Where to Start: The pH Balance of the Body

If I had to pick one place to start with a post, I'm going to just go with the basic balance of our body's pH. I learned about this a couple years ago and still continue to learn interesting bits of information here and there about the way it works and the intricacies in which our bodies work.

There are lots of different facets to the pH balance in our bodies so I'll start with some of the basics I learned and will pick up on another post at some point.

One aspect of our body's chemistry is the balance of our blood's pH. In order to maintain a healthy blood pH, which supports cellular life, we need to make sure we have a good blood alkalinity level.

If you may remember from chemistry or biology classes (or not if you were one of those who could duplicate the parent's signature really well) pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. For example, water has a pH of 7.0 which is considered neutral. If something is under 7.0 it is considered acidic and over 7.0 is considered alkaline.

From what researchers have determined, our blood needs to be maintained around 7.3, which is more to the alkaline side. If we don't maintain this level of alkalinity in our blood, we become more acidic. When our blood is acidic, it is very easy for dis-ease to set in and our health can be quite compromised. If we maintain a healthy alkaline level, our bodies are actually very capable of basically disarming germs, bacteria, viruses and all those other goodies that we think make us sick.

Those germs, bacteria and viruses are in and around us all the time. Our bodies are constantly working to stomp them out as we come across new ones from the air, our foods, bodily contact, travel conditions, animals and on and on....

What I didn't realize before is that it's our body's ability to handle all these "invaders" that determines if we get sick or not. That's why one person in a family or office environment can be sick and another will not. It's not that the other person wasn't exposed, it's how their body was able to deal with the problem.

So......by keeping our blood's pH at a good level, it's one of the ways we can allow our body to maintain its optimum state. In it's optimum state, our bodies hold the cure to all dis-ease.

There are many online resources to find out more about maintaining a healthy pH as well as what foods are more alkaline and which are more acidic. In a nutshell, most alkaline foods are going to be veggies, almonds, wheatgrass and even lemons. Acid foods are many animal-derived foods that contain meat or dairy products, coffee, sodas, alcoholic drinks, refined sugars, and many processed foods. If you are interested in a more specific list, here are a couple online links I found that have some pretty good info.

http://alkalinefoodschart.com/foodchart.php?gclid=COqQ3v-7hZcCFQQrFQodg1W--w

http://www.thewolfeclinic.com/acidalkfoods.html

We don't want to go crazy always checking our foods for what pH they are, but what we do want to do is acclimate ourselves to the types of foods that are alkaline and acidic so that we can make educated choices about what we eat. If we eat something acidic one meal, we just need to be conscious of it and balance it out at another meal with something alkaline. Or, one of the ways I have found to be useful is to make my meals a min of 75-80% alkaline foods. This way I know I'm getting a majority of my nutrition from alkaline sources. Then I can balance the other out with some acidic foods, but I choose those that aren't as damaging to my body. After time, you will be able to make the choices much quicker and simpler and your body will show you how grateful it is in its return of physical and mental energy and stamina!