Shingles: Let the Girdle Out

The shingles virus is also known as the Herpes Zoster virus (not at all associated with other herpes viruses), which translates as belt or girdle from Latin and French origins. The Herpes Zoster skin rash erupts around the trunk of the body – like a girdle! I’m so glad I never had to wear one, but if wearing a girdle isn’t pleasant, not so much more is having shingles.  It can take away your breath with pain, bind up the back with lesions and squeezes the life out of you!

How does one end up so “strangled?”  The most common string that stretches this girdle is a weakened immune system. Fatigue, stress, chicken pox exposure and other causes – even surgery and x-rays – tighten the nerve endings in your body near the skin to blister and develop the infamous shingles rash.  The stress of these vents creates an acidic environment in your blood, which encourages the shingles virus to thrive.

Let’s look at the foods that can foster an alkaline environment in your body so that stress, acid and shingles can be averted.

Firsthand, you should know best what foods affect your energy, give you pain or limit your function and thinking. Notice if it is carbs that bring your energy down, or desserts (my own downfall). It is best to avoid these foods at all time, but especially if you are scared of getting shingles, fear the onset is upon you or fighting to regain your health from a shingles episode.  The last thing you want to do is trigger something in your body through food that would result in introducing the shingles virus into your blood stream.

Second, avoid processed, sugary or simple-carbohydrate foods, not only because they are acid-producing but also because they raise blood sugar level too quickly; plus they tend to be nutrient-lacking and may be toxic, too.

Acid-producing foods such sugar, some protein, caffeine and processed foods stress the body to maintain the proper pH level, which fights off bacteria and viruses introduced into the system.  To compensate, alkaline minerals (magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium) are depleted from vital organs and bones to neutralize the acid.  It is almost like sucking the life out of your bones leaving them dry and brittle when forced to draw these alkalizing building blocks of your body.

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” ~ Newton’s Law

By robbing your body of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium minerals from the bones and organs to remove acid from the body, the strain may go undetected. Eventually, your body becomes defenseless and the damage shows up as fatigue, illness and disease.

An acid environment effectively:

• Decreases body’s ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients
• Decreases the energy production in cells
• Decreases ability to repair damaged cells
• Decreases ability to detoxify heavy metals
• Makes tumor cells thrive
• Can lead to shingles!

Foods: are they Acid or Alkaline-forming?

Let’s get it straight.  A food’s performance in the body as either acid or alkaline actually has nothing to do with the actual pH of the food itself. Let’s take lemons, for example.  We all know lemons are acidic, but through the digestion process the end product is alkaline.  On the other hand, meat (like almost all animal products) tests alkaline but leaves acidic residue in the body.

To balance you body and restore yourself to health, your diet should be 80% alkaline forming foods.  If you are healthy and concerned about a healthy pH balance within, then keep your foods to 60% alkaline. Here is a food chart to help you navigate proper pH consumption.