PH is Critical for Optimal Health
Most of us never consider the acid/alkaline balance of our blood, but a proper pH is a crucial aspect to health. Many doctors stress the importance of pH because a balanced pH protects us from the inside out. Disease and disorder, they say, cannot take root in a body whose pH is in balance.
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Why pH is Crucial to Health?
It is an imbalance of acidity and alkalinity that allows unhealthy organisms to flourish, damages tissues and organs and compromises the immune system.
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So what is proper pH?
What we call pH is short for the potential of hydrogen. It is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of our body’s fluids and tissues. It is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. The more acidic a solution is, the lower its pH. The more alkaline, the higher the number is.
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A pH of 7 is perfectly neutral. The healthiest pH is one that is slightly alkaline. Optimally, we want a pH of 7.365. This number will fluctuate throughout the day, but the normal range is between 6 and 7.5.
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How Can You Achieve a Proper pH?
Even though there are many sources of acidity and toxicity in our environments, the biggest contributor to unbalanced pH is our diet. Fruits and vegetables contain potassium, a natural buffer to acidity. The western diet contains little in the way of fresh and raw fruits and vegetables.
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Processed foods contain tons of sodium chloride–table salt–which constricts blood vessels and creates acidity.
Eating too much animal protein causes sulfuric acid to build up in the blood as amino acids are broken down.
All grains, whole or not, create acidity in the body. Americans ingest most of their plant food quota in the form of processed corn or wheat.
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Our problem is more a matter of not taking in enough alkaline-promoting foods rather than taking in too much acid.
Calcium-rich dairy products cause some of the highest rates of osteoporosis. That’s because they create acidity in the body! When your blood stream becomes too acidic, it will steal calcium (a more alkaline substance) from the bones to try to balance out the pH level. So the best way to prevent osteoporosis is to eat lots of alkaline green leafy veggies!