The proper level of pH in the blood is considered one of the most important measurements and indicators to track the state of your health. The blood pH level should be 7.4, which in this case is considered slightly alkaline.
This level needs to be maintained at all times, this for our body to function optimally. The regulation of this pH level becomes essential to remain in a healthy state. Once this level becomes too acidic, what results is poor cell function, poor blood flow, fat accumulation, and weak bone density.
So what we need is to monitor this level of pH routinely to remain stable. What alters this condition are the ravages of time, pollution, the foods we eat, all constantly wreaking havoc on our body.
Other factors include sickness and disease that’s connected with stress, depression, and the pressure of anxiety from living a busy hectic life.
Understanding pH Ash
The key when it comes to understanding pH is knowing which foods that we eat, turns into either alkaline or acidic residue, this once they digest in the body.
What this digested food leaves behind is what’s known as “ash.” The remnants of this ash could potentially leave a lasting impact on the body. The ash either becomes acidic, alkaline, or remains neutral.
When it comes to the pH level in the body, it’s not so much the acidity of the food itself which matters, but what type of substance that the food leaves behind.
If it happens to leave behind acidic ash, then it lowers the pH levels. If the food leaves alkaline ash, then it contributes to a better normalized pH balance.
It Begins With Eating Well
It’s usually our precarious eating habits which detriments proper pH levels. What we put into our bodies has a direct effect on we either becoming healthy, or it can contribute towards illness.
Everything that we eat affects the blood pH levels somehow, which affects how smooth the blood flows in the body. What the acidic or alkaline pH level does is it affects the electrical charge of every individual red blood cell in the body.
What each red blood cell is assigned with is a negative charge, this so that they won’t stick to each other, this similar to how two magnets with the same negative pole will stay apart.
Whenever the blood’s pH level goes down, the blood becomes acidic. What this acidity does to the red blood cells is it strips off the negative charge in the cells, resulting in the individual cells to begin sticking to each other.
What can then happen is the blood begins to clump, which makes it flow slower. Blood that moves slow through the vessels results in less oxygen that goes through the body, causing fatigue and other serious issues.
Maintaining Proper pH Levels
The blood becomes acidic once the pH level is low, while it becomes alkaline once it reaches higher levels. What a higher pH level means is that the blood has an increased threshold for hydrogen ions.
What the presence of hydrogen ions does is it slows down muscle function. The more ions that you have in the body, the more that your muscles will become sluggish and will react slower.
What having a higher pH level does is the blood can then accommodate more hydrogen ions, this before it begins to spread into the muscles, forcing them to be less effective.
To Improve Performance
What this results in is you can burn more energy while needing less oxygen, which allows your body to tolerate the production of lactic acid, which gives the body more stamina, enabling it to perform longer.
So if you’re an athlete who needs a boost in performance, it begins with regulating your body’s pH level. You can do so by taking simple saliva tests on acid paper strips, which are available at the local drugstore.
To Avoid Weight Gain
Once the body becomes too acidic, what the body does is reacts defensively in the presence of these acids, this since it has a direct affect on the slowing of bodily functions.
Rising acidity levels are harmful to the vital information storage centers in the cells, the RNA, and if insistent, can cause possible mutation, toxicity, or even cancer cells to develop.
When this threat becomes apparent, what the body instinctively does is coats the cells with fatty tissue, this to shield it from the increasing blood acidity, which makes you gain weight. So the more the blood becomes acidic, the more weight you gain.
pH And Bone Density
What rising blood acidity also does is lowers bone density. The reason being that the body is in a constant battle to regulate the body’s pH levels. It does so by releasing buffers to counteract the increasing acidity.
Releasing buffers into the body is considered a good thing, but the consequences on how the body does so, isn’t that great for the bones.
Every time that the pH level increases in acidity, what the body does is it uses the calcium stores which are in the bones as the buffers, this to maintain the critical pH 7.4 level. This results is lower bone density, making one prone to osteoporosis.
To Maintain The Ideal pH Levels
It becomes difficult to replenish the calcium levels through the buffer process. So what you need is to counter this by supplying the body with good sources of alkaline, this to help keep the blood pH level stable.
Green vegetables and fruits are excellent sources of alkaline, while fatty meats and processed foods are acidic. A healthy diet should consist of 80% alkaline foods. Supplements such as sodium bicarbonate are excellent to balance pH levels.