Balancing Body Chemistry

Over the years I have read a good deal of books and reports on the acid/alkaline chemistry of the body. I was not the most astute chemistry student in school but as I got older my interest increased. I became fascinated by chemistry as it applies to maintaining a healthy body. Here’s what I learned: It's all about the internal acid/alkaline balance. We get disease when imbalance occurs.

Doctors check acidity and alkaline levels by measuring the pH in our blood, saliva or urine. The pH stands for potential Hydrogen, which measures the number of hydroxl ions which are negative and alkaline-forming as opposed to the amount of hydrogen ions that are positive and acid-forming.

Don’t stop reading because the chemistry vocabulary seems boring. Just remember this: everything you eat or drink is either alkaline-forming or acid-forming. Acid and alkaline substances are opposites and when they meet they cancel each other out creating a neutral pH. However, it takes 20 times as much alkaline to neutralize an amount of acid.

The pH measurement scale runs from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Below 7 is acid and above 7 is alkaline. Authorities have said that if you’re testing the blood, the perfect pH for human body function is 7.365. Some doctors believe that it is better to look at the range between 7.36 and 7.42 as the best. As for me, I’m just remembering that all authorities agree the body should be maintained slightly on the alkaline side.

None of this really came to life for me until I was working on my swimming pool one day. I was testing the water to see if the pH balance was correct. I know through experience that if I put the right amount of chemicals in the water to get a neutral pH, the water stays clean and crystal clear. If I goof up and let the water get out of whack and unbalanced, fungus will grow. Micro-organisms like fungus, bacteria and mold cannot survive in an alkaline environment. So as long as I keep the pH neutral in my pool, my family is safe to swim.

The importance of pH balance made even more sense to me as I learned the body is 70% water and the blood is 96% water. I realized that pH balancing is important to my health. It cleans up the water of my body and eliminates the toxic micro-organisms.

I take care of my swimming pool because I was given instructions. The instructions informed me how to keep my pool clean. I have friends that have fish aquariums. They, too, were provided with instructions. They have to keep the water in the aquarium at the correct pH or the fish will die. It’s the same with with our bodies. Just imagine that your cells are like the little fish in your aquarium. Think about how important it is that your cells are swimming in healthy internal fluids. I thought about this and realized that I didn’t get the instructions on keeping my inner body chemistry at the right pH level.

This is when I decided to do more research. I found out that if the pH in the body starts declining towards the acidic, the blood pulls alkaline minerals out of our tissues to compensate. However, if your body has been bombarded by acid-forming substances for a long time, the blood can no longer handle the imbalance. Excess acid is then dumped into the tissues. This imbalance leads to irritation and inflammation and eventual disease.

Authorities say that over acidification of our inner terrain is the underlining cause of all disease. Eating, drinking and breathing the wrong things all cause acid build-up in the body. Stress also causes acidification. The best thing for you to do is learn which foods are acid-forming and which foods are alkaline-forming. Then use the 80%/20% rule. Eat 80% alkaline-forming foods and 20% acid-forming foods. Here is a short list to get you started.

Acid-forming: All meat, pastries, pasta, cheese, milk, ice cream, all chemicals/preservatives, aspartame, potatoes, white flour, white rice, fried foods, processed foods, all fried oils, white sugar, coffee, alcohol and all drugs.

Alkaline-forming: spinach, romaine lettuce, seaweed, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, garlic, almonds, millet, quinoa, tomatoes, apples, watermelon, grapes, and pears. Lemons and limes seem like they would be acid-forming, but they are actually alkaline-forming. I drink lemon or lime water every morning.

Get balanced! Stay healthy!