The Whole Food Blog

Human blood registers a pH balance of about 7.4, and in order to maintain that level the body functions better with more alkaline foods than acid foods.  The pH balance scale is a way of measuring the acidity or alkalinity of a substance from zero to fourteen, with seven being “neutral.” A pH above seven is alkaline and lower than seven is considered acidic.

Vast amounts of research now reveal the various ways that alkaline foods, acid foods and pH balance can affect overall health.  Bacteria, viruses, yeast, and other harmful organisms thrive when the blood system is more acidic. Maintaining alkalinity in your body is a good way to create an uninviting environment for things that might make you sick.  That’s why consuming more alkaline foods than acid foods can be very beneficial to your overall health.

The best alkaline foods to consume are fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. Leafy green vegetables such as lettuce and spinach are easy alkaline foods to have on hand.  Orange and yellow vegetables, carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes and pumpkin will help alkalize your pH balance, too.  Herbs and spices such as basil, garlic, and hot chili peppers can be excellent alkaline foods as well.

There are a few fruits and vegetables that are considered to be acid foods.  Be aware that plums, corn, green olives, and cranberries may lean slightly to the acid side of the pH balance scale.  It is interesting to know that ripe bananas are considered alkaline foods, but green bananas are acid foods.  Also, this may seem to be at odds with prior beliefs, but citrus fruits are usually alkaline.  Keep in mind that we are talking about the pH balance these alkaline foods and acid foods register once they have been digested and their components are in the blood stream.

It is important to remember that you do need about 20% of your diet to consist of acid foods for sound pH balance.  Common acid foods are pasta, breads, meats and fish. Of course, coffee, soda, sugar, artificial sweetener and alcohol really swing pH balance to the acid side of the scale.  Other items that are healthy might also be acid foods, such as nuts, rice and beans.  This doesn’t mean you should stop eating them, but that you should consume more alkaline foods to manage a healthy pH balance.

While there is much confusion about pH balance, it is important to understand how alkaline foods and acid foods affect overall health. There are several different ways to measure pH levels, but here we are talking about what happens to foods after they have passed through the digestive system.  Once the nutrients have been turned into energy you are left with either an alkaline ash or acid ash in the bloodstream, depending on whether you consumed alkaline foods or acid foods.

Your body is so efficient that it will not allow the pH balance of your blood to deviate far from 7.4.  This is considered the optimal pH and your body will do whatever is necessary to maintain that balance.  Unfortunately, this means that your body often has to seek out the best possible sources of alkalinity to counteract excess acid in the blood, and that source is usually calcium from your bones.  So, you can begin to see how your body benefits from more alkaline foods to draw upon in order to manage a healthy pH balance.

This is why experts recommend a daily diet consisting of 80% alkaline foods and only 20% acid foods. When there is a lack of alkalinity in the diet to help manage that delicate blood pH balance, then the body has to pull calcium from bones in order to neutralize excess acid in the bloodstream.  This may cause bone weakness as well as other possible challenges to fitness.

It’s not easy to consume an 80/20 ratio of alkaline foods to acid foods every day, but it is possible to at least take steps in that direction.  As you research this topic more, you will find that the benefits of a healthy pH balance are numerous and the dangers of an imbalance are even more so.  To gain a better understanding of how your daily diet affects your alkaline/acid balance, take the Alkaline Food Test for your own personal results.

While there are numerous characteristics of a healthy body, these three ingredients are essential starting points.  Keep them in mind to maintain youthful energy, avert premature aging and stay healthy for life.

1.  Consume enough alkaline foods and drinks - Experts recommend a ratio of 80% alkaline foods to only 20% acid forming foods for optimal health.  Do you know your daily alkaline/acid consumption?  Take the free Alkaline Food Test to find out.

2.  Stay closer to nature – Choose more all natural foods.  These are considered to be minimally processed and do not contain any artificial ingredients.  All-natural foods are not “enriched” with isolated vitamins and minerals made in a laboratory.  They do not include ingredients such as refined sugars, refined flours, milled grains, hydrogenated oils, chemical preservatives, artificial sweeteners, dyes or, flavorings. Many experts agree that a diet consisting of mostly all-natural foods will give you a better chance of preventing health challenges such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

3. Choose natural health drinks - Avoid those candy-colored sport drinks and vitamin waters that are usually loaded with sugars and high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners and isolated vitamins.  Instead, look for health drinks  made with natural, whole food ingredients such as fruits and herbs.  These will be more alkaline and they will contain real vitamins, not man-made.  Try to find healthy energy drinks with live enzymes as they promote better absorption of the nutrients.  Some powder drink formulas are more likely than bottled liquids to contain live enzymes, as they have not necessarily been heated or pasteurized in the bottling process.

In this era of highly processed foods it’s not always easy to make the most positive nutritional choices.  You have to think carefully about what you are putting in your body every time you open your mouth, and your wallet.  Look beyond the nutrition fact labels to be certain that you are giving yourself the highest quality ingredients for a truly healthy body.