Alkaline forming foods assist your body to function properly and is essential for good long term health and well being. Conversely, a diet that consists of mainly acid type foods, (such as animal protein, sugar, caffeine, and processed foods), puts pressure on your body's regulating system to maintain pH levels.
Your body strives hard to be alkaline in a world of highly acid foods. The extra buffering your body requires to function normally can deplete your body of alkaline minerals.
It can leave you prone to chronic and degenerative disease because these minerals have to be borrowed from vital organs and bones to buffer (neutralize) acids and remove it from your body. Because of this strain, your body can suffer severe and prolonged damage, which may go undetected for years.
One of the best ways to stay healthy longer is to consume lots of alkaline forming foods like veggies and fruits. Everything you eat or drink falls into two different categories. Its either considered to be an alkaline forming food or an acid forming food. A good balance should be maintained between the two groups to moderate your pH. If your daily diet does not have a regular and consistent balance, your body cannot function properly and you may suffer the ill effects of adverse health.
In most cases, when someone's pH (Potential of Hydrogen) balance is off, it is usually too acid. The Standard American Diet is stricken with loads of acid foods, (junk foods) and lacks alkaline forming foods. Things like meat, fish, eggs, wine, yogurts and broth are all very acidic while foods like fruits and vegetables have a higher alkaline content.
Most of the foods that people normally consume are more acidic. In fact, the SAD overwhelms your body with highly acid foods. Think about how many acid forming foods you consume regularly. If you're not consuming veggies and fruits often enough, you are not getting enough alkaline forming foods to balance your body. Vegetarian's typically boast a higher health rate as they are more likely to consume more alkaline forming foods in their diets.
Acidity and alkalinity are the two different states your body can be in. Anything that's acid always contains some alkalinity, and anything that's alkaline always contains some acidity. Neutral is an ideal condition in which the amount of acid and alkaline is equal. It is an ideal state but not realistic. In real life, what you eat or drink is always more acid or alkaline.
To find out if your body has the proper pH levels, you might want to purchase some pH Test Strips and check yourself. Normal pH ranges are from 6.0 - 7.0 depending upon the time of the day you test yourself. Experts recommend that you test your levels about 2 hours after a meal or one hour before you eat.
The pH in the human digestive tract varies greatly. The pH of saliva is usually between 6.5 - 7.5. The upper portion of the stomach has a pH between 4.0 - 6.5. This is where pre-digestion occurs while the lower portion of the stomach is secreting hydrochloric acid and pepsin until it reaches a pH between 1.5 - 4.0. After your food mixes with these juices, it enters the duodenum (small intestine) where the pH changes to 7.0 - 8.5.
This is where 90% of the absorption of nutrients is taken in by your body while the waste products are eliminated through the colon which has a pH between 4.0 - 7.0.
If you have chronic health problems, it may be likely that you suffer from too much acid or acidosis. Research shows that unless the body's pH level is slightly alkaline, the body cannot heal itself. So no matter what methods you choose to take care of your health, it won't be effective until your pH levels are balanced. If your body's pH is not balanced for example, you cannot effectively assimilate vitamins, minerals, and food supplements. Your body's pH affects everything.
Acidosis can also decrease your body's ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients, decrease the energy production in cells, decrease it's ability to repair damaged cells, decrease it's ability to detoxify heavy metals, cause tumor cells to thrive, and make you more susceptible to fatigue and illness.
Acidosis can occur from an consuming an acid forming diet, emotional stress, toxic overload, immune reactions, or any process that deprives the cells of oxygen and other nutrients. Your body will try to compensate for it by borrowing alkaline minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium from your organs and bone. If your diet does not contain adequate minerals to compensate, a build up of acids in your cells and tissues will occur. That's why consuming alkaline forming foods more often is so important to your health. Without them, your body cannot heal or repair without adding them back to your diet.
Be sure to include more alkaline forming foods in your diet. Healthy foods are mainly alkaline, so change your diet to include more of them. Life is about balance. It's no wonder that balancing your body is good for you! The human body is an awesome miracle that should be treated with respect. When you consume too much junk food, you might temporarily enjoy it, but your body can suffer the long term consequences. Treat your body as if it's your temple and you will stay healthy much longer.