A pH balanced diet

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A pH balanced diet

Introduction

Everybody has already heard about a balance diet, but what about a pH balanced

diet? What is it consisting of and why would we want to know?

 

" pH " is a word you might not have heard since your last chemistry class which

may be yesterday or 20 years ago. You are right, it is about chemistry, but it

is also about health.

 

Our body continually strives to balance our body fluids' pH.

Unfortunately, sometimes it is too much work and it cannot keep up its work. Our

pH balance is compromised; it becomes either too acid or too alkaline. I am only

going to talk about acidosis since it is the most common case.

 

A body too acid can lead to many ailments such as headaches, fatigue,

sleeplessness, absorption problems, arteriosclerosis, muscular aches, loss of

calcium from the bones...

 

In a society where we worry about osteoporosis, where people rely on anti-acid

almost every day, acidosis should be our number one concern, especially when you

know that the diet plays an important role in it.

 

 

Understand pH, acids and bases

pH means potential of hydrogen. It is the measure used to determine if a

solution is either acid or alkaline.

 

A solution can be anything fluid such as our body fluids (blood, urine,

saliva...) or a beverage (coffee, tea, wine, water...).

 

The pH scale goes from 0 to 14 with neutral being 7.

The scale is acid from 0 to 7 and alkaline from 7 to 14.

 

An acid is a molecule or an ion* that can contribute a hydronium ion (H+) to a

solution. An acid has the power to neutralize alkalis.

 

An alkali (which is often called a " base " ) is a molecule or an ion that combines

with hydronium ions to remove them from a solution.

 

* An ion is an atom that carries a positive or a negative electric charge.

 

To simplify, in our body we have the acid ions H+ (hydronium) and the alkali

ions HCO3- (bicarbonate). They neutralize each other and our body's goal is to

keep the balance between those two ions.

 

 

Here are a few pHs:

Stomach's pH = 2

Small intestine's pH = 6

Large intestine's pH around 8

Our blood's pH is between 7.32 and 7.42.

 

 

What is an acidosis?

An acidosis is caused by an accumulation of acid (H +) or a significant loss of

bicarbonate (HCO3-).

 

In normal conditions, the maintenance of a constant pH in the body depends upon

our ingestion of acids and the excretory action of the lungs and kidneys.

 

When the diet is not appropriate, or our kidneys and lungs are not functioning

well, the body cannot keep a healthy pH. Excess acids are kept inside us and our

fluids tend to become acid.

 

An important variation of our blood's pH could be lethal. It has to stay between

7.32 and 7.42.

We will see later what our body can do to limit the variation.

Symptoms of acidosis

Kidney stones

Headache

Irregular breathing (breathing may become fast and shallow with frequent

sighing)

Dryness skin

Insomnia

Lack of energy

Nausea, vomiting

Diarrhea

Loss of appetite

Weak and easily broken fingernails

Impact on the nervous system

 

 

What can cause an acidosis?The main cause is a diet too rich in acids-forming

foods. It means that if we are willing to work on what we eat, we can regulate

our pH and make it returns to normal.

But acidosis can also be caused by:

 

Inability to excrete the dietary acid load due to a kidney or liver failure.

Failure from the lungs to remove acids.

Important loss of the buffer HCO3- : diarrhea, vomiting (anorexic people),

renal HCO3- loss.

Irregular endogen production of acid. Fasting, starvation and diabetes can

cause a rise of acid.

Excessive intake of acids from diet or overdoses of some drugs.

Stress, depression, fatigue...

Sedentariness: when you exercise you solicit your lungs by increasing your

respirations. You therefore oxygenate all your tissues, promoting the

elimination of acids.

On the contrary, when you are sedentary you keep the acids all for yourself.

 

 

 

 

How does our body react to acidosis and regulate it?When we have an acidosis it

means our body cannot rely on bicarbonate ions anymore.

We have either lost an important amount of bicarbonate or we do not have enough

of them to neutralize the acid ions.

 

Our body, in certain limits, can buffer the acidity by using other alkaline

compounds. Those alkaline compounds can be potassium, magnesium, calcium...

 

First, the body uses readily available supplies. Those are the one provided by

the food we eat.

 

If it does not find enough alkaline compounds the body is going to mobilize

calcium from the bones and teeth and potassium from the muscles as buffers.

 

 

What could happen if we do not pay attention to acidosis?Unfortunately an

acidosis can go undetected for years.

A chronic acidosis can lead to:

 

Cardiovascular damage

Acceleration of free radical damage, possibly contributing to cancerous

mutations

Premature aging

Osteoporosis

Joint pain, aching muscles, gut, rheumatisms...

Kidney and bladder stones

Low energy and chronic fatigue...

Diet in our society?Acidosis is a real problem in our countries.

The average industrialized countries' diet is high in protein and low in fruits

and vegetables. Moreover, people increase their consumption of sodas which are

high in phosphoric acid. This diet generates a large amount of acid mainly as

sulfates and phosphates.

 

Additionally, we eat more and more processed foods like white flour and sugar

and use too many drugs and artificial chemical sweeteners which are all

extremely acid-forming.

 

Lots of people suffer from acidosis and rely on anti-acids.

 

Next time you drink a pop such as a coke for example, check the label. You will

see that phosphoric acid is one of the ingredients in this beverage. The pH of

this drink is around 3. Our kidneys cannot excrete a urine with a pH lower than

5.

The acids in this beverage have to be neutralized. If you had not eaten with

your coke a plate full of fruits and vegetables, your body is going to take the

calcium of your bones to neutralize this beverage.

 

 

Acid-base-forming foods

The foods we eat are digested; they break down into either an acid or an

alkaline end-product in our tissues.

This end-product is called the " ash " and is what remains in the body after the

food has been broken down.

 

Foods that produce an alkaline ash are called " base-forming food " whereas those

producing acid ash are called " acid-forming " foods.

 

It has nothing to do with the way they taste in our mouth.

 

The body needs both types of food. However alkaline forming food should

predominate over acid forming ones.

 

The presence of some kinds of acid in food does not necessarily make it an acid

forming food in the body. As an example, after digestion, citric acid (found in

lemons) becomes volatile and is easily exhaled by the lungs and what is left

behind in the body is an ash that is actually alkaline.

 

 

Acid-forming foodsBase-forming foodsAnimal proteinsAll kind of meat, fish and

shelfish.

Butter, lard...

Processed cheese.Fresh milkBeveragesAlcohol, coffee and commercial teavegetable

juices, fresh fruits juices

Green, herbal, dandelion, ginseng, banchi or kombucha teasCereals and legumesAll

legumes (lentils, kidney beans, garbazon beans...) except soy

Any kind of cereals (including pasta, bread...) execpt barley.Soy beans, soy

products and barley.Fruits (fresh or dry)None except apricots and prunes.All

kind of fruits except apricots and prunes.Nuts and seedsAll kind of nuts

(Cashew, peanuts, pecans, walnuts...) except almonds and Brazil nuts.Almonds,

Brazil nuts, Chesnuts, Coconut, Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

Sprouted seeds.

 

VegetablesRefined vegetable oils

Asparagus, artichoke, Bruxelles sprouts, watercress, rhubarb, tomatoes and

onions.First cold pressed vegetables oils.

All kind of vegetable execpt Asparagus, artichoke, Bruxelles sprouts,

watercress, rhubarb, tomatoes and onions.Oriental vegetablesNoneMaitake, Daikin,

Dandelion root, Shitake, Kombu, Reishi, Nori, Umeboshi, Wakame...Sweet and

sweetenersCandy, honey, maple syrup, saccharin, soft drinks, sugar,

chocolatNoneOthersdrugs, distilled vinegar, chemicals...Apple cider

 

Spices: Cinnamon, curry, ginger, mustard, chili peppers, sea salt, miso, tamari,

all herbs

 

 

 

 

Acidosis and osteoporosis

Diets that are rich in animal foods and low in vegetable foods, typical of

industrialized countries, lead to a dietary net acid load that has a negative

effect on calcium balance.

 

Nutrition is an important component of bone health. We always talk about the

calcium but we forget to mention the proteins. However many studies have been

done on this subject.

 

It has been confirmed many times that an abundant ingestion of animal proteins

increases urinary calcium excretion and have a harmful effect on our bones.

 

Dietary animal protein intake is highly correlated with renal net acid excretion

(Sellmeyer, D. E. et al. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2001, 73, 118-122.)

 

End-products of animal proteins' digestion are uric acid, sulfuric acid,

phosphoric acid...Those acids are not volatile, and our body must strive to

eliminate them. Too much of them leads to an acidosis and therefore an important

calcium excretion.

 

" If bone is mobilized to buffer only 1 mEq of acid each day, 15 % of the total

body calcium in an average person is lost in a decade " (Wachman, A.; Bernstein,

D.S. " Diet and osteoporosis " Lancet 1968, 1, 958-959.)

 

A long-term diet high in potassium and magnesium or both may protect our bones.

Fruits and vegetables are important sources of those minerals. They play a

potential role in osteoporosis prevention.

 

 

Test your body's acidity or alkalinity

The best way to do that is to check our urine's pH. It is really easy to do.

You have to get some pH test strips and moist it with your urine.

The strip will immediately show a color which correspond to a pH.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first urine you excrete when you wake up or during the night might have a pH

5 or even under. When we sleep our body gets rid of its acidity.

 

But later in the morning and during the day our urine should have a pH between 7

and 7.5. This means that the body is functioning within a healthy range.

 

It is also possible to have acid urine after an intense physical exercise since

during the effort our body releases important amounts of lactic acid, or after

being seated too long in a room. A walk outside usually brings back our urine pH

between the healthy range.

While we are walking in a well oxygenated area, our body burns the acids and

excretes them via our lungs.

 

 

How to return to a healthy pH balance?

First of all, if you do have an acidosis, you must talk to your doctor. He will

run some tests and check if your organs are working well.

 

If everything is all right you have to work on your diet and your way of life.

 

Here are a few tips that will help you return to a healthy pH balance:

 

Limit your intake of acid-forming foods and increase your alkaline-forming

food consumption. Be careful; do not make the mistake of becoming too radical on

the alkaline question. It is just as bad for the body to become too alkaline as

it is for it to become too acid. A good balance is 1/3 acid-forming food and 2/3

of alkaline forming food.

Avoid fat and animal proteins at supper.

Drink 1.5 liter of water per day. Choose a water that has a neutral pH.

Avoid any kind of pop and sweets.

Try to detoxify your body two times a year (fall and spring). You can enroll

in a class if you do it for the first time.

Exercise daily.

Take time during the day to practice deep respirations. Outside is better.

Relax. The less stress you store in you the better. Practice Yoga, Tai Chi...

Think positive. Even if you think everything is bad right now in your life

there must be something good; find it. Take everything that happens to you with

philosophy.

You can rely on essential oils or herbs but do not do it by yourself. Ask a

professional.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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