Is Your Body In Balance? Check This List
March 11, 2010 by Dr. Michael Cutler
It’s no secret that your body is made up of about 70 percent water. Every one of your 100 trillion cells is filled with water. And every other chemical in your body—from the stomach acid you need to digest food… to the blood that carries oxygen and nutrients to the cells of all your organs—either contain water or are suspended in water.
Therefore, for you to be healthy, that water needs to have a healthy pH balance—even out into the tissues of the organs where metabolism actually occurs. The letters “pH” mean “potential of hydrogen” and simply measure how acidic or alkaline your body is on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 14.
Your body will work hard to keep your organ tissues in pH balance. You will achieve optimum health much easier when your organ tissues stay in a slightly alkaline environment—about 7.0 to 7.5 as measured by saliva.
Blood pH is very different, however. It remains in the 7.34 to 7.38 pH range normally. And urine is normally acidic at a pH of 6.2 to 6.8 upon your first morning bathroom visit. What some people don’t realize is that saliva is a fairly good reflection of tissue pH which can vary, while blood pH will be one of the very last things to change in a sick person.
Is an acidic pH balance behind YOUR symptoms? Take this simple test:
- Do you suffer from high blood pressure, a failing heart or other heart problems?
- Do your joints feel stiff, inflamed and painful or do you suffer from bone loss?
- Has a doctor told you that your blood sugar levels are too high or too low?
- Are you finding it more difficult to get a good night’s sleep?
- Do you suffer from constant fatigue or energy crashes after meals?
- Do you frequently endure cramping, constipation, heartburn or other digestive problems?
- Do you sometimes feel depressed, negative and cranky?
- Have you noticed that your ability to solve problems or to remember details is lacking?
- Do you sometimes suffer from shortness of breath or other lung problems?
- Do you experience pain, numbness or tingling in your hands, legs or feet?
- Is your skin or hair aging more rapidly than they should?
- Do you notice that your eyesight or hearing is fading at an alarming rate?
- Do you suffer from low sexual desire or performance problems?
- Do you contract infections more often with each passing year?
If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, there’s a good chance that you may be suffering from acid overload. By switching to a whole foods diet and avoiding processed and packaged foods, you can help your organs, tissues and cells stay in alkaline balance.
The simple rule to remember is the 80/20 rule. It’s beneficial for your diet to consist of 80 percent whole foods such as fruits, non-starchy vegetables, soy products, limited amounts of lean meats, whole grains and beans… and only 20 percent of acid-forming foods such as commercially processed pasta, fast food, frozen foods, crackers, cookies and most sugary cereals.
In addition to the best nutrition you can consume, the next step is to supplement with alkalizing minerals.
—By Michael Cutler, M.D.