One of our major nutritional goals for optimum health should be maintaining a proper acid/alkaline balance. It is important that our diet is slightly more alkaline-forming than acid as this is the environment which is most conducive to health and the body’s natural repair process.
We are talking about the acid or alkaline ash that remains in the body after metabolism, not the actual content of the food. For example, lemon is an acid-containing food, but it leaves an alkaline residue. In fact, an excellent way to combat acidosis would be to drink water with fresh lemon juice.
The pH level (the symbol used as a measurement for acidity/alkalinity) of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies and ultimately our state of health. All of our metabolic processes depend on an ALKALINE environment to function optimally. (The pH scale goes from 0-14 with 7 being neutral. Below 7 is ACID and above 7 is ALKALINE with the optimal blood level being 7.365 – see Note below.)
Consuming an acidic diet over a period of time will eventually corrode our tissues and impair basic cellular activities and functions. Chronic over-acidity removes oxygen from the blood and can result in lowered immunity and premature aging, kidney stone formation, muscle loss, back pain, gout, and other joint diseases. Chronic degenerative conditions, like cancer, tend to develop in an overly acidic environment. Over acidity can also produce that tired, headachy, fuzzy-headed feeling many people get, especially after eating. Disease and illness thrive in an acidic internal environment, so choosing alkaline foods is the best strategy for creating long term health.
There is conflicting information about which foods are alkaline and which are acid-forming. This simple rule covers 90 percent of foods:
Alkaline foods are those that you already know are good for you: fresh vegetables, salads, leafy greens, low-sugar fruits, nuts, seeds and healthy oils; unrefined, organic, high-water content foods.
The majority of the foods commonly consumed in a processed, Western diet are ACID-forming. Acidic foods are those that you already know are not great for you in excess: refined carbohydrates, fast foods, trans-fats, meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine, white bread, white pasta and rice, condiments, alcohol, chocolate, chips, ice cream and pizza.
Aim for a ratio of 80/20: Consume 80 percent alkaline foods to 20 percent acidic foods.
People often ask why it is that primitive man survived without a clue about his pH level or what percentage of his foods should be acid or alkaline? Well, life was simpler back then. There were no fast food restaurants or refined foods. There were fewer choices, so people naturally ate a more unadulterated, plant-based diet. Today, we have a lot more food options, but it’s still relatively simple to eat well: just stick to a wide variety of whole, unprocessed foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, whole grains) with small amounts of flesh foods. Avoid processed/junk foods, refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, soda, routine use of pharmaceuticals, etc.
Note: There is a simple method for measuring pH in the urine. Most drug stores carry nitrazine or litmus paper. A half-inch or so of tape is dropped into a small amount of urine collected in a container. The tape turns to a color that is compared to a chart on the package which corresponds to the acid/alkaline numbers – a pH of 7 is considered neutral; lower than 7 is acid, above is alkaline. A single urine test cannot give the total picture. The test ought to be repeated in early morning and several times during the day, and over more than one day, to establish a pattern. The numbers should not be consistently extreme on the acid side (called acidosis), or on the alkaline side (alkalosis). Either extreme is out of the normal healthy range. The ideal is a slightly alkaline pH reading of 7.365 – 7.45, but within the range of 6.0 – 7.5 is considered a healthy place to be.
Adapted from the article ‘Acid/Alkaline Balance’ by Ruth Sackman from the website www.rethinkingcancer.org.