© Wellness4everyone 2008. All rights reserved.
By Brian Gokey, CFT, BSMET
What is an Acid – Alkaline Diet?
Lets start at the beginning and explain what Ph is. Ph stands for
the Presence of Hydrogen. This sounds easy enough. Ph is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. A value of 7 is considered neutral
and 0 is extremely acidic while 14 is extremely alkaline. The Alkaline side of the sliding scale means there are more OH-ions present,
and the acidic side of the scale means there are more H+ ions present. For our conversation here, the more alkaline the number (above
7) the more oxygen ions are present. You also need to understand this scale is logarithmic, meaning that for each one-digit change
the amount of oxygen ions present changes by a factor of 10. Therefore, if you are comparing solutions, one with a ph of 7 and one
with a ph of 8, the ph of 8 solution has ten times more oxygen ions present than that of the 7. A solution with a ph of 9 has 100
times the amount of oxygen than that of the ph of 7. Therefore, to say something is alkaline is in essence saying there is more oxygen
present. Oxygen is a good thing.
Ph and Blood
The body is composed of many systems and they function correctly either in an acidic
or an alkaline environment. Blood is the most limiting of these systems. Blood ph must operate in the alkaline area in the extremely
small range of 7.3 to 7.45, any variation out of that range and we are dead. It is simple. This being said, the blood has an advanced
system for maintaining that ph range, and if we do not have enough easy-to-access alkaline materials handy, the blood will start removing
alkaline materials from our bones and muscles and atrophy will start occurring. This leads to a whole score of common ailments and
diseases that are occurring more and more in our world today.
So what are Alkaline and Acid Creating Materials in our Food and
our Bodies?
As we discussed in earlier articles, we have four main nutrients that we need, carbohydrates, proteins, fat, and water. All of these nutrients are composed of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. Carbohydrates do not contain nitrogen. Mixed with these nutrients are many inorganic minerals such as sulfur, chlorine, sodium, calcium and more. These inorganic minerals are classified as either acid forming or alkaline forming elements and are listed as follows.
Acid forming elements
Sulfur (S)
Phosphorus (P)
Chlorine (Cl)
Iodine (I)
Alkaline forming elements
Sodium (Na)
Potassium
(K)
Calcium (Ca)
Magnesium (Mg)
Iron (Fe)
In the blood example above, if the ph of our blood is getting low (more acidic), the
blood will leach our calcium from our bones, and magnesium from our muscles. Our blood is going to do all it can to maintain its ph
range at the cost of all the other systems in the body.
So what is so bad about Acid in our bodies?
Acid is the result of almost
everything that comes into our body. Our body also creates acid as the result of cell mitosis on a daily schedule. We are constantly
producing acid on the cell level in our bodies. The food we eat is either alkaline forming or acid forming. Just looking at the ph
scale it is easy to see that you can negate an acid by countering with an alkaline forming food of the same intensity as the acid.
The same works the other way around. In today’s diet, we are being bombarded with processed food all around us from food to drink.
All processed foods produce acid in our bodies. All mass-produced soft drinks, juices, pasteurized drinks produce acid in the body.
As you guessed it, almost all fruits and vegetables are alkaline producing in our bodies. Lemons, limes, oranges and other citrus
fruits are actually alkaline forming in our bodies as long as they have not been heated or pasteurized. Cells deteriorate because
waste is building up in our bodies on the cellular level. This waste is not being removed because of our acidic diet. Acid buildup
in our bodies causes the aging process.
How we can stop the “Aging” Process
Even with an alkaline diet full of great alkaline
producing foods, we already have a buildup of acid in our bodies that we need to flush out. Every meal and just the metabolism of
living will still create acid in us each day. A healthy alkaline diet will help greatly, but can’t ward off the onslaught of acid
in our bodies. How do we flush out the acid? Water. To be more precise, alkaline or high ph water. Drinking alkaline water is
the fastest and most efficient way to rid the body of built up and stored acid that has accumulated in our bodies since birth. What
is the easiest way to get alkaline water? Add Alkalife® alkaline booster drops to your water. Drink five eight-ounce glasses
of water a day with four drops of Alkalife® and you are on your way to leading a better life!
More Information on Alkaline Diets
To
find out more detailed information on Alkaline Diets, look in the articles section of the Acid-Alkaline section of www.wellness4everyone.com.
More Information on Alkalife® Alkaline Booster Drops
To find out more detailed information on Alkalife® Alkaline Booster Drops,
please read over the information at http://www.wellness4everyone.com/store/index.php/alkalife.html.
References
Sang Whang, “Reverse
Aging” JSP Publishing, (1990)