I can personally say that reducing acid-forming foods and increasing alkaline-forming foods has helped me experience better overall health and wellness. I was 30lbs heavier and suffered from all sorts of allergies before I began eating more of a plant-based diet therefore more alkaline foods! I could not believe it because I've worked in the health food and fitness industry since I was 17 and tried everything I could to lose weight as well as get rid of my allergies (to everything it seemed like) and it just never happened until I introduced more greens and plant-based proteins and whole foods into my diet while reducing meat and dairy consumption. I also greatly reduced all lifestyle related acids such as lactic acid from too much anaerobic activities and instead I began doing yoga and walking... so was doing more aerobic activity. The yoga also helped reduce hydrochloric acid which was in excess due to too much stress. I first learned about the alkaline-acid balance and how an 80% alkali and 20% acid balance is ideal, to maintaining or gaining optimal health and/or healing, in a book with a very dramatic name, "Alkaline or Die"...but it was when I had the pleasure of meeting a Biochemist and Doctor from Germany, Dr. Peter Jentschura, that I learned the most about this fascinating topic! Dr. Jentschura was such a vibrant and charismatic individual and him and his wife truly 'walk the talk' so to say, when it comes to eating a primarily alkaline diet and living as alkaline as possible! They are over 70 years old and seemed to me to be at the most in their mid fifty's!!! They inspired me greatly after I attended an educational event put on in Toronto in 2011 and I began to study the doctor's book to learn more from someone I had met personally and felt I could trust. The book, Health By Purification, is his 18th edition and was written with his partner, a Naturopathic Doctor form Germany, Dr. Josef Lohkampar...this is when I decided to really delve into this alkaline lifestyle and so I really began to take those steps to eating more alkaline-forming foods and doing those aerobic exercise instead of anaerobic as previously mentioned. I was so happy when after three months of following the doctor's approach I had lost most of the extra 30lbs I was holding on to for so long as well as cleared up my allergies all together!!! The doctor describes the diseases we are faced with today in his book and believes that they are caused by the blood dipping down to its lowest possible pH of 7.25, which is still alkaline (or else a person would not survive, which explains the title of the first book I ever read about this topic as noted above), because it is above 7 which we all know is neutral (neither acidic or alkaline), but is far too low for the blood to remain at for too long a period and this is when all the health problems begin. Our blood's ideal pH is 7.35-7.45...I know it doesn't seem too far off from the 7.25 which is considered 'the danger zone' but it is!!! The reason for this is that each pH value represents a ten times change!!! So from 7 to 8, 8 is ten times more alkaline than 7 and from 7 to 9...9 is one hundred times more alkaline than 7 and from 7 to 10, 10 is one thousand times more alkaline!!! So this shows us that even a small difference in pH values makes a really big difference in the end. I encourage you all to read more about this topic in the doctor's book and/or visit a friend of mine's website who distributes alkaline-forming food and body care products (body care is important because what goes on the body...goes into the body! Check it out!)...http://youinfocusproducts.com/
