Eating high alkaline foods keeps all the vital organs functioning well and optimises the absorption of various minerals. On the other hand, an acid diet maintained over a long period will lead to accelerated aging, muscle deterioration, osteoporosis, kidney stones and arthritis.
A balanced pH environment can be achieved through good diet and supplementation – in particular enzyme supplements, calcium and magnesium supplements, vitamins A and D, as well as drinking vegetable and wheat grass juices. It should be noted that the pH level of the food itself is not the issue; the problem lies with how these foods react during digestion. For example lemons and limes are highly acidic in their natural form, but have an alkalizing effect in the body upon digestion.
pH basically means potential or power of hydrogen. Acid forming foods contribute hydrogen ions to the body and alkaline foods contain molecules or ions that combine with hydrogen ions to remove them from the food, thereby neutralizing acid and acting as a barrier. The optimum pH for your blood is 7.4 and in order to maintain this, your body will do whatever it takes to alkalize the acid in your bloodstream. This can have negative health consequences as the kidneys, lungs and skin must work overtime in an attempt to balance the body’s pH. They do this by stealing alkaline minerals such as potassium, magnesium and calcium from bone and tissue. Muscle is also broken down in an attempt to obtain alkalizing amino acids. You’ve heard the term ‘balanced diet’? Well this applies here too. It’s not so much that you should stop eating certain acidic foods like meat for example, but that you must ensure you balance the acidity on your plate out with alkalizing vegetables etc. Of course, nasty acidic processed foods should be cut out altogether!
Maintaining a diet that promotes an alkaline pH within the body helps protect against cancer. Research shows that cancer cells and tumours thrive and grow in a more acidic environment; when the level of acid is lowered the tumours grow much more slowly. If this behaviour occurs in a test tube, it stands to reason that cancer cells in the body would also be detrimentally affected by an overall alkaline environment.