Acid-Alkaline Balance 

Proper Health starts with the correct acid-alkaline balance in your body. The pH level (acid - alkaline measurement) of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies. Extended acid imbalances of any kind can overwhelm your body, and lead to health complications.  

Just as the body regulates its temperature in a rigid manner, so will it manage to preserve a very narrow pH range - especially in the blood. As a matter of fact, the body will go to such great lengths to maintain a blood pH of 7.365 that it will even create stress on other tissues, body systems, and organs to do so. Chronic acidity will interrupt all cellular activities and functions - it interferes with life itself. 

When the pH of the body gets out of balance (too acidic), we may experience low energy, fatigue, excess weight, poor digestion, aches and pains, and even more serious disorders. 

The cycle of acidity begins primarily as a result of three things: 

1. Ingesting acids. Eating too many acidifying foods like processed sugar, meats, dairy, coffee, alcohol, etc. Create an acid ash in the body. These acids can overload the body’s ability to neutralize them.

2. Creation of acids. Pathogens and microforms create acidifying toxins in the body. As the body becomes more and more acidic, bad bacteria, yeasts and other microforms proliferate in the body. Since these organisms are living, they eat as well as create resulting toxins. These toxins are often very acidifying. 

3. Improper elimination of acids. Not all acids are the same; some are weak and some are strong. Weak acids like citric acid are much easier to neutralize than strong acids like uric acid. The body uses many systems in order to buffer acids including breath, mineral reserves, and fat. When the body’s buffering systems become compromised, excess acids build up.  

The process of reestablishing  acid-alkaline balance begins with proper diet and nutrition. This includes eating alkalizing foods (vegetables, low sugar fruits, etc.), super hydration (drinking plenty of alkaline water that is ionic and structured), and proper supplementation.  

Remember, Alkaline water helps to neutralize acids and remove toxins from the body. Alkaline water also acts as a conductor of electrochemical activity from cell to cell. Ideally, water should have a ph between 9 and 10, and you should be drinking 3-4 liters of it daily. As you hydrate your body properly, you'll develop more of a thirst for water. Food cravings are often the body's cry for water. You might already have more of a thirst than you even realize.

WHAT IS PH?

pH stands for "potential (p) of hydrogen (H)". More specifically, the pH scale measures the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a substance, and the potential of that substance for freeing hydrogen ions.

The pH scale goes from 0 to 14. Zero is complete acid, and  0 to 6.99 is acidic. 7 is neutral... the perfect balance between acid and alkaline substances. 7.01 to 14 is alkaline, 14 being total alkalinity.

So, on the scale, the greater the acidity, the lower the pH reading, and the greater the alkalinity, the higher the pH reading.

The pH scale is not arithmetical but logarithmic, meaning that the values separating each unit are not of equal value along the scale but increase in their proportion to their distance from a pH of 7.

For Example:

A pH reading of 8 is 10x's more alkaline than 7, and a pH of 9 is 100 x's more alkaline. A pH of 10 is 1000 x's more alkaline than 7 is.

Conversely, a pH reading of 6 is 10 x's more acidic than 7, a pH of 5 is 100 x's more acidic than 7, and a pH reading of 4 is 1000 x's more acidic than 7.

Consequently, when urinary pH falls, for example, from 6 to 5, it is registering a much greater amount of acidification than that indicated by a decrease from 7 to 6.

In this type of situation, the urinary pH reading of 5 indicates that your body is 100x's more acidic than it should be. This acidification causes all sorts of stress on the body.

Your body functions best when the pH of your internal biochemical environment, measured as a whole is between 7.365 and 7.39. A reading of anything lower indicates acidosis, and a reading of anything higher indicates alkalosis (which is very rare by the way).

When we say the internal biochemical environment, we're referring to the blood, organic fluids such as lymph, and intracellular fluids.

Many individual organs and fluids, however, have a pH that is far above or below this ideal pH (gastric region, pancreatic juices, etc.). These different pH values are quite normal, and correspond to precise needs of the body.

So, when we refer to pH balance, we're referring to restoring the pH of the basic internal biochemical terrain.

The acidification of the internal terrain is the major source of health problems.

Acidification is directly or indirectly linked to the following list of ailments:

Lack of energy, fatigue, poor circulation, weight gain or loss, irritability, nervousness, inflammation, gastro intestinal disorders, acid reflux, diabetes, irregular bowl movements, kidney and bladder stones, allergies, skin disorders, osteoporosis, joint fatigue, arthritis, rheumatism, and gout. While this is not a complete list, it gives you an idea of how acidity affects your body.

On the other hand, when your body is in proper pH balance, not only will you free yourself from these types of ailments, you'll experience a quality of health that I like to describe as VIBRANT! So, now that you know something about pH, and how acidification negatively impacts your body, let's talk about how to tell if you're too acidic. In order to maintain proper pH, your body is constantly trying to get rid of acids. The primary system it uses is your renal system (kidneysThe normal rate of acid excretion through the kidneys gives urine a pH that falls between 6.75 and 7.25. By testing the degree of acidity of your urine, you can determine if your body is saturated with too much acid.