Bodybuilders who are already eating clean need to understand the importance of the acid-alkaline issue in nutrition. I believe it's important because I experienced the difference. My blood was acidic and everything was a struggle. I had to abuse caffeine to get through the day. After making a few minor changes in diet and lifestyle, my ph level was 7.36 and I was off of all stimulants and felt physical improvements in many areas. The bottom line is when your insides are healthier, you will be a better body-builder. Your body will assimilate and use more of the nutrition going in.

The quality of your life is based on the quality of your cells. To survive and prosper, cells have to have oxygen, water, nutrients - potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and zinc among others - and the ability to eliminate their own wastes. Without these four things, which are dramatically affected by the quality of your blood, which I call your "River of Life," your cells can't survive. When any one of these four things are compromised, your cells can't thrive.

When you break down your body's cells to the smallest particles; atoms, protons, and neutrons, you find that each particle has a measurable electrical energy that keeps the particles in motion. When your atoms have high electrical energy, your energy is high, your cells can functiom optimally and your red blood cells don't stick together. When your atom's energy is very low, your cells can't function optimally and your red blood cells stick together and move more slowly, and so do you. When your atoms have no electrical energy, neither do you, and you're dead.

To give your cells the best chance of being completely healthy, your blood must have a precise chemical balance. Alkalinity and acidity is measured on a scale of 1-14, with 1 being pure acid, 7 being neutral and 14 pure alkaline. Your blood must maintain a slightly alkaline pH of 7.365. When there's a disturbance to this balance, the red blood cells begin to clump together. When that happens, they can't travel efficiently through the capillaries and feed the cells throughout the body. The pH stands for potential for hydrogen. The pH of your blood is along the same lines as the pH of your pool or your hot tub. When the balance is out of whack the water gets polluted. Same thing with your blood.

Everyone's bodies are being pushed to their limits and are usually, to some extent, toxic and acidic. The fast paced modern "lifestyle" has brought so many things to the table that our bodies were not designed for. Our fight or flight stress hormones like cortisol are at an all time high. People are not slowing down to rest like they used to. With all the technology and the to-do lists, we're stressed out more than ever. Put on top of that the highly possessed convenient foods for the masses with all the chemicals and preservatives and you have a severe problem.

When given the correct internal environment, the human body is an incredible self healing machine. The more acidic that our blood becomes, the less ability our body has to fight of infection, disease, and premature aging. It's not difficult to lower acidity of the blood. I offer a three point checklist of areas to focus on if you find your blood ph is below 7.36.

(1) Emotions - Anger, fear, overwhelm, frustration, inadequacy, and low self-esteem are all acidic emotions. These emotions induce more negative hormones like cortisol. We've all heard it before, but believe me, the mind is much stronger than we ever know. Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You absolutely will get what you focus on.

(2) Nutrition- Eliminate highly processed convenience foods that are full of chemicals and preservative, and replace them with foods that are fresh and organic. If it doesn't spoil, don't eat it. All food has an electrical energy. If you're constantly eating foods that don't give energy back, you become toxic and acidic. Some foods that have electrical energy include: most vegetable, cucumbers, most grasses (wheat), and almonds.

(3) Healthy life-style choices- Get plenty of rest, the right amount of exercise, and don't use acidic addictions such as coffee, tobacco, and alcohol.

Another related issue is Candida albicans, which is quickly being found by holistic medical practitioners to be "the disease behind the other diseases." Candida is a microbe known as yeast, and it's a normal inhabitant of the body. For a variety of reasons, it can become a pathogen, a disease causing fungus that feeds on the body and weakens the immune system, which the medical community often views as the source of allergies, AIDS, chronic fatigue (Epstein-Barr), herpes, and many other illnesses.

The naturally occurring yeast resides in the gastrointestinal tract. The primary diet of the yeast and fungi that live in our bodies is sugar for energy and protein for development and growth. These yeast and fungi and their mycotoxins greatly contribute to the over-acidification of our systems, and that produces all kids of symptoms and diseases.

I believe that body-builders, even ones who are eating clean, need to learn this concept even more that the average American who is eating highly processed garbage. As body-builders, we are pushing our systems to the limits. We are tearing our bodies, our muscles, as well as our nervous, hormonal, endocrine, elimination, and recovery systems down, daily. We are releasing incredible amounts of lactic acid into our systems, adding to the already acidic system.

I knew that from day one I was not going to take short cuts, drug-free for life body-building has turned me into a man that I am proud of. Little did I know that as I was sculpting my physical body, I was also sculpting traits like perseverance, fortitude, honesty, persistence, passion, that would allow me to take on any challenge: To start a new business, to end a relationship, to start a new one, to be incredibly happy and fulfilled.

Obviously to some extent having good genetics for bodybuilding at is important, but it pales in comparison to how important nutrition, training, and working smarter, not harder are. I have poor genetics for body-building, a thick waist, thick joints, and a higher body-fat % set point. This is where the mind plays a crucial role in our training.

After an intense work-out, our nervous systems are jacked up. We immediately dive head first into that to-do list that is ever-growing. We have families, businesses, clients, cell phones, e-mails, etc., that never go away. WE ARE STRESSED! In order to grow we need to rest and recover. The more we relax and decompress, the more we will grow from the intense work-out.

Lastly, as vain as it may sound, your waistline determines your attitude, your attitude determines your altitude. CHANGE YOUR WAISTLINE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

1. THE FOODS THAT YOU EAT - 10% of your time and focus
2. THE EXERCISE THAT YOU GET - 10 % of your time and focus
3. THE THOUGHTS THAT YOU THINK - 80% of your time and focus

To reach your true potential in bodybuilding, focus on these three areas with the right amount of time and focus, and 80% of your time should be focused on the mind.

Trust me when I tell you that "exercise is the drug of choice."

Sorry to bother you all with that. It is extremely relevent to living healthy non-body building lives. Try to take good care of your body, it's the greatest tool you'll ever own.

Love, MrDT