Greens for Life Acid/alkaline balance

“What is the acid/alkaline balance and why is it so important for your health?”

Our diet consists of acid-forming and base-forming foods. If the intake of acid-forming and base-forming (alkalizing) foods is in balance our body enjoys a neutral pH-balance. It is important to maintain that neutral balance if we want to stay healthy.

However, our diet has developed in such a way that we consume far too much meat, fat and sugar and not enough vegetables and fruit. In other words, we eat far more acid-forming food than base-forming food. As a result many people suffer from health problems caused by a chronically disturbed acid/alkaline balance.

The body will try to repair this inbalance by binding excess acid to minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc and excrete it through the kidneys. If there are insufficient minerals available from the food that is eaten, the body will use minerals from the bones, muscle tissue and organs. This will eventually result in a mineral deficiency and in the end the body is no longer capable of maintaining a healthy acid/alkaline balance and becomes chronically acidified. This condition is called acidosis, a condition that is characterized by excessive acid in the body fluids.

Acidosis that is the result of other causes than bad eating habits, like lung or kidney disease or a malfunctioning metabolism, is readily recognized by the medical establishement and treated immediately. Strangely enough acidosis that is the result of an unbalanced diet is not. Many people with a disturbed acid/alkaline balance suffer from the chronic health problems it causes without realising that their condition could be easily treated.

As long as the body receives sufficient alkalizing foods it can get rid of the excess acid.. It simply neutralizes the acid that it stores during the day in muscle and fatty tissue by binding it to minerals and eliminates it through the kidneys (in our urine), the lungs (by breathing) and our skin (by sweating).

If there are insufficient base-forming foods in the body the excess acid can no longer be excreted ans it will be permanently stored in body tissue and fluids.

Most physicians consider health problems that are the result of a disturbed acid/alkaline balance, like osteoperosis, arthitis, rheumatism, gout, problems with the respiratory organs, the digestive organs or the immune system, as unavoidable, age-related, hereditery or just bad luck... They write prescriptions for pharmaceutical drugs that fight the symptoms and ease the pain but do not remove the cause of the problem and heal the patient. On top of that, because of their chemical composition, these drugs often have various side effects and worsen the pH-balance of the body because they are highly acid-forming. Prescribing a simple change in diet and increasing the intake of alkalizing foods would be far more effective but is more often than not overlooked.

The cause of the problem has been known for centuries

Already in the 15th Century the famous Swiss physician Paracelcus stated that acidity of the body was the basis for all disease. At the end of the 19th Century medical science had developed the means to conduct serious research in this field and it was soon discovered that a chronic disturbance of the acid/alkaline balance was indeed the main cause for many diseases.

During the last century this problem has worsened considerably. Environmental pollution, massive use of pesticides in agriculture and use of antibiotics in the bio-industry have caused a disturbance in the acid/alkaline balance our food supply. This disturbance is a direct cause of the increasing acidity of our body. Changes in our diet, a decrease in the nutritional value of our food and worsening eating habit (too much meat, fat and sugar and not enough vegetables and fruit) are the other main causes. This is why a majority of people living in developed countries suffer from a disturbed acid/alkaline balance and experience, apart from the negative consequences of becoming overweight, from many related ilnesses and health problems.

An overview of acid-forming and base-forming foods

The actual taste of food does not determine whether it is acid-forming or base-forming. A lemon tastes sour (acidy) but has an alkalising effect because it stimulates the pancreas to produce buffers to neutralize the acids in the lemon. Food that tastes sweet or has sugar added has an acid-forming effect.

As a general rule all meats (except chicken breast), fish, crustaceans, grains, coffee, cooking or salad oils, beverages containing alcohol and legumes (peas and beans) are acid-forming. All fruits and vegetables are base-forming. The following list gives a global overview acid-forming and base-forming foods:

Alkaline, base-forming foods (high pH-value)

vegetables: eggplant, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, asparagus, watercress, endive, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, sellery, cucumber, lettuce, chicory, alfalfa, spirulina (alg), chlorella (alg), kohlrabi.
fruit: strawberries, apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, black currants, red currants, cherries, dates, grapes, grapefruits, melons, nectarines, peaches, pears, pineapple, raspberries, tomatoes.
protein: free range eggs, lowfat cottage cheese, chicken breast, organic yoghurt, almonds, tofu, sunflower seeds.
spices: cinnamon, curry, ginger, mustard, chili peppers, seasalt, miso, all green herbs.
beverages: mineral water (non-carbonated), fresh fruit juice, raw milk, fresh vegetable juice, all teas.

Acid-forming foods: (low pH-value)

fats and oils: avocado-oil, corn oil, olive oil, linseed oil, sesame oil, safflower oil.
fruit: cranberries.
grains: all products containing corn, rice, rye or wheat.
dairy: all products containing pasteurized milk, cheese (from goat, cow or sheep milk), butter.
nuts: cashews, peanuts, peanut butter, walnuts, pecans.
beans: peas, split peas, white and red beans, soya beans and soya milk.
animal protein: beef, pork, lamb, turkey, duck, rabbit, game, fish, crustaceans and shrimps.
pasta: spaghetti, macaroni, lasagna, linguini etc.).
sweets: all candy, honey, syrup, sweetener, lemonades, aspartame, any food with sugar added.
all alcoholic beverages.
carbonated soft drinks, carbonated water.
all pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals and pesticides.

Please note: foods that are acid-forming are not harmful by themselves. On the contrary, foods like oils, nuts, fish, wine etc. are indispensable for a healthy, balanced diet. Health problems only occur if the acid/alkaline balance is permanently disturbed in favour of acid-forming foods and the body becomes chronically acidified.

Don't make the mistake of trying to remedy a disturbed acid/alkaline balance by only eating base-forming, alkalizing foods. An excess of base-forming foods is just as harmful to your health.

The acidity of the stomach

The acidity of the stomach is very important for the digestion and absorbtion of nutrients. Proteins require a different level of acidity than carbohydrates. This means that the stomach has a hard time totally digesting a combination of proteins and carbohydrates. Undigested food, specially undigested proteins, remains behind in the intestines and can cause problems for your metabolism. Therefore it is advisable not to eat proteins (meat, fish, eggs) and carbohydrates (starches) in one meal.

The theory of separating protein and carbohydrates is the basis of the Montignac diet, which was very popular in the 90's. This diet indeed leads to a better acid/alkaline balance in the body and has proven to be a responsible way of loosing weight.

We advise against the Atkins diet because it almost forbids the intake of carbohydrates and requires you to eat mostly proteins and fat. This will quickly lead to sharply raised acid-levels levels and withdrawal al lot of minerals from the body. If you insist on following the Atkins diet, you should compensate for the shortage of base-forming, alkalizing foods by taking a daily portion of Greens for Life and a multi mineral complex.

A disturbed acid/alkaline balance does not happen overnight

A chronically disturbed acid/alkaline balance is not something that immediately happens after eating one big steak or Big Mac. It is a slow process that takes a number of years, but after time it will reveal itself by a steady increase in related problems. You will start feeling less and less healthy without knowing why. Each acid-forming food produces different forms of acid (uric acid, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, carbonic acid etc.). Each one has its own particular influence on your health and can cause different health problems.

All heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and even the amalgam fillings in your teeth are strongly acid-forming. That's why environmental pollution has such a direct effect on the acidity in your body. Stress, acute fear, fatigue and lack of sleep also cause the body to produce an excess of hydrochloric acid.

In the early stages of acidity we speak of latent acidosis. As the condition worsens and becomes chronic, we speak of acute acidosis. This can and will cause any of the following health problems:

chronic headaches
chronic fatigue
dizzy spells
difficulty concentrating
excess acidity in the stomach and oesophagus (heartburn)
eczema
muscle aches even after moderare exertion
weight gain
constipation
hair loss
yeast growth in the intestines (candida)
intestinal parasites
bacterial infections
halitosis (bad breath)
cellulitis

The human body will always try to correct a disturbed acid/alkaline balance, especially in the blood. It is of vital importance that the blood maintains a pH-value between 7.35 and 7.45, because even the slightest deviation can result in acute health problem, coma and death. The body will therefore sacrifice massive amounts of minerals to bind and eliminate the excess acid in the blood and rather cause acute osteoperosis and malfunctioning of other organs rather than endanger the pH-value of the blood.

Degeneration of bones, muscle tissue, digestive organs and the immune system

As the chronic disturbance of the acid/alkaline balance progresses, the effect on the body will worsen and result in:

arthritis (due to the withdrawal of minerals from the joints);
osteoperosis (due to the withdrawal of calcium and magnesium from the bones);
rheumatism, artritis and gout (due to uric acid deposits on the joints);
damage of muscle tissue, ligaments and tendons (due to a lack of minerals);
irritation of nerve ends, causing pains and spasms;
varicose veins, haemorrhoids and vascular constriction (due to the withdrawal of minerals from the blood);
colitis, diarrhoea, Crohn's desease, a spastic bowel (due to the withdrawal of minerals from the lining of the intestines);
excess acid in the stomach and oesophagus and problems with swallowing (due to the withdrawal of minerals from the lining of the oesophagus).

Excess acidity disrupts the functioning of anti-oxidants

The body depends on a number of vitamins and enzymes like Catalese, L-Glutathion and the rare but very effective SOD-enzyme to hunt, attack and eliminate free radicals before they can do serious damage to the body. These anti-oxidants become increasingly ineffective as the disturbance in the acid/alkaline balance in the body progresses. As a result the body becomes more susceptible to damage by free radicals. This is a very serious health problem which can cause diseases and tumours.

A disturbed acid/alkaline balance can be easily and permanently corrected!

A disturbed acid/alkaline balance can easily be corrected by making the right adjustments to the diet and foregoing a number of foods. These are mostly foods you don't need anyhow and are bad for you. Combining this with the use of the right supplements you will regain your health in no time at all. The pH-value of your body will become neutral again and the acidity causing all those health problems will never return. This is what you do:

Forget that there is such a thing as sugar. Never touch it again and avoid any food that has sugar added to it. That includes cane sugar that you find in so-called health foods. Don't fall for it, sugar is sugar and it's all bad. It has no nutritional value whatsoever and when used extensively sugar is pure poison. Sugar is one of the main causes for a permanent disruption of the acid/alkaline balance and is responsible for a large number of other health problems like obesity, candida and diabetes.

Read the packaging of all the foods you buy. Especially fat-free products are often laced with sugar as a substitute for loss of nutritional value.

Start eating less meat (150 grams per day is all that the body needs and can handle) and eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Avoid all candies. Also the so-called healthy ones. Fructose ends with ‘ose' which is sugar in disguise.

Avoid carbonated drinks. Carbon dioxide is second to none when it comes to acidifying your system.

Drink at least 2 liters of non-carbonated or mineral water. Don't drink water from the tap. In most countries tap water contains chemicals that will add to the acidity of your system.

Try to excercise. Ideally three times a week for at least an hour. Any form of excercise helps, even a simple walk for a half an hour. By exercising regularly you deepen your breath, which allows you to eliminate more acid from your body.

Make sure you get enough sleep. The body binds and eliminates acid while you sleep. The less you sleep, the less acid you eliminate.

What else can you help the body to restore a neutral acid/alkaline balance? ?

As long as the acid/alkaline balance of your body is disturbed it will keep extracting minerals from your bones and organs. Once you have made the decision to eat a healthier diet and use the right supplement the body will start healing itself and you will immediately start feeling better.

If you want to accelarate this process you should do the following:

Start using Greens for Life. The main ingredient of Greens for Life is a 10:1 extract of Barley Grass, which is the most alkalizing, base-forming food we know. It is the best help you can get to rid yourself of excess acid and quickly regain your health. Your body will thank you for using it in many ways.

The first two weeks of your new life take a tablespoon of Greens for Life dissolved in water or fruit juice (preferably apple juice) twice a day. After two weeks you can start using a maintenance dosis of one tablespoon per day.

Make Greens for Life a regular item at your breakfast table. It is one of the best things you can do for your body. Not only while you are restoring a neutral pH-value your body, but every day. It's the best insurance that the acid/alkaline balance in your body wil never get disturbed again.

Take a good multivitamin to remedy all vitamin and mineral deficiencies that have built up while the acid level in your body was too high. Don't buy the cheap ones from the supermarket, they are largely synthetic and very badly absorbed. Treat yourself to a good multivitamin made of 100% natural ingredients. They cost twice as much but are ten times as effective.

Take a multi mineral complex to remedy the mineral deficiencies your body is suffering from.

Use a calcium supplement to start reversing the osteoperosis you might be suffering from without knowing it. Anybody over the age of 40 should take a calcium supplement anyhow. Women ánd men. Make sure it also contains magnesium, boron and vitamin D, otherwise the body will not absorb the calcium.

Note: do not start drinking a lot of milk because of the calcium content. A 10 year study by Harvard University and Nurse's Magazine among 75.000 women has shown that drinking milk has the opposite effect (the more milk they drank, the more bones they broke!)

The reason is that the body needs magnesium and boron to absorb calcium. These minerals are not present in milk. Pasteurized milk is also acid-forming, so it will withdraw calcium from your bones instead.

If the chronic acidity of your body has resulted in artritis or any other problem with the joints, start taking a supplement that contains Glucosamine and MSM (with the possible addition of Chondroitin) These natural ingredients will be as effective in fighting the pain as pharmaceutival drugs and will make the body start producing new cartilage and collagen to regain proper functioning of the joints without causing acidity again.

How do you measure the acid/alkaline balance in your body?

The blood

By continually adding base and eliminating acid the body keeps the acid/alkaline balance of the blood highly stable. The acidity of the blood is determined by measuring the pH-value. Blood has a steady pH-balance of between 7.35 and 7.45 (water has a neutral pH-balance of 7, which means that acid and base keep each other in exact balance). You cannot measure the pH-balance of the blood yourself. You don't need to. As we said earlier, the body will do whatever is needed to maintain the exact pH-value in your blood, even cannibalizing other parts of the body for minerals, because even a slight deviation in the pH-value can cause serious problems and endanger your life.

The urine

To know what the pH-value of your body is and to make sure that the recommended changes in your diet have the desired effect, you should monitor the pH-balance of your body. You can do so by measuring the acidity of your urine. In the morning your urine should have a pH-value of 7.1. In the afternoon it will increase to 7.4. As long as the urine has a pH-value that ranges between 7.1 and 7.4 the acid/alkaline balance of the body is in order. If the balance is under 7, your body contains too much acid. If the pH-value is under 6 we speak of acute acidosis and you will probably experience a number of health complaints.

You can buy inexpensive test strips to measure the pH-value of your urine at any drugstore.