Quick: Going back to your high school chemistry class; do you remember the difference between acid and alkaline? And do you know how important this balance is for our health? The book, The pH Miracle
by Dr. Robert O. Young outlines this balance extraordinarily well, but to give you a recap there is a vital balance between acidity and alkalinity in our internal body chemistry. For our body to operate at its best we need to be alkaline. (The by-products of all of our bodily functions, however, are acidic). The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is and ranges from 0-14. Seven is neutral; below seven is increasingly acidic; above 7 increasing alkaline. For optimal health you’re aiming for a pH between 7.365 and 7.4.
So what affects our acid/alkaline balance? Everything from pollutants, stress, drugs (both prescription and non-prescription), as well as our diet can push our body to acidity. And when our bodies are acidic the body turns to our reserves (our bones, teeth, and organs) to pull alkaline minerals (calcium, magnesium and potassium) in order to re-establish the balance. So what to do?
We need to give ourselves every opportunity to boost our alkalinity. It’s all too easy to go acidic with the SAD (Standard American Diet). Says Kris Carr, author and cancer survivor , “Look at your plate, peek in your glass. What direction are you moving in? On the pH scale, Soda = 2. Coffee = 4. Cucumber = 7. Get the picture? Burger, fries, diet cola, muffin, candy bar? Acid bath. Green drinks, salads, sprouts? Alkaline bonanza!”
Ready to boost your health and your longevity? Try these alkaline favorites!
- Get started with green drinks and green veggies. Leafy, non-starchy vegetables are all alkaline.
- Low sugar fruits including lemon, lime and grapefruit.
- Avocado.
- Coconut.
- Sprouted nuts and seeds.
- Cold-pressed oils.
- Mineral salts.
- Tomatoes.
- Cucumbers.
- Water!!
- Salt: Natural unrefined, mineral-rich salt. Not table salt!
Know More About Acidic Or Alkaline :
With her love of health and writing, Melissa has written for such publications as Shape, Natural Solutions, Yoga Journal, Self and Pilates Style, and has created recipes and food-oriented stories for such publications as Delicious Living and Cooking Light.
- Saving Our Coral Reef One Tube of Sunscreen at a Time. - June 28, 2018
- Healing Tonics: 5 Ingredients You Need to Cure All That Ails You. - May 3, 2018
- Is it Addiction? 4 Surprising Culprits Behind Your Gnawing Sugar Cravings. - April 20, 2018