The Importance of pH Balance in Maintaining Good Health.
There are literally thousands of articles written on the importance of pH balance and maintaining good health. Some have incredible titles such as “Alkalise or Die!” Is pH balance just another passing health fad? I am pleased to say no; pH balance is essential for us to keep our whole body running optimally.
How does an acidic pH cause poor health?
Our bodies are very complex systems that use different messengers such as cytokines and hormones to regulate the interplay between cells and keep us healthy, along with enzymes that are found in many places throughout the body, including in cells themselves. Receptors for hormones and cytokines, as well as enzymes work best in specific pH ranges. If we develop an excess of acids in the body, often these key components no longer work optimally, and we experience poor energy levels and poor immune response.
As the body wants to maintain a pH to keep everything working well, it will do what it takes to balance its own pH every day. If we have been eating a lot of acid forming foods for a period of time, the body takes calcium from the bones, so it can buffer (decrease) the effect of acid in the blood; overtime this can weaken our bones, and leave us with less of the minerals we need to stay healthy.
Most of this acid is created by ingesting certain foods – see table 1. Keep in mind, it is not just about eating LESS acid forming food, it is about eating MORE alkaline forming foods in our diet (table 2). Remember though, 120grams of beef is a lot less to eat than 120grams of spinach leaves.

Table 1: Eight key acid forming foods:
Yellow cheese

Egg yolk

Prawns

Sardines
Brown rice

Lean beef

Wholemeal bread

coffee

Table 2: Eight key Alkaline forming foods
Raisins

Fresh Spinach

Dried Figs

Parsley
Celery

Carrots

Kale

Banana

Many people are shocked that healthy foods that should be included in our diet are acid forming. Remember though, this is about balance. If you find out that you are eating some foods very regularly that increase acid in the body, then you need to commit to eating more alkalising foods every day.

Above article written by Paul Kern ND
Paul has been a practicing Naturopath for the past 21 years.Since 1998 he has been delivering highly informative seminars to Doctors and Naturopaths throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as maintaining a busy private practice and lecturing to students at colleges around Australia.