The Importance of Maintaining the Appropriate Acid/Alkali Balance
17th August 2009 by David Gore Graham B.Sc.
I was asked by one of the attendees at a recent presentation I gave, why I didn't say very much about maintaining the appropriate acid/alkali balance and did that mean that I don't think it is very important. I do think it is very important. My opinion is the a person eating a healthy diet will naturally have the correct acid/alkali balance without doing anything specific. Let me explain. Also note that the acid/alkali balance is important in both your blood and in your digestive tract..
Firstly the importance of the acid/alkali balance of the blood. If we think of the human body as a chemical factory then its chemical reactions work best at a certain pH. pH is the way acidity or the alkalinity is measured. For example battery acid is pH=0, bleach is alkaline with a pH= 13. Blood is kept at a constant 7.35 to 7.5 pH which is close to neutral being neither acid nor alkaline (see page 58 of Wellbeing Matters). Your body will keep your blood at this pH because most of the chemical reactions that keep you alive and healthy work best at this pH. Keeping the blood at the correct pH is one of your bodies highest priorities, and your body will make sacrifices to other parts and systems to achieve it. These sacrifices can lead to many degenerative diseases including cancer
To keep the blood at this pH, where the body works best, requires that the minerals and foods we consume must be supportive to this balance. It is easy in this day and age with our convenience foods for our bodies to become too acid. If we do not eat enough foods that, when digested, leave the body in an alkaline state, then to keep the blood at the correct pH, your body will "steal" minerals from bones and other places to neutralize the acid in the blood. This can lead to a host of health problems including osteoporosis. This "sacrifice" has very significant consequences to your health if it goes on to long.
So what do we have to do to keep our blood at this healthy pH and prevent your body sacrificing parts such as your bones? All foods either from acid or alkali residue when digest. Most foods have been tested to see which ones form acid and which ones for alkalis in the body and tables are available (see Wellbeing Matters page 62 for such a list). In general fruits and vegetables are alkali forming ,and proteins, grains and sugars are acid forming. A modern diet with a significant percentage of non-fibrous carbohydrates (grains, potatoes and sugar) is usually very acid. A healthy whole food diet is in general very alkaline as long as you keep away from the sweet things. Note that the acidity/alkalinity of foods is not about the food itself, but about the residue after the food has been digested. For example, the juice of lemons is very acid, but to the body when digested, lemons are one of the most alkaline of foods.
The other area of your body that is acid/alkali dependent is your digestive tract. Your digestive tract is filled with more than a kilo of symbiotic beneficial bacterial. Much of the functioning of your immune system is dependent on the health of these bacteria. Your stomach also contains bacteria that are not beneficial plus fungi and yeasts. The beneficial bacteria thrive in an alkaline environment and the non-beneficial bacteria thrive in an acid environment. Antibiotics kill the beneficial bacteria first leaving the pickings to the harmful bacteria. This is why people who take lots of antibiotics tend to to have serious yeast and fungal problems such as candida.
It is as important for the blood as the digestive tract to have an alkaline environment for you to have radiant health. As this is the case then the question that was put to me that I started this post with is a valid one. Why do I not mention it in my talks? The reason is that I promote a wholesome complete diet, rich in fruits and vegetables and low in refined grains, potatoes and sugar. If you follow my dietary recommendations, then your body will be naturally alkaline the you will have radiant health available to you. If you eat a modern diet based on convenience and packaged foods with high carbohydrates, then you are damamging your health anyway, and will have an acidic digestive tract plus you will robbing your own body parts of minerals to keep your blood at the correct pH.
The bottom line is that if you address only the acid/alkali balance without changing your diet, you will definitely improve your health in some ways and not in others. If you address your diet as a direct path to radiant health then you will also correct any acid/alkali imbalances.
There are some cases where tools such as alkaline water and alkaline additions (drops) to your food are of benefit. That is if you have a compromised digestive system throug illness or have to eat institutionalized food. The elderly liviing in group homes are one such case where the food they eat is high in carbohydrates and low in vegetables and fruits. Changing the acid/alkali balance by changin your diet is almost instantaneous. However if your body has been to acid for a period of time, it is necessary to build up your reserves of minerals which may take time and some assitance by drinking alkaline water may be beneficial.
David Gore Graham
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing
Tags: Acid/Alkaline balance, alkaline foods, benficial bacteria, blood
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