Whats your take on Ph?

[Paul]

I have read a lot about PH and of course there are many who believe that
it is the key to health. I must say that over the last couple of years I have
managed to raise my saliva Ph to around 7 from the horrible 5 it was back
then. I did a lot of testing of waters and found out that even many "supposedly" healthy ones were pretty acid. I finally settled on San Benedetto (8.7) Trace minerals and good calcium have also helped my
saliva Ph to hover around 7
Now urine Ph is another matter. It really fluctuates all day long. I really
wonder if it has any signifigance at all. My diet is a thousand percent
better than when I was healthy so how was I running around feeling fine
with all that acidity going on.......
With all the sugar I stopped a couple of years ago and the reduced protein
I can`t say it had really done all that much to my urine ph....so how can
this reading be a valid indicator of health.............

[shelley]

Urine pH is NOT a valid indicator of health. It's the mark of a bad scientist when they say your urine should be alkaline. The kidneys are supposed to take ACIDS out of the bloodstream, so if your urine is alkaline they aren't working!

Furthermore, an alkaline environment in the urinary tract leaves you wide open to infections and kidney stones. Acidophilus loves ACID and yeast loves alkaline. That's why yeasties live in the small intestine, which is alkaline, and not the stomach, which is acid. The best cure for UTI's is to drink things like cranberry juice which turn the urinary system acidic.

[robertin75]

Hi Shelley:

How do you know if you have too much/too little acid in your stomach?

I have read that if you don't have enough stomach acid, you will get lots of digestive problems, includying acid reflux, which I thought was caused by excessive acid (I'm not sure about this, so please correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, I think that enzyme supplements won't do their job well if we don't have enough stomach acid.

When is it necessary to take Betaine HCL to increase stomach acid, or are there any other methods to increase stomach acid?

Thanks for your help,
Roberto

[shelley]

Hi Roberto!

This question is covered in the FAQ, along with a couple techniques for self-diagnosis. Most burning pain IS due to too little acid, not too much. Which it is depends on when you get it. If you get burning acid pain several hours after you eat, when you're hungry, it's excess acid. If it happens while you're eating or immediatly afterwards, then it's due to too little acid.

[marnie]

Shelley,
I don't mean to be confusing - but is it possible to have both too much and/or too little acid depending on time of day, what you've eaten, etc? I can say I've experienced both - pain right away and pain after a few hours of eating. Not in the same meal, but sometimes in the same day. Mostly it's when I'm hungry - say if I skip breakfast, I get heartburn around lunch time. By the way, would that be a good time to take some ACV - when I'm hungry and suffering from heartburn? I know that I should be taking it before every meal, but should I take it even if I don't get a chance to eat for a little while after?

Thanks,
Marnie

[shelley]

Certainly. We all have the potential to be wonky either way, it's what I call the pendulum swing. We want the pendulum to stop swinging, to stay balanced, but anything can tip it either way - to too acidic, or too alkaline. We can start off being too alkaline/lacking stomach acid, do pungent therapy and drink digestive teas, and oops! the pendulum swings too far the other way.

If you're experiencing burning while hungry/skipping a meal, you don't want to add acid, which is what ACV would do. You'd want to drink a little bit of Kefir to neutralize a bit of acid.

When you're under 30 and if you're a type O blood type, it's very likely that you produce too much acid.

What I found was that the pain due to hunger or stress was directly linked to my liver, it wasn't just excess stomach acid. I learned to tell the difference by whether the pain radiated to my shoulders. Shoulder pain means liver/gallbladder distress. Altho calcium/milk or Tums would stop the pain temporarily, it wasn't until I did a couple liver flushes that the pain went away forever, never to return - unless I really mess up stress wise.

[marnie]

Thank you for your response!!! Currently I am doing the bowel cleanse and tomorrow I will get the parasite cleanse and start that. I do want to also do the kidney cleanse at the same time, so that in a few days I can do my first liver cleanse. Really scared to do it, but I know it needs to be done, so I'm scheduling it for my first day off of the week. Can I fast (kidney cleanse) and take the parasite treatment at the same time? Or would that be too intense?

Thanks,
Marnie

[shelley]

it's probably okay, certainly aids the action of the parasite herbs. Just be sure to support your body with things like the Cleansing Drink, calcium and Emergen-C and you should be fine.