Acidosis is the outcome when our pH becomes overly acid. The pH balance of our internal cells and fluids can effect every process in our body. Of these fluids, the blood is perhaps the most important. In a similar way that you body will do whatever it takes to regulate your body temperature, it will also do the same to ensure a slightly alkaline pH in the blood.
The body will literally go to whatever lengths necessary to ensure that the blood retains this pH level, including wreaking havoc on other tissues, bodily functions and systems (such as digestion, lymph and cardiovascular).
Modern medicine considers normal blood pH to be between 7.35 and 7.45. Even very small changes can be deadly. If the pH drops below 7.2 or goes over 7.6, you'll probably die quickly.
A pH below 7.35 is defined as acidosis; over 7.45 means that your body is in alkalosis. Either one is an indication of severely bad health, but we hear about acidosis because it's far more common.
Acidosis leads to a host of chronic disorders, including acne, eczema, cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, psoriasis, kidney failure, fatigue, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, premature aging, and more. In other words, acidosis is often the underlying problem of most modern chronic diseases.
What Acidosis Isn't As you're probably aware, a healthy body is in a state of homeostasis. That is, it's in equilibrium. There are several balances that must be kept, including magnesium-calcium, sodium-potassium, and acid-base. The single most important balance—the one that will cause your body to sacrifice everything else in an attempt to bring it back into harmony—is acid-base.
This has nothing to do with the acid in your stomach. You can—in fact, you must—have a very high level of gastric acid; it needs to be as strong as battery acid. The acid-base balance that's so critical to life is in your body's fluids, most obviously the blood. Inadequate gastric acid can, in fact, lead to acidosis by preventing adequate food absorption.
The Cause of Acidosis The primary cause of acidosis is poor diet, which is, of course, rampant in today's world. Unfortunately, even many people who think they're eating well suffer from an acid-base imbalance, resulting in an acidic system: acidosis.
The pH balance is critical because it's basic to virtually all cellular activity. When it's off-kilter, primary cellular functions cannot take place. Hydrogen is a highly reactive atom that's found throughout the human body. It readily combines with other atoms, and is, therefore, a basic factor in the chemical reactions of metabolism.
As microbiologist Dr. Young states:
The pH level of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies. The entire metabolic process depends on an alkaline environment. Chronic over acidity corrodes body tissue, and if left unchecked will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neutral firing of your brain. In other words, overacidity interferes with life itself.
Every area of the body that is designed for regulatory processes, including breathing, circulation, digestion and hormone production works to ensure that the body maintains this internal acid/alkaline balance. This stress that the body is put under in trying to regulate it’s internal environment manifests itself in many responses that we know as illnesses and disease including acne, eczema, osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, premature ageing, loss of hair, brittle nails, mental health problems, liver disease, kidney failure, psoriasis, fatigue, frequent coughs and colds, PMS, mood disorders, obesity, Type II diabetes, athletes foot, low sex drive, dizziness etc etc etc.
These problems are often a mix of the stress that the body gets put under because of the ingestion of acidic foods and effects of the acidic lifestyle and also a reflection of the body’s effort to rebalance/repair itself. For instance, when the body becomes overly acidic, in order to retain a slightly alkaline blood pH the body will leach calcium from wherever it can take it (usually our bones) and voila – osteoperosis is now significantly more likely.
However, when the acid overload gets too much for the body to balance, excess acid is dumped out into the tissues (to keep it out of the blood). Then the lymphatic system steps in to remove whatever it can. But this is not the answer either, as in trying to remove the acid, the lymphatic system puts the acid waste straight back into the blood. Further, if the lymphatic system gets overloaded the acid just stays where it is – in our tissues.
Another way that the body tries to rid itself of acids is through the skin – which is when problems in this area can occur such as eczema, headaches, cramps, acne, boils, irritation, swelling, inflammation, excess oils, rosecea and other skin/nail/hair problems.
Once acid wastes build up in our bloodstream – our circulatory systems will try to get rid of them through our lungs and kidneys and then excesses are just dumped into our organs including the heart, liver and colon OR the acid wastes are left in our fatty tissue in the breasts, hips, thighs, bellies and worst of all – in our brains. This problem has also been called the ageing process!
Staying Alkaline
The single biggest thing we can do to help our bodies to maintain an alkaline balance is to feed it with alkaline food and drink and to live an alkaline producing lifestyle (regular exercise, lots of sunlight, lots of laughter, lots of water and as little stress as possible!).