Acid or Alkaline

Acid or Alkaline – Why Your Health Depends On It

 

Acid and alkaline refers to the ph of the mineral breakdown of foods once they enter the bloodstream after digestion. A diet which is predominantly alkaline protects the body from inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, as well as general stiffness of the joints. As the ph of the blood is slightly alkaline, it makes sense to eat an alkaline diet. A good guideline is 70% alkaline foods and 30 % acid.

 

Drink your milk has been a common adage to build healthy bones. Is this really right for you? Milk actually contributes to an acidic environment in the body, and acidic environments in the body actually create weak bones and create an optimal environment for disease research tells us.

 

“How does it do this?,” you might ask. Essentially, our blood needs to remain at a certain pH; otherwise, it will cause problems in the body. That pH is slightly alkaline and right around 7.36. The problem is that most foods in standard diets are acidic, and this means that people become acidic from consuming these foods.

 

Commonly consumed, highly acidic foods include meat, dairy (including milk), processed foods, soft drinks, and sugared snacks; these are the worst offenders for creating acidic people.

 

Raw fruit and vegetables are alkaline forming in the body; they have an effect that raises our pH to a more alkaline state. But most people eat way too much on the first list, and much too little of what’s on the second list, and they do this for years on end.

 

When the blood starts to become acidic, the body needs to adjust.

 

To adjust to a more alkaline state, the body pulls the alkaline mineral calcium from your bones. By robbing calcium from your bones, your pH can become more alkaline which helps with your body’s immediate problem, but for your bones, it creates longer term problems.

 

In addition, numerous health problems are associated with having an acidic diet and body.

 

Robert O. Young tells us in The pH Miracle, that just about all health problems stem from being acidic. This is because parasites, bad bacteria, viruses, and candida overgrowth – all of which are the root causes of what we give thousands of disease names – thrive in acidic environments. But those problems don’t do well in an alkaline environment.

 

In fact, it’s been found that cancer doesn’t do well in an alkaline environment, and is most often found in bodies with a pH around 4 or 5, which is highly acidic. The fact that forty percent of the population is expected to have a problem with cancer is very telling about the acidic nature of people these days, and the problems with our standard diets.

 

Soft drinks, just so you know, have a pH of between 2.4 and 4.

 

On the pH scale 7 is neutral, and anything above 7 is alkaline; anything below 7 is acidic. pH is essentially a measure of the oxygen to hydrogen; substances and bodies with more oxygen than hydrogen will be on the alkaline side; whereas, those with more hydrogen than oxygen fall on the acidic side. Pesticides and chemicals in our foods and environment are also acidic.

 

Dealing specifically with the bones, the robbing of calcium means weak bones are created over time. We regularly see this in our culture as after about 50 or 60 years of acidic dietary habits, bones break easily and osteoporosis is common. These are exactly the problems you’d expect to see after years of consuming a diet that’s dominantly acidic, and they are exactly what we do see.

 

If you’re wondering where to get your calcium, now that you know that milk isn’t helping your bones, the answer is green leafy vegetables. Green leafy vegetables provide an abundant source of calcium that is bio-available, meaning that it’s easy for your body to absorb. The calcium in milk wasn’t very easy for your body to absorb anyway.

 

References:

Sources for this article include:

The ph Miracle, Robert O. Young, Ph. D

http://www.naturalnews.com…

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mal…

http://www.examiner.com/x-7160-Sacrl…

http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/fl…

http://www.angelfire.com/az/sthurst…l

http://www.ameinfo.com/26590.htmll

 

About the author:

Kim Evans is a natural health writer and author of ‘Cleaning Up! The Ultimate Body Cleanse.’

Acid and Alkaline forming foods

Acid and alkaline refers to the ph of the mineral breakdown of foods once they enter the bloodstream after digestion. A diet which is predominantly alkaline protects the body from inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, as well as general stiffness of the joints. As the ph of the blood is slightly alkaline, it makes sense to eat an alkaline diet. A good guideline is 70% alkaline foods and 30 % acid.

 

Alkaline Forming Foods (70% of dietary intake)

 

Almonds	Alfalfa	Apples
Apricots	Asparagus	Avocado
Artichokes	Beetroot	Broccoli
Bananas	Broth (vege)	Cabbage (red and white)
Carrots	Cauliflower	Celery
Cherries	Chicory	Coconut
Corn	Cucumber	Currants
Cantaloupe	Cranberries	Dates
Eggplant	Figs	Goats milk
Grapes	Grapefruit	Grape juice
Horseradish	Juice (vege)	Kelp
Kale	Kidney beans	Leek
Lemons	Lettuce	Lima beans
Millet	Mushrooms	Okra
Olives (ripe)	Onions	Olive oil
Oranges	Parsley	Parsnip
Pawpaw	Peaches	Pears
Peas (fresh)	Pineapple	Prunes
Pumpkin	Radish	Raisins
Rockmelon	Raspberries	Sorrel
Spinach	Squash	Sprouts (all types)
Strawberries	Soybeans	Sultanas
Swiss chard	Tomatoes	Turnip
Watercress	Watermelon	Zucchini