Just recently, a 60years old male patient consulted me complaining of low back pain. During the consultation the patient revealed his dietary and social habits, of which all focused on a very acidic life style, ie, two packs of cigarettes daily, 6-8 cups of coffee with sugar, red meat, fries, shell fish and alcohol, plus, this man did not like drinking water.

If that wasn’t enough we could then add the high mental stress that was also part of this person's lifestyle, and that in its self is also highly acidic to the physical body. Excess mental stress produces acidosis.

Mental stress can be more devastating than physical stress, why? Because there is no rest period, the continuation of this stress produces chemical reactions within the body resulting in acidosis.

Acidosis produces dis-ease, or, in other words it is the catalyst for many medical problems,such as, cancer, high BP, diabetes, arthritis, gout, arterioscleroses, kidney disease, diarrhea/constipation, asthma, hay fever, allergies, headaches, psoriasis, eczema, indigestion/gas, obesity; tooth/gum disease; osteoporosis, leg cramps and even morning sickness.

In other words, you are the food you eat and the thoughts you think. Treating acidosis involves changing the patients pH balance, shifting it towards alkalinity.

All life processes are based on water. A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen,written as H2o. However,some molecules ionize into a hydrogen ion (H+) and a hydroxyl ion (OH-), in other words a positive and negative electron. Concentrations of H+ and HO- ions are always equal because each water molecule produces one of each. Hydrogen ions make a solution acid and hydroxyl ions are what make it alkaline, therefore pure water will always be neutral.

Alkalinity and Acidity : Ph is the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a solution or hydrogen ion activity. Acids are a primary product of metabolism. The physiological neutral point or pH norm is 7. pH is a scale used in chemistry to measure whether a substance is acid or alkaline.

The scale goes from 1-14 and as mentioned, 7 is neutral. A reading below 7 is acid and anything above 7 is alkaline. pH of 3 is highly acidic, whereas a pH of 13 would be highly alkaline.

The ideal pH range for saliva and urine is 6.0 – 6.8, indicating that the body is slightly acidic. Precise determination of a patients pH normally involves laboratory measurements of the ability of plasma from arterial blood to ‘take-up’ Co2. The optimum pH of extracellular fluid is 7.4. The body has several ‘buffering’ systems which take over as the pH moves away from its ideal-neutral value.

The maintenance of an alkaline pH is critical to cellular health. We live and die at cell level and in order to understand pH balance, it is necessary to realize that all of the cells in the body are alkaline and must maintain constant alkalinity, in order to produce acids that give us (ADP and ATP) high energy phosphate bonds.

As each alkaline cell performs its task of respiration, it secretes metabolic ‘acid’ waste, the end product of metabolism. The body has to neutralize and detoxify these ‘acids’ before they become toxic poison in and around the cells.

Alkaline cells are tiny bundles of enzymes performing an immense number of biological reactions that can only occur in a very special environment, working within very narrow pH margins and can only function when fluid is as close to neutral as possible.

With the western diet so high in acid forming foods, how does the body regulate these delicate balances? A simple way of looking at this is to compare fruits and vegetables as opposed to protein foods. Digestion oxidizes foods in much the same way as if they were burned. So when fruits and vegetables are digested, their ash residue will consist of alkaline mineral salts.

Fruits may taste acidic, but its ash residue is alkaline. Proteins on the other hand produce an ash residue consisting of phosphates, sulphates and nitrates, all of which are acidic. So the net effect of protein consumption is to increase acidity.

Acidosis - pH below 7.0 : The wide spectrum of clinical disturbances that characterise the varying stages of acidosis result primarily from: A dietary intake of too many acid ash foodstuffs (primarily protein). The use of too many stimulants, such as caffeine-sugar-alcohol-drugs and even synthetic vitamins.

As already mentioned, the physiological response to stress can and does increase systemic acidity, this is especially true in people who hold onto negative emotions and thoughts.

Many patients in acidosis typically eat too many expansive and/or contractive foods which cause a stress response with resultant acidity and progressive depletion of the body’s alkaline reserve. So what constitutes ‘good’ food. Well, a typical western diet is up to 75% acid forming, but the true body balance should be 75% alkaline and 25% acid. Therefore, your diet should be 75% alkaline forming.

Wholeness. Food should be as nearly complete and as close as possible to the form it was when it came from the garden or tree. Avoid fragmented, processed or instant foods.
Rawness. Although it is difficult to eat raw food exclusively, we can eat about 30% of our daily consumption raw. This amount will give the body material which it can use to make enzymes to digest the remainder of the foods.
Ash. A good 75% of the food you eat should have an alkaline ash residue, the other 25% consisting of grains, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, poultry.
Water. Pure bottled water has a pH of 7.4 – 7.8. It is essential that up to 2 litres of water are consumed daily,especially if living in a hot climate.

Eating alkaline has additional benefits in that it is naturally high in vitamins, minerals and fibre, low in sugar and fat. In fact, it is the ideal recipe for vitality.

Garnett B Symonds DO LCSP D. HOm (Med) HMD is an osteopath and a fellow of the British Institute of Homeopathy. Tel: 076 388 524 Email: info@garnettsymonds.com