Since the human body is comprised of up to 70% water, our cells are basically swimming in fluids. Our bodies resemble the ocean in that 75% of our internal fluids are very close biochemically to seawater. Before laying eyes on this world you were swimming in amniotic fluid in Mom’s belly like a gill bearing fish. Health on a cellular level is contingent on your inner ocean being pristine, pure, and BALANCED, from the initiation of life! Our cells are likened to little children that need to be protected and nourished.
According to Dr. Robert O. Young, a renowned naturopath and author of ‘The pH Miracle’, “The pH level (the acid-alkaline measurement) of our internal fluids effects every cell in our bodies. Extended acid imbalances of any kind are not well tolerated by the body. Indeed, the entire metabolic process depends on a balanced, internal alkaline (pH balanced) environment. If left unchecked, it interrupts all cellular activities and functions from the beating of the heart to the neuron-firings of the brain.
In summary, over-acidification interferes with life itself leading to sickness and disease!” Even though some of Dr. Young’s views and theories on pH balance can be a bit radical, one size fits all, and overly restrictive, the majority of his principles are on point. As far as his restrictions on fruit consumption though, I have to disagree with him. Being that there are thousands of varieties of fruits and maybe 100-1000 types of each one, all with their own unique array of anti-oxidant like phytonutrients, I highly doubt our creator wanted us to avoid most of them as Dr. Young proposes!
Think of the body as a fish tank, and the cells as the fish. In actuality, the human body is very similar to a fish tank. Like fish, the cells require a certain pH to remain healthy and thrive. Just like fish, cells swim around, consume nutrients, and excrete waste products. When the fish tank is not well-maintained and the filters are not working properly, the water becomes overly acidic, oxygen levels become depleted, bad bacteria begin to flourish, the fish become susceptible to viruses and infections, and the water eventually becomes uninhabitable resulting in the premature DEATH of the fish! Human cells are no different. Some of us have fish tanks (bodies) that are barely able to support life, yet we somehow manage to struggle from day to day, building more severe imbalances until there is the inevitable crash.
When your acid cup is full the blood has no choice but to dump the excess into the tissues. Sooner or later you have to deal with the inevitable chronic, painful, inflammatory, persistent, and oftentimes debilitating symptoms and conditions that go along with the neglect. When the environment surrounding the cells is full of acidic waste due to improper maintenance, and the blood and elimination channels (filters) are overwhelmed, the cells basically starve from lack of oxygen and nutrients. They are now subject to the consumption of their own waste products, severely inhibiting mitochondrial cellular energy production, breeding the perfect environment for disease.
This substance in between or surrounding the cells is referred to as interstitial fluid which encompasses the interstitial space between the cells and the capillaries. When the blood reaches the capillaries, the liquid part of it squeezes through the capillary walls. Nutrients flow out of this tissue fluid into the cells and waste comes out of the cells back into the tissue fluid. Some of the fluid goes back to the blood plasma and the rest of the fluid, consisting of larger particles like proteins, fats, dead cells, other waste products, virus’s, and bacteria forms lymph fluid in the lymphatic system. Unlike the blood pH which needs to remain in its tight range to prevent sudden death, the interstitial and lymph fluid can become much more acidic. There is also twice as much lymph fluid as there is blood and it needs to be circulating well in its ideal pH range.
When the interstitial fluid and lymph become too acidic it directly impacts cellular respiration and the nutrient-toxin exchange. Resulting from environmental toxic exposure, and poor diet and lifestyle choices, the Lymph fluid can now drop from an optimal pH of 7.4 to a very acidic 6.2. This means that there is significantly less oxygen available in the lymph. As waste accumulates and oxygen levels decrease, the lymph stagnates creating the perfect environment for pathogenic yeast, fungi, and bacteria to proliferate. When the lymph empties back into the blood circulatory system at the thoracic duct, these pathogenic microorganisms can be dumped back into the bloodstream stressing the immune system further and lodging themselves in weaker areas of the body, increasing inflammation and acidity, initiating disease, and aging the body much more rapidly.
John Ossipinsky, LMT, Craniosacral and Certified Lymphedema therapist, and lymphatic expert believes there is just one state underlying ALL disease: lymphatic congestion caused by acid-alkaline imbalance in the body’s tissues. “He found that an acidic environment around the cells causes stress and a build-up of waste products that clog the lymph system, impairing its ability to move the waste out of the body. As the toxic waste builds up, the body may try to isolate waste in fatty tissue or leach minerals from the bone to neutralize it, but can easily be overwhelmed by the toxic load. This buildup of waste in your tissues is the basis of disease!” Ossipinsky tested the pH of his patients and found that 90 percent were acidic, with 43 percent HIGHLY acidic. He was able to dramatically improve the health of his patients by adopting an acid-alkaline balanced diet, by increasing lymph circulation with exercise, deep breathing, and hydration, and by actively reducing and managing stress in your daily life, and draining the lymph through therapeutic massage.
Basically, when pH levels are optimally balanced throughout the body, adverse inflammatory conditions will not exist, and disease will not have an opportunity to materialize. Dr. Theodore Baroody, D.C. N.D, Ph.D. Nutrition, C.N.C., and the author of Alkalize or Die, stated “The countless names of illness do not really matter. What does matter is that they all come from the same root cause, too much tissue acid waste in the body!”
On the same note, Sang Whang, a well-respected scientist and author of Reverse Aging, considered high acidity a major human demise, “degenerative diseases are the result of acid waste buildup within us. When we are born, we have the highest alkaline mineral concentration and also the highest body pH. From that point on the normal process of life is to gradually acidify. This is the reason why most degenerative diseases don’t take place during childhood or adolescence.” When you allow acidic waste and inflammation to buildup in the body, you not only age more rapidly, but you leave yourself at risk for a crap shoot of various health conditions. This makes pH balancing an UNDENIABLE fundamental facet in our overall health equation if you choose to be healthy!