By Cliff Smith
Energetic people who cycle, run, hike, play tennis, golf, build muscle up, or do any physical activity and want to perform at peak levels of fitness, have a choice to make. It's a choice many never consider, but one of the most important choices for overall health and fitness. It stares you right in the face every time you eat, drink or consume anything. The choice to consider is whether or not a food or beverage is going to help you maintain proper ph balance, or is it going to throw that delicate balance off and leave you vulnerable to health problems.
In order to maintain suitable ph balance, nutritionists suggest 80% of dietary intake should be alkaline and 20% acidic. What exactly does that mean? I'll explain. The alkalinity or acidic properties of a food or beverage come into play when your body burns them for fuel. Consuming too many acidic foods, drugs, tobacco, sodas, cocktails, and coffee cause the Ph level of the blood to become overly acidic, therefore, out of balance. It's kind of like a swimming pool that has an overly acidic Ph level, it's out balance, and as any pool owner knows, that can cause problems.
Here is a short list of foods that are acidic when the body burns them for fuel:
· White flour, refined sugars
· Dairy products
· Meat, fish
· Peanut butter
· Chocolate
· Nuts (not all of them, but most).
· Plums, prunes and cranberries (surprising, but true, even some healthy fruits and vegetables can form an acid ash, especially over- cooked vegetables)
Here are some good choices for alkaline food to help maintain proper ph balance:
· Almonds, Apples, Avocados
· Bananas, Beans, Brazil nuts
· Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Carrots
Most people have this alkaline/acid ratio upside down, which means the body has to find a sure source of calcium in order to correct the acid/alkaline imbalance. A human being's blood Ph level is meant to stay at 7.4, so the body is constantly working to maintain that level, no matter what you consume. Your body is naturally engineered to sustain that delicate Ph balance at all costs, because if it goes too far off, cells begin to die. If you are forcing your body to work harder in order to preserve that Ph level, how hard can it work for you when you are doing physical activities? If the body has to neutralize more acid that it is designed for, where do you think it finds a readily available supply of something alkaline to do that? Our bones. Yes, when the consumption of alkaline food and drinks is insufficient to do the job, then the body has to pull calcium from bones in order to neutralize excess acid in the bloodstream.
It is a nutrition fact that too many acid forming foods and beverages such as meat, coffee, alcohol, sugar, dairy, and refined flour products can cause a body's Ph balance to be too acidic. This can lead to all sorts of health problems, not the least of which is bone weakness. A calcium supplement may help. However, if the calcium is not from a whole food source, the body does not absorb it as efficiently due to the lack of live enzymes, but more about that in a future article. The best whole food sources for calcium are broccoli, green leafy vegetables, and other alkaline foods.
Ph balance is just one of many considerations when choosing a healthy balanced diet. Search the Internet for more alkaline food options and other choices for improving and maintaining overall health and fitness.
Energetic people who cycle, run, hike, play tennis, golf, build muscle up, or do any physical activity and want to perform at peak levels of fitness, have a choice to make. It's a choice many never consider, but one of the most important choices for overall health and fitness. It stares you right in the face every time you eat, drink or consume anything. The choice to consider is whether or not a food or beverage is going to help you maintain proper ph balance, or is it going to throw that delicate balance off and leave you vulnerable to health problems.
In order to maintain suitable ph balance, nutritionists suggest 80% of dietary intake should be alkaline and 20% acidic. What exactly does that mean? I'll explain. The alkalinity or acidic properties of a food or beverage come into play when your body burns them for fuel. Consuming too many acidic foods, drugs, tobacco, sodas, cocktails, and coffee cause the Ph level of the blood to become overly acidic, therefore, out of balance. It's kind of like a swimming pool that has an overly acidic Ph level, it's out balance, and as any pool owner knows, that can cause problems.
Here is a short list of foods that are acidic when the body burns them for fuel:
· White flour, refined sugars
· Dairy products
· Meat, fish
· Peanut butter
· Chocolate
· Nuts (not all of them, but most).
· Plums, prunes and cranberries (surprising, but true, even some healthy fruits and vegetables can form an acid ash, especially over- cooked vegetables)
Here are some good choices for alkaline food to help maintain proper ph balance:
· Almonds, Apples, Avocados
· Bananas, Beans, Brazil nuts
· Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Carrots
Most people have this alkaline/acid ratio upside down, which means the body has to find a sure source of calcium in order to correct the acid/alkaline imbalance. A human being's blood Ph level is meant to stay at 7.4, so the body is constantly working to maintain that level, no matter what you consume. Your body is naturally engineered to sustain that delicate Ph balance at all costs, because if it goes too far off, cells begin to die. If you are forcing your body to work harder in order to preserve that Ph level, how hard can it work for you when you are doing physical activities? If the body has to neutralize more acid that it is designed for, where do you think it finds a readily available supply of something alkaline to do that? Our bones. Yes, when the consumption of alkaline food and drinks is insufficient to do the job, then the body has to pull calcium from bones in order to neutralize excess acid in the bloodstream.
It is a nutrition fact that too many acid forming foods and beverages such as meat, coffee, alcohol, sugar, dairy, and refined flour products can cause a body's Ph balance to be too acidic. This can lead to all sorts of health problems, not the least of which is bone weakness. A calcium supplement may help. However, if the calcium is not from a whole food source, the body does not absorb it as efficiently due to the lack of live enzymes, but more about that in a future article. The best whole food sources for calcium are broccoli, green leafy vegetables, and other alkaline foods.
Ph balance is just one of many considerations when choosing a healthy balanced diet. Search the Internet for more alkaline food options and other choices for improving and maintaining overall health and fitness.
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