Achieving and maintaining a proper pH balance in your body is vital to your health and well-being. In its natural state, the pH of the body is slightly alkaline. It must maintain this slightly alkaline state for your very survival, and has developed complex mechanisms to ensure that this balance is maintained. Most of us are natural alkaline producers in our early years. This is why many children can get away with eating an imbalanced diet and still be healthy and slender right up until they are in their twenties.

But as we reach our thirties and forties, the majority of us have become overly acidic. That's because nearly everything we are exposed to - foods, environmental toxins, even stress - contribute to an acidic condition in our bodies, and our natural buffer systems become less efficient over time at neutralizing that acid. We go from being in a more or less continuous alkaline state to having chronic excess acidity.

An imbalanced pH affects all cellular activity in the body. Having pH balance has the following benefits:

• Normalizes insulin and body weight
• Maintains proper cholesterol levels
• Promotes proper electrolyte acitivity and efficient heart function
• Normalizes blood pressure
• Protects against premature aging
• Promotes energy
• Promotes bone health, digestive health, and healthy immunity

Generally speaking, as far as diet goes, most vegetables and fruits alkalize, as do whey, yogurt, soybeans, almonds, buckwheat, millet and quinoa. All meats are acidic, as are rice, pastas, cheeses, soft drinks, coffee, alcoholic beverages, condiments, and most sweeteners except raw, unpasteurized honey.

Roughly 75 to 80 percent of your diet should consist of alkaline-producing foods. Making these changes in your diet will jump-start your health to whole new levels, as an alkaline body is more effective at warding off all kinds of infections and disease. As we have seen, several researchers now believe that chronic acidosis is a major contributing factor to insulin sensitivity problems that lead to diabetes, to the early formation of cancer, and to heart disease.

One of the best books on learning what foods to eat that alkalize and what foods to stay away from that are acidic is called "The pH Miracle" by Dr. Robert O. Young. Another good book is "Alkalize or Die" by Dr. Theodore Baroody.

Water is the driving force behind all forms of life. Our bodies are over 70 percent water and all of our body fluids contain it. Even the food we eat is predominantly made of water. Water adjusts the body's temperature and through urination and perspiration rids the body of toxins. Health authorities recommend that we drink at least 64 ounces (8 glasses) of water per day to attain proper hydration.

Most of us are dehydrated and dehydration can lead to great physical impairment. Dehydration is especially prevalent among men and women over forty years of age. For the body to function properly, it is imperative that it be properly hydrated.

Drinking enough water is vital, but it is important to know the type of water we are drinking. Tap water is treated with many chemicals like chlorine and flouride, which are toxins to the body. Many people drink spring water or bottled water, which is often purified through reverse osmosis, or distillation. However, many of the bottled waters on the market we have tested were actually acidic, as is distilled water. This is because when the minerals are removed the water loses its alkalinity.

The best water to drink is alkalized or ionized water, which is produced by running normal tap water over a positive (anode) and a negative (cathode) electrode. This creates positive and negative ions in the water that are then separated, creating two different waters, one that is alkaline and one that is acidic. To ionize simply means to gain or lose an electron. Basically, the ionization process robs an electron from one molecule and donates or transfers it to another molecule.

Alkaline and acid water, although very different, each have their benefits. Alkaline water is for flushing out internal toxins, scavenging free radicals, and oxygenating the body. Acid water, which is really a by-product of ionizing water, can be used externally for cleansing the skin, cleaning any surface and watering your plants.

There are a number of water ionizers on the market that can divide your tap water into acid and alkaline water. The water ionizers were developed in Japan in the 1950's and they were approved by the Japanese Government as "health improvement medical devices".

Water Ionizers

Water ionizers are the "cadillac" of reversing acidity, for not only do they alkalize, they also create water that has superior antioxidant abilities. According to Dr. Sherry Rogers, MD, and author of the book "Detoxify or Die", ionized water is such a good free radical scavenger that it performs as well as the primary antioxidant enzymes that the body makes, namely superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase.

And it does an even better job than SOD, because SOD produces hydrogen peroxide, which then has to be neutralized. Ionized water does not produce this unwanted free radical. As well, alkalized water suppresses genetic DNA breakage or mutation while it scavenges for more than four types of free radicals.

Thus, ionized water has several functions: It purifies the water, alkalizes the water, neutralizes free radicals, and protects the genes by preventing DNA damage.

The other great thing about a water ionizer is that you use it with ordinary tap water, giving you an endless supply of purified, alkaline antioxidant water. The drawback is that a water ionizer can be expensive. However, we have found a manufacturer who will give the readers of this web site a significant discount on the purchase of a water ionizer/purifier. The ionizer is called Akai Ionizer Plus® from Japan and imported by High Tech Health, Inc.

The Ionizer Plus® water has the reputation of being the best ionizer on the market. Many health professional recommend this brand of water ionizer to their patients and customers.

According to the manufacturer Akai®, the water from their ionizer is guaranteed to fix digestive problems in 30 days, by eliminating an overly acid condition in the digestive tract.

Sang Whang, the scientist who invented the AlkaLife® Drops, has written an excellent book called Reverse Aging, which is regarded as the original scientific thesis of the new theory of aging. He explains in technical terms how the benefits of drinking alkaline water can reverse many of our physiological symptoms, including disease and aging.

Reverse Aging is a 'must read' for anyone who is interested in the scientific approach to and the understanding of health.

Another effective alkalizing supplement which we ourselves were using until we purchased a water ionizer (alkalizing machine), is VAXA® Buffer pH™ Capsules. Besides balancing an overly acidic pH, Buffer pH™ also replaces minerals that have been drawn out of the body tissues to counteract over-acidity.

Växa Buffer pH capsules buffer overly acidic residues and remove them safely from the body, while replacing important minerals that may have been leached out of the bones and tissues by an overly acidic diet and lifestyle.

We have sampled several green drink mixes and found NewGreens™ to be the most potent and best tasting "greens drink" on the market.

NewGreens™ Organic Superfood Blend has the nutritional value of 10+ servings of fruits & vegetables in every scoop.

NewGreens™ is the most comprehensive and powerful green drink of its kind, containing 68 different super foods, antioxidants, fibers, probiotics, a gentle detox blend, and a healing enzyme blend.

NewGreens has been tested to be 3x more powerful than the leading "Green Drink" brands!

It tastes delicious and mixes easily, even in water, without clumping.

Suggested Use:

Add one scoop to 8 oz. of juice, water or your preferred milk such as rice or almond milk. Enjoy at least once a day!

Whether you are measuring your urine or saliva pH, all measurements should be done in the morning upon waking and before eating or drinking or brushing teeth. If you're charting your pH over the course of the day, then do the test between meals.

When your urinary pH is continuously between 6.7 in the morning and 7.5 by evening, you are functioning in the healthy range. Your saliva pH should always be between 6.4 and 6.8. To test for saliva pH, you can simply put the test strip in your mouth. Saliva pH is actually a better indicator of cellular or plasma pH for the body.

Urinary pH is a less accurate method for determining body pH unless you do a series of measurements throughout the day (4-5 tests) and over the course of several days (3-5 days). Urine pH can fluctuate depending on what you've been eating or drinking in the last 24 hours alone. In fact, you are only as acid or alkaline as the last foods and drinks that were ingested.

Now you might think that the best time to test the pH balance of your urine is first thing in the morning, since you haven't likely eaten. But actually the most accurate reading is taken on the morning's second urine, prior to eating or drinking.

Blood sugar rises when you are asleep - that's why some diabetics need to take
their blood sugar levels in the middle of the night. The first morning's
urine is always more acidic because of the increase in blood sugar levels.
By the 2nd morning's urine the pH levels begin to self regulate and readings can
be more accurate.

It is also important to know that urine pH can actually measure high (7.0 or higher) when the body is in a state of high acidosis (renal acidosis) or when the body is going through a detoxification phase. Therefore, taking only one reading for urinary pH is of little value. Also note, that a high salivary pH is also indicative of an overly acidic condition. Generally speaking, as urine pH declines and salivary pH increases, the more acidic your body becomes.

1. Healthy pH Values: Urine 6.7 - 7.5    Saliva 6.4 - 6.8
2. Slight to Medium Acidosis: Urine 5.0 - 6.0    Saliva 7.3
3. Highly Acidic: Urine 4.5 - 5.0    Saliva 7.5

Natural Products to Alkalize Your Body and Monitor Your Body's pH Balance

We've combined the pH balance products featured on this page into one convenient pack, and you save 10% off the list price!

The Alkalizing Support Pak includes the following items:

• AlkaLife® Alkaline Booster Drops
• NewGreens™ Organic Superfood Blend
• VAXA® Buffer pH™ Capsules

• (100) VAXA® pH Test Strips™
• Reverse Aging Book by Sang Whang

All the products on this page can be ordered from our secure shopping cart by clicking here.

To place your order by phone, call toll free 1-877-562-6039. International customers: call 520-877-2637.

1. Proper fat metabolism and weight control.
When the body is in its natural alkaline state, body weight and insulin production normalize. When we alkalize the body, it works so well at dropping excess weight that many of us lose weight just by eating more alkaline foods, and by adding alkalizing supplements to our diets.

2. Proper calcium utilization.
The body will do anything to maintain a balanced pH, including the leaching of important minerals like calcium, potassium and sodium from the tissues. To maintain alkalinity, the body first goes for sodium, then potassium, and then calcium. It literally leaches the calcium from your bones, making your bones porous and fragile. This is a major contributor to both osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

3. Appropriate cholesterol levels.
Balancing your pH helps to maintain proper cholesterol levels so that plaque does not form.

4. Controls cancerous cells.
Cancerous cells thrive in an acidic environment, and perish in an alkaline one. Cancerous cells simply cannot survive in an alkaline environment!

5. Proper electrolyte activity and efficient heart function.
Proper electrolyte activity is crucial to balanced energy levels.

6. Smooth blood flow.
Alkalizing helps to remove plaque from the arteries, veins, and heart tissue.

7. Healthy oxygen flow.
When we alkalize the bloodstream, it flushes toxins from tissues and protects against premature aging.

Frequently Asked Questions About pH Balance

What is "pH"?
The body is largely made up of water. This water can have either acid or alkaline properties which are measured by a graduated scale called pH (for "potential hydrogen"), wherein 1.0 to 6.9 is considered acidic, 7.0 is neutral, and 7.1 to 14.0 is alkaline. The lower the pH number, the greater the acidity, and the higher the pH number, the greater the alkalinity.

Why should I be concerned about my pH levels?
The pH level in our body has profound effects on all body chemistry, health and disease. Indeed, the management of pH is so important that the body has developed strict accounting procedures to monitor acid-alkaline balances in every cell. Extended pH imbalances are not well tolerated by the body – if the pH deviates too far to the acid side, cells become poisoned by their own toxic wastes.

Is an imbalanced pH really that dangerous?
Yes, indeed it is! Nothing does well in an overly acidic pH medium, least of all the human body! Just as acid rain can destroy a forest, an imbalanced pH continuously corrodes all body tissues, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like corrosives eating into marble.

An imbalanced pH leads to the progression of most degenerative diseases including cardiovascular disease (the #1 killer in the U.S.), cancer (the #2 Killer in the U.S.) and diabetes, as well as the never ending frustration of systemic weight gain.

What causes pH to become imbalanced?
Most diets cause an unhealthy acid pH. In fact, diet appears to the major influence in maintaining appropriate pH levels throughout the body. Certain foods are "acid-forming" in nature, including most meats, sweets and starches, and others are "alkaline-forming", including most vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits.

How do I test my body's pH?
One of the easiest ways to test the body's pH balance is to use pH test strips. You can get pH paper (also called hydrazine paper) in most drug stores; however, it sometimes lacks accuracy. The best pH test strips we have found are made by VAXA®, and they have the reputation of being the most accurate on the market.

By testing your pH with test strips, you can determine quickly and easily, in the privacy of your own home, what your pH is. They can be used to determine your urinary pH, which is generally a good indicator of how acidic or alkaline your total body pH is. When urinary pH is continuously between 6.5 in the morning and 7.5 by evening, you are functioning in the healthy range.

What are the benefits of rebalancing my body's pH?
When you rebalance your body's pH and make it more alkaline, viruses, bacteria, yeasts and other pathogens cannot survive. These microforms all need an acidic medium to survive and thrive. Think of a swimming pool – when the pH of the pool is kept within tightly controlled limits, bacteria, fungus, and algae cannot survive – and the same is true for your body. Degenerative diseases cannot gain a foothold in an alkaline environment, and body health and weight return to normal.

How do I rebalance my pH?
First, change your diet to include more foods that alkalize and less acidic foods – a large portion of your diet should consist of fresh vegetables and other alkalizing foods. Next, add supplements that alkalize to the diet to help your body return to a natural state of health.