Balancing Your pH

Most of you know that I am working through a course in naturopathy. My latest course is a doozy with a book titled Biologic Ionization. Doesn't that sound fun! It was actually a little more than I bargained for at first, but now that I am almost done it really has been enlightening.

The book describes Reams testing which is all about interpreting your saliva and urine pH to tell where on the acid/alkaline spectrum your body resides. (I'm totally simplifying this.) In a Ream's test which is based on the saliva and urine, the pH should be about 6.4. Why is this important? PH is a measure of resistance. In other words, the pH number tells us how fast or slow energy is moving in the body. Anything above 6.4 means the resistance is too high and energy is moving too slow; anything below 6.4 means that resistance is too low and the energy is moving too fast. When energy is moving too fast or too slow, chronic disease and degeneration of the body begins.

There is a lot of talk about alkalizing your body today. There are even alkaline waters available at most health food stores. This may seem confusing when you note that I said above that the optimal body pH in a Ream's test is 6.4. Again note that this is the pH of the urine and saliva. Blood's pH average is 7.4 which is alkalinic. (The pH scale is from 1 to 14. 7 is neutral. Anything below 7 is considered acidic and anything above is alkalinic.)

Why do we just assume that we need to alkalize more and not try to acidify our bodies? We probably shouldn't just assume, we probably should have some simple tests done, but most assume this because of the Standard American Diet. A large part of what our population eats is processed food, meat, dairy, and fast food. All of these foods are highly acidic. Therefore if you eat a large portion of these types of foods throughout the day, you can assume your pH is probably too acidic. Fruits, vegetables, and some grains move your pH in the alkalinic range and we should be concentrating on eating a large portion of these types of foods.

What are some other ways to shift our pH in the more alkalinic range?

• Drinking lemon water. Add about 1/2 to 1 ounce of fresh lemon juice to every 10 ounces of water and drink throughout the day.


• Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables throughout the day.


• Green Drinks such as freshly juiced lettuces or powders such as barley green, spirulina, greenzone, or manna.


• Fresh watermelon or even freshly juiced watermelon. Yum!

A Ream's test tells so much more than just the pH. It really gets to the bottom of your body chemistry by providing information on total carbohydrate, pH, conductivity, cell debris, nitrate nitrogen & ammonia nitrogen. From this information a very detailed nutritional healing program can be developed just for you. I would highly recommend having this test done and I look forward to finding someone to perform this test on me soon. I would also like to find a weekend soon where I can take the seminar that provides the training and certification to perform this testing myself.

There is so much great information and natural healing out there. When I read a book like Biological Ionization by Dr. Alexander F. Beddoe, I realize that I've barely scratched the surface in my journey to understanding health and wellness.

Karla