When we say it’s all in a number, this magic number really reflects keeping our body in perfect balance. Eating well has come down to a perfect science.
7.4 is the ideal pH level for our bodies to function in a harmonious way. As it turns out, the single measurement most important to your health is the pH level of your blood and tissues- how acidic or alkaline they are.
Just as your body temperature is rigidly regulated, the blood must be kept in a very narrow pH range – mildly basic or alkaline. The body will go to great lengths to preserve that, including robbing minerals from our teeth and bones to buffer our blood chemistry. Ever notice that people are shrinking and we have such rampant tooth decay?
The pH level of our internal fluids affects every cell in our body. The entire metabolism depends on an alkaline environment. Chronic over-acidity can lead to weight gain, fatigue, diabetes, and other illnesses. When our pH level is too acidic, certain mechanisms race to the rescue.
Now how does this affect weight loss? In order to protect itself from a high acidic level it stores acid in the adipose tissue (fat stores), giving you those love handles you just can’t get rid of. This mechanism is how the body protects our tissue from danger and results in holding on to fat stores longer than needed and causes fatigue daily.
Let’s go over the American diet and review what foods are acidic. The western diet consists of 70 percent acid foods and 30 percent alkaline foods. The problem is on a whole, the average western diet is acid-forming and when acid accumulates, they can cause organs to malfunction. For starters fried foods, processed foods, burgers, sugar, artificial sweeteners, drugs, chemicals, tobacco, and even air pollution are all acidifying components. Yes, even the air we breathe is damaging. This involves a powerful chain reaction of mutually reinforcing metabolic processes and can lead to insulin resistance.
Soda, a very popular beverage in our western culture, rates high on the acidic level, water being neutral. It takes thirty-three glasses of water to alkalize one glass of soda, that will make you think next time you feel like a soda with your next meal. Even stress and certain negative emotions can act as an acidifier. To give you an idea of what foods are acidic and which foods are alkaline, vinegar rates high on the ratio of acidity, along with protein. Vegetables are very alkaline.
Fortunately, there’s a powerful and simple solution to this health-damaging problem. Begin by eliminating the foods that create such havoc in the body and by adding more alkalizing foods such as vegetables, along with drinking pure water, to aid all cellular and bodily functions (digestion, perspiration, elimination just to name a few). Ordinary foods, greens to be specific, can be the life force of our longevity.
When your body is more alkalized, we have stronger immune systems, increased energy, and even look younger, all because our red blood cells are delivering more oxygen.
I believe we can make a conscious effort to eliminate the foods that our body struggles to maintain balance and add more foods to help utilize in the conversion of energy; this provides the body with more readily available energy and will increase your longevity, while speeding up your metabolism, resulting in weight loss.
Alkalizing your plate with nutrient dense vegetables can also provide minerals and enzymes which can have a cleansing effect. We now Americans eat 70 percent acid forming foods and 30 percent alkaline foods, resulting in disease and obesity. Let’s try to reverse those numbers to 70 percent alkaline foods and 30 percent acid foods Perhaps we can reverse the statistics in our country.