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Date
of update: February 2007
This
is file xxxxx.chapter03.09.b.acidalkalinebalance. This file has been updated in
February 2007 and is part of Chapter 3 of my manuals.
The Acid
/ Alkaline Balance
It is important to have an
understanding of how the acid / alkaline balance within our bodies can affect
physical health.
Water ionises into hydrogen
(H+) and hydroxyl (
As we have seen earlier,
water is a key component of our physical bodies and the ability of various
molecules from our food to bond with water molecules within the body fluids is
critical to the correct operation of the cellular processes within the body.
The pH levels within the body fluids are also critical to the cellular
processes.
The pH level at which cells can function
correctly varies in different parts of the body. The following list gives an
indication of the acceptable pH ranges:
·
Heart
7.0 to 7.4
·
Brain
7.1
·
Liver
7.2
·
Blood
7.35 to 7.45
·
Saliva
6.0 to 7.4
·
Muscles
6.9 to 7.2
·
Urea
4.5 to 8.0
·
Bile from Gallbladder 5.0 to 7.7
·
Enzymes in the Small Intestine 7.5 to 8.3
As an overall generalisation, our physical
bodies work best if they are slightly alkaline.
The pH level in our bodies
is influenced most of all by our diet. It can be influenced also by an
incorrectly functioning major organ or body system such as the kidneys and the
digestive system, by stress and by too much intensive exercise.
When our food has been
metabolised (processed) in the body, it leaves a residue or ash which will be
either acid, alkaline or neutral. A good diet that would support the overall
slightly alkaline balance that the cells of the body are designed to operate in
would have around 75% of daily food intake represented by fruit and by
vegetables which are handled in such a way as to minimise loss of minerals and
vitamins in the preparation and cooking processes. As a generalisation, the
majority of people eating western style diets do not have this level of intake
of fruit and vegetables but have a significant proportion of processed foods
and dairy / meat products. As a generalisation, this diet produces over-acidity
within the body fluids. Processed foods and dairy / meat products tend to leave
an acidic ash once metabolised within the body.
Over-acidity means that the
cellular processes are operating outside of the acid / alkaline parameters that
they were designed to work in. This has an overall effect on physical health
conditions. The body has its own reserves of alkalinity which it can call upon
and release to correct the acid / alkaline balance. These alkalinity reserves
include the alkaline substances such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium,
phosphate and haemoglobin found around the body in the tissue cells, in our
bones, in our blood, etc.. These reserves, however, are intended only for
short-term quick fixes to an acid / alkaline imbalance and are not sufficient
to deal with long term acid / alkaline imbalances. Long term imbalances caused
by diet or by a major organ misfunction will result in the depletion of the
alkaline reserves and the breakdown of normal cellular activity, and can result
in physical health conditions such as the following:
- Arthritis.
- Aching muscles.
- Premature aging.
- Stones in the kidneys and the gall
bladder.
- Being overweight.
- Weakness in the immune system.
- Osteoporosis (weak and brittle bones
caused by the removal of minerals to combat over-acidity).
- Reduction in the ability to use the
oxygen in the blood fully.
- Cardiovascular (heart system) damage.
- Accleration of damage caused by free
radicals and higher likelihood of developing cancerous consitions.
- Low energy, fatigue and depression.
- Fungal growth.
- Tooth decay.
We looked briefly before at
the role of electrolytes in the body. If a person eats a diet that leaves a
constant acidic ash, the release of certain ionised salts such as bicarbonate
of soda, calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphate, potassium, and sodium into
the blood to counteract the acidity will reduce the level of these substances
to be available for the usual electrolyte activity in the body.
As healers we will often be
called upon to help with physical conditions that are the result of acid
producing diets. The correct solution to prevent further recurrence of many of
these physical conditions will be change of diet. Until diet is changed, much
of the energy healing work that we do will tend to be focussed around
alleviating symptoms rather than being able to resolve the causes of the
symptoms.
The following table gives an
indication of the acid or alkaline ash produced by a range of common foods
after they have been metabolised. The acidity or alkalinity of food before it
is eaten is not a guide to the acidity or alkalinity of the food after it has
gone through the digestive system.
|
Acid Foods |
Alkaline Foods |
|
Red meat Poultry Fish and
seafood Cheese Butter Cream Milk Mayonnaise Coffee Tea Alcohol Nicotene Most grains White flour Sugars Carbonated
soft drinks Plums Cranberries Blackberries Kidney beans Chocolate |
Most fruits Most
vegetables Soy beans Herbal tea Garlic |
Medical research has shown
that the pH levels in our bodies are affected also by stress in our lives.
Stress can influence the working of the endocrine system glands and the
resulting production of hormones which in turn impact upon the metabolic and
cellular respiration processes, and can result in acidity. It is helpful for
healers to be aware, therefore, that where a client has a life situation which
is causing them ongoing stress, the symptoms will not just be at an emotional
and mental level but in the physical body as well as it releases its alkaline
reserves to try to maintain the correct levels of alkalinity. We start to look
at meditative practice in Chapter 6. Whilst this is introduced into this course
as a basis for developing the psychic and intuitive abilities so that we can
sense energy imbalances and blockages both within ourselves for self-healing
purposes and within others as we try to heal them, it needs to be recognised in
the context of the acid alkaline balance in the body that meditative practice
is a substantive healing modality in its own right as it helps to calm the mind
and the emotions and results in reduced stress levels.
Regular and prolonged periods of intense
exercise can also contribute towards acidity in the body. Energy is needed to
facilitate the exercise and comes from the release of energy that is stored in
the ATP. This release involves the breaking off of one of the phosphate
molecules, thereby moving from the three phosphate molecules in the ATP to the
two phosphate molecules in the ADP. The breaking of the molecular bonding
releases energy for the muscles. The normal store of ATP is not in anyway
sufficient to support prolonged exercise so the body will be working at higher
than usual rates to replenish the ATP stores once exercising starts. Hydrogen
ions which are acidic in nature are a natural by product of the release of
energy from ATP. Higher than usual levels of physical activity will result in
higher than usual release of energy from the ATP and will result in higher than
usual release of the acidic hydrogen ions to beyond the point at which the
body’s usual buffer mechanisms to maintain reasonable acid / alkaline balance
can cope. What this means is that high levels of repeated and prolonged intense
exercise either amongst sports people or amongst overweight people who seek to
reduce weight this way can be unhealthy because there is a negative impact upon
the acid alkaline balance in the body.
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