Give Your Cells More Oxygen by Living the Alkaline Lifestyle

If you are stressed, emotionally down, physically tired, suffering from allergies or frequent colds, and you spend all your time either at work or lazing at home, chances are your diet contains a surplus of white bread and pasta, meat, dairy, coffee or tea with milk and sugar, and soft drinks.

A naturopath will tell you this not from clairvoyance, but from the simple knowledge that this diet is extremely acidic.

An acidic diet creates an acidic, oxygen-starved body, and an acidic, oxygen-starved body suffers from the aforementioned symptoms.

The amount of acid in the body is measured on the pH scale, with zero to 6.9 being acidic and 7.1 to 14 being alkaline. The body works hard to maintain a pH of 7.4, which is moderately alkaline.

At the chemical level, pH stands for potential of hydrogen. An acid has many hydrogen ions, while an alkali has few hydrogen but many oxygen ions. Let’s do some easy chemistry to see where the oxygen in an alkali comes from:

A water molecule contains two hydrogen and one oxygen atom; remember h2o?

Some water molecules split up. Some of these split molecules lose one of their hydrogen ions and thereby become hydroxide ions,  which are particularly oxygen-rich.

The hydrogen ions that they lose unite with other water molecules to form hydrogen ions, or h3o, which are accordingly particularly hydrogen-rich and oxygen-deprived.

An alkali has lost many hydrogen ions and therefore contains a lot of oxygen-rich hydroxide (step 3). Mix it with your blood, and your blood will also contain a lot of oxygen-rich hydroxide.

An acid has many lost hydrogen ions that it wants to donate (step 4). Mix it with your blood and your blood becomes a hydrogen-rich oxygen-deprived acid.

70 per cent of the human body consists of water, which makes it especially sensitive to the balance between hydrogen and hydroxide ions in your food and drinks.

You can therefore bring about large shifts in your body’s acid or alkaline levels through your choices of which foods to consume.

All living cells need oxygen to survive, and this is something all of us understand. During a stroke, when the brain’s oxygen supply is cut off, brain cells die. A heart attack occurs when the heart’s blood and oxygen supply is cut off and the heart muscles die.

An alkaline body, therefore, facilitates the healthy life of all its cells while an acidic body starves its cells of this life-giving element. This means that cells live longer and perform their functions better when plentiful oxygen is available.

Oxygen is required for the burning of material throughout the body that would otherwise be stored, a process known as metabolism. This burning process also supplies your body with its energy and heat. An alkaline body thus not only clears piles of stored fats and toxins, but is more energetic and warmer too.

While the brain constitutes about two per cent of your body’s weight, it uses 20 per cent of its oxygen and 25 per cent of the energy generated by oxygen. An alkaline body can therefore drive a more powerful brain.

Without exaggeration, a lack of oxygen is responsible for almost all diseases. Many bacteria and fungi flourish in oxygen-starved environments; just think of the mouldy food which you hopefully purge from your fridge and pantry regularly.

Dr. Otto Heinrich Warburg won the Nobel Prize for proving that cancer was caused by a lack of oxygen in cells, which force them to meet their energy needs through fermentation.

Hypertension often occurs when red blood cells are damaged due to low oxygen, which depletes them of the substance that they normally release to relax blood vessels.

In fact, to destroy harmful organisms and flush them from cells, the immune system needs a significant amount of oxygen too.

Nutrients from food cannot provide your body with any benefits until they combine with oxygen in cells. There is thus absolutely no bodily function that does not benefit from copious oxygen.

In other words, in an acidic body, calcium does a poor job of developing bone; protein struggles to grow muscle; omega-3 essential fatty acids cannot improve concentration and cognition; iron cannot build red blood cells; and so on.

An alkaline lifestyle is an indispensable part of providing your body with enough oxygen.

At least 70 per cent of your food should be alkaline or neutral. Alkaline and neutral food include all green and leafy vegetables, all yellow/orange vegetables, potatoes, almost all fruit, most nuts and almost all seeds.

Pulses are acceptable because they are only slightly acidic. Most whole grains are a bit more acidic than pulses, so should be eaten in moderation. Limit your intake of red meat, fish, chicken, eggs, dairy, and avoid all breads and cakes that contain refined carbohydrates and sugar.

Eat nuts or lightly pan-fried kale leaves to replace crisps. Use pure cacao instead of chocolate. Bake your own bread with baking soda, baking powder and whole grains, rather than the yeast and refined flour-based breads you used to buy.

Replace rolls with vegetable leave wraps. Replace white pasta and rice with whole grain pasta and brown rice or quinoa. Use stevia or dried fruit instead of sugar. Use herbs or lemon juice instead of acidic condiments like tomato sauce and vinegar.

Nut butters and pressed olive oil are healthier than margarine with all its hydrogenated oil. Most of your beverages should be alkaline or neutral.

Buy an alkaliser/ioniser to filter the acids from your tap water. Pure unsweetened orange, watermelon, apple, mango, peach, pear, and grape juices are good alkalis. So are green vegetable juices or smoothies.

Avoid acids like milk, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, sodas, and alcoholic drinks. Replace cow milk with almond milk. Replace tea with green tea or other herbal teas. Use water or juice in your smoothies instead of milk.

Consider a mineral supplement that contains the alkaline minerals calcium, potassium and magnesium. Alternatively, opt for a greens powder, which is also strongly alkaline.

The least effective but cheapest option is to add a pinch of baking soda to each glass of water you drink. Drink around eight glasses of water per day so you can remain hydrated, sweat out waste material, and give your kidneys enough water to filter waste material out of your body.

Get an alkaline test kit and test your pH level once or twice a week to ensure you remain on track. If the pH in your urine is below 6.5 and in your saliva below 7.0, it means your body is struggling too much to keep up it’s required 7.4 pH.

Start slowly and set realistic goals that are achievable. If you change your diet too suddenly, you may decide to abandon it before you develop a liking for the new food.
Feeding your body with abundant oxygen through an alkaline lifestyle is one of the biggest contributions you can make to your health.

To start your journey towards a more alkaline pH, it’s a good idea to invest in a Biocera Alkaline Filter Jug, which gives you pure, mineral-rich alkaline water.

70 per cent of the human body consists of water, which makes it especially sensitive to the balance between hydrogen and hydroxide ions in your food and drinks.

You can therefore bring about large shifts in your body’s acid or alkaline levels through your choices of which foods to consume. Follow an alkaline diet and you’ll never go back.

Water for Health Ltd began trading in 2007 with the goal of positively affecting the lives of many. We still retain that mission because we believe that proper hydration and nutrition can make a massive difference to people’s health and quality of life. Click here to find out more.