Whether or not you are aware of it, every second of every day, your body is actively balancing your pH level to keep you alive. It is critically important for your body to maintain it’s pH level and thankfully, as long as everything is functioning as it should, your body should be able to balance it without you even knowing about it. But what happens when your pH level gets out of whack? First, let’s start with some science.
What is Your pH Level?
The pH level we’re talking about here is the pH level of your blood, and it measures how alkaline or how acidic your blood is. The pH scale goes from 0 (completely acidic) to 14 (completely alkaline). In order to function every day, your blood must maintain a constant pH level as close as possible to 7.4 and most people fall between 7.35-7.45. If your blood gets too acidic, your normal bodily functions start to malfunction and the same can happen if your pH level becomes too alkaline.
Your body uses various tactics to maintain this pH level, including breathing, urinating, and buffering. For example, every breath you take, your body is ridding itself of carbon dioxide and, consequently, acid. The carbon dioxide is created when your body’s cells use glucose and as a result, becomes slightly acidic. The rate of your breathing, therefore, regulates the acidity level.
Your kidneys also help to regulate your pH level. They act as a filter and excrete excess acid in your urine. Buffers are chemical mixes found in your blood that do just that, they buffer your levels of acidity and alkalinity and protect your body against sudden changes in your pH level.
If your body becomes too acidic, it can cause fatigue, nausea and vomiting. If it continues to become worse, it can cause headaches, drowsiness and eventually coma or death. Others claim that if your acidity level becomes too high, it can cause joint pain, weight gain, diabetes, weakened immune system and osteoporosis.
On the other hand, if your body becomes too alkaline, you can develop hypothyroidism, allergies, diarrhea, and fatigue.
So, What Can You Do About It?
There are mixed reviews of whether you can really change your body’s pH level because your body is designed to keep it in such a close balance. However, there are many more outside forces that cause your body to be more acidic, so any efforts you can use to raise your body’s alkalinity are likely going to take some of the stress off of your system and consequently make you feel better.
The biggest way to affect your pH level is through your diet. There are certain foods that are considered more acidic and those that are considered more alkaline and, therefore, eating the right foods is believed to raise your body’s pH level.
Acidic foods you should avoid include coffee, alcohol, sugar, white flour and white rice, and red meats.
Alkaline foods that you can eat to increase your body’s alkalinity include dark green vegetables, like spinach, broccoli and kale, as well as celery, avocado, cucumber, and cabbage. For a more extensive list of both alkaline and acidic foods, check out this link.
What About pH Water?
As alkaline diets become more and more popular, the awareness of pH water and water filters have gained popularity as well. But there are mixed reviews as far as their effectiveness.
Water itself typically has a neutral pH of 7, that is for pure, unaltered water. However, many of us live in places where the water is not necessarily pure. So, unless your drinking water comes from a mountain spring, there is a good chance that it is being processed through something that would lower it’s pH level and make it a little more acidic.
The logic behind drinking alkaline water or using an alkaline water filter is that it has the same effect on your body that eating alkaline foods would. So again, in my mind, any little bit that doesn’t hurt you is worth trying, right?
I can also say that I have personally been drinking alkaline water for a few years and I can tell a difference from drinking regular water. Until your body adjusts to drinking the higher pH levels, you may experience common symptoms of detoxing or cleansing, like headaches, diarrhea, etc., but they don’t last long. I didn’t really experience any detoxing symptoms, but I do feel better and more hydrated when I drink alkaline water.
How Can You Figure Out Your pH Level?
It’s very easy to test your pH level. Just go to your local drugstore or follow the link below and get pH test strips. The easiest ways to test it are using your urine or saliva. Either way, you want to test it first thing in the morning. Just put the test strip in your mouth or urine sample and watch it change colors. The test strips will come with a color scale. Once you match the color of your strip to the scale, it will tell you how acidic your body is. If you want to try adding more alkaline foods or water to your diet, the test strips are a great way to see how it’s working for you, besides monitoring how you feel. Give it a try for yourself!