Is Your pH Balanced?

1:28 PM Posted by jo

Lemons are acidic, but they neutralize acids once they are consumed and make the body more alkaline.

Have you ever checked to see if your pH is balanced? It took me a while before I realized how important pH balancing is to our health. pH balancing is one thing that is often overlooked in our quest for optimal health. pH balancing is important to achieve optimal health, in fact, it is so important that it can affect all the major body systems if it is out of balance. A pH balanced body allows the body to function properly, and it maintains proper metabolic functions.

Why high acidity is bad for your health

When the body is acidic, it borrows minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium from bones and vital organs to buffer the acid and safely remove it from the body. This will weaken the bones and organs if not corrected. High acidity also prevents the absorption of many vitamins and minerals, which means the body is constant deficient even when taking supplements. This is one reason why supplements don't work as they should sometimes. High acidity level, acidosis, may lead to weight gain, bladder and kidney concerns, immune deficiency, joint discomfort, low energy, cardiovascular weakness, and lower bone density.

What is pH?

pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. The body has an acid-alkaline ratio which is an balance between positively charged ions that are acid forming, and negatively charged ions that are alkaline forming. It is more common to be acidic than alkaline.

Some things we do in our family to balance pH

We try to balance the pH ratio, 80% and 20% acidity with the diet, but we also use supplements that enhance the effect.

Alkaline minerals are essential when acidic, alfalfa has a high amount of minerals and may alkalize the body. We use green powders that are alkalizing, and we add the powder to protein shakes or freshly squeezed juices. We take alfalfa and Spirulina supplements instead of multivitamins.
Freshly squeezed juices is a great way to obtain nutrients that are alkalizing. Juicing makes it easy for the body to absorb the nutrients. It is also a great way to hide not so tasty things from the children. I like to add Swiss chard or kale to my juice. Carrots, beets, celery, and barley grass are other things I like to add. I also add supplements like spirulina and alfalfa. To make it simple, we often make a great alkalizing juice of celery, beets and carrots. Dr.Jensen's Juicing Therapy is a great book that I highly recommend.
Whey protein isolate is alkalizing. We add berries, flax seed oil and banana to increase the alkalizing effect. We add green super food supplements as well.
A lot of enzymes are destroyed in fresh foods due to cold storage, so we supplement with digestive enzymes during times when it is hard to get local and fresh food.
We perform a liver and kidney cleanse twice a year.
We often add colloidal minerals to our drinking water.
Anything green is alkaline, so we aim to include lots of things like dark leafy greens in our salads.
We use a very absorbable herbal calcium/magnesium supplement to buffer pH.
We add fresh lemon juice, or lemon essential oils (therapeutic grade only) to warm water, and we drink this first thing in the morning. I often add raw apple cider vinegar. We add maple syrup sometimes.

Acidic foods

Canned, frozen, and processed foods, and dairy are acidic and should be minimized. Sodas, most grains and nuts, and meat are also acidic. It is also important to avoid refined sugar, rice and flour. Artificial sweeteners are the worse when it comes to acidity. Minimizing the acid forming food and increasing the alkalizing food should be the goal. It is really not that hard, a piece of meat, lots of dark leafy greens, and other alkaline vegetables in a salad is a good balance. Most people load up on acid forming carbs like rice instead of greens during meal time.

Alkalinity

It is fairly uncommon to be alkaline. It causes several of the same kind of mineral problems as acidity. It takes longer for someone who is alkaline to normalize the pH balance than an acidic person. Alkalinity may lead to digestive sluggishness, immune system concerns, urinary weakness, nervous system exhaustion, respiratory concerns and intestinal system concerns.

Here is a Acid and alkaline food list. Most importantly, remember that greens and most fruits are considered alkaline, especially those high in potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium. (Plant based, not salt). Don't forget that processed food is acidic.

Test your own pH

pH test card charts and test strips are available for purchase from many health food stores as well as herbal and supplement companies.

Don't get overwhelmed

I shared a lot of ideas of what we do in our family, so don't get overwhelmed. Start slowly, for example, start the day with a drink made of warm water, fresh lemon juice and perhaps some raw apple cider vinegar. Increase your intakes of greens. Make an effort to decrease at least a couple of acid forming items from your diet while you increase a couple of more alkaline items. Make a green smoothie or a protein shake instead of the regular snack.

Thanks for visiting!

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Simple Lives Thursday