Acid-Alkaline Balance

Body Chemistry 101

Summers in the Napa Valley can be brutally hot, not that “wet” east coast hot, but a ‘bake you dry’ hot. It was one of those days; I’d started it out early, with a long morning run on the crusty earth of the vineyards. Life can seem flawless there with its blue-sky cool mornings and smell of ripe grapes.

Then I went to my design office in downtown St. Helena. This day was supposed to herald the completion of a 6-month design project. Instead I found myself dealing with my client’s new project manager who just seemed to want to fight. You know the type, all our communications were unexpectedly tough and acidic. It wasn't just the temperature outside that was heating up. 

By noon the calm from my morning run felt like it had never happened. I put the phone on “answer mode” and bolted out of the office to chill. This situation was unhealthy, and certainly not my idea of good interpersonal communication. I know you’ve experienced this – getting completely drained and unable to think clearly while your body feels like someone injected it with toxic chemicals.

Alien Green Drink

Having a beautiful design sidetracked is one thing, having my body (and mind) react to the acidity is quite another. I had to step outside of it and make some choices. Driving home I decided to trek over to my neighbors and use their pool. Water and sunlight has an amazing ability to pull negative energy away. Swimming laps started to recharge me up.

I realized that I didn’t want to continue the status quo, and that shifting my internal chemistry was paramount to making a change. I'd been studying living foods, so I made a “green drink” including a huge bunch of parsley. A drink like this wasn’t new for me but they always look like something out of the alien bar in Starwars. I could feel it working right away.

One green drink and fifteen minutes of meditation later, I was ready to head back to a phone call with the project manager. With no acidity in my body and a peaceful mind, every aspect of the phone call got handled in an open way from my end. I’d managed to let go of attachment to the outcome. In the end the design prevailed with just a few changes, the project manager was surprisingly happy – she actually hired me again – and I’d learned an unforgettable lesson about my body chemistry and relationships.

Exercise Chemistry

Exercise can create acidity, the same kind that my body created interacting with that project manager. Up until exhaustion, our bodies are in a fairly alkaline state. Once exhausted, we release stored acidity (lactic acid). This acidity creates sore muscles and stiffness making recovery time from our workouts slower. When combined with an acidic diet for extended periods of time, acidity depletes our body’s natural alkaline reserve (think of it as a bank account). When this reserve is depleted, or goes bankrupt, parasites, yeast infections, viruses and cancers thrive. This includes Herpes Simplex II, kidney and urinary tract infections and Candida. And, we might find ourselves chronically stiff and sore.

Any form of exercise can push the body into an acidic state. If you’re healthy, strong, and in relatively good condition – great – go for it. Get that intense workout in, then go and replenish and restore your alkaline reserves. If you’re just starting, or are feeling weak and already acidic, start with a mild exercise program and build up slowly, and stay on the alkaline path.

Our bodies start to crave exercise once we get into a consistent program. It pumps our organs and glands and keeps our hormonal and digestive functions operating at their best. Exercise and alkaline forming foods can help us maintain a healthy alkaline-acid balance in our bodies.

“Generalized fatigue, weakness and 

malaise are the results of an overly acidic body.

These waste acids accumulate over years of too 

many acid foods, stomach malabsorption,

lack of water, and constipation." 

– Dr. Theodore Baroody

I figure that if we’re going to be kicking our butts at the gym, walking stairs instead of taking the elevator and eating to stay lean, we’d better keep an alkaline balance in mind as well. After all, what will we accomplish with all that work if our body slips into disease?

You probably stay away from people with “acid personalities” and have an idea of some acid forming foods such as coffee, alcohol, carbonated drinks, white sugar, peanuts, most ketchups, mayonnaises and mustards, bleached table salt, and vinegar (Don’t forget tobacco and drugs – prescription or otherwise). But do you wonder why people on a self-healing path eliminate all meats and fish from their diets? Meats and fish are acidic. There just aren’t any alkaline forming meats or animal fats.

Alkaline forming foods = energy

Acid forming foods deplete energy

Foods that contain the acid-binding minerals of magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium iron and manganese are usually alkaline forming. 

We all want abundant energy to fire us up at the gym, at work and in our personal relationships. If you want to get ripped, you have to be healthy. This is a list of some of my favorite alkaline forming foods. Dr. Baroody recommends a ratio of 80% alkaline forming to 20% acidic forming foods. It's a ratio to strive for. I usually make a morning and evening fresh lemon juice drink to help with the balance.  Try this Alkalizing Tonic:

Lemon juice (fresh), distilled water, pinch of cayenne pepper and a little sucanat or honey if you want it sweet. Drink as a tea or room temperature.

Alkalizing Foods

VEGETABLES

     ·      Kelp

·      Asparagus

·      Beets

·      Broccoli

·      Brussels sprouts

·      Carrots

·      Swiss Chard

·      Dandelion greens

·      Endive

·      Parsley

·      Seaweed

·      Pumpkin

·      Watercress

FRUITS

·      Melons

·      Strawberries

·      Dried dates

·      Grapes

·      Grapefruit

·      Kiwis

·      Lemons

·      Limes

·      Mangos

·      Papaya

·      Peaches

·      Pears

·      Pineapple

SUGARS

·      Brown rice syrup

·      Sucanat

·      Raw honey

·      Bronner’s Barley Malt

NUTS and SEEDS

·      Almonds

·      Chestnuts

·      Coconuts

·      Pignolias

·      Alfalfa

·      Radish

·      Chia

BEVERAGES

·      Parsley juice

·      Wheat grass juice

·      Carrot, celery and beet juices

·      Distilled water

BEVERAGES

·      Most herbal teas

·      Ginger tea

·      Ginseng tea

·      Comfrey tea

·      Fresh fruit juices

GRAINS

·      Amaranth

·      Millet

·      Quinoa

BEANS

·      Fresh green

·      Fresh lima

·      Fresh peas

·      Fresh Snap

·      Fresh String

STARCHES

·      Arrowroot flour

·      Essene bread

·      White sweet potato with skin

OILS

These oils are neutral to alkaline forming. 

Buy the freshest, cold-pressed, untreated as possible.

Rancid oils are unhealthy.

·      Almond

·      Avocado

·      Canola

·      Coconut

·      Olive

·      Sesamie

·      Soy

·      Sunflower

Train your Body, Train your Mind, Tame your Tongue.

An excellent reference book is Alkalize or Die by Dr. Theodore A. Baroody.

Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional or nutritionist. Never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your health care provider.