Excess Acid Affects Many Individuals

Maintaining the internal body’s proper pH level really is not difficult. A proper diet and moderate exercise is all the body needs to help keep pH levels in balance. Unfortunately, few people living in the industrialized nations eat right and exercise regularly. As a result, today’s growing acidification problem stems from the way we in the Western world live our lives.

Consumption of too many acidifying foods such as sugars, proteins and cereal products is the biggest problem. Excessive consumption of stimulants with high acidity levels including coffee, tea, tobacco and even alcohol compounds the problem. What further worsens the situation is that consumption of alkaline foods such as vegetables that help neutralize acids is way down.

Stress, pressure, time constraints, and nervousness, which many of us cannot escape, all have an impact on the body’s ability to function normally. As a result, these too significantly increase the already high acid levels inside the body. Add to this the fact that people seem no longer capable of exercising in moderation. They either don’t exercise at all or they exercise excessively. Both further increase acid levels.

Food still is by far the factor that has the biggest impact on acid levels. For most people, excess acid levels can be brought back into balance simply by adjusting the diet so that more alkaline foods are consumed. Simply put, alkaline neutralizes acids.

For a small group, however, correcting acidification is not so easy. In addition to a sedentary lifestyle and making the wrong food choices, these individuals are not able to metabolize acidic foods properly and sometimes not at all. When the body cannot properly metabolize nutrients, all sorts of problems can arise. These non- or partially- metabolized substances stagnate inside the body. This stagnation can create toxins, leading to illness or to the body’s ability to function properly. For example, an inability to metabolize sugar causes diabetes. The inability to metabolize fats leads to obesity. Proteins are not properly metabolized in cases of rheumatism. There are many more examples of the body’s inability to properly metabolize substances.

Weak acids typically are oxidized and expelled through the lungs by way of carbon dioxide and breath moisture. The weak acids combine with the strong alkalines then release the strong alkalines, something the body needs. Weak acid foods such as yogurt, fruit, vinegar and whey contribute strong alkalines.

When a person has a problem metabolizing acids it is generally the weak acids that cannot be metabolized. These people eat the weak acid foods thinking they are doing the right thing, but the inability to oxidize them causes more problems than good. Instead of releasing the strong acids with which they combine, the foods cause the body’s internal environment to become even more acid. And if that wasn’t bad enough, one food can have a varying impact depending on the person who eats it. Take a lemon for example. Some say it is an acid while others say it is an alkaline. Both opinions are right, because the proper category for that lemon depends on how the body of the person who eats it reacts to it.

It is very important that people who are unable to properly metabolize acids carefully regulate the amount of weak acid foods they consume. These individuals cannot rely on the two basic food categorizations of acid and alkaline that others can. For them, a third category is needed because weak acids don’t have the same alkalizing effects. In fact, some weak acid foods may have quite the opposite effect.

How pH Levels Impact Health