Why is pH important in the blood?

 

Potential Hydrogen (pH) is the measurement of how acid or alkaline something is. There is a proper pH level for drinking water and a proper pH level for your blood. The pH level scale runs from 1 to 14 with 1 serving as “very acidic” 7 being “neutral” and 14 being “very alkaline.” This post focuses on our bloodstream and the things necessary to maintain a slightly more alkaline bloodstream pH level of 7.35 to 7.45. The reason for this is that the human body strives to maintain this pH balance starts with your energy level. It's the key to the pH miracle diet to help balance your body's blood pH level and increase your energy.

Putting low-quality fuel into your car after running it on high-quality fuel and then noticing a difference in overall performance is one of the best ways to think about the direct link between the quality of the fuel you put in your vehicle and its overall performance. If you think about your body as a finely tuned machine like other types of machinery, the parts need to be kept running by providing quality fuel. The best fuel for your body is a custom mix, that is a little more alkaline than acid. What difference does this make?

Think of the bloodstream as a superhighway with stops all over the body. Red blood cells are the traffic commuting along within the bloodstream, in a hurry to get to work. These red blood cells each have a negative charge on them, and this keeps them from getting into fender benders and collisions in the bloodstream. When the negative charge is stripped away from the red blood cells, they cluster together and can cause gridlock and bottlenecks in the bloodstream. In short, the traffic in the bloodstream isn’t flowing as smoothly and that causes everything to slow down. If you’ve ever been stuck in freeway traffic you know how frustrating this situation is. 

This stress on the body causes a domino effect, which eventually saps the energy away making you feel tired and sluggish. Acid is the culprit in this bloodstream traffic jam. When acid is introduced into the bloodstream it eats away at the negative charge that surrounds each red blood cell and causes all sorts of problems. The best way to avoid this is really quite simple, and it starts with what you put in your body's fuel tank, your stomach. Red blood cells are created by the food that you eat. When the stomach works on digesting that food, it leaves behind natural acidic waste. Your body eliminates this waste through your urine and sweat, but there comes a point when the waste build-up is too great to eliminate.

When the body can't get rid of all the acidic waste it stores the excess acidic waste in your body! The cells in your body are mostly alkaline and this acid waste starts to attack and destroy these cells. A lot of energy is expelled keeping the waste acid from doing detrimental damage to your body, but this fight can only go on for so long. Eventually, the build-up is so great that the cells deteriorate and cause energy depletion, leaving the body open to disease.

The higher energy level promoted by a more alkaline diet helps to fend off opportunistic diseases and ensures strong cellular regeneration. Making changes to your diet is a huge step in reversing this breakdown of your body while boosting your energy level. The choices you make in what you eat will greatly determine how much of this acidic waste gets stored in your body. The more alkaline your food choices are the less of this waste will be accumulated in your body, tipping the balance in the favor of good health. 

What happens when your blood pH level is too high? When the acid level in your blood is too high it's a condition called acidosis and when your blood is too alkaline it's in a condition known as alkalosis. There are a variety of factors that affect the blood pH like diarrhea, vomiting, urinary tract infection to name a few, and the lower your blood pH the more acidic the blood. How do you raise your blood pH, and what food affects the blood pH along with how you balance the pH in your body is what this post was written to answer and for me, it started with learning how to check my own pH level.

To check your own body pH level there are pH test strips for urine and saliva that can be purchased over-the-counter and online. The storage of body fat, dental problems like increased sensitivity in your teeth to hot and cold temperatures, weak bones, fatigue, due to your body robbing calcium from your bones and teeth can make you more susceptible to fungi, bacteria, and viruses all signs that your body might be a little, perhaps even a lot, on the acidic side which can lead to immune system burnout. So check for yourself, it's really not that hard to learn how to check your own body's pH level. All you have to remember is that for your blood 7.35 - 7.45 are healthy pH levels, for urine 4.6 - 8.0 are the optimum pH levels to look for, and for saliva, a pH measurement between 7.0 - 7.5 is best.

The old adage “you are what you eat” is absolutely true. By controlling the amounts of alkaline food you ingest you are giving your body a fighting chance. Find books and lists that outline which foods are alkaline and which ones are acidic. By limiting your intake of acidic foods and increasing your intake of alkaline food with the pH miracle diet you can increase your stamina, endurance, and the overall performance of your body machine.

List of Alkaline Foods

 

If you're someone asking what the heck is the pH miracle diet? It's a revolutionary new way to look at how you eat to keep the ph balance of your food intake at 80% alkaline with 20% acidity. The importance of this diet is to match the pH level of the bloodstream, which runs on the alkaline side. This task can be daunting for a lot of us because foods that most people love to indulge themselves in are considered high in acidity. The goal of adding more alkaline foods into your diet is to identify good alkaline food sources. Creating a comprehensive list of alkaline-producing foods will help you make the most of the pH miracle diet.

Alkalizing foods have a tonic effect on the body and neutralize the acidity in the bloodstream. Alkaline foods are like a breath of fresh air to the system regenerating and restoring damaged cells. Diets that are high in acidic foods cause the body to break down prematurely, the bloodstream carries these acid bombs throughout the system wreaking havoc in their wake. By determining what foods have an alkalizing effect on the body, we can incorporate them into our diet in larger amounts, setting the pH levels in the bloodstream to the optimum level. On average, the pH level of human blood is between 7.35 and 7.45; levels 7 and above are considered alkaline.

List of alkaline foods: Vegetables and fruits are the easiest ways to get more alkaline into your diet. Vegetables that are alkalizing are alfalfa, barley grass, beets, beet greens, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chard greens, collard greens, cucumber, dandelions, eggplant, garlic, green beans, green peas, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mushrooms, mustard greens, nightshade veggies, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, pumpkin, radishes, rutabaga, sea veggies, spinach, sprouts, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, watercress, wheatgrass, and wild greens.

Fruits that have an alkalizing effect are apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, berries, blackberries, cantaloupe, cherries, coconut, currants, dates, figs, grapes, grapefruit, honeydew, lemons, limes, muskmelons, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapple, raisins, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, tropical fruits, and watermelon.

Since all protein from animals is acidic protein can be a problem when attempting to add more alkaline into your diet. It is possible to add protein to your diet that will have an alkalizing effect on your bloodstream. Proteins that are alkaline are almonds, chestnuts, millet, tempeh, tofu, and whey protein powder.

Food is nothing without the spices, herbs, and sweeteners that give it that extra bit of pallet pleasing favor. You can add these alkalizing additions to your culinary efforts to bring your pH levels into balance. Condiments that are alkalizing are cinnamon, curry, ginger, mustard, chili pepper, sea salt, stevia, miso, tamari, and all herbs.

Minerals are essential to optimum health. Paying attention to which minerals have alkalizing effects can add the proper balance to your blood pH. Minerals that have an alkalizing effect on the body are cesium, sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

There are other incidentals that can make adding alkaline to your diet even easier. Other ways to add alkaline to your diet are apple cider vinegar, alkaline antioxidant water, bee pollen, lecithin granules, molasses, probiotic cultures, soured dairy products, green juices, veggie juices, fresh fruit juice, and mineral water.

Knowing which foods and supplements add alkaline to your pH levels is just the beginning. Implementing them is the next step which takes planning and commitment. After adding these healing foods to your diet you can test your body’s pH levels with a  saliva strip test available at most health food stores. Keeping your pH level between 7 and 8 is the target for good health.

Remember the goal of the pH miracle diet is simple and aims to have the alkaline dietary-intake higher than your acidic-intake. This does not mean that you can’t enjoy the foods that are higher in acidity, quite the contrary; the balance of your diet should be geared toward alkaline-producing foods. By maintaining a proper pH balance you can ensure that your body is performing at its peak pH level.