pH Balancing

Essential knowledge for gaining and maintaining a healthy pH balanced body

How can pH balancing improve overall health and wellness? What causes your system to become acidic? How can you properly balance your body’s pH level (and prevent disease)?

At Nature’s Link Wellness Center, we visit with clients and adjust nutritional habits to naturally balance pH levels and get them back to a state of well being.

First, a brief chemistry lesson:

The pH (potential of Hydrogen) is a measure of how acid or alkaline a solution is – a measure of its hydrogen ion concentration. The higher the pH reading, the more alkaline and oxygen-rich a solution is. The lower the pH reading, the more acidic or oxygen-deprived a solution is. pH values range is from 0 to 14, with the middle of 7.0 being neutral. Anything greater than 7.0 is alkaline and anything lower than 7.0 is acidic.

Human blood is slightly alkaline, with a pH of 7.35-7.45. If blood pH goes below 6.8 or above 7.8, our cells stop functioning and the body dies. That’s why our bodies are constantly striving to balance our pH – our lives literally depend on it.

A diet rich in acid-producing foods such as animal products, sugar, coffee, soda and processed foods puts an enormous amount of pressure on the body to regulate its pH. Ad the body is trying to do this, it uses up its own supply of alkaline minerals such as potassium, magnesium, sodium and calcium, making that person prone to chronic and degenerative diseases. Minerals are literally robbed from bones and vital organs to help neutralize all that excess acid and remove it from the body.

Acidity causes disease and prevents healing

Your body’s pH affects you entire state of health. Research has shown that unless the body’s pH is normal (slightly alkaline) it cannot heal itself. It can’t effectively use vitamins, minerals and supplements. That’s why a person who exists on junk food and fast food and feels it’s okay because they take their daily multi-vitamin is only kidding themselves. The junk food and fast food is creating a high acid level in the body (acidosis), the body is frantically trying to neutralize itself and using up its own supply of minerals to do so (from the vital organs and bones), and it’s completely unable to derive any benefit from the daily multi-vitamin because of the acidosis. Talk about a recipe for disaster.

In addition to destroying the body’s ability to absorb nutrients, acidosis also decreases energy production in the cells, it decreases the body’s ability to repair damaged cells, it makes tumor cells thrive and grow and makes the body more prone to illness and fatigue.

• Bladder problems
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Chronic fatigue/low energy
• Constipation
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Eye inflammations
• GERD/acid reflux disease

• Headaches
• High blood pressure
• Hives
• Hormonal problems
• Joint pain
• Kidney stones
• Lupus
• Muscle aches
• Nasal congestion

• Obesity
• Osteoporosis
• Premature aging
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Stomach ulcers
• Stressed out feelings
• Susceptibility to infections
• Tuberculosis

The good news is this: The body is an amazing creation that can bounce back from the effect of bad habits. So even if you have been in a chronic acidic state for years, you can still drive great benefits (and probably live much longer) if you help your body to regulate is pH.

How do you help your body regulate its pH?

Glad you asked. The most effective way to combat acidosis in the body is avoiding foods that are acid-forming to the body. To maintain a good level of health, your diet should consist of at least 60% alkaline foods and no more than 40% acid-forming foods. Preferably 70/30. If you are in a chronic state of acidosis, in order to help restore health your diet should be 80% alkaline foods and no more than 20% acid-forming foods.

Lightly Acidic

• Barley
• Bass
• Blueberries
• Bread, rye
• Bread, wheat
• Bread, whole grain
• Brown rice
• Bulgur wheat
• Butter
• Buttermilk
• Cereal, whole grain
• Cocoa
• Corn oil
• Cottage cheese
• Crackers, whole wheat
• Cream
• Eggs
• Fish, cold water
• Flax seeds
• Flounder
• Fruit juice, processed
• Granola
• Honey, processed
• Kidney beans
• Lard
• Liver
• Margarine
• Millet
• Oatmeal
• Oysters
• Pasta, whole grain
• Pike
• Plums
• Prunes
• Pumpkin seeds
• Quinoa
• Rice, brown
• Rice milk
• Rye bread
• Salmon
• Sole
• Spelt
• Sunflower oil
• Sunflower seeds
• Tea, black
• Trout
• Venison
• Wild game
• Yogurt

Acidic

• Brown sugar
• Buckwheat
• Cashews
• Catfish
• Cereal, commercial/kids’
• Chicken
• Coffee
• Corn, processed (popcorn)
• Duck
• Fruit, canned
• Halibut
• Jam
• Jelly
• Ketchup
• Lamb
• Mahi-mahi
• Mayonnaise
• Milk, raw
• Molasses
• Mussels
• Mustard
• Oats
• Organ meats
• Peanuts
• Peanut butter
• Pecans
• Pistachios
• Popcorn
• Rhubarb
• Rice, white
• Sour cherries
• Sugar, brown
• Sugar, white
• Tuna
• Turkey
• Vinegar
• White rice
• White sugar
• Wine
• Walnuts
• Soda
• Sour cream
• Veal
• White bread

Very Acidic

• Artificial sweetners
• Aspartame
• Bacon
• Baked goods
• Beef
• Beer
• Biscuits
• Cakes
• Candy
• Carp
• Cheese, hard (cow’s milk)
• Chips, all types
• Chocolate
• Cold cuts
• Cookies
• Couscous
• Crab
• Crackers, white
• Cranberries
• Custard
• Deli meat
• Donuts
• Fruit juice, sweetened
• Gravy
• Hot dogs
• Ice cream
• Liquor
• Lobster
• Lunch meat
• Milk, homogenized
• Pasta, white flour
• Peanuts
• Pie
• Pork
• Potato chips
• Processed foods (all kinds)
• Saccharin
• Sausage
• Shellfish
• Shrimp

Slightly Alkaline

• Artichokes
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Beetroot
• Black beans
• Brazil nuts
• Cabbage
• Canola oil
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Cheese (goat’s milk)
• Cheese (soy)
• Cherries (sweet)
• Chestnuts
• Coconut
• Corn (fresh)
• Eggplant
• Goat’s milk
• Hazelnuts
• Honey (raw)
• Kidney beans
• Lentils
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Oranges
• Peaches
• Peas
• Pine nuts
• Pineapple
• Pinto beans
• Potato skins
• Potatoes
• Raw sugar
• Rice (wild)
• Rutabaga
• Sesame seeds
• Soy cheese
• Soy milk
• Soybeans
• Sugar (raw)
• Tangerines
• Tea (ginger)
• Tofu
• Tomatoes (fresh)
• Turnip
• Wild rice

Alkaline

• Acorn squash
• Almonds
• Apples
• Beets
• Blackberries
• Butternut squash
• Celery
• Dates
• Figs
• Flaxseed oil
• Grapes
• Green beans
• Kiwifruit
• Lettuce
• Lima beans
• Maple syrup
• Melons
• Navy beans
• Okra
• Papaya
• Pears
• Potato (sweet)
• Raisins
• Raspberries
• Rice syrup
• Sprouts
• Squash (summer)
• Squash (winter)
• Strawberries
• Sweet potato
• Syrup (maple)
• Syrup (rice)
• Tea (green)
• Yellow squash
• Zucchini

Very Alkaline

• Asparagus
• Beet greens
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Collard greens
• Cucumbers
• Endive
• Escarole
• Fennel
• Garlic
• Grapefruit
• Greens (all types)
• Herbs (fresh)
• Juice (vegetable)
• Leeks
• Lemons
• Lettuce (all types)
• Limes
• Mangoes
• Mustard greens
• Olive oil
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Swiss chard
• Tea (herbal)
• Vegetable juices
• Watercress
• Watermelon
• Yellow beans

On The Go?

Download our resource about foods that create acid and foods that take acid away.
Download Resource

Track Your pH

Interested in knowing your pH and what may be causing imbalances? Download our pH tracking chart to get started.

Request A Consultation

Interested in knowing more about pH Balancing and how it can be used to assist in improving your overall well-being? Contact Nature’s Link Wellness Center today by calling 337-332-2705 or request an appointment below!