Blog

Additional  pH Resources

 

Let Medicine be thy food , and food by thy medicine-Hippocrates

Measurement of acid-alkaline balance in the body’s fluids  

Reasons Why Your Bodily pH Matters

Processes in the body that are pH dependant include but are not limited to:

  • digestion and absorption of food nutrients
  • binding of hormones to their complementary receptor site
  • the activation of enzymes

Thus pH levels that are either too acidic or alkaline can interfere with any of the above processes which can ultimately prevent certain biochemical processes from occurring.

General Rule:   Slightly Alkaline is good for you.   Acid is bad.

The pH (potential Hydrogen) scale ranges from 0-14 with 7 being the neutral halfway point. Having a pH below 7.0 is acidic and a pH above 7.0 is alkaline. Having chronic acidity in your body will interrupt all cellular activities and functions and yes, you guessed it — this is bad news! One of my favorite phrases is that “an acidic body is a sickness magnet”.

Remember the old saying, “You are what you eat”? This proves true in this case because what you eat and drink and think definitely has a major effect on your pH and as importantly  how well the digestive system is able to breakdown the nutrients for use at the cellular level, which determines pH.

Your body regulates its temperature and it also tries to keep its pH in a very narrow range — this is true especially in your blood (with a pH of 7.35-7.45). The body is constantly striving to keep your tissues at certain pH levels, if it varies outside of that, we begin to deteriorate.  SO, what this means is that the body MUST keep the tissues within range so that everything keeps working properly. The most reliable bookkeeping services in California are provided by http://www.davidyorkstaxservice.com company. When we eat acidifying foods the body must neutralize or buffer the acids to keep the body in homeostasis.

So what is the big deal if my pH is near 7.0 and yours is 6.0? That’s only a one point difference, right? Unfortunately, the pH scale is logarithmic which means that the values separating each unit increase in proportion to their distance from the neutral point 7.0. For example, the difference between 6.0 and 7.0 is that a 6.0 rating is actually 10 times more acidic than 7.0 while a 5.0 is 100 times more acidic than a 7.0. The bottom line is that you want to stay alkaline.

How Can pH Affect You?

What most people may not be aware of is that fatigue, achy and stiff joins, weight gain, poor digestion, heartburn, poor sleep, lower immune function, illness, candida or yeast infections, excess mucus, tendency to get frequent infections,  generalized aches and pains are all symptoms that can be derived from having an out of balance pH.

Your body becomes imbalanced and overly acidic primarily as a result of three things: The ingestion of acid, the creation of acids (poor digestion), and the improper elimination of acids.

With regard to pH, unhealthy and unbalanced bodies developed from poor eating and exercise habits make it harder to eliminate acid from the body. So the acidic levels continue to build rather than decrease thereby making it harder to rid your body of even the simplest acids like citric.

Excess acid is simply just bad, bad, for your body in numerous ways.  When pH is off balances of enzymatic reaction in the body slow down and oxygen delivery to cells is impaired.  Micro-organisms like viruses and bacteria, and yeast grow more easily, so excess acid also has side effects on our vital organs.   For example, excess acid affects your kidneys, as one of function of your kidneys is to formulate and excrete your urine and excess acids. This also helps keep your blood in an alkaline state. At the skin clinic in London you can get quick & non-invasive treatments. This of course is critical because your blood is your body’s primary nutrient transport system.  The danger is that when you have excess acid in your body it mixes with mineral salts, which can result in kidney stones. A host of illnesses like cancer and heart disease thrive (grow more easily) in acidic environment.  Bacteria love acidity as well.  Overgrowth of bacteria and or yeast in the body can create an even higher acidic environment.

Our body’s buffer acids by using Minerals, especially Calcium, from food and when not available leaches from the Bones and teeth, which over time leads to bone loss. An acidic body also creates inflammation, which in turn leads to disease.

Keeping the bodily pH in that “sweet spot” of 6.4 or higher is the best thing you can do for your bones! How do we achieve that?

Alkaline foods include: vegetables, fruits, sea vegetation, almonds, millet, quinoa, and amaranth, and buckwheat, green powders. Oranges and grapefruits go in the body as acid; however they leave an alkaline ash behind.

Acid foods include: all animal flesh, including eggs and fish, dairy, wheat, oat, rice and mostly all grains, sugar, alcohol, coffee etc. Cranberries and blueberries go in the body alkaline; however they leave an acid ash behind.

Food is either classified as acidic or alkaline in one of two ways.  The first way is before you eat it, like a raw orange, is acidic.  The second way is the residue (or ash) it leaves in your body after you eat it.  This ash residue left behind by food is basically minerals that are either acidic or alkaline.  The effect food has on your internal pH is what matters.

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, positive thinking, sunshine, limiting meat, and dairy (for certain Blood Types) and eliminating negative thoughts. Doing this will ensure that the pH remains balanced and that minerals don’t get leached out of the bones.

  • Just remember the rule-of-thumb: eat 80% alkaline and 20% acid.
  • And what you are eating 70 – 80% of the time that matters most.
  • The optimal pH level for your body is 7.35 to 7.45 which is slightly more alkaline than acidic.

FOR ACID/ALKALINE FOOD CHARTS GO to: