Alkalizing Your Body

I like to think of my body as a fine tuned machine and most if not all maladies can be fixed or eased through diet and lifestyle changes. One great way to stay healthy, have lots of energy, heal quickly, lose weight, and look younger is to keep your body slightly Alkaline.



Your bodies blood carries oxygen, nutrients, minerals, vitamins to all the cells in your body which keeps them running and you alive. A ph of 7.36 - 7.44 is optimal. On a scale of 0-14 is is extremely acid and 14 is extremely alkaline with pure water being neutral.  A quick way to check your ph is a ph test strip passed through your urine, or a rundown of your diet.

If your eating a lot of caffeine, alcohol, pasta, potatoes, bread your probably too acidic. When your body is to acidic for a long time pathogens and yeast thrive in your digestive tract and steal vitamins and nutrients, over time and your stomach lining is continually irritated which inhibits your bodies absorption of vitamins and nutrients. Symptoms of being too acidic are, trouble maintaing your weight, bloating and water retention, acne, allergies, trouble losing weight, headaches, cramps, weak hair and nails, joint pain, irritability, indigestion, frequent colds, lack of energy.

When you eat food and your body begins the digestion process it creates acidic by products which enter your blood stream and effect your body. Certain foods create more acid than others, at the top of the list are processed foods, sugar, refined carbohydrates, and caffeine. Even high amounts of animal protein will create acidic levels if your body isn't running properly and your body cannot eliminate the nitrogen that is produced when it is digested which is usually passed through your urine. 

When you balance your bodies ph the inflammation in your body reduces which makes you not carry as much water weight around, you begin to absorb more nutrients and if your conscious of what your eating and because your eating much more nutrient rich foods like local organic produce which loses less nutrients because of transport time and being harvested way before there peak, you will begin to lose weight. You want to really eat a lot of dark leafy green vegetables, and citrus. Grass fed and free range chicken, eggs, and beef are another benefit since they are leaner in the bad fats at higher in the good fats your body will thrive off of them. The same holds true with wild seafood instead of farm raised as long as for ecological reasons it is harvested in a sustainable way.  I feel your diet should be about 80% vegetable and fruit and 20% lean protein.

Fermented foods are another great addition to the diet, they will add good bacteria that will benefit the gut instead of working against it. Keifers, especially coconut ones, sauerkraut and kimchi added to your diet will aid in your digestion. The Body Ecology diet is structured around a lot of fermented foods and they put out some good fermented products so you don't need to make a meal out of one.

Freeze dried powdered greens are a great way to start off your morning. They still contain a ton of nutrients and are easily digestible. When you wake up in the morning your body is normally starving and dehydrated so a good pick me up is a quick smoothie with a scoop of powdered greens and lean clean protein powder.

There are a ton of combinations and crazy diets out there but if you think about how our bodies have evolved over thousands of years we have only been eating processed foods and highly complex carbohydrates for the bulk of our diets for a small amount of time in the humans evolution. Fill your life with tons of healthy vegetables, fruit, and protein and feel better.