Are You Changing Your pH?

We loooove talking about alkalinization. I've heard so much about alkalizing the body and creating a pH balance in your blood that the word is starting to get up there with how I view toxins. Let's talk about what it really means.

When we're talking about alkalinization, we're actually referring to urine, not blood or tissues. In fact, if your blood varies from its normal 7.4 slightly alkaline pH, you either start hyperventilating or breathing less rapidly to immediately get it back to normal. If it doesn't go back to normal, you can actually go into a coma. So, changing blood pH is a no-no.

Your body a really good about managing your pH through a buffering system. Keeping your blood pH balanced is priority numero uno. If your diet is full of sugar, alcohol, coffee, tobacco, and meats, (the "acidic" foods) your body is going to work hard to buffer the acidic effects of these foods. This means that you are going to pull from stores of calcium and phosphate to neutralize these effects and allow them to be excreted. Your body pH is not changed, but what comes out of your body is.

So, really, the only pH change is going to be seen in your urine. If you're taxing your buffer system, you might be setting yourself up for osteoporosis and kidney stones, both of which are concerns in an "acidic lifestyle". You'll see acidic urine in diabetics, those experiencing diarrhea, people on antibiotics, and starved or dehydrated people. Having alkaline urine is used to treat medical issues like metal toxicity, because acidic urine is reabsorbed instead of being properly excreted.

You do need a balance of acidic and alkalinizing foods. What alkalinizaing? Fruits and vegetables. Acidic? Animal products. Junk food has a heavily acidic effect and difficult to make up for with just alkalinizing food, which is why it's best to just avoid it. It's throwing off the pH balance of your pee!