Staying Alkaline

One of the ways you maintain good health is by maintaining a slightly alkaline environment in your body. Acidity creates the ideal atmosphere for disease to flourish. The fact of the matter is that the life of all animals and plants depends on the acid-base balance.

Determining alkalinity and acidity involves the measuring of pH: potential of hydrogen. The presence of this chemical element is very minimal in humans, so the concentration of hydrogen ions is measured in body fluids, primarily blood, saliva and urine.

Chemically speaking, pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. On a scale from 0 to 14, a pH value above 7 is alkaline. Below 7 is acidic.

Your blood normally has a pH of 7.35 to 7.45: alkaline. To maintain life, extracellular fluid in the body needs to remain between pH 7.0 to 7.8.

Alkaline Diets

You may have heard something about alkaline diets that are said to keep your body alkaline by consuming specific foods and avoiding those that are acid-forming.

The alkaline diet was launched into popularity in 2013 by a tweet about a cookbook from Victoria Beckham, nicknamed Posh Spice as a member of the Spice Girls, so there is a condiment connection to this food intake. This diet focuses on eating mostly fruit and vegetables. In other words, primarily plant-based.

Supporting Alkalinity with AIM

If you regularly read these blogs, you’ll find regular references to the advantages of going plant-based. One of the many benefits is maintaining your body’s alkalinity because most fruits and vegetables are mostly alkaline-ash forming foods.

For examples of both alkaline- and acid-forming foods, AIM created a Food Guide that you can download at www.theaimcompanies.com when you sign in to your membership. It also contains information on how to balance your body pH.

It is important to note that not all acid-forming foods are bad for you. For example, certain grains and vegetables fall into this category, including barley and rye and black beans and lima beans, but they fit finely into a plant-based diet.

AIM offers a selection of whole-food powders that support alkalinity in your body: BarleyLife, BarleyLife Xtra, LeafGreens, CoCoa LeafGreens, Just Carrots and RediBeets as well as plant-based protein: ProPeas.

BarleyLife is an example of a food that is alkaline-forming because it comes from barley leaves not the grain. The acidity or alkalinity of a food can be measured in potential renal acid load (PRAL) value. Positive numbers indicate acid-forming foods while negative numbers specify foods that are alkaline-forming. One serving of BarleyLife has -6.77 PRAL value.

Having a negative PRAL is a positive thing. The more foods with a negative PRAL value that you eat, the more you contribute to maintaining alkalinity. All the vegetable ingredients in AIM whole-food powders have negative PRAL values.

Measuring Your pH

While PRAL is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of solids, pH is a measurement of fluids. So, along with nutrition that works to keep you alkaline, AIM has a tool that lets you measure the pH of your saliva or urine. AIM pH test strips allow you to instantly check whether your most accessible fluids are alkaline or acidic. Using the AIM pH Test Kit is an easy way to monitor your pH values and assist you in staying alkaline.