You may be wondering why you need ways to alkalize your body? Your body should have a nice pH balance but many of us cross the line over into excess acidity. Excessive acidity is linked to health issues such as weight gain, metabolism problems, indigestion, reflux and heartburn, which can lead to ulcers and pain in muscles and joints. According to the wellness community alkalinity is a better state of overall general health, so here are some ways to alkalize your body which should increase energy and vitality too.
One of the best ways to alkalize your body is to drink a large glass of water in the morning with the juice of a whole, large lemon. It sounds acidic, but because your body metabolizes it, the exact opposite happens and your body’s pH goes up (our bodies have an average pH of 7.4 – so in increasing alkalinity we are looking for that number to be higher). Drink plenty of plain water throughout the day.
Eat a big green salad for lunch. This is how to alkalize your body as greens have great levels of calcium, and calcium is an alkaline mineral. In chemistry, calcium is used to counter acidic chemicals. Add some lemon juice and olive oil to the mix to boost the positive effects of your lunchtime meal.
For a healthy snack during the day, a pack of unsalted almonds can carry you through to your next meal and help alkalize your body. Raw, unsalted almonds are full of healthy alkaline elements, like magnesium and calcium which, as well as tackling excess acidity, also help in balancing your blood sugar, which is especially good for diabetics.
Another of the great tips for alkalizing your body is to drink almond milk with a ‘green’ powder like chlorella. A berry smoothie with spirulina is another great option – especially with blueberries, because you then get a great hit of anti-oxidants too. These drinks are, again, filled with alkalizing substances. And by replacing cow’s milk with almond milk, you remove an acid-forming liquid from your diet.
A basic pillar of good health is exercise. There’s no getting away from it. No matter how good your diet is, you can’t avoid exercise. The good thing is one of the ways to alkalize your body is something as simple as a brisk walk. Consider parking a little further away from work and walk the rest of the way. By doing this, you move acidic waste out of your body.
It might feel good to guzzle a hamburger and fries at the local McDonalds on the way home, but meat is perhaps the worst acidic food you can consume. Meat leaves behind acidic residue as it’s digested. But, this guide on how to alkalize your body isn’t going to tell you to become vegetarian. A good way to go about this is to have one meat-free day every week.
In an ideal world, people would cut the refined sugars immediately. All those desserts and bottles of soda would disappear. To put it simply, it takes 30 glasses of water to neutralize one can of soda. Think of how much acidity an average American must have in their bodies. Try to cut down on fizzy drinks them as much as you can. Start small by just replacing some of your sodas with fresh fruit juices or better yet, water. An glass of ice cold water with a slice of lemon is a really refreshing drink.
Eating more veggies is one of many great tips for alkalizing your body. What matters most is the way you prepare your veggies. The easiest way to do it is to keep them as natural as possible. Sweeteners and butters are refined and processed ingredients with lots of acidity in them. Your vegetables won’t neutralize the amount of acidity in these additional ingredients, so you aren’t actually helping yourself. Steaming your veggies is also a great way of not only cooking healthily, but to discover the way a fresh veggie should taste.
So you can see, just a few minor changes to your diet can actually have a significant impact on the pH balance of your body. Try some of these ways to alkalize your body and start to feel the difference. Do you know of other ways to regulate your pH levels?