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Want to feel better? Drop acid.
| January 23, 2010 | |
| Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego |
No no no, not the acid your college roommate accidentally took on that road trip to OSU that one time. I’m speaking of your acid/base balance or pH. This is a simple concept and does not require a slide rule, calculator or quantum physics so just relax.
Your pH is a simple measure of acid and its opposing counterpart, base, on a simple scale of 1 to 14. A pH of 1 is very acidic and a pH of 14 is very basic or alkali. Our bodies are intended to function around 7. Too often though we feed ourselves food and engage in exercise that produces lots of acid in our bodies. If we don’t take steps to buffer this acid or raise the pH back toward 7 then bad things can happen.
So you woke up and ate a bowl of cereal (grains are acidic) and covered it with milk (acidic) and choked down a cup of coffee (monster acidic) as you hurried out the door. You didn’t drink any water and at lunch you grabbed a cheeseburger and fries (more acid) and then returned home and had a beer (monster acid) while dinner was being prepared. If this is a typical day then lets look inside the cells of your body and see what’s going on.
Your body is always working to neutralize the acid you feed it. We have a built in buffering system but if we overload our bodies with acidic foods then our body will begin to pull alkaline minerals in their salt forms from body tissues to buffer the load. We will pull potassium salts from muscle tissue leaving them acidic and prone to cramping. The use of sodium salts from out gut will weaken our digestive process. And lastly as we pull calcium and magnesium salts from our bones to buffer the acid we leave ourselves prone to osteoporosis. YIKES ! If that isn’t enough tragedy then ask your local urologist how many kidney stones he attributes to acidity (the answer is . . . LOTS).
So here is the full list of joy that comes as a result of a chronic acidic state:
- Cardiovascular damage from free radicals secondary to acidosis.
- Weight gain, obesity, and diabetes
- Kidney stones
- Immune deficiency and increased cancer risk
- Premature aging
- Osteoporosis, joint and muscle ache
- Low energy and chronic fatigue
So where is all this acid coming from?
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[13 Comments] [13 Comments]
so what’s a sample daily diet to get acidity down???
Hi Debi,
In my view, the simple daily diet is one that contains plenty of vegetables. The body knows how to regulate itself given the simplest of elements. We are the ones that make it difficult by over-consumption of coffee, alcohol, soda pop and animal foods. If you only eat 2 to 3 servings of fruit and vegetable per day but eat lots of bread, pasta, potato and other high glycemic foods as well as dairy and animal proteins then you body will need to pull calcium out of you bone to neutralize it. If you have one or two cups of coffee, but lots of water and 8 servings of vegetables per day then the odds are much more likely to favor a balanced pH.
Is a discrepancy between a urine measure of 5.5 (first void) and saliva measure of 6.75 (before drinking or eating) too great? Is it useful to measure urine after the first void? What are the implications of my low urine measure.
Also, is there a difference in acidity between raw milk and pastuerized?
Hi Rose,
The low urine pH reflects the bodies natural tendency to pull acid during the night, making the first morning void acidic. Both your salivary and urine pH are low so I would look at your diet for offending agents, include more alkali vegetables in your meal plan (greens), increase your water intake and recheck the pH over the next few days. If you still struggle to get a pH reading near 7.0 (salivary) then add sodium bicarb in the form of baking soda for a couple of days. You are looking for an overall average. there will always be highs and lows.
I don’t know if raw milk is any less acidic. It is still an animal food and I would suspect that the pH is still around 6.6.
“soda is just flavored battery acid ”
Aw, come on, why did you have to say that while I’m sitting here drinking my Diet Coke? Isn’t aspartame an essential nutrient, right up there with MSG , HFCS and BPA?
The50BestHealthBlogs.blogspot.com
I found this article very interesting. I could hardly wait to test my saliva and urine. While I knew the results would probably be acidic I was surprised at how low the levels were (5.5)
I visited various websites to learn more. One site that I found helpful is http://www.thewolfeclinic.com. However, they list yogurt, eggs, and chicken breast as alkaline producing foods. The other websites group all animal products and dairy as acid producing. What are your thoughts..I would really like to keep all 3 items.
Thanks
Hi Michele,
You should keep all three, provided your yogurt is organic and low sugar. You should eat animal products and even wine and coffee if you like, you just need to balance them out with plenty of alkali foods. I have seen countless pH charts and I have always found inconsistencies comparing one to another. Here are some general rules to follow: all vegetables are alkali, all animal foods are acidic. Try to get at least 60% or more of your foods from an alkali source which means that the bulk of your diet should be vegetable. Well that works out perfect because this will also offer you lots of phytonutrients and fiber.
With a pH of 5.5 you need to take some immediate action. 1. Drink 100 ounces of water a day and more if you exercise or drink caffeine. 2. Avoid coffee, soda pop, and alcohol until your pH responds and rises over 6.6 salivary. 3. Drink wheat grass/ barley grass, or bicarb to quickly elevate your pH. I recommend 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in water three times a day for three days and then recheck your pH. Keep me informed about how this works for you.
Dr. Huber
Dr. Huber,
I am finally getting back to you. In a nutshell, I kind of half heartedly tried changing my diets and implementing your suggestions. Not surprisingly I did not see any real change in my urine ph. About 3 weeks ago I picked up a book about The Hallelujah Diet. Since then I have eliminated all soda pop, most meat, dairy, refined sugar and processed food. Now I am eating more fresh vegetables, salads, and fresh juices (vegetable and fruit). My ph this past week has been consistently 7.5. My diet is still not perfect, but I am doing a lot better.
Thanks for website, I always learn something new and interesting.
Michele
Hey Michele, nice work getting that pH to normalize. I’m glad to see you found the power of food to alter your physiology. It’s quite empowering isn’t it?
Dr. Huber
I suffer fromm constant heart burn and belching. I have not said any thing to my doc i think he would give me another script for meds. I think i might have a hernia because when I bend over or pick up my dogs I get the burning feeling. Would baking soda help?
Hi S.J.,
Sounds like you have acid reflux into your esophagus. Baking soda may ease the discomfort but it is not a true treatment for reflux. You should see your doctor for assistance as untreated reflux can lead to bigger problems and over time my even increase risk for cancer. Your bowel issues may benefit greatly from a probiotic, zinc carnosine, and an evaluation of your diet for possible allergens. There could be any number of things contributing to your reflux and belching.
Dr. Huber
Thanks for the baking soda tip! A friend had recommended the pH tape to me a while back. Not surprisingly, my pH was 6.0. I have changed my diet to mostly raw vegetables. Still clinging to my diet Dr. Pepper but when the last one is gone, no more! My question: Is the sodium level a problem for hypertension? I am on 30 mg. of Benzaperil at the moment. Also I am on other meds. I read that all pharmaceuticals are acidifying. I hope to get off some if not all of them by dropping the acid and my dietary changes. Thanks!
Hi Diana,
Nice question and very insightful. The answer is a resounding ‘No.” Studies looking at this issue have not found the sodium in bicarb to create any problem in hypertensive patients. It seems the benefit of the bicarb is in it’s ability to aid kidney function more than offsets any load sodium my cause. The article listed below reported that no rise in blood pressure was witnessed even in patients with kidney disease:
From Medscape Medical News
Baking Soda May Slow Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease
Deborah Brauser
Take care and keep an eye on pH,
Dr. Gary Huber