Alkalinize or Die… Really?
I had lunch yesterday at a local Vegan restaurant called Cafe Gratitude. I happened to be there while an “Alkaline Water” distributor discussed the benefits of “Alkaline Water” and therefore his product.
Being a Registered Nurse and having worked in hospitals for over a decade, I have the opportunity to actually SEE the pH of the blood and urine of many people close up and personal.
So, I already had a lot of questions with the inconsistencies of the argument- and the sales pitch at the cafe brought even more to mind when a serendipitous event occurred.
I came home immediately after the water talk to find This Article about Alkalinizing in my inbox and it inspired me to share my experiences that echo those of Dr. Ben Kim.
Inconsistency #1: You can alkalinize your body through eating
The body maintains a VERY tight pH range of the blood between 7.35-7.45 and it STAYS in that range. Anyone who is even REMOTELY out of that very tight range is SICK!!
I’m talking in the ICU kind of sick. These people are often on IV medications to keep their blood pressure from being too low, they have an overwhelming infection, or they are on (or close to) having to be on life support… I’m talking SICK!
When patients are on life support and their blood is acidic at all- under 7.35- then the remedy for that is to turn the breathing rate up- voila! An easy fix for acidic blood.
So, if breathing faster can make you more alkaline in a matter of seconds or minutes- why the obsession with the foods that you eat. This health trick is very well known in Eastern Traditions, although it is not well known in the West.
If you REALLY want to be alkaline, then EXERCISE-go for a run, Learn QiGong , or even just sit and breathe fast!!!
Inconsistency #2: Lemon Juice vs Coca Cola …
The alkaline water presentation starts out with showing you the pH of a bunch of drinks- tap water, tea, soda and of course- their water.
They go on to show how ‘bad’ sodas are because they are so acidic. But what they DON’T put on display is lemon juice. Lemon Juice and Sodas both have a pH of about 3- that’s VERY acidic.br>
Yet EVERY resource on alkalinizing your body states that lemon juice, while acidic- somehow alkalinizes your body!
Now, I don’t know about you, but this sounds like nonsense to me.
Acid is acid.
Lemon juice doesn’t have any magical properties where ITS acid is different than OTHER acids.
Inconsistency #3: Alkaline water is good- antacids are bad…
Most folks who are educated about natural medicine will tell you that antacids are bad for you. The stomach is SUPPOSED to be a highly acidic environment. Manipulating that environment with antacids can cause all sorts of problems- from not killing the pathogens in your food to not absorbing calcium and Vitamin B-12.
Another interesting problem in the alkaline water argument is that most alternative practitioners will actually recommend Hydrochloric Acid tablets to people who have heartburn or who have trouble digesting food!
So, if the remedy for poor digestion is actually MORE acid- also the reason why it’s good to drink dilute lemon juice or apple cider vinegar- then why in the heck would you drink alkaline water at the same time!?
So while the acid/alkaline balance argument is full of holes…. HOWEVER, the METHODS that they use to support the argument, except for drinking alkaline water or taking baking soda, are completely valid.
Let me explain…
Eating the right foods- fruits, vegetables, whole grains etc makes a HUGE difference in your health. And Food-Based Healing to Reverse Disease, as is the basis of the alkalinity argument, SHOULD be the PRIMARY method of healing in our culture.
But sadly, we still rely on harmful pharmaceutical drugs to “manage” illness, when they don’t actually get to the ROOT of the problem.
Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner
http://www.easy-immune-health.com
Resources:
Food-Based Healing: Conquering ANY Disease
Learn QiGong. RN’s, LMT’s and AP’s get 32 CEU’s
David Wolfe’s Sunfood Nutrition Program
Tags: alkaline water, alkalinize, food for healing, get exercise
Mary Herman
I liked what you posted. I’ve actually heard a lot about alkaline water recently and hadn’t done any research to see what I really thought… you bring up good points! Good read!
John Perkins
“Yet EVERY resource on alkalinizing your body states that lemon juice, while acidic- somehow alkalinizes your body!”
I like your article and agree that proper foods and exercise seems to always be the trick. But from what I read it is not lemon juice but to put a real lemon squeezed into luke warm water. It apparently raises the alkalinization of the water and has several positives besides;
Lemons are antiseptic
Lemon water has excellent digestive properties and can ease heartburn, bloating and other digestion problems
Lemon water cleanses and stimulates the liver and kidneys
Lemon juice contains calcium, magnesium and potassium
Lemon juice has been known to relieve asthma
Lemon water (hot) offers relief from cold and flu symptoms while providing some much needed Vitamin C
Lemon juice is a great skin cleanser
From personal experience I have seen a difference in my health, for better, when I include a little lemon squeezed into my water. Maybe that should be a regular part of the balanced diet. I do agree that Coke is not good from the scientific point and from personal experience as well, especially as I get older.
Thanks for bringing the subject to my attention.
John
Kerri Knox, RN
While I agree with you about the benefits of lemon juice, I challenge you to do that experiment. Put acid lemon into water and see if it turns alkaline…. not possible!!
The benefits of lemon juice have to come from something OTHER than the alkalinity…
Just because something is good for you doesn’t mean that it has to be because it alkalinizes the body…. it can provide certain vitamins, minerals, trace elements, etc….
Anyone, anyone….why is lemon juice good for the body?
John Perkins
You are right, it is not possible at that point just to put it in water. It is once it is consumed that it changes its properties to Alkaline. This is the formula that has been noted in research;
Na2CO3 + H2O —> 2NaHCO3
HCO3- + H2O —> H2CO3 + OH-
2(Na+)2O22- + 2H2O —> 4Na+OH-+O2
The benefits of Lemon I already pointed out. However, this does not mean that Alkalinity is a part of that benefit. I think that they have not yet discovered all the benefits and are exploring them…. just as they had the egg & coffee. All I know personally, since I am not a scientist, is that I feel better with a little lemon in the water. It will be interesting to see what science comes up with in the future as far as results on this subject.
Kerri Knox, RN
I’m just sitting here at Whole Foods drinking a Ginger Kombucha and thinking of this conversation. Kombucha tea, and pretty much most things that are cultured or fermented are quite acidic- yet considered very good for you!
I keep being temped to get some pH strips and check all of these things out and report back on my little experiments.
John Perkins
We’d be all the smarter for your kind work.
Kerri Knox, RN
So this alkaline myth was debunked already by a dentist named Weston Price in the 1920′s. He traveled around the world studying groups of people who had no contact with outside food.
He even took samples of their foods and determined the alkaline and acid content of the foods.
Most of these people had not ONLY perfect health, but no cavities and – interestingly- perfectly STRAIGHT teeth with NO IMPACTED WISDOM TEETH.
He determined that many of these peoples had EXTREMELY acidic diets and yet did not get so much as a cold. A wonderful example were the Masai in Africa who eat virtually nothing but beef, cow’s milk and cow’s blood- EXTRAORDINARILY acidic.
Yet the Masai were huge warriors with impressive physiques and most were close to 7 foot tall and were in perfect health.
So, don’t believe acid vs alkaline. It makes no sense. What health has to do with it pure healthy, nutritious, fresh, local, unprocessed food.
That will make you healthy, not ‘acid or alkaline’ anything.
Kerri Knox, RN
Functional Medicine Practitioner