Alkalize or Die was the title of a book that inspired this page. But it’s not so simple. Over the years I’ve noticed that the litmus paper is not that accurate and the time of the day, the time after eating, your emotions–all these influence the acidity of your body. So how DO you alkalize your body?

Alkalize Your Body:

When your doctor orders blood tests, sometimes they will ask for an electrolyte panel but they don’t pay too much attention on what you are trying to do to alkalize your body.

Optimal pH of the blood is 7.2. But the pH can change within a short period of time, so it’s important to have the lab test run immediately and from arterial blood. Inherently the body will do everything it can to maintain the optimal pH. Acid/Base balance is necessary to run the entire body’s biochemical pathways for detoxification, building, and general maintenance.

The body has several control mechanisms to keep it at this pH and they include getting rid of excess acid or base by-products through the lungs, saliva and kidneys/urine and even sweating.

When your body is sick in any way this pH is disrupted. Most times your body is trying to keep up with the extra acid produced. Acids are produced from lack of oxygen, eating an imbalance of protein and carbohydrates and other acid producing foods, by cellular breakdown and production of metabolic waste and even negative thinking patterns in the body.

The most accurate way to gauge the pH of your body is to go by symptoms. The more symptoms you have, the more acid your body. Frankly, those pH sticks are not that accurate. Here’s that chart:

Symptoms Associated with an Acid Body:

• Appendicitis
• Back Disc Problems
• Blurred Vision
• Chest Pains
• Continuous Mucus
• Corneal Ulcers
• Crying Spells
• Deafness
• Elbow Pains
• Estrogen Imbalances
• Extreme Acidity
• Finger Pains
• Gallbladder Problems
• Hardening of the Arteries
• Hemorrhoids
• Herpes
• Hip Pain
• Hot Flashes
• Joint Pain
• Nasal Drip
• Numbness in the Legs
• Osteoporosis
• Overweight
• Rectal Itching
• Rheumatic Pains
• Ringing  of the Ears  (Tinnitus)
• Sensitive Skin
• Sensitive Stomach
• Skin Breaking Out
• Stiff Joints
• Swollen Ankles
• Tense Shoulders
• Tired Legs
• Ulcers
• Weak Spells

Here are some basic parameters for measuring pH:

• Measure the pH of your saliva and urine the first thing when you get up for an accurate reading. Ingestion of food, liquid, tobacco, or toothpaste can give you a false reading.  Practitioners who have you use pH paper during a consult or promote measuring the pH with litmus paper who do not pay attention to these facts lead the client into believing the false results from the testing. After we eat or put anything into our mouths besides water we elicit a post-prandial alkaline tide (which means the bicarbonates are released within our mouths after eating/chewing to start the digestion of the stuff we put into it). This will give a higher pH than it may be with a fasting test.
• For the Urine (First elimination only and after eating the foods you would normally eat.)
• Urine pH tells you how your body handled the food you ate the day before. Ideally you want to check your urine after a minimum of 5 hours of sleep. If your sleep is interrupted, take the reading after the longest sleep and record how long you slept. As you alkalize and your health improves, your sleep will be sounder. You only need one base-line reading for the urine. I guess the question is, “What happens when you have to get up to urinate several times a night? How do you get an accurate reading?”
• Excessive strenuous exercise increases the acid levels as the body produces lactic acid as the result of exercise.

Here is a list of acid producing foods that need to be balanced and decreased from your diet to alkalize and to increase your alkaline reserve.

How many of these do you eat regularly? If you “must” have them, then cut back on the portions until you can minimize them from your diet. In alphabetical order:

• Barley
• Beans, white
• Beef
• Bread
• Buttermilk
• Cereals
• Chestnuts
• Chicken
• Clams
• Corn
• Cornmeal
• Cornstarch
• Cottage Cheese
• Crab
• Crackers
• Duck
• Eggs
• Fish
• Gluten flour
• Goose
• Honey
• Lamb
• Lentils
• Lobster
• Macaroni
• Maize
• Millet
• Mutton
• Nuts
• Oatmeal
• Oyster
• Peanut Butter
• Peanuts
• Peas
• Pork
• Rabbit
• Raw sugar
• Rice, Brown
• Rice, Polished
• Rye
• Rye flour
• Sauerkraut
• Turkey
• Veal

So the challenge here is that this is a yin-yang kind of continuum. Some foods produce a LOT of acid and other foods produce a little bit over the balance of acid. Replace the acid producing foods with foods that alkalize from the list below. The more alkaline the food is the faster you will alkalize and replenish the alkaline reserve. This is good unless it throws you into what is called a “healing crisis“, in which case, eat more food from the bottom of the list or from the Neutral column to slow things down a bit and alkalize at a more tolerable rate.

Alkalize by Eating More of These:

NOTE: If you take supplements/drugs/foods that are not making your body strong and healthy the body has to expend extra energy to get rid of the substance putting extra stress on your body and depleting it of the energy it could use towards the healing process. This is very important for the effective treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer.

Alkaline Foods (from most alkaline to least):

• Figs, Dried
• Apricots, Dried
• Raisins
• Swiss Chard
• Prunes, Dried
• Dandelion Greens
• Soybean Sprouts
• Spinach
• Taro Root
• Cucumber
• Almonds
• Peaches, Dried
• Beets
• Avocado
• Chives

• Carrots
• Kale
• Rhubarb
• Endive (Escarole)
• Dates
• Chestnuts
• Parsnip
• Lemon (With Peel)
• Coconut Meat, Dry
• Rutabaga
• Onion
• Tomato, Ripe
• Peach, Fresh
• Plum
• Celery
• Watercress
• Blackberry
• Guava
• Lemon
• Bamboo Shoots
• Iceberg Lettuce
• Cantaloupe
• Coconut Milk
• Loganberry
• Pea, Dried
• Sweet Cherry
• Leek
• Potato
• Orange
• Lettuce, Cos, or loose-leaf
• Prickly Pear
• Sweet Potato
• Apricot, Fresh
• Turnip
• Grapefruit
• Nectarine
• Cabbage
• Banana
• Kohlrabi
• Pineapple
• Raspberry
• Tangerine
• Gooseberry
• Mango
• Quince
• Mushroom
• Snap Bean
• Radish
• Orange Juice, Fresh Squeezed
• Eggplant
• Okra
• Brussels Sprouts
• Broccoli
• Horseradish, Raw
• Cherry, Sour Red
• Lemon Juice
• Cabbage, Red
• Pomegranate
• Pear, Fresh
• Cauliflower
• Chicory
• Pumpkin
• Squash, Winter
• Grapes
• Cabbage, Savoy
• Strawberry
• Apple
• Watermelon
• Corn, Sweet
• Pea, Fresh Green
• Olive Oil
• Neutral foods include:
• Nuts
• Grains
• Asparagus
• Artichoke, Globe And Jerusalem
• Water Chestnuts
• Blueberries
• Olives, Green

So, to be chronically ill and have diseases such as cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, arthritis, etc., the body is in a very acid state. The answer is to Alkalize, alkalize, alkalize, but do it gradually and beware of alkalizing too quickly or you’ll end up with a Herxheimer reaction  (a healing crisis).

Helpful Links and References for Alkalize Your Body:

• Yin/Yang Concept: https://naturalhealthtechniques.com/yin-yang-explained/ 
• Herxheimer Reactions: https://naturalhealthtechniques.com/healing-crisis-herxheimer-reaction/
• Book: Alkalize or Die
• Your Health, Your Choice by Dr. Ted Morter of Morter Health Systems 1-800-874-1478
• Iridology: The Science and Practice In The Healing Arts, Volume II, by Bernard Jensen, D.C. ND
• Book: 101 Alkaline Foods to Alkalize Your Body