You will hear from many big-name health professionals that you need to alkalize your body for health. Why?

PH balance is crucial to the good health of our cells, tissues, organs, skin, and whole body. Each organ has a “preferred” pH-level, but most organs love a slightly alkaline pH. This is true even of the bowels, liver and kidneys.

Only the external organs of skin, for instance, and stomach do not like alkaline and prefer to be slightly acidic. Notice I said slightly?

We have come to a day and age where as a whole our population is very ignorant [at least in the US] of the necessity for pH balance in our diets.   If you go through the grocery store looking in people’s carts you will probably notice a lot of carbs, grains, processed foods, etc. These are quite acidic. If you try to live on a diet of mostly this type of food then you will probably spend a lot of time visiting doctors wondering, “What’s wrong this time…”

You might think you’re eating pretty healthy, after all you’re cooking, right? [instead of going to get fast-foods]

Even people who load up on lots of healthy alkaline foods find that it’s just not enough to eat the right foods. There are other causes of an overly acidic body, such as over-cooking, over-eating, lack of exercise and stress, that can happen even if you are eating all the right foods. By the time you’ve reached middle-age or older your body has lost a lot of alkaline buffers and needs them replaced somehow.

Eating the right foods is a great start in alkalizing your body, along with avoiding acidic foods. Pretty much all processed foods are acidic. Also, over-cooked foods are acidic, so even if you start with the right base you can spoil it with over-cooking. Grains and meats are acidic.

You do need to eat some acidic foods. For instance most proteins are acidic and you need proteins. There is absolutely no reason to avoid all acidic foods, but where you can most easily avoid them is in the junk-food department [which is almost exclusively acidic]. What I do is drink plenty of alkaline ionized water from either an electric water ionizer or a pH pitcher to ensure I have enough alkaline buffers.

Cakes, cookies, soda, candy, coffee, etc. are so ingrained into our daily habits that is can be overwhelming to think of cutting all that out. My suggestion is to simply cut down on it and introduce your body to other ways to alkalize at the same time. This worked wonders for me and eventually I lost all of my tendency to allergies, sore throats and ear infections [and so did my kids]. See my testimonial. Interestingly enough the healthier I got the less I craved junk food. [Funny how that works.] Plus I have much better control of my weight and overall health by drinking alkaline ionized water all day, every day.

Methods [besides eating right]  to Help Alkalize Your Body

Drinking Ionized Water: [Do it!] Using a portable-ionizer-pitcher or electric-water-ionizer is a great way to give your body the antioxidants it needs while also helping to alkalize your body. It does not interfere with digestion, unless you drink high alkaline water with a meal, because water doesn’t actually trigger digestion. Read more about digestion.

Baking Soda: [Don’t do it!] Some people claim that you should consume high-alkaline baking soda [or food-grade hydrogen peroxide] to give your body the instant buffers it needs. This would be great if it worked, but it is really an awful thing to do to your body. I tried this and it absolutely made me feel ill [symptoms of hypertension] and made the veins on my legs look purple and blue [not good]. Baking soda is not absorbed well by the body for a few reasons. It’s highly oxidizing and that’s where the vein problem came in. It is so alkaline that it literally interferes with your stomach’s good function. Read more about baking soda.

Lemon Juice: Lemons are alkalizing, but sugar is not. I suggest adding something natural, but non-acidic to make your lemonade, such as Stevia or honey.

Honey: Honey, for some reason is alkaline. I don’t suggest over-doing it, but it’s a great alternative to sugar or chemical-based sweeteners.

Vinegar: For some reason vinegar is alkalizing to your body. Again, I suggest moderation, but it makes a great tangy addition to certain foods. For instance balsamic vinegar is great as a salad dressing.

Oils: Cold-pressed, natural olive, sunflower, and a few other oils are alkalizing. Avocados are also alkalizing. Avoid corn oil, vegetable oil and canola oil.

Certain Seeds [raw, uncooked, preferably] are alkalizing: Almonds and sunflower seeds can make a great snack.

Exercise: Actually exercising the muscles helps to increase circulation and remove acids into the blood-stream. When you exercise you breathe in more oxygen and breathe out more carbon dioxide. This action of heavier breathing along with increased circulation rids your body of acids. On a temporary basis, within the muscles there will be an increase of need for alkaline buffers, so it is advised to drink alkaline ionized water intermittently throughout your exercise period. Many people, including myself, claim to feel a far greater endurance when doing this. Read more about exercise.