Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life

build and maintain healthy levels of enzymes with no additional effort. Consuming a daily dose of raw foods, reducing uncomplementary stress through proper nutrition, and avoiding enzyme-depleting foods such as starchy and deep-fried products are all important principles of the diet.
     

inflammation reduction
     
    Food cooked at a high temperature can also cause inflammation in the body. As well as destroying enzymes and converting essential fatty acids into trans fats (a dangerous compound that I discuss in detail in Chapter 5, page 143), high-temperature cooking creates advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. The body perceives AGEs as invaders and so its immune cells try to break down the AGEs by secreting large amounts of inflammatory agents. If this natural process is called on too often, the result will likely be diseases commonly associated with old age but which actually have more to do with toxins created by high-temperature cooking. Less elastic skin, arthritis, poorer memory, joint pain, and even heart conditions are often attributable to inflamed tissue.
     

alkaline-forming foods to pH balance the body
     
    The balance of acid and alkaline within the body is referred to as pH (meaning “potential of hydrogen”), and measured on a scale ranging from pH 1 (the most acidic) to pH 14 (the most alkaline). A neutral or good pH balance is 7.35; maintaining this balance is vital. If the body’s pH drops, meaning our body has become too acidic, the likelihood of ailments rises sharply. An acidic environment within the body negatively affects health at the cellular level. It is not possible to be truly healthy when the body is in a constant state of acidosis (characterized by excessively high acid levels). People with an acidic environment within their body are also prone to fatigue: Since acidity is a stressor, cortisol levels rise, impairing sleep. The consumption of acid-forming foods is the number one cause of an overly acidic system, and the overconsumption of acid-forming foods plays a significant role in one of North America’s largest health problems—excessive weight.
     
    Since our body is equipped with buffering capabilities, our blood pH will vary to only a small degree, regardless of diet. The body’s ability to cope is a testament to how resourceful it is. Yet, the systems that are recruited to facilitate this buffering use energy and can become strained, and if prolonged, will result in significant stress to the systems, causing immune function to falter and effectively opening the door to a host of diseases.
     
    Low-grade metabolic acidosis—when cells remain in an overly acidic state because of too many acid-forming foods being eaten or a high-stress lifestyle in general—is believed to be a leading cause of several health concerns, including the development of kidney stones, loss of bone mass, and the reduction of growth hormone levels, resulting in loss of lean muscle mass and increase of body fat. Low-grade metabolic acidosis affects the body at a cellular level and is responsible for an increase of free radicals and a decrease in the production of cellular energy. In addition to these serious concerns, viruses and bacteria are able to thrive in an acidic body, again possibly leading to numerous diseases. Interestingly, it is impossible for cancer to develop in an alkaline environment; this shows the importance of alkalinity in disease prevention.
     
    So what can we do to prevent all this? The answer is to consume more alkaline-forming foods and fewer acid-forming ones. One factor that significantly raises the pH of food, and in turn the body, is chlorophyll content.
     
    An acidic body can lead to a plethora of health problems, including obesity and serious disease.
     
     
    Responsible for giving plants their green pigment, chlorophyll is often referred to as the blood of plants. The botanical equivalent to hemoglobin in human blood, chlorophyll synthesizes energy. Chlorophyll converts the sun’s energy that has been absorbed by the plant into carbohydrate. Known as photosynthesis, this process is responsible for life on earth. Since animals and humans eat plants, we too get our energy from the sun, plants being the conduit. Chlorophyll is prized for its ability to cleanse our blood by helping remove toxins deposited by dietary and environmental sources. Chlorophyll is also linked to the body’s production of red blood cells, making daily consumption of chlorophyll-rich foods