What is Acidosis – The Problem of an Acidic Lifestyle

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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 Robert 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

Alkaline Recipe BookThese 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!).

Resources to Keep You Alkaline:

Here are some of my best guides to help to keep your body alkaline and free of excess acidity:

How to Get Alkaline Quickly & Easily

The Seven Most Alkaline Foods

The Seven Most Acidic Foods to Avoid

How to Get Started on the Alkaline Diet

The Top Ten Alkaline Diet Questions Answered!


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  1. Steven Reply

    Awesome article, very educational

  2. Ruth Reply

    Hi Ross.
    A few years ago i discovered Stevia, and although i use very little of it i’m happy to put it in drinks occasionally. Sugar is bad for us and sweeteners even worse, so stevia seems like an acceptable compromise. Can you tell me why you’ve never mentioned it? and if you are aware of it, is it something i can continue using? Your oppinion would be appreciated. Regards, Yvonne.

  3. Jason Cicione Reply

    A Excellent post, I will be sure to bookmark this in my Clipmarks account. Have a good evening.

  4. Sung Littell Reply

    A Great post, I will be sure to save this post in my Del.icio.us account. Have a great evening.

  5. zoe Reply

    Hi Ross,

    Nice job on website and thoughtful feedback!
    I have one question: why do you not include papaya to the list of acceptable alkaline fruits?

    Thanks much!

    Zoe

  6. Ross Reply

    Hi Leche

    Thanks for contributing, but I am considering removing the link because that site falsely advertises sugars (including maple syrup!!! what?!) as alkaline.

    Try this instead: http://liveenergized.com/alkaline-diet-guides/the-7-most-alkaline-foods/

    Thanks
    Ross

  7. Leche Reply

    To answer at least but not most of your questions, I’d like to invite you to a blog I’ve read that ranks the most alkaline and the most acidic of fruits and vegetables. Hope this really helps. Thanks! http://lightchronicles.com/blog/?p=3

  8. Andre Reply

    Good morning Ross.. I wanted to say thanks for all this great info you are giving. My cousins were just discussing lemon juice consumption over the weekend. The question or debate that was posed was, can the lemon juice be damaging?

  9. Ross Reply

    Hey Tommy

    I do indeed that only a few are – but you have to be careful in your definition. What I am saying is that certain fruits are acidifying, not acidic. That is a very slight, but important thing to note. For instance – lemons are clearly acidic (citric acid), BUT they have an alkalising effect when consumed.

    It’s pretty poor form of you to suggest that I only say this to sell products – I put in hours and hours on this blog to help people and give away every piece of information I have for free. Which product are you talking about by the way? Oh, and have you also read the countless times I have said that the best way to achieve optimum health is through food – supplements are just there to supplement. If I were only interested in making money do you think I would keep reiterating that?

    I also don’t claim to be a doctor – and am more than happy to be proven wrong. So can you give me some proof that contradict my post – rather than just saying it exists then we can start a discussion on it? Maybe we’ll both learn something new out of that.

    Anyway I hope you’ve had a stellar weekend
    Ross

    • Renee Reply

      Well said Ross!! Its such a shame that there are people still allowing their cynicism to get in the way of achieving optimum health. I have been following this diet with limited supplements (I live in South Africa and unfortunately for me the green powders etc are not readily available here!) – and I am feeling amazing!! I am sure that if I took the supplements on top of the healthy food I am now eating my feeling of well being would go through the roof! I have converted my husband – which says A LOT since he is not easily open to new ways of thinking! Keep up the good work!

      R

  10. tommy Reply

    It has been proven that basically all fruits are alkaline but you seem to believe that only very few are. Is that just to scare peolpe so they buy the product?? If it isn’t, then where did you get this information from?
    Waiting for you reply.

  11. RJB Reply

    There’s no agreement on what food/drink is
    alkaline/acidic. I just glanced at a list that had
    reverse osmosis water listed as alkaline. How
    can this be?

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