Optimum health could be only a few food choices away. The idea that a diet consisting of predominantly alkaline forming foods aids your body in it’s battle to eliminate acid wastes is not new. However, it is being recognized by more and more people as a way of feeling healthier and preventing the onset of disease.
It was back in 1933 that US doctor, William Howard Hay, first published his book, ‘A New Health Era.’ In which he argued that all disease is manifested by what he called, ‘autotoxication’ or ‘self poisoning’. This, he wrote, was because of the acid accumulation in the body.
In contemporary times, Dr. Theodore A. Baroody wrote in his 1991 book, ‘Alkalize or Die’ that all disease had the root cause of too much tissue acid in the body.
But what did these authors mean when they claimed there was too much acid in the tissues of the body? How is the reduction of acid going to assist you to reach optimum health?
Firstly, let’s look at what pH is and what it means in relation to human physiology.
pH stands for potential of hydrogen. It is a measure of acidity of a solution at one end of the scale (low numbers) and alkalinity of a solution at the other end of the scale (high numbers) with the scale ranging from 0-14. Of course, the number 7 on the scale is considered to be pH neutral.
The human body has varying degrees of acidity. The following table shows the average pH values of some human body liquids.
Stomach juice | pH 1.5 |
Skin | pH 4.7 |
Saliva | pH 7.1 |
Cell | pH 7.1 |
Blood | pH 7.4 |
Pancreatic Juice | pH 8.8 |
When this balance is disrupted, naturally we can expect the body to react in ways detrimental to our health.
As cells go about converting food into energy and performing their function they produce acid as a waste. The body is designed to eliminate this weak acid via the respiratory system.
However, the theory of acid alkaline imbalance poses a sinister threat to our health because most of the food we consume in our modern western diet produces what is known as acid ash – the material left after our bodies have taken what is needed from our food. This ash is much more acid in solution than that produced by the cellular processes and is eliminated via the renal system – your kidneys. Take the ACIDITY SELF TEST
So, as your body goes about eliminating this excess acid, it works harder and becomes stressed. Your blood, meanwhile, stays in its so called ‘healthy’ range (7.3 – 7.45) – or the range required to prevent death!
However, those that have studied the alkaline acid imbalance say that despite this ‘healthy range’, being at the acid end of that range can still have very many detrimental effects on your health.
Over acidity has been linked by many to all sorts of conditions that you may suffer from right now. LIST OF CONDITIONS
One good measure of how hard your body is working to neutralize over acidity is to check your urine. A high urine acid content doesn’t mean that your body is as acid as the urine (remember that your body maintains itself between pH 6.0 and 7.5) it means that your body is eliminating large amounts of acid to maintain that balance.
In doing all this work your body uses calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium (alkaline minerals) to form a ‘buffer’ which prevents the acid being eliminated from burning the urinary tract.
When your body has plenty of these minerals in reserve everything works fine. However, as these reserves are depleted, the body takes minerals from the bones and vital organs to neutralize and eliminate the acid. Over a period of time, this weakens all systems of the body and overall health deteriorates. Some health problems identified are:
- Increased free radical damage leading to early aging
- Urethritis, cystitis
- Kidney diseases and stones in the liver and gall bladder
- Heart disease
- Poor immune system
- Arthritis, gout and general joint pain
- Lethargy
- Osteoporosis
- Obesity
- Fungal infections (candida albicans)
- Psoriasis, eczema
How can we counteract this imbalance in our bodies? The main way is to eat a diet that is made up of more foods that produce alkaline ash. It is recommended that 80% of what we eat should be these types of foods. Here is a chart that shows you some of the foods that are alkaline and those you should keep you only 20% of your diet, the acid foods.
Foods that may be acidic upon eating (such as citrus) are actually alkaline ash forming, so it is important to note this. Fresh lemon squeezed into a glass of water is extremely alkalizing.
Another very effective way of ensuring that your body has the alkaline minerals that are required to eliminate the over acidity in your body is to drink alkalized water. There are water filters that will change the water from pH neutral (most tap water), to alkaline. This allows your body to neutralize the acidity created in your body by an acid forming diet
Learn more about the importance of drinking water that is ionized and alkalized here.
