Yes that's Peter Tosh
You may or may not remember from high school chemistry class that pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of any substance; also known as an “acid” or “base”.
What many people don’t know is that your body’s internal pH, caused by the food you eat, affects your health.
This can be a bit confusing, so I’ll try to explain it simply.
Food can be classified as either acidic or alkaline in one of two ways.
The first way is before you eat it, like an orange sitting on the counter, which is acidic.
The second way is the residue (or ash) it leaves in your body after you eat it.
This ash residue left behind by food is basically minerals that are either acidic or alkaline.
The effect food has on your internal pH is what matters.
The general rule of thumb is: Alkaline is good for you. Acid is bad.
Oranges are acidic, but they leave alkalizing minerals in your body; so they’re good.
Milk is an alkaline base, but it’s actually acid-forming in your body; not as good.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, keep reading.
Why your body’s pH matters:
A host of illnesses like cancer and heart disease thrive in an acidic environment. Bacteria loves acidity as well.
If your diet consists of mostly animal products, cooked and processed food; then your internal pH is likely to be very acidic, as these are all acid forming foods.
Your body is constantly trying to maintain a normal pH balance as part of homeostasis, and one of the ways it does this is by leaching calcium from your bones and teeth to neutralize high acidity. People drink milk for protein and calcium to build “strong bones”, but milk is acid-forming. So the body ends up taking calcium from bones and teeth to balance out the acidity caused by milk. Kinda screwy right? This same internal phenomena occurs not just with milk drinkers but with all people who eat a high protein diet.
The optimal pH level for your body is 7.35-7.45, which is slightly more alkaline than acidic.
The solution is to eat more alkaline forming foods.
The Raw Vegan Diet is an all Alkaline Foods Diet. Many researchers have reported that cancer cannot live in an alkaline environment, which is why I adopted the raw vegan diet to battle cancer. But you don’t have to completely convert to raw veganism to be healthy.
Here’s what you need to know:
Acid-Forming Foods:
All Animal Products, Grains, Cooked food, and Processed food.
The worst acid forming foods are sugars, saturated fats, alcohol, and refined flour products like bread and pasta, and of course candy and junk food. Basically most of the stuff we all eat.
Take this relatively “healthy” meal plan for example:
Eggs, bacon, toast, and cereal for breakfast: Acid.
Turkey Sandwich on wheat bread with yogurt for lunch: Acid
Chicken breast with pasta and cooked vegetables for dinner: Acid.
Alkaline Forming Foods:
Most Raw Organic Produce. I’m talking about fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, as well as some beans and legumes. Cooking veggies kill enzymes, destroys nutrients, and increases acidity.
Alkaline Super Foods:
Tangerines, Pineapple, Raspberries, Watermelon, Limes, Lentils, Sweet Potatoes, Chlorophyll-rich dark green veggies like Broccoli, Asparagus and Kale, Green Powders made up of Wheat Grass, Barley Grass and Chlorella, Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic, Sea Salt, and more! (chart link below)
Some mildly acid-forming foods like certain fruits, veggies, clean meats and raw dairy, as well as fermented foods like yogurt and kefir are not necessarily bad, but a diet made up of mostly acidic foodsis.
Some super easy ways to add alkaline foods to your diet are:
-Squeeze a little lime juice in your water
-Drink a green powder supplement like Perfect Food 
A really good balance is 80% Alkaline Foods and 20% Acid-forming foods. Basically the 80/20 rule.
It’s what your eating 70-80% of the time that matters most.
One way to look at it is if you eat 21 meals per week, 15 of them should ideally be vegetarian or vegan. Another idea along those lines that’s gaining in popularity is to be a Weekday Vegetarian. That’s where you eat super healthy all week and eat whatever you want on the weekend. Check out a great four minute video on this idea HERE.
Printable reference chart of acid and alkaline forming foods HERE.
Check your pH at home with pH Test Strips
And if you’re really interested in this, you should readThe Acid-Alkaline Food Guide
(((c)))
Other posts about how I “Alkalize It”:
The Giant Salad
7 Reasons To Subscribe To My Blog
Lemon’s ph is around 2.3. Why would it be on the aklaline side of the chart?
Food can be classified as either acidic or alkaline in one of two ways.
The first way is before you eat it, like an orange sitting on the counter, which is acidic.
The second way is the residue (or ash) it leaves in your body after you eat it.
This ash residue left behind by food is basically minerals that are either acidic or alkaline.
The effect food has on your internal pH is what matters.
Lemon is an acidic fruit that has an alkalizing effect in your body.
Hey, I don’t know if I’m going blind or not, but when I checked the alkaline – acid food list, I couldn’t find one common vegetable (or non-sweet fruit as in your “the giant cancer fighting salad” post), tomato. So if it really wasn’t there, do you know where it stands in this alkaline – acid matter? Tomatoes are such a varied thing. Home grown tomatoes tend to have a sweet, rich and strong taste, whereas basic grocery store tomatoes taste like acidic muddy water. I tend to use quite a lot of tomatoes. Canned ones too often (I suppose the metal taste, probably diluted from the can, doesn’t count for beneficial trace minerals). So info on tomatoes would be welcome.
Thank you!
Hi Otto
Tomatoes are definitely alkaline, but are best eaten alone or with non-starchy vegetables.
They tend to react with a lot of foods in your stomach causing excess stomach acid and indigestion.
Tomatoes and cucumber are great juice combo!
Great article! My body is definatly way more alkaline than it was 5 years ago, such an important process.
I once read about this in the book “The Chemistry of Success” and I wasn’t really sure what to think about it.
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Success-Secrets-Peak-Performance/dp/1579595014
The difference is this book suggested a supplement of baking soda to help with your pH. Weird, but true. They also pointed out in the book that some people are naturally alkaline have more energy even though they eat badly.
All in all, I found the book to be too strange to follow and eventually got rid of figuring it was wrong, but it did make me think more about pH.
Your article gives a much better view point on the subject and makes it easier to approach. Thanks.
Hey Lysle thanks for the comment! I haven’t read that one, but baking soda is definitely an alkalizer. I’ve never taken it as a supplement.
Perhaps they’re on to something…
(((c)))
There is a doctor who uses baking soda to treat cancers Dr Simoncini.He uses a direct irrigation method if they are not in the digestive system. I think I saw him in a video on the Dr Mercola site