The Acid Alkaline Diet - Part Two - What You Need to Know to Dramatically Improve Your PH Levels

By Jo Roskilly

Re-establishing the acid-alkaline balance.

There is much that can be done to turn an unhealthy acidic environment into a health-giving alkaline environment. By taking control of your diet and making simple changes you can return yourself to optimal health.

Every meal you prepare will need to be a balance of alkalizing and acidifying foods. If you can understand which foods will add to the body's alkali reserves, and ultimately be used to neutralize acids, and which will add to the free acid overload so prevalent in today's diet, you are moving in the right direction.

A word of caution though - often the foods we consider acidic have the opposite effect once metabolized by the body. Examples would include citrus fruits and some vinegars. The point is, the pH value of an acidic food can produce alkalizing effects in the body. It is for this reason that we need to view foods from the context of their impact on the body and not their inherent pH value.

How to test your pH levels.

You will need to test your pH levels daily to monitor your body's response to the foods you are consuming. Testing is a simple procedure involving passing a special pH strip through the urine stream first thing every morning, noting the result and adjusting the proportion of acid/alkaline foods appropriately. For the most accurate pH strips available and in-depth instructions on how to obtain a reliable reading use the link at the end of this article.

How to balance you pH levels.

The bulk of your diet will need to consist of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and spices. Foods to use with caution include meat, poultry, fish, milk and dairy products. Foods to be avoided at all costs because of their highly acidifying qualities include sugar, soda, coffee, refined carbohydrates and highly processed foods. This may seem like a giant leap of faith but in essence you are returning to the diet that nature provided for us before the industrial revolution indulged our taste for processed grains and refined foods and the onset of modern day dis-eases like cancer.

If your usual pH reading is below 6.5 your meals should consist of roughly 80% alkalizing and 20% acidifying foods. If your usual reading is above 6.5 you can reduce the proportions to 60% alkalizing and 40% acidifying foods. Naturally, if your readings start to creep up you are adding to your acidic load and will need to alter your proportions accordingly.

You might be considering a diet based solely on alkalizing foods for a few days to kick start your acid/alkaline diet but this should be used with caution as your body actually needs a certain amount of acid forming proteins each day in order to maintain alkaline mineral levels in the cells and tissues.

Some words of encouragement.

Do not be discouraged if you fail to see significant improvement in your readings for weeks or months on end. You are nevertheless reducing your stored acid levels which have been built up over many years. In the same way that it can take weeks, months or even years to lose the weight that you have gained, so too will it take time to remove all the excess acids within those fat deposits. Bear in mind that once the acids are gone and your body has returned to its natural pH balance you will have created an environment where dis-ease cannot survive. Of particular interest is the fact that cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment which merits further large-scale research as both a remedy and a preventative measure.

Discover How An Alkaline Diet Works and Why An Alkaline Diet Is Recommended.