A lot of people aren’t aware of the presence of acid or alkali in the blood, and a proper pH balance is a crucial aspect in maintaining the overall health. And sustaining the pH balance in the body with an alkaline diet will protect you from inside out.
What Is pH Balance?
The pH is the measure of the acidity and or alkalinity in a solution/body. A pH less than 7 is said to be acidic and a pH greater than 7 is alkaline, and a pH of 7 is neutral. For survival, your bodies must maintain the pH very close to 7.4.
What Causes pH Imbalance?
There are many reasons why your pH level shifts towards a more acidic state. One among them is an increase in acid that overwhelms the body’s acid base, which causes the blood to turn acidic and the kidneys start excreting more minerals out of the body through urine.
High levels of acidity from your diet forces your body to remove minerals from your body. . This results in the cells lacking enough minerals to properly dispose the waste off from the body.
Vitamin absorption gets compromised by the loss of minerals. Pathogens start accumulating in the body and this can suppress the immune system.
Types Of Metabolic Acidosis (A Poor pH balance)
1. Diabetic ketoacidosis – This is a dangerous complication which people with type 1 diabetes face. This happens when the body starts running out of insulin and doesn’t allow enough glucose to enter cells. This results in the body switching to burning fatty acids and starts producing acidic ketone bodies. This can cause dehydration, vomiting, confusion and disorientation.
2. Lactic acidosis – It is a medical condition that is characterized by the build-up of lactic acids in the body. This results in low pH in the bloodstream. People with lactic acidosis have kidneys that are not able to eliminate excess acid from their body.
3. Hyperchloremic acidosis – It is a form of metabolic acidosis that is associated with a normal anion gap. The symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea etc.
4. Dietary acidosis – This type of acidosis happens when you consume a highly acidic diet that puts too much stress on your body resulting in poorer functioning of overall health.
5. Renal tubular acidosis – It is a disease where your kidneys fail to discharge acids into the urine, this causes a person’s blood to remain acidic.
How to RestoreThe pH Balance In The Body?
The most effective way to support a balanced pH is to have loads of nutrient-dense, alkalising plant foods. Other factors that also come into force are stress, sleep, gut health and medications which decide how hard your body has to work to maintain its appropriate pH level.
Alkaline diets, which are also called alkaline ash diets, help to restore proper pH levels and has been linked to improving health – like protection from heart disease, prevention of calcium accumulation in urine, reduced inflammation, lowered diabetes risk, prevention of kidney stones, kidney disease, reduction in muscle spasms, maintaining stronger bones, protection against vitamin D deficiency, and reduced lower back pain.
These following steps can help you in maintaining the pH balance:
1. Reduce Intake Of Acidic Foods
It is necessary that you eat a diet that’s lower in acidic foods. Eliminate or limit the acidic foods from your diet such as processed meats, added sugar, foods high in sodium, processed cereal grains, fried foods, refined grains, alcohol and caffeine.
2. Consume An Alkaline Diet
A pH balanced diet includes lots of green plants and other alkalising foods. These include leafy green vegetables like kale, beet greens, spinach, alfalfa grass, wheat grass, etc. Non-starchy vegetables like mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, broccoli, avocado, garlic, ginger, green beans, cabbage, celery, asparagus, and zucchini can also be consumed.
Superfoods like sea vegetables, bone broth, spirulina, healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil, eggs, nuts, organic grass-fed butter, plant protein, fruits like citrus fruits, dates and raisins are all very alkalising. Apple cider vinegar can also help restore your pH balance.