Alkaline Diet

Is Your Body Acidic?

If you’re suffering from an ailment or a disease and you’re current medication doesn’t seem to get rid of it effectively, maybe it’s high time you deal with it in a different approach. These days, since the advent of industrialization and fad diets, more and more people are being afflicted with several different health-related problems. Part to blame is the type of foods we regularly consume – which causes an imbalance in the chemical levels within our bodies.

When the alkaline levels in your body drop and excess acid can no longer be neutralized or eliminated, they linger and cause health problems. When your body is acidic, little or no alkaline is around to properly get rid of the acid that infiltrates your tissues, joints and organs – and acidosis takes place.

Health problems linked to acidosis may be dealt with through medication, but only as far as alleviating the symptoms. However, it does little or nothing to the excessive levels of acid in the body, so the problem is failed to be rid of at its source. Masking the symptoms does not cure you of whatever it is that’s ailing you.

Symptoms of Acidity

Do you frequently feel drained, irritable, or do you often have headaches? Do you have dry skin and hair, brittle nails, or out up with muscle cramps regularly? These are just some of the common symptoms of having excessive levels of acid in your body. And it doesn’t stop there.

People suffering from body acidity also report mood swings, rashes, nausea and dehydration. They also suffer from mouth sores, swollen gums, and cracking at the corner of the lips. Such symptoms are so common, that the initial action of the person suffering from any of it is to pop a pill. Little did he or she know that it’s the predominantly acidic pH level of his body is the one causing it.

There are many problems health experts claim that are linked to acidity in the body. Depression, susceptibility to all sort of infections and allergies, and frequent suffering from fever and colds are some of them. You may find it surprising but obesity, joint problems, osteoporosis, ulcers, heart problems and many others may be caused by the excessive levels of acid trapped within the body. If there’s one common thing with all the mentioned health problems, it’s acidity in the body beyond normal.

How to Test Your Body’s Acidity

You may not know it yet, but the acid level in your body is slowly going below normal. Of course the best ways, still, of saving yourself from having to endure any of the symptoms mentioned above is by early detection and effective prevention. You may always ask your physician to have you body’s acidity levels tested, especially if your diet consists of meat, animal products and processed foods and the likes.

There are also test kits which you can purchase at drug stores or medical supplies which you can do in the privacy of your home. There are pH level test strips designed for testing the acidity of your body using your saliva or urine. You may do this test daily to gauge your current health, especially if you are undergoing a certain type of treatment course or diet. Within seconds of dipping your pH level strip into your saliva or urine, you will get results.

Using the pH level test strips is a good way to check whether or not you’re religiously sticking to your alkaline diet. It is recommended to check the acidity level of your saliva before and after meals, which should be lower because of the consumption of alkaline-rich foods. Some 60 minutes after your meal, your saliva pH level test strip should not be lower than 6.75. As with your urine, the urine pH level test strip should indicate a reading between 6.0 and 6.5 in the morning. Test your urine’s acidity levels frequently throughout the day, to get an average. Your urine pH level test strip should indicate a reading between 6.5 and 7.0 at night.

Neutralizing the Acid

If you are suffering from one or many of the symptoms of excessive acidity in the body, it is time for you to take extra care in your daily diets. To really eliminate the excessive amounts of acid in your blood, tissues and organs, a huge fraction of your diet should consist of alkalizing foods.

Alkalinity neutralizes and gets rid of unnecessary acid in the body. By consuming foods that are naturally alkalizing, your body’s pH level is brought back to a predominantly alkaline level, which is normal and appropriate. Generally, all fruits and vegetables will provide your body with the proper dose of alkalinity, neutralize excessive acid in the body, and restore optimum health. One must cut down on consuming acid-producing foods such as meat, animal products, seafood, alcohol, dairy products and heavily-processed food items.