Your body needs to have the right bio chemical balance – known as its pH Level. pH is a scale that measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is. The scale ranges from 1 to 14 with 1 being very acid, 7 neutral and 14 very alkaline. The pH of your blood is extremely important. It is said that the ideal pH level for your blood is around 7.36 and your body goes to enormous lengths to maintain this level. When your body is not operating with the correct pH level it becomes very difficult for the electrical impulses to travel between the brain and the body and of course this requires extra energy which your body could use to regenerate and heal. Consider the backyard pool – if the pH level is not correct, algae quickly begins to grow and clogs the system. Your body is like this too.
There are many ways that the acid/alkaline balance can be compromised and one of these is by consuming food and drink that is acid forming. The presence of acid in your body is bad, except for the acid that is secreted into your stomach to aid digestion. The primary cause of an acidic condition in your body is from incorrect eating and drinking, medications and yes, negative emotions and stress! It isn’t how “acid” something may seem when you eat or drink it – it has to do with what is left over when you digest it – commonly called an acid or alkaline “ash.” Unfortunately, a lot of the things most people put in their mouths creates an acid ash. These include too much bread, alcohol and sugars, coffee and excess animal protein in your diet and the emotional content as mentioned above.
Fortunately, it is quite easy to improve your pH level and make it more alkaline. The first step is to understand which of the foods and drinks you are consuming are creating an acid ash and replacing them with food and drinks that are more alkaline. Unfortunately it seems the western diet tends towards foods which are more acid producing. One of the best ways to immediately begin changing your pH is to add spinach or barley greens, cucumbers and more leafy green vegetables into your diet. Introducing lemon juice into your diet is the classic way to reduce unhealthy acids in your system. This may seem confusing as it is commonly known that lemons are acidic that’s why they are used in the kitchen and laundry for cleaning, however it is known that by drinking lemon juice you help to make your body more alkaline (the preferred state).
