Let's talk about balancing our pH. I think, that some of the information out there is confusing and some, as a result, leads to unnecessary fear. Although our bodies are designed to produce acid, we also have great mechanisms to combat the side effects of "life". We ingest food and liquids to nourish ourselves, but a number of different acids are formed and are released into our body fluids. We exercise to stay fit, but at the same time we produce acids, which need to be neutralized in order for us to take advantage of health-promoting benefits of physical exercise. We also need to produce energy within our cells, so our everyday metabolic activities produce a continous supply of acid and this is unavoidable. We are "designed" this way. And because we are this way, we also have mechanisms to maintain homeostatsis, to balance the acid by mechanism, which keep the acidity in check. There are three major mechanisms at work to prevent these forces from shifting the pH of our blood and maintain it at a narrow range of 7.35 and 7.45:
Buffer system (bicarbonate, protein and phosphate)
Exhalation of carbon dioxide
Elimination of hydrogen ions via kidneys
I believe, that most of us already learned about benefits of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Some of us ingest it to make sure that, we have enough supply to keep our bodies alkaline. In part, this is true. We can ingest sodium bicarbonate and see the positive effects on our bodies. Some athletes drink water containing high levels of bicarbonate ions to fight high levels of lactic acid produced during exercise. Some will ingest sodium bicarbonate to counter balance the high protein diet and this also has been shown to work. But why does this work?
This works, because bicarbonate buffer is the primary buffering system, that combats acidity in our bodies naturally. We produce it in various places and we have 20 times more bicarbonate than carbonic acid in our blood. As a result, we make sure, that we are capable of buffering the changes, that would make our blood acidic. I do not know if you know, but the stomach, pancreas and kidneys produce bicarbonate and there is some evidence, that liver can also produce it.
In the stomach, bicarbonate is secreted to aid digestion. At least half a gram of bicarbonate is secreted daily in our stomach. This production will be low in alkaline conditions and will rise in response to acidity. In healthy individuals, this adaptive mechanism will control the pH perfectly. People on high protein diet have tendency to have acidic urine, because the amounts of bicarbonate in our bodies often times cannot negate the high levels of digested proteins.
Pancreas is the next organ in our bodies, that produces bicarbonate. It produces bicarbonate to neutralize acids coming from the stomach, to provide the right environment for the pancreatic enzymes to be effective. Allergies generally start with the body's inability to produce a certain enzyme or to produce enough enzymes for the digestive process to work effectively. In conjuction with this is an inability to produce enough bicarbonate, essential for the pancreatic enzymes to function properly. When this happens, undigested proteins penetrate the bloodstream, contributing to the process, which is not health promoting.
A high acidic pH level puts the pancreas, liver and all the body's organs at risk. Because liver plays an important role in removing acid waste from the body as well as toxins, liver function is also particularly at risk, when acids accumulate. This means that, when the body is bicarbonate sufficient, it is more capable of resisting the toxicity of chemical insults. This also means that, if we are bicarbonate sufficient, we can protect ourselves from constant assault of noxious chemicals and radiation exposure, we are subjected to everyday in our water, food and air.
However, if our lifestyle promotes generation a lot of acid, which needs to be removed, neutralized, we need to spend a lot of bicarbonate. Although our kidneys can do that for us, because they can re-absorb bicarbonate, hence keep enough storage and they can also generate fresh bicarbonate to offset lossses, this mechanism starts to malfunction, when we over-indulge and start to put too much acid in our bodies.
I think that the lesson to be learned from this is that, high protein diet can potentially harm the stomach, pancreas, liver and kidneys, because it can affect the levels of bicarbonate ions in our bodies. Of course, we can generate them ourselves, however, if we need to spend more than we can produce, then the problems start. Put it simply, our bodies cannot handle the acid over-load for too long. This also means, that ingestion of sodium bicarbonate alleviates some of the problems, but it also means, that sticking to a diet containing alkaline food, like fruit and vegetables is health promoting. If we include fruit and vegetables in our food, we naturally reduce the acidity; hence, we ensure that bicarbonate produced by us will always be in an enough quantity, to combat our daily production of acid. There are scientific reports, which show that there is NO reasonable scientific basis in literature to support protein consumption above the current recommendation (0.8g protein/kg body weight/day). Unfortunately, our tendencies are not aligned with those guidelines.
But the most amazing mechanism we have to combat acidity is one, which is the simplest and the one which is ABSOLUTELY FREE! We can stay healthy and maintain the alkaline pH of our blood by simply breathing. This is true, because removal of carbon dioxide means, that we remove acids and increase levels of bicarbonate in our blood. Hence, proper breathing improves circulation and digestion, relives stress and helps cleanse our body of toxins. It improves digestion, because it maintains proper levels of bicarbonate in our intestines; it helps cleanse our body of toxins, because high levels of bicarbonate support our liver to work as efficiently as possible.
What has already been shown is that, breathing too rapidly can cause imbalanced pH condition by stimulating the nervous system to release too many stress hormones. On the other hand, shallow breaths cause an imbalnce by leaving the body oxygen-deprived and leaving excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the blood, leading to an overly acidic state. Therefore, deep diaphragmatic breathing is the medicine to a healthy pH balance. The trick to start this type of breathing is to completely remove carbon dioxide from the lungs. This in turn will activate diaphragm to take the full breath next time. Shallow breathing is always a symptom, that our pH levels are out of balance. For example, if a person is low on dietary high quality glucose, they do not need high amounts of oxygen for their energy production. Each time, when we deprive ourselves of oxygen by breathing in a shallow manner, we do not produce enough energy and we acidify our blood by not removing carbon dioxide from the lungs. In contrast, deeper breathing means more oxygen, less carbon dioxide, alkaline blood and more aerobic dissimilation.
For me, all this is good news, because it means that we can protect ourselves naturally from harmful effects of acid, we produce each day. It is especially good news, because personally I do not tolerate the taste of baking soda in my mouth. However, the popular spring water, Perrier, contains high levels of bicarbonate ions and it tastes great. So, we can opt for Perrier, if it happens, that we want to balance acid over-load, we created, whether from strenous exercise or protein-rich diet. In general, I think, that if we consiously include vegetables and fruit in our diet and try not to over-do on the proteins, our bodies will know instinctively how to keep us safe and healthy.
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