Knowing your pH (potential of hydrogen) levels is critically important to your over all health. pH is the measure of the acidity and alkaline levels in the body. (You can pick up pH test strips at your local drug store.) Pure water has a pH level of 7.0 and is considered neutral neither acid or alkaline. Anything with a pH below 7.0 is considered acid, anything with a pH above 7.0 is considered alkaline. For optimal health, your body’s pH level should be at 7.0 or higher or in an alkaline state.
The American diet is largely responsible for making our bodies highly acidic. Eating a diet consisting of high acid producing foods like eggs, dairy products, white flour, sugar and meat, while consuming very few alkaline producing foods such as fresh vegetables raises our acidic levels. Many of us also consume large amounts of acid-producing beverages like coffee, soft drinks and use artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet, Equal, or aspartame. Even some pharmaceutical drugs can be extremely acid forming.
An acid producing, imbalanced diet can result in a buildup of acid in the body and lead to “acidosis” which stimulates the predetermined genetic response to starvation and famine. When this happens, the body begins to hoard every calorie consumed and stores it as fat, fearing that it is being starved and does not know when or where its next meal will come from. It does this as a survival strategy. Acidosis generally disrupts lipid and fatty acids, which are involved in nerve and brain function. This disruption causes neurological problems as well as problems with hormonal balance within the endocrine system. This can affect the liver, kidney, heart, insulin regulation and cellular health and lead to a stroke, heart attack, aneurysm, cardiovascular problems, osteoporosis, obesity, joint pain, chronic fatigue, and high blood pressure.
To counteract this, many nutritionists and athletes recommend eating numerous small, healthy meals throughout the day in order to keep the body happy and confident that it will continue to be fed. When the body finds itself in this comfortable, worry-free state, it will gladly burn those calories (an increase in metabolism), helping to slim the waistline, create lean muscle and avoid many of the problems that are associated with acidosis, obesity and insulin regulation.
pH and Cancer
Two main factors leading to cancer are an acidic pH and a lack of oxygen, however, we can manipulate these two factors so as to prevent and control cancer.
We know that cancer needs an acidic and low oxygen environment to survive and flourish. Research has shown that terminal cancer patients have an acidity level of 1,000 times more than normal healthy people. The vast majority of terminal cancer patients have a very acidic pH. Why is this?
The reason is simple. Without oxygen, glucose undergoing fermentation becomes lactic acid. This causes the pH of the cell to drop to 7.0. In more advanced cancer cases, the pH level falls further to 6.5 and can even fall to 6.0, 5.7 or lower. The basic truth is that our bodies simply cannot fight diseases if our pH is not properly balanced. Controlling your pH levels will greatly improve your body’s ability to fight toxins and allow healthy cells to thrive, preventing the low-oxygen environments where cancer and other diseases thrive.
Maintaining healthy pH levels is one of the simplest ways to improve your overall health. The first step is to make new lifestyle choices, avoid acid producing foods as well as pharmaceuticals, cigarettes and too much coffee or alcohol. Next, include plenty of green vegetables and fresh fruits into your diet.
One of my favorite tools for maintaining healthy pH levels is Delgado Slim Blend, packed with 52 different vegetables, seeds, sea plants, exotic fruits and over 17 grams of dietary fiber per scoop, which is the highest amount of fiber offered in any whole food supplement! Simply add one scoop to any juice or your blended drink.