pH
Measuring pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of a substance when dissolved in water.
This pH chart lists foods that increase pH (alkaline-forming food) and decrease pH (acid-forming food). PH measures the acid and mineral content of your diet. This can be easily done by measuring your saliva pH. Most Fruits and vegetables measure as acidic, but digestion of most fruits and vegetables actually increase your pH. Most animal foods generally measure as alkaline, but digestion of animal food lowers your pH.
Elements in food also increase or decrease your pH. Carbon and chlorine lower pH and are acid-forming elements. Potassium and magnesium raise your pH and are alkaline-forming minerals. Remember that elements mined from the Earth are called minerals, so several elements (in nutrition) are sometimes referred to as elements and other times minerals.
There are several reasons why a food would decrease your pH. Proteins are broken into amino acids which also lower your pH. Uric acid forms from the break down of nucleic acids (RNA, DNA) in food. A number of elements also lower pH (acid-forming elements). Certain acids found in some foods can’t be broken down in human digestion and so lower your pH. All food contains nucleic acid. Since animal food contains a lot of protein, people who eat animal food tend to have a lower pH. The carbon in soda also significantly lowers pH.
Fruits and vegetables contain enough alkaline-forming minerals (calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium) to counter acid-forming food. acid-forming metabolism and increase pH.
In general, whether a food is acid-forming or alkaline-forming, depends on it protein content, indigestible acid-content, and element content.
The purpose of the chart below is to help you with basic rules for what to eat more of and less of to keep your pH around 7.0. After reading through this chart realize that a chart that gives you the pH of plant and animal food is useless. You need to know which foods are acid-forming (push your pH down) an which are alkaline-forming (push your pH up).
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Acidosis | Acidic | 7 |
Alkaline | Alkalosis | 14 |
| Acid-forming Elements: chlorine phosphorus carbon sulfur iodine hydrogen |
Alkaline-forming elements: calcium sodium potassium magnesium selenium |
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| Most fruits and many vegetables measure as acidic but . . . |
are alkaline-forming because during digestion the acids are broken down, leaving only the the high potassium content, which is alkaline-forming. But prunes and cranberries are alkaline-forming because they contain acids human digestion can not break down. The amount of these indigestible acids out weighs the alkaline-forming potassium content of prunes and cranberries. |
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| Animal Food Foods: During digestion nucleic acids (RNA, DNA) are broken down (metabolized) to uric acid. Animal food and some plant foods (legumes) are high in protein. Proteins are broken down to amino acids. These two acids pull pH down more than the amount of alkaline-forming minerals in these foods bring pH up. |
The exceptions are animal foods very high in alkaline-forming minerals. Milk is alkaline-forming. |
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| The pH of the “foods” or substances below affect the body in the same way the measure for acidity. |
The pH of the “foods” or substances below affect the body in the same way the measure for alkalinity. | |
| Iodized salt (table salt) decreases pH only a little due to its iodine content. |
Canning salt raises pH because it doesn’t contain iodine. Canning salt is great for helping increasing pH (maybe too great for some) but iodine should not be avoided because it is a nutrient and is necessary for healthy thyroid function. |
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| Soda pH: 2.5 - 5.5 A few sips might be “refreshing” but after that there’s nothing positive to say about soda. Soda is the worst food there is for the body. |
The pH of tap water should
be between 7 and 8. Chlorine is often added to tap water to protect you from insect spread of disease but also pushes pH of tap water down. Those inexpensive activated charcoal filters remove chlorine (just before you drink the water) and are a good investment in your health. You’ll benefit more from throwing your money in a fire pit and feeling the warmth than buying bottled water. |
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| pH of wine: ~ 3.2 If you’re going to drink wine, drink red wine. |
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| Nutrient supplement form ends with “acid” then the supplement is acid-forming: ascorbic acid (vit.C) has a pH of only 2.2 |
Mineral form ends with “ate” then the mineral supplement is alkaline-forming: calcium citrate zinc picolinate Alkaline forms of vitamin C: sodium ascorbate magnesium ascorbate |
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| Acid forming nuts: peanuts walnuts |
Alkaline-forming nuts: almonds chestnuts |
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| Non Food Acid Extreme: Battery acid pH 1.0 |
Non Food Alkaline Extreme: Drain cleaner pH 13 |
This Chart identifies specific foods by their affect on body pH.
Updated Often | © 2008 | actualcures@gmail.com
