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The Importance of Alkalinity
One of the greatest benefits of lemon juice and the Neera™ Natural Program is that it is a powerful alkalizing diet.
Remember high school chemistry when they talked about pH? pH is the measurement of acidity or alkalinity of a solution containing water. The pH scale goes from 0 -14, with 7 being neutral. Very acidic substances have a low pH (hydrochloric acid is 1) while very alkaline substances have a high pH (ammonia is 11.5). Your body, being composed mostly of water, also has a pH. Blood pH is easily tested, with the healthy average being 7.4, slightly alkaline.
Proper blood pH is very important. There are thousands of chemical reactions constantly happening in your body. The pH of your body affects how these reactions occur. If the body’s pH goes out of balance, it can affect how well your body functions.
According to Paul Bragg, of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar fame, blood alkalinity is one of the most important factors to good health:
“It has taken me all these years of research and study to discover the great fact that the bloodstream should be alkaline. Yet, with most of us, it is in an acid state. From headaches to indigestion, to pimples and the common cold, most problems arise from acidosis due to self-poisons caused by unhealthy foods. When the life stream is so polluted, how can our immune system defend the body against disease and illness?â€
Scientific research done in the last few years shows many foods common in our diet today are very acid forming and negatively affect blood pH. Most processed foods and cooked foods have an acidifying effect on the blood’s pH. Fried foods, most grains and meat lower blood pH the most.
We recently researched the importance of blood alkalinity and found that the following article explains it well:
Nature Cure - Miracles of an Alkalizing Diet
The human body is composed of various organs and parts, which are made up of tissues and cells. These tissues and cells are composed of 16 chemical elements.
The balance or equilibrium of these chemical elements in the body is an essential factor in the maintenance of health and healing of disease. The acid-alkaline balance plays a vital role in this balanced body chemistry. All foods, after digestion and absorption, leave either an acid or alkaline ash in the body depending on their mineral composition. The normal body chemistry is approximately 20% acid and 80% alkaline. This is the acid-alkaline balance.
In normal health, the reaction of the blood is alkaline, and that is essential for our physical and mental well-being. The preponderance of alkalis in the blood is due to the fact that the products of the vital combustions taking place in the body are mostly acid in character. Carbohydrates and fats form about nine-tenths of the normal fuel of the body. In normal health, this great mass of material is converted into carbon dioxide gas and water. Half of the remaining one-tenth fuel is also converted into the same gas and water. This huge amount of acid is transported by the blood to the various points of discharge, mainly the lungs. By virtue of alkalinity, the blood is able to transport the acid from the tissues to the discharge points.
Acidosis
Whenever the alkalinity of the blood is reduced, even slightly, its ability to transport the carbon dioxide gets reduced. This results in the accumulation of acid in the tissues. This condition is known as acidosis or hypo-alkalinity of the blood. Its symptoms are hunger, indigestion, burning sensation and pain in the pharynx, nausea, vomiting, headache, various nervous disorders and drowsiness.
Acidosis is the breeding ground for most diseases. Nephritis or Bight’s disease, rheumatism, premature old age, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, skin disorders and various degenerative diseases are traceable to this condition. It seriously interferes with the functions of the glands and organs of the body. It also lowers the vitality of the system, thereby increasing the danger of infectious diseases.
The main cause of acidosis or hypo-alkalinity of the blood is faulty diet, in which too many acid forming foods have been consumed. In the normal process of metabolism or converting the food into energy by the body, various acids are formed in the system and in addition, other acids are introduced in food. Whenever there is substantial increase in the formation of acids in the system and these acids are not properly eliminated through the lungs, the kidneys and the bowels, the alkalinity of the blood is reduced, resulting in acidosis.
Other causes of acidosis are depletion of alkali reserve due to diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, etc., accumulation of carbon dioxide in asphyxia and anoxia as in circulatory and pulmonary diseases and accumulation of acetone bodies resulting from starvation, vomiting and diabetes millitus.
Acidosis can be prevented by maintaining a proper ratio between acid and alkaline foods in the diet. Certain foods leave alkaline ash and help in maintaining the alkalinity of the food, while others leave highly acid ash and lower the alkali reserve of the blood and tissue fluids to a very large extent. Eggs do the same, but less strongly than meats. Cereals of all kinds, including all sorts of breads are also acid-forming foods, though much less than meats. All fruits, with exceptions like plums and prunes, and all green and root vegetables are highly alkaline foods and help to alkalinize the blood and other tissue fluids.
Thus, our daily diet should consist of 4/5ths of alkaline-forming foods such as juicy fruits, tubers, legumes, ripe fruits, leafy and root vegetables and 1/5th of acid-forming foods containing concentrated proteins and starches such as meat, fish, bread and cereals. Eating sensibly in this manner will ensure the necessary alkalinity of the food which will keep the body in perfect health.