 The Importance of
Monitoring Your pH
by Smokey Santillo, N.D.
May 11, 2010
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The Importance of Monitoring Your pH
| In my last article I explained
three eight hour cycles our body expresses. Along with that was shown a
meridian/organ clock describing when each organ's activity is dominant.
This
article is going to demonstrate how to monitor your pH and aid the body in
keeping these cycles true to nature. This will result in keeping all chemical
and physiological activities in balance.
Nothing is more important than this.
Your digestion, hormonal balance, insulin balance, oxidation (burning of
foods), detoxification, nutrient absorption, enzyme and glandular secretions
are all related and closely attuned to your pH.
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What
Does pH Mean?
| pH simply means the potential of a
solution (body fluids) to accept hydrogen ions. The solutions or fluids we're
concerned about here are the blood, urine, and saliva. By monitoring your
saliva and urine, it will give you plenty of information about what's going on
inside your body.
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How pH Works in the Body
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- The pH scale runs from 1 to 14. Seven
is the neutral point and is alkaline. Going up the scale from 7 to 10 is
alkaline; anything below 7 is acidic. This is a logarithmic scale which means
that it increases and decreases by a factor of 10. For example, 8 is 10 times
more alkaline than 7; 9 is 100 times more alkaline than 7. A pH of 4.5 is 10
times more acidic than 5.5. The pH changes up and down the scale by multiples
of 10.
- The slightest change causes alterations in our chemical reactions inside
and outside our cells. This, in turn, can upset our natural eight hour cycles.
If we're too acidic for a long time, three days or more, we're burning too fast
and our adrenals can get exhausted. If we're too alkaline for a lengthy period,
our chemical reactions are too slow. Then we get sluggish, resulting in
toxicity, slow digestion, fermentation, candida, and inflammation.
- Our pH is not static; it should be
dynamic, meaning it should swing and change throughout the day. Vegetarians get
this idea wrong when they think they always have to be alkaline. Eating too
much fruit in the morning causes a rapid swing toward alkalinity. Your pH
should change slowly toward alkalinity later in the day. This is why low stress
proteins and vegetables with a little oil give us a slow release of both
proteins, which are acidic, and vegetables, which are alkaline, so we don't
crash and burn on too much sugar. If we eat refined sugars like sugary cereals,
candy, alcohol, ice cream, and other sweets, we get a huge insulin spike
(increase), the sugar gets stored as fat, resulting in low blood sugar, and we
experience fatigue. Fruit is a category of its own and should be eaten later in
the day as a snack or as a meal, not early in the morning. These are general
rules to follow if you're having problems. Obviously, once in awhile, we all
can handle fruit at anytime.
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Our digestive enzymes are strongest
during the early part of the day, so it's best to eat our more concentrated
foods during our morning cycle.
- Optimum
pH for urine and saliva would be between 6.4-6.8. On the average (I'll show you
in a minute how to average), we like to keep it between these numbers. It will
swing lower (acidic) or higher (alkaline), but this is why we take averages.
- If
we're acidic for a long period of time, the body uses alkaline minerals like
calcium from the bones and potassium from our muscles to restore balance. This
calcium loss can lead to osteoporosis and diabetes. If we're too alkaline for
long periods, we have digestive problems, flu, bacterial, and viral infections.
It can be tricky, because our body will overcompensate. You can be too alkaline
because your body has been acidic for so long, it's stealing mineral reserves
from all over your body which, in turn, gives us an alkaline pH, so we think
we're alkaline, but we're really acidic. If the body is dominant too long, it
switches to the other side. This is the law of cause and effect.
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we're too acidic, we're into a catabolic (tearing down tissues) state. If we're
too alkaline, we're into an anabolic (building up tissues, renewing the body)
state. We need a balance. This is what's wrong with staying on anabolic
testosterone (steroids) for too long of a period of time. Always keep
moderation and balance in mind. If you monitor, you will know for sure. For an
extensive monitoring system, see my book, ProMetabolics.
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How
to Measure Urine and Saliva
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Get your pH paper from drug stores,
health food stores, or Mountain State Health Products (1-800-647-0074). Test
your urine and saliva three times per day for three consecutive days starting
around 8 a.m., between 2 to 4 p.m., and at 8 p.m. between or before meals. You
only need to do this once a month.
- Wet
your pH paper with saliva by putting it in your mouth. Wait 15 seconds, then
remove the pH paper, match the color of the pH strip with the color code
provided. Write it down. Urinate on another strip, or urinate into a small
container. Dip the strip in and repeat the procedure. Write it down. Average
the results. For example, take saliva readings of say 6.3, 6.0, and 5.5, total them to get 17.8,
then divide by 3 (the number of days), to arrive at the average pH of 5.9 for
saliva. This person's saliva is acidic. Do the same for urine.
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saliva tells you what is occurring in the blood, what the body is retaining
(toxins or minerals), indicative of your alkaline reserves. Your urine is
trying to maintain proper pH. It tells you if you're anabolic or catabolic. If
you're too acidic, you're breaking down (catabolic) and you need more alkaline
mineral reserves. If you're too alkaline, it's just the opposite; you're too
anabolic. You should be more acidic in the morning and gradually drift to
6.8-7.0 later in the day. Remember movement; you should swing with your eight
hour cycles. In the last article, I explained our eight hour cycles. Don't be
concerned unless you're stuck at one end of the pH scale for a long period.
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Eating
to Control Your pH
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The
key here is to: Eat the right foods at the right time. Remember to eat low stress proteins with
vegetables. Eat fruit later in the day. Control your pH; this will improve oxygenation
of the cells, hormonal and blood sugar control, insulin and enzyme secretions.
See Power of Nutrition with Enzymes. Avoid refined carbohydrates.
- Getting
carbohydrates for cellular food is no problem. Vegetables, slowly cooked grains
and starchy vegetables like potatoes, yams, Jerusalem artichokes, peas, rice,
boiled beans, and rutabaga are examples. All greens and lettuces are
non-starchy. Broccoli and cauliflower are my favorites and need to be slightly
steamed.
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meats, dairy, tofu, and fish are considered high stress proteins and need more
enzymes to digest and a longer period of time to assimilate. If you use them,
keep them at a minimum.
- Low
stress proteins are tempeh, sprouts, fermented soy products, sesame tahini,
scallops, miso, soaked nuts which are blended and added to salad dressings,
sprouted beans, cottage cheese, feta cheese, chlorella, spirulina, organic
chicken without the skins, fish, and slow, cooked eggs with the yolk.
I
hope these lists help both the vegetarian and mixed food eater. Pick and choose
what foods you want. The main thing is to stay with nature's cycles. They are
innate and perfect. What good is taking all types of supplements if your cycles
are forced to adapt to improper and stressful eating?
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NEW Book Release!
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Dr. Smokey Santillo's NEW book release! "The POWER of Nutrition with ENZYMES" Copyright April 16, 2010
Now available!CLICK HERE for more information.. |
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