as surely as the food you eat does. Depending on the impact of the specific thoughts or emotions, the chemicals created can be beneficial or damaging to the body. Inharmonious thoughts and feelings create an acid condition in the body.

Have you allowed yourself to be burned out by life’s troubles (challenges)? Or do you still face each new day with the expectation and fresh hope of uncynical youth?

Exercise and breathing choices - do you find a way to include physical activity in every day or are you sedentary? And when you do exercise, is it done perfunctorily or with exuberance and fun? Do you find time each day for deep pranic breathing to offset the shallow superficial breathing we engage in most of the time?

Do you get out into the sunshine regularly and let the natural light enfold and caress you with its healing brilliance? Sunshine and natural light are tonics to the body.

Lifestyle choices - do you choose clean living with no addictions to smoking, drinking and drugs, no bingeing on food and no “burning the candle at both ends?”

Do you surround yourself with positive, uplifting people or negative people who bring you down and sap your energy?

Do you choose to worry about situations or, confidently and delightfully, visualize what you want to occur?

Do you choose to be happy or unhappy? Happiness is not something that happens to us but results from an attitude we consciously or unconsciously adopt.

Are you happy or unhappy in your chosen work or profession? And if you’re unhappy, do you have some hobby or avocation you regularly engage in, which brings you joy, satisfaction and fulfillment?

Can you depend on yourself and on your word or do you let yourself and others down a lot?

Do you hold a clear and pleasingly youthful image of yourself in your mind’s eye, or do you find fault with your looks and put yourself down? If we see ourselves as youthful we move towards youthfulness; but if we see ourselves as getting old, we inevitably move towards that.

“Whatever thou seest, that too become thou must;
God if thou seest God and dust if thou seest but dust”

is a quote which has fascinated me all my life. I don’t know who said it. I just believe it to be the way all things work in our lives.

Do you choose love (or at least tolerance) over hate?

Do you choose admiration over envy?

Do you follow through on the things which are really important to you, the goals you set for yourself; or do you let them fizzle out? When you don’t follow through, unfulfilled goals and unfulfilled longings become as debris in the body.

Do you act on the knowledge and wisdom you have acquired in life or do you try to ignore it, living as if you did not know? It’s been said “Ignorance is bliss,” and the reason this is so is because once you know something, once you truly believe something to be true and you then go against that belief by your actions and your words, your body and soul are adversely affected. Along with the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom comes responsibility.

Do you take advantage of life’s invariable opportunities to cultivate a sense of humor?

Do you choose to see the light side of things and not take yourself so seriously? Laughter is a great healer.

Do you choose to find joy in each day of your life or are you waiting for everything to be perfect first?

ALL of the above impact our rate of aging.

Why would these things contribute to our rate of aging? Because when you’re on the positive side of all the above, you are nourishing yourself in diverse ways. Food is nourishment, yes, and the primary subject of this book, but we also receive (or fail to receive) nourishment in many other ways too.

In our world, it seems verboten to go against the established norm of believing in a progression of aging. Most people believe aging is inevitable and so the process of aging becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. It is difficult to break out of the prevailing mind-set. But you are by now (hopefully) eating “high-raw” . . . and so you’ve already broken through a few barriers. Harnessing the mind then becomes easier for you.

AGING AND THE ACID/ALKALINE BALANCE

A youthful, healthy body is alkaline. A diseased body is acid. The foods we eat must contribute to the alkaline state of the body. Consume 80 percent alkaline forming foods and 20 percent acid forming foods. If you adhere to this 80/20 principle, and minimize negative emotions, you’ll be on your way.

When a body is in an acid state, what neutralizes the acid? Alkaline compounds neutralize acid. That’s why you see all those ads on TV and elsewhere advertising products to neutralize acidity. Because they do not deal with the CAUSES of acidity, but only the symptoms, these products do not work in the long run. The Standard American Diet (see Glossary) is acid forming. Meat, poultry, fish, wheat, cola and dairy are acid forming. Stress is acid forming. Anger and negative emotions are acid forming.

The issue of acid/alkaline balance can be a little confusing because each organ of the body, as well as the blood and skin, have optimum pH levels that are different. The blood, for example, is slightly alkaline at pH 7.37 to 7.45. In order for the blood to be constantly maintained within this narrow corridor, the body engages in heroic efforts. If the blood gets too acidic, calcium from the bones is dissolved and utilized to adjust the blood’s pH. Could this have anything to do with the high incidence of osteoporosis in this country?

The skin has a slightly acid pH because one of the avenues the body uses to expel acid waste is through the skin. Interestingly, the “acid mantle” thus created then protects us by killing bacteria and viruses on the skin.

Other pH values are 1.5 for stomach juice and 8.8 for pancreatic juice. Some authorities say the urine should be acid and others say that the urine must be slightly alkaline. Is it any wonder we are confused?

The waste products created from the body’s own process of metabolism are all acid. Protein metabolism produces sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid. Carbohydrate and fat metabolism produces acetic acid and lactic acid. These acids are poisonous and must be washed out of the system on an ongoing basis. First however, they have to be neutralized by carbonic salts, which are composed of alkaline mineral compounds. We must have a reserve of these alkaline minerals available at all times to assist the body to do its work efficiently. This is why a high alkaline diet of fruits, vegetables and sprouts is so important to our health and well-being.

Nobel Prize-winning biologist and surgeon Dr. Alexis Carrel did an experiment in which he kept parts of a chicken heart alive for 28 years in a saline solution which contained a full spectrum of minerals. The solution was changed every day to clean out the wastes.

As long as waste products are disposed of, cells appear to be virtually immortal and cell renewal can go on indefinitely.