A Walk A Day

Everything In Life Is About Balance

This universal truth, Live Life in Balance, is especially profound when considering the pH levels in the human body (the internal balance between acidity and alkalinity).

The pH, or “potential of Hydrogen” is the scale that measures the relative acidity or alkalinity of a solution. Solutions are measured from zero (totally acid) to fourteen (totally alkaline); seven is neutral.

One recognizable example of the importance of pH is a swimming pool.

People will spend hundreds of dollars each year on chemicals to maintain the pH of their swimming pool to prevent an unsightly, smelly, unhealthy environment from occurring.

The human body is made of 55% to 60% liquid – it is a swimming pool inside your body.

Mostly water, this internal swimming pool surrounds all of your cells, tissue and organs.  It is vital for the transportation of nutrition, minerals, oxygen and other important bio-chemicals. It is important for these water-based fluids to be pH balanced and that water is abundant in your diet.

Maintaining the internal pH of the body is crucial.

The optimum pH in a healthy body is slightly alkaline. The body needs to maintain this level of alkalinity to work efficiently.  For example, the pH of blood in the human body must remain at the slightly alkaline level of 7.35-7.45 to carry, and release, oxygen, nutrients and support immunity.

In addition to maintaining blood pH, different fluids, in your body, are maintained at different pH levels to keep you healthy.  The different fluids, tissues and cells of the human body are composed of different chemical elements that are very sensitive to pH balance.  To sustain these pH levels throughout your body, your cells and organs are constantly working and filtering your internal swimming pool.

Many researchers believe that helping your body balance its pH levels is very important in maintaining health and fighting disease.

Body pH levels and diet appear to be closely linked.

The kidneys are one of the hardest working organs when it comes to body pH balance because:

1. The body’s natural metabolic processes produce acidic waste

2. The acid producing foods and beverages that we consume

These cellular and dietary wastes must be neutralized to avoid damaging tissues of the glands and organs responsible for detoxifying the body.  Your kidneys rely on the phytonutrients contained in green leafy vegetables, and the minerals they contain, to maintain body pH.  Calcium, magnesium, potassium and trace mineral cofactors are just a few examples of the nutrients they contain.

Maintaining this slightly alkaline state is a constant challenge for the body for two reasons:

1.      Acidity (high pH) encourages decomposition, decay, disease and energy loss.

2.      Prolonged pH imbalance decreases the body’s ability to absorb protein, minerals and other nutrients, decreases energy production in the cells, decreases the body’s ability to repair damaged cells and detoxify heavy metals.

Most Americans experience high acidity because of diet, stress, exposure to toxins in the environment and dehydration. Therefore, “alkaline input” (supplements, foods, lifestyle habits) is essential to insure a healthy level of balance.

One of the easiest ways to restore your pH is to make key dietary adjustments.

You can access a brief explanation of the impact of an acidic pH, a list of alkalizing foods and suggestions for which foods mix best together.

Taking the following steps will pay you dividends.

Step 1

Reduce the foods in your diet that can cause your acidity levels to elevate. It is those deep-fried foods, cakes, cookies, burgers, fries, muffins and white bread that cause the grief.  Foods such as pasta, cheese, eggs and milk are not necessarily unhealthy, but they are high in acid.

Step 2

Eat green food.  Optimally, 70% of your diet should consist of vegetables that grow above the ground.

If you can’t, or won’t eat 5 to 7 baseball-size servings of vegetables daily, you should consider supplementing your diet.  Look for powdered “green supplements” that contain any combination of vegetables, barley, wheat grass, chlorophyll and spirulina.  Pour water into a shaker cup, add the powder and close the lid tightly. Shake the ingredients until the mixture looks smooth.  Drink the beverage.

Powdered green supplements will have a more appealing taste if mixed with more liquid.  For example, NUPRO BeneVita-Green, when mixed with 12 ounces of water, has a similar taste to sweet tea.

Step 3

Include more foods in your diet that are highly alkaline. Asparagus, leafy greens, cucumbers, cabbage, radishes, and kale are all examples of these. Eat these foods in as close to their raw forms as possible and do not add sugar, butter or cheese to them.  Steam your vegetables instead of boiling them to keep the nutrient content high.

Step 4

Reduce consumption of sweet tasting fruit juices, sweetened tea (and any other beverage that contains sugar) and reduce your consumption of alcoholic beverages and coffee.  Replace them with water.  Add slices of lemon, lime or cucumber to your water to boost the alkaline content.  If you choose, you can supplement your diet with a trace mineral supplement to support the body’s alkalizing processes.

Answer this question:  “Would you enjoy a dip in a swimming pool that had an acidic pH?”  My guess is that once you dove in, you would quickly get out!  One last question:  “What do you think the acidic pH is doing to the inside of your body?”

This article from NuPro.