By Elizabeth Neumaier
pH, or potential Hydrogen, is one of the best measures of your health. It is also a very easy tool you can use yourself to test the presence of minerals in the body. Testing your pH will show how fast or slow your metabolism is running at a cellular level before symptoms appear. This includes how fast or slow food is utilized, waste is eliminated, hormones do their jobs or lymph is functioning to fight illness. It is a barometer to forecast future health ailments rather than a lab test that shows the body in the present. So you can see it is an incredibly important tool to read how well you body systems are functioning.
Good pH is 6.2 – 6.6 for urine or saliva. The lower your numbers the faster you are running internally and the more acid you are. When you are more acidic enzymes do not work as well and cells do not function properly, allowing disease to take hold. Low acid numbers over a long period of time can lead to nervousness, strokes, high blood pressure, colitis or bloating, diarrhea, yeast infections, liver problems and all kinds of nasties. Vitamin C, Iron and B12 are low.
What causes your levels to lower? Three things - diet (meats and grains), negative emotions (now that’s a biggy) and the greatest -- stress. Movement also causes acid, but is easily eliminated through respiration. When your body is more acid minerals are stripped to help alkalize this environment. The first mineral to go is sodium, then calcium, magnesium and potassium. Can you get an idea of where osteoporosis comes from? Our bones are stripped of calcium to balance our high acid diets of grains and animal products. Holes actually form in our bones from calcium depletion due to your body’s desperate need to alkalize, due to diet and lifestyle.
Slightly higher pH numbers, over 6.6, are OK if you really are on a diet of 80% fruits and veggies. If you have not been on a diet like this then the high numbers mean pretty much all your minerals are gone and your body is using ammonia to alkalize itself. All body systems have slowed way down and are struggling to divert disaster. That’s why nursing homes have that strong smell of urine -- it’s ammonia. Most of the residents have used up all their minerals, as seen by their dementia and disfigured bone structures.
You can test yourself for pH levels very easily. Most pharmacies carry pH test strips - ask the pharmacist. Pee on a strip first thing in the morning. Any time after 2 am is first thing in the morning. In other words if you wake up at 3 am to go to the bathroom, check your pH then. The color the strip turns can be matched to a chart that will give you your pH number. There are some other ways to test your pH over a series of days, too. If you are interested in this get Fell’s Official Guide to Health and Wellness. This is an excellent and easy book to learn all about pH. What is also fun is to test the pH of fluids you drink. Stick a strip in your green tea, distilled water or, God forbid, coffee, and look at the color that registers. It’s quite eye opening.
You can also test your saliva pH, but this is slightly more complicated and needs the guidance of a naturopath, or get Fell’s book. There are also many other connections to pH and health not discussed here. Email me if you have questions.
There are some simple, but not easy, ways to remedy bad readings. Meditation, prayer, laughter and a positive outlook help enormously. Slow your life down, have fun, help someone in need. Eat 80% fruits and veggies, millet is the only grain that is alkaline. Retest you pH each week and if you gradually start these changes, you will gradually see improvement. If you go off the program you will see your pH start to slide.
That’s it. Sounds too simple doesn’t it? Putting these changes into action is a lifetime commitment. Start one day at a time. Maybe tomorrow have no grains or animal products for lunch and tell a joke, or help an animal or person in need. You are on the road to a better and healthier life already.
You are smart enough to learn how to become free of illness.
Remember -- sickness is not a natural byproduct of life.
You can contact Libby at [email protected]. We always appreciate her articles and advice.
We'll be addressing that in our free 21-day detox program, Chris.
It starts tomorrow:
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Posted by: Jim Carey | February 28, 2010 at 03:58 PM
yes, been eating the raw food diet as best i can but feel that i´m too alkaline sometimes. feeling cold and a little spaced out. if most raw foods are alkaline and the ideal is 100% raw how do i achieve balance? apple cider vinegar? veggie kraut. eat lots of fat and hope it creates fatty acids? thanks in advance -Chris granada, spain
Posted by: chris charles | February 28, 2010 at 03:18 PM