What is a Healthy pH Balance?
The acidity or alkalinity of a solution is described by its pH, potential of hydrogen. It is measured on a scale from 0 – 14. The lower the pH of a solution is the more acidic it is. Higher pH is more alkaline and pH of 7 is neutral, neither acidic nor alkaline.
People who have unbalanced pH have usually acidic body fluids and tissues. It is much more common to be overly acidic than alkaline. This is because we eat too much sugary foods, meat and dairy products that are all acidic foods and too little fruit and vegetables which are more alkaline. Healthy body has usually a pH range from 6.5 – 7.5. Some say even that when our internal chemistry is slightly alkaline, 7.0 – 8.0, it actually functions at its best.*
When a body is too acidic it has to borrow minerals such as magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium from vital organs and bones to neutralize the acid and remove it from the body. This results in those organs being damaged. This may lead to complications, infections and specifically yeast infection. Candida grows easily in an acid environment.
pH Strips to Test Your Acid Alkaline Balance
Using a simple test at home can give you an idea of how acidic or alkaline your body is. There are many kinds of pH strips
for sale in health stores. It is a good idea to have one in your medicine cabinet and test yourself regularly. I have a roll of pH strip paper as in this picture.
It is very easy to use pH strips. The test can be done from saliva or urine.
Test from saliva is done by gathering fresh saliva into a plastic spoon and dipping a piece of testing strip into it. The color will change from yellow to any of those shown on the packet. Compare the result with the picture to determine the pH balance.
Optimal pH for saliva is above 7 pH. If saliva pH is consistently lower than 6.8, it indicates possible insufficient alkaline reserves.
The pH test from urine can provide a fairly accurate picture of body chemistry, because it tests what the body is eliminating after kidneys filtering system. It is usually lower than pH taken from saliva. The ideal range for urine pH is 6.5 to 7.0+
The lower your pH value below 7.0, the greater your degree of acid stress.
A pH balanced diet is a vital key to health maintenance, according to many experts. I’ll be talking about Alkaline Diet in my next post.
* Source: Linda Allen – Yeast Infection No More
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