Uh….that would be the environment of your body!  What’s the difference between an acidic and an alkaline environment?  Well first and foremost, if your body is highly acidic, cancer cells can thrive.  And, it’s not just about the food that goes in that effects your body’s pH balance….it’s about everything that goes in, on, and comes out of or comes near your body.  Stress, toxins…both can make the body more acidic.  Check out the previous blog about keeping toxins out of your body.

A healthy pH is about 30% acid and 70% alkaline.  Processed and cooked foods, meat, cheese, caffeine, nicotine, white bread, and alcohol all reverse this proportion, creating a high acid state, affecting all your body’s systems and their ability to function.  Every book I’ve read has said the same thing, there isn’t a person in a diseased state that is not highly acidic.  If food is not fully digested, it will create and become waste in the blood stream, thereby increasing the acid level in the body.  Pain in the body can also be caused by acidic accumulations throughout the nervous system.

In 1931, Otto Warburg won the Noble Peace Prize for discovering that cancer thrives in an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment and is also due to a lack of oxygen at the cellular level.  This condition damages cells, resulting in low pH (acidity) at the cellular level.  This was over 75 years ago!  So in 2009, why, still, are doctors not testing the pH of their patients routinely?  Victoria Boutenko states in her book, Green For Life, that we should be teaching children about the pH index of foods and that the pH index should be printed on the label of our foods in addition to calories and nutrients.  Exactly.  Lemon, she says, is one of the most alkalizing fruits.  Doesn’t seem right, right?  Lemon equals acid.  That’s why I love green smoothies!  That’s why I put lemon in my water. That’s why I can go a whole day and drink nothing but lemon water.  Almonds?  Alkaline.  Cheese?  Acidic.

Steve Meyerowitz, in his book Wheatgrass, Nature’s Finest Medicine says, “Wheatgrass…is a potent restorer of cellular and blood alkalinity..”  Greens make the body more alkaline.  Consuming large amounts of dark leafy greens.  The only way I can see that happening for most of us is juicing the greens.  Juicing can neutralize the acidic body.  If you are eating large amounts of greens, don’t forget to chew thoroughly, making liquid in your mouth before swallowing.  Tis’ the season for fresh greens!  How about cucumber, celery and cabbage juice?  All great for balancing the pH levels, which will dramatically increase energy and well being.

What can you do to bring your body to an alkaline state?  If you want to cure yourself from any dis-ease in the body, you must get the toxins out and stop putting them in there, eliminate the emotional and mental stress(mostly unconscious), and work on the electromagnetic chaos that you are exposing yourself to.  These things will bring your body pH to an alkaline state where it is almost impossible for disease to exist.  Drinking wheatgrass and other juices will also help.

What, besides food, can make your body more alkaline?  Victoria says, receiving or giving a hug, laughing (go rent a funny movie), seeing a puppy (betcha a kitten would work too), being in nature, walking, singing (in the shower or in the car), and many others.

I think I will go out today and have my pH tested.  You can go to your doctor for this, check the local drug store, or purchase online.  I think I’ll order mine today.  I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and also in a lot of physical pain.  After writing this blog, I’m a little concerned about me!

Find out more about YOU.  Be well.

This is my story on my journey into wheatgrass juicing!

If you’ve never heard of wheatgrass juice, you’re not alone.  There are a few entries here about it and one from my brother Michael!

Don’t underestimate the healing properties of wheatgrass and wheatgrass juice.  Growing wheatgrass in my apartment and drinking wheatgrass juice may have saved my life when carbon monoxide leaked inside due to an improperly installed gas heater.   Drinking wheatgrass for maintenance also helped me expel a chemical that I’d been using for way too many years  AND a poultice I made from the pulp of wheatgrass cured my six month old daughter of the croup overnight!

I credit my parents for starting me on my journey with wheatgrass and living food.  Over 20 years ago, they both checked into Optimum Health Institute in CA and changed the direction of their lives as well as mine.  They started working there along with my brother and later moved on to Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, where my brother Michael is now a Master Wheatgrass Grower and manages their greenhouse.

While visiting my parents in CA at Optimum, my 6 month old daughter came down with a horrible cough.  My Mom suggested a poultice.   This was 17 years ago and I knew about wheatgrass juice, but not what I could do with the pulp.  Sure, why not.   So we put a poultice made of wheatgrass pulp dipped in the juice, directly on her chest.  And yes, you guessed it, the next morning she was free of her cough completely.   I wish I could say, at that moment, I was totally hooked on wheatgrass and living food.  It took me a few more years.  I was vegetarian at that time and was juicing wheatgrass and attempting to grow it in my house.

My first juicer was an electric Miracle Juicer.  I took it right off the kitchen counter of my parent’s house.  (Hey, I wasn’t the only one. My sister and brother stole the next two)!  It was what I used for many years.  Wheatgrass was the only thing I was juicing at the time.  I grew it in my small apartment and did the best I could.  Some days I could drink it and others I just couldn’t get it down.  I drank it for maintenance….I drank it for healing. And I continued to make poultices.   But I was still working on emotional issues and I was avoiding turning to a living food lifestyle.

Fifteen years later, because of my connections with Hippocrates Health Institute, I was fortunate to have the director, Brian Clement, come to speak in my small town in Vermont.  I certainly listened, but I wasn’t ready to hear it.  So I continued to juice wheatgrass.  Not finding the space or time to grow it, I ordered it online.   I drank it for 4 months straight, feeling better and better.  Then one day I just couldn’t get it past my lips.  I called my parents.  My Mom, said “Just drink it any way you can get it down.”  My Dad said, “It’s all emotional.”   He was absolutely right.  The emotion that I wanted to “share” with my Dad at that moment, convinced me even more to at least attempt a living food lifestyIe.  I certainly had come to a point in my life where conventional treatments weren’t working anymore.  So again, Brian Clement came for a visit.  And this time I heard it.

The next day I emptied my kitchen cabinets and started juicing and eating more living food.  I was now eating better than I had my whole life.  I still have that Miracle juicer and I brought out my Vitamix (I hadn’t used it since I bought it years ago) and I purchased a Champion Juicer, a food processor and a spiral slicer.  I juiced every fruit and green I could get my hands on.  I made green smoothies.  I made raw ice cream, raw treats, raw foods. I was hooked.

A year later, when I started growing wheatgrass in my business, I purchased the Manual Healthy Juicer for wheatgrass and greens.  With my manual Healthy Juicer, I could juice up to 100 shots for tasting at our local Health Expo without getting tired.   If you don’t want to wake up the family with the sound of an electric juicer, this is the one for you.  They’ll wake up to the smell of fresh squeezed wheat grass.

Don’t hesitate getting started growing your own wheat grass. Growing grass is one of those things you just have to start doing.  It may take a couple of tries to get it right, but you will get it right.  Don’t forget about making a poultice.   Placing it on everything from your gums to your toes, is just another way to heal using wheatgrass.  The pulp can be used on any skin irritation, from rashes to warts, scars to ingrown toenails.  Think drawing out toxins, think oxygen, think alive, think GREEN!  Again, don’t underestimate it.  Try it for yourself.

Donna, Yep, I really juiced that, Bergonzi-Boyle

Ok…so first of all, how awesome is it that Michael was up to do a guest blog post?!  Michael is an incredible guy, and I can’t give him more authority in his knowledge on the subject of wheatgrass, leafy greens, and all that has to do with juice.  Bottom line is – he knows his stuff.  He has just come out with a new DVD with a great (hilarious) lecture on the background of wheatgrass, how to grow it and how to actually juice it!

Ok Mike…heres..well, the mic!

From Michael Bergonzi:

Hello 877MyJuicer world!  Michael from Hippocrates here.  It would be my pleasure to inform people of GREENS and how amazing they are!

First of all, allow myself…to …introduce….myself.  My name is Michael Bergonzi, Greenhouse / Expo Manager / Health Educator Director at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, FL for the past seven years.  My career in the field of alternative health & wheatgrass began in San Diego, CA at the Optimum Health Institute back in 1990.  Growing grass for a living and not ending up in jail seemed like a pretty cool job!  Ok, I’ll take it!  Of course, the cost per one ounce is $1.00 rather than $350.00!  =)   Humor is important to healing!  I spent 8 years there, then worked for Ellen Tart-Jensen and Singer / Songwriter, Jewel for the next 3 years.  Getting out of the grass field (no pun intended) but staying in the alternative Health Industry as Ellen spent 11 years with Bernard Jensen, so it was an awesome ride.  In 2001, I came to Hippocrates in FL, the number one Alternative Health Resort in the Country.

Most people now a days have at least heard of wheatgrass juice if not actually tasted it themselves from a juice bar or health food store.  (There are always some people that enjoy drinking it, but no one ever hangs around those people!)  The taste of wheatgrass is not always a pleasant one and we are told that it must be our bodies that are detoxing.  However, that is not always the case.  For example, as a wheatgrass grower, I would bring a tray of grass to the health food store, ready to juice.  If they juiced it that day, it would not taste at all bitter or cause that nausea feeling.  But, they choose instead to put it in the store window for a display for people to see it, and now it stays in the window for two more days in which the sun shines on it, which it should never.  They haven’t watered it, which they should everyday, and now, that same sweet tasting wheatgrass has aged almost 80 years in two days.  It’s kind of like people, the older it gets, the more bitter it becomes!  =)  Wheatgrass should be harvested when a second blade becomes visible, and then the entire tray needs to be cut at the same time.  It may then be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week without losing it’s value and taste.

Let’s talk about the ‘greens’ on the planet Earth.  First of all, everyone can agree that we, as humans, are mammals.  Most of the mammals on this planet are living on leafy greens.  In fact, we are one of the few mammals that still eat meat and the only mammal that cook our food.  To say that protein only comes from eating meat is an uneducated statement.  Sprouts, sprouted beans and GREENS are the best source of proteins for our bodies.  Think about it on a bigger scale.  How is it possible that most every mammal (and you all agreed that WE humans are mammals) can live on eating just leafy greens?  Elk, moose, deer, giraffes, gorillas, elephants, horses, etc… and don’t forget the one that WE get most of our food here in the USA from, the COW!!!  Ahhhhhhh…  and here is the problem now a days.  You see, in the past, when you lived on red meat and dairy products, in-directly you lived on GRASS.  The cow was eating the grass; we were eating the cow.  It just makes sense.  We were getting the EARTH in our diets.  But, today, that is NOT the case.  Most cows are now trough fed, mostly grains, which are making their systems too acid base, and are having to be shot full of antibiotics, steroids and of course hormones.  They go over to the trough, eat as much as they can, and now want to take a nap because they are ‘full.’  (Ringing true to us as humans these days who drive through the fast food joint, meaning WE are being trough fed too!  Staying full, getting tired and staying sick.)  A cow taking a nap because it’s too full?  Are you kidding me?  So, the problem now is our red meat and dairy aren’t what they used to be.  We are not getting the GRASS (green / earth) in our diet any longer.  Look, I have been in this field now for 17 years, too long to judge anyone for what they choose to eat.  I just want to educate people on “what’s simple is TRUE.”  Get the Earth back in your diet, more oxygen back into your cells and exercise once a day.  (yoga, walking, stretching, etc…)

OK.  Is any of this making sense yet?  Let’s go to the first thing your body needs to live.  Before food, before water, you need OXYGEN!!!  Everyone reading this, please pause for a moment and take a DEEP BREATH…  Count to three on the inhale and three on the exhale.  Wasn’t that good?  Let’s face it, the only people that really focus on breath these days, unless you’re into yoga, thai-chi or meditation, are smokers!  =(   Personally, I smoked for 10 years, and I know why I felt the ‘need’ for a cigarette, because it would relax me.  Exactly, what are you doing when you smoke?  (You now have to leave your job and go outside the building.  Amen to that law, so you get a bit of stress relief too.)  You’re BREATHING DEEP, for the first time all day.  I am NOT encouraging smoking, however, I am encouraging breathing.  Try it without the “stick.”  Walk away from people, your job, etc… and go somewhere, by yourself, and spend 5 minutes breathing deep.  It’s amazing how much calmer you will be after doing this.

Now, let’s take a moment and go back to how ‘wheat’ grass came to light.  A woman by the name of Ann Wigmore founded Hippocrates in Boston approx. 50 years ago.  She actually healed her own health issues by chewing on ‘lawn’ grass.  That’s right; I said lawn grass, not wheatgrass.  She began chewing on it and got sick for many weeks, but stayed with it till she eventually started feeling better and better.  She learned that the grass / greens were the most complete foods on the planet, as well as having other healing properties.  The wheat seed was chosen because of its sweeter, more palatable taste.  (Her cat picked it out.)  She also learned that the green / chlorophyll will increase the hemoglobin in the blood which then distributes oxygen to every cell in our body.  Take another deep breath!  Remember that oxygen is a good thing?  Ann started this because of watching the animals do it, as well as a statement that was made to her as a child, “Instinct guided creatures, left to them selves, do not make mistakes.”  (I LOVE that one.)  Most of us chewed on grass as children, if it was around.  Why then and not now?  We lost sight of our instinct.  Here’s a FYI on oxygen content on the planet these days:  100 years ago, there was over 30% and now it is at an average of 15%.  The most out there, if you live in a lush, green area, is 21%.  However, in downtown major cities it is down to 9% or less.  Does anyone remember ‘smog alerts’?  I do, but not since 1990, when they stopped telling people.  Fact:  Oxygen in the cells means less chance for cancer to survive.  GREENS = Chlorophyll = increased hemoglobin = more OXYGEN in your cells.  GET IT NOW?  Don’t forget, fresh wheatgrass juice is the best way to FEEL a difference.  Drinking 2 ounces / day on an empty stomach is optimum.

In closing, remember these two simple words: “Stay Present.”  If you liked my words and enjoyed the ‘Wheatgrass Growing’ and ‘Sprouting Seeds’ DVDs, then I have my very special DVD, ‘Conscious Communication’ available now as well as my new class called ‘Moving Beyond Fear’ on audio CD, both are my very favorite to teach.  There is much more to this life and even faster ways to heal the body when you are open to receiving the information.  Yours in the greenhouse at Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, FL, breathing in approx. 30% oxygen everyday, Michael Bergonzi

For questions on growing your own wheatgrass or sprouts, visit my personal website (which I am still working on improving) at www.hippocratesgreenhouse.com and send me an email anytime.  My email address in on my website.  I am also available for lectures and travel to help start up the wheatgrass business in your area.