What is Acidosis – The Problem of an Acidic Lifestyle

What is acidosis? Over-acidification is a problem. It’s a big problem. And it affects easily 95% of the Westernised world.

Poor food and drink choices, coupled with a lack of exercise and with 21st century stresses and lifestyles thrown in has created a society struggling with acidosis. The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that 70% of deaths in the United States are related to diet – and it would not surprise me to find that this statistic is similar in the UK, Europe and Australia.

What is Acidosis

Acidosis is the outcome when our pH becomes overly acid. The pH balance of our internal cells and fluids can effect every process in our body. Of these fluids, the blood is perhaps the most important. In a similar way that you body will do whatever it takes to regulate your body temperature, it will also do the same to ensure a slightly alkaline pH in the blood.

The body will literally go to whatever lengths necessary to ensure that the blood retains this pH level, including wreaking havoc on other tissues, bodily functions and systems (such as digestion, lymph and cardiovascular).

As microbiologist Dr. Young states:

The pH level of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies. The entire metabolic process depends on an alkaline environment. Chronic over acidity corrodes body tissue, and if left unchecked will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neutral firing of your brain. In other words, overacidity interferes with life itself.

Every area of the body that is designed for regulatory processes, including breathing, circulation, digestion and hormone production works to ensure that the body maintains this internal acid/alkaline balance. This stress that the body is put under in trying to regulate it’s internal environment manifests itself in many responses that we know as illnesses and disease including acne, eczema, osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, premature ageing, loss of hair, brittle nails, mental health problems, liver disease, kidney failure, psoriasis, fatigue, frequent coughs and colds, PMS, mood disorders, obesity, Type II diabetes, athletes foot, low sex drive, dizziness etc etc etc.

What is Acidosis

These problems are often a mix of the stress that the body gets put under because of the ingestion of acidic foods and effects of the acidic lifestyle and also a reflection of the body’s effort to rebalance/repair itself. For instance, when the body becomes overly acidic, in order to retain a slightly alkaline blood pH the body will leach calcium from wherever it can take it (usually our bones) and voila – osteoperosis is now significantly more likely.

However, when the acid overload gets too much for the body to balance, excess acid is dumped out into the tissues (to keep it out of the blood). Then the lymphatic system steps in to remove whatever it can. But this is not the answer either, as in trying to remove the acid, the lymphatic system puts the acid waste straight back into the blood. Further, if the lymphatic system gets overloaded the acid just stays where it is – in our tissues. (read more about the lymphatic system)

Another way that the body tries to rid itself of acids is through the skin – which is when problems in this area can occur such as eczema, headaches, cramps, acne, boils, irritation, swelling, inflammation, excess oils, rosecea and other skin/nail/hair problems.

Once acid wastes build up in our bloodstream – our circulatory systems will try to get rid of them through our lungs and kidneys and then excesses are just dumped into our organs including the heart, liver and colon OR the acid wastes are left in our fatty tissue in the breasts, hips, thighs, bellies and worst of all – in our brains. This problem has also been called the ageing process!

Staying Alkaline

The single biggest thing we can do to help our bodies to maintain an alkaline balance is to feed it with alkaline food and drink and to live an alkaline producing lifestyle (regular exercise, lots of sunlight, lots of laughter and as little stress as possible!).