Maintaining a proper pH balance in your body is crucial to your overall health and well-being. Most functions in the body are influenced by pH (the level of acid or alkaline). Healthy enzyme and hormone systems and our blood’s ability to carry oxygen all depend on an alkaline pH. Together, these systems impact our overall health.

Here are 5 things you should start doing to help your body maintain a healthy pH level:

1. Test your body pH. When we start to talk about achieving and maintaining a healthy pH balance, you first need to understand how acidic your body is. Ideally, you should test slightly alkaline, around 7.35 – 7.45 on the pH scale.

2. Eat Alkaline. Living an alkaline lifestyle is a choice – it’s choosing a raw salad over that convenient fast food meal. Too much junk food wreaks havoc on your body and contributes to an acidic state. You can incorporate fruits, nuts, legumes and lots of vegetables in your diet to start.

3. Reduce the acidic foods you eat. It’s obvious that fast food and a bag of potato chips are on the no-no list.

Here are some additional acidic foods you should stay away from:

Processed Food
Meat, poultry, & fish
Dairy
Eggs
Grains

4. Manage your stress levels. Stress causes cortisol to be released in our body. Excess Cortisol creates an acidic imbalance and causes our buffering system to work overtime. And it doesn’t have to be high-level stress. Scientists have shown that low-level stress, over time, has the same effect. Find a way to relax – take up a hobby like photography, start a garden, or pet your dog! A 2001 study [1] found that high blood pressure patients who owned pets could keep their blood pressure lower during times of stress.

5. Drink alkaline water! Roughly 70% of your body is made up of water. Alkaline water has a higher pH than plain tap or bottled water. Alkaline water helps to improve vital function, decrease oxidative stress, helps to modulate blood pressure, curb hunger pangs, metabolize fat and more. Not to mention, alkaline water helps keep your body at that ideal 7.35 – 7.45 pH range.

Hydration tip: There are lots of bottled alkaline water on the market today. Essentia, Flow, Alkaline 88, and others. However, Bottled water can contain micro-plastics and are not beneficial to the environment. The best way to get alkaline water is from an,

alkaline water filtration system. ->(to the shop)