How to Bring Back Body pH Balance

If you've been going through my other pages on body pH, you'll know how easily our body pH balance can be upset with the typical American diet.

So let's now look at what to do about it.

But first, have you tested your pH yet?

If not, learn how and when to test with pH strips.

So how did you do?

More than likely you are going to be on the too acidic side of the body pH spectrum. It's very easy to end up there, so don't be too hard on yourself if that's the case.

There will be also be a small percentage of you that will be too alkaline - but this in incredibly difficult to do. Generally only strict vegetarians, vegans, or those on a raw food diet would need to be concerned about being too alkaline.

Any of you slightly alkaline - right where you should be? If so, congratulations on your excellent health!


A simple change in diet does wonders for body pH balance

The great news is that your body pH balance can be restored through dietary changes. And it doesn't take near as long as it did to get too acidic in the first place.

First, if you haven't already, read about:

They can be different from acid foods or alkaline foods because it doesn't matter what the pH of the actual food itself is. What matters is what it turns into in our bodies and how they metabolize it.

For example, a lemon is a very acidic food. However, it is very alkalizing to the body. That's because the citric acid, a weak acid, is converted to water and CO2 when it is digested. You exhale the acidic CO2 and only the alkaline components are left.

Here's how to bring about body pH balance:

  • If you are only slightly acidic (pH range around 6.0 - 6.5), try eating a about half of your foods from the alkaline forming side.
  • If you are in the very acidic zone (pH less than 6.0), try eating a good majority of your foods from the alkaline forming side.
  • When you're at the correct pH, you generally can enjoy both food groups normally as long as you keep lots of veggies on your plate.
  • And if you're one of those people who are too alkaline, the solution would be to include more healthy acid forming foods in the diet.

During this process, when possible, choose those foods that are less acidic (like brown bread over white bread, or white meat over red meat).

Never ever feel like you can't have any particular acid forming food, just limit them depending on your acid load.

Also incredibly important is drinking enough pure water. Try to drink at least 2 liters daily. It sounds like a lot, but it really isn't to your body. Taking in enough water actually will take some stress off of your kidneys as they are processing acids for disposal.

How your body dumps excess acids

To try to maintain body pH balance, our bodies eliminate acids through three routes: the lungs, the kidneys, and the skin.

Weak acids, like those found in fruit, are eliminated through the lungs. Our bodies can, and do, speed up weak acid elimination by increasing our respiratory (breathing) rate.

Stronger acids, like uric acid and sulfuric acid, cannot be exhaled as a gas. Our kidneys take on most of this burden by filtering out these acids from the bloodstream. They are diluted enough to render them harmless and are passed out through our urine.

Unlike the lungs, our kidneys cannot speed up acid elimination. Only a fixed amount of acids can be excreted every day.

This is where our skin comes in to help the kidneys out. Our skin can also process strong acids and can remove them from our bodies through sweat. It on a much smaller scale then the kidneys, but nonetheless a critical acid outlet.

How do you know if your skin is processing a lot of excess acids? You might notice strange rashes, boils, acne, dry skin, or other skin conditions.

The best way to help out our bodies when trying to remove excess acids is to give them plenty of the right foods, water, and exercise.

- - Body pH Balance