Only after food is consumed, digested, and absorbed can the final residue or “ash” be considered alkaline, acid, or neutral depending on the food’s mineral mix. Minerals such as sulphur, phosphorus, and iron form acid ions in the body.
When you consume too many acid-forming foods, your body must work extra-hard in order to neutralize them with alkaline blood buffers, which then will not be available to neutralize other acidic products your body naturally produces as a byproduct of cellular metabolism. In order to avoid this, you should try to consume foods containing sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as they form alkaline reactions in the body.
Achieving Equilibrium
Ideally, you should try to consume approximately 75 percent of your foods from the alkaline-forming foods and 25 percent from the acid-forming foods. Without this balance, you may experience either a state of metabolic acidosis (too acidic) or alkalemia (too alkaline), which has been shown to accelerate cellular, biological aging and prevent peak network neuropeptide and neurotransmitter communication.
Keeping body fluids in acid/alkaline equilibrium is also important and is achieved through the neutralizing or buffering systems in the blood, such as sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate; the pH-regulating action of the lungs; and the pH-regulating action of the kidneys, which excrete more or less bicarbonate.
Balance with Exercise
When you work or exercise hard, you create an abundance of volatile liquid acids while automatically increasing the depth and rate of your breathing. This increase in breath helps to remove carbonic acid by separating it into water and carbon dioxide (CO2), which is excreted through the lungs. To further complete the process, your kidneys must also assist by buffering excess acids in the urine with bicarbonates and expelling them. This is why eating “cell friendly” foods and deep breathing greatly aids the body’s detoxification system and can keep your bones strong and your body cancer free.
Good to the Bones
Alkaline-forming foods were found to build strong bones and prevent both risk of fracture and osteoporosis, while acid-forming foods were found to increase bone loss, risk of fracture, and osteoporosis. Acid-forming soft drinks, alcohol, and coffee proved to be statistically significant risk factors for cancer - as they create the perfect mucus-forming environments in the body.
It is interesting to note that human cells are slightly alkaline and plant cells are slightly acidic, though plant cells leave an alkaline “ash” after being digested. If the human body remains in an acidic state for too long, human cells become, like plant cells, acidic–creating a more receptive atmosphere for the initiation and promotion of cancer cell colonies.
Not all acidic foods, however, increase acidity inside your body. Lime juice and apple cider vinegar, for example, are extremely acidic with a pH of 3.5 because of their citric acid content. But during digestion the citric acid breaks apart, and the potassium and magnesium form alkaline ions called potassium or magnesium citrate that actually increases alkalinity.
What’s most important to optimum health is that you aim to keep slightly alkaline by eating lots of colourful vegetables, salads, herbs, spices, and fresh fruit. When your body functions are in balance, you will feel your best each day.
For Maximum Well-Being
Body System pH Balance
Cerebrospinal fluid and brain - 6.8 to 7.1
Blood - the most important pH 7.35 to 7.45 (slightly alkaline)
Stomach fluid - 1.5 to 3.5(acidic to digest food efficiently)
Bone - 7.4
Muscle - 6.9 to 7.2
Pancreatic fluid - 8.8 (very alkaline)
Some Acid-Forming Foods
Fish
Cabbage
Meat
Eggs
Wheat grain
Peanuts
Corn
Some Alkaline-Forming Foods
Mushrooms
Papaya
Pumpkin
Quinoa
Wild Rice
Thyme
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