What is Acidosis?
I know we covered the basics of acidosis in A Different Point of View but I would like to refresh your memory just a bit.  So, very briefly, acidosis occurs when your body's pH (potential hydrogen) is out of balance - specifically acidic.  The pH scale ranges from 1 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline) with 7 being neutral.  Your blood MUST stay within a narrow range close to 7.4 (slightly alkaline).  The MUST is not negotiable and your body goes to great lengths to maintain that level.  Your urine should have a slightly acidic pH, your saliva will vary but should be slightly alkaline most of the day and your body tissue/cells should also be slightly alkaline to maintain good health.

When you eat something that leaves an acidic ash or residue in your blood, your body must neutralize the acid.  In order to neutralize the acid your body has built in buffers such as sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium.  Your hemoglobin also acts as a buffer as do your fat cells and liver (cholesterol).  Once your body has used up it's free mineral stores it will find the alkalizing minerals where it can including the muscles, teeth, and bones.  In addition, your body's fat cells will mobilize and envelope the acid to keep it away from vital organs as will cholesterol.  Acidosis is reached when your body can no longer keep up with neutralizing the acids.

When your blood becomes acidic, you may initially notice slight symptoms such as skin problems, headaches, allergies, and sinus problems.  Many times chronic or recurrent illnesses are a direct result of either the body neutralizing the acid or emergency attempts to detoxify the blood.  Remember your skin is also a filtering organ.  If  your other filtering organs, such as the kidneys, can not handle the job you may end up filtering toxins through your skin.  As a result you may end up with eczema and acne and your body may experience cramping, inflammation, and aches and pains.

Even though your blood may possess a slightly alkaline pH your body tissues and cells may not.  This is where disease begins.  Well, actually I guess it begins with what you put in your mouth, and if you keep eating unhealthy, acidic foods your body will continue to leach minerals out of your muscles, bones, and teeth to neutralize the acid.  Your body will also deposit the acids in fatty tissue such as in the breasts, belly, and even the brain.  Eventually, if the cycle of acidity is not stopped, the acids will be deposited in organ tissues including the heart, pancreas, liver, and colon.  All of this acid in your body tissue is an open invitation for the fungus, bacteria, and yeast (all of which live inside your body anyway) to overthrow the current system and take over.  The once benign organisms are now allowed to go wild.  What is the result?  Obesity, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer just to name a very few. 

What are we eating? 
To answer that question, let's take a look at the typical American diet.  We eat meat, pork, chicken, and seafood, all of which are acid producing.  We eat entirely too many processed foods made of flour and sugar and drink acid producing beverages such as coffee and soft drinks.  We have allowed ourselves to believe diet soda is all right.  Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, Equal, and NutraSweet are extremely acidic.  Plus, they DO NOT help you lose weight.  They actually do the opposite by helping boost your you cravings for unhealthy carbohydrates.  And finally, we consume too much alcohol, smoke too much tobacco, and take too many drugs (pharmaceuticals included here). 

If 90% of the food sold in grocery stores is acidic, what can we eat?  Most fresh fruits and vegetables are alkalizing.  Now I'm not saying you need to become a vegetarian to be healthy - quite the contrary.  You need a balance of acidic and alkaline foods.  Most believe the proportion should be 75% alkaline and 25% acidic.  Plenty of alkalizing water and supplements are also important. 

Many web sites carry information on acidity and alkalinity and many discrepancies exist amongst them.  I even found a site where an individual purchased pH test strips and then measured the ph of the food himself and then published the results.  Apparently, he did not realize the pH of the food item prior to being digested does not matter.  The ash or residue the food leaves in your body after digestion is the key to determining its acidity or alkalinity. 

Why is there so much confusion?  To be honest, I am not sure.  Some people believe what they are told.  Then, unfortunately, they publish it without any due diligence to confirm what they have been told.  Others, myself included, always want to know why and need the pieces of the puzzle to fit together just right.  Plus, there is always a hint of common sense that should be present.

So, based on the research I have done, below is a listing of foods with their relative levels of acidity or alkalinity.  Please keep in mind, when dealing with fresh foods the level of ripeness may play a role in determining acidity and alkalinity.  Different varieties of fruit also make a difference, sweet apples and sweet grapes seem to be more alkaline than sour apples and sour grapes.  Canned fruits and vegetables are processed AND acidic.  Raw fruits and vegetables are generally more alkaline than cooked vegetables.  Some vegetables may even become acidic when cooked.  Finally, another variable to keep in mind is the quality of the soil the fruits and vegetables are grown in.  Generally the more minerals available in the soil the more alkaline the fruits or vegetables will be.

Weight Gain and  Acidosis
How does acidosis cause weight gain or make it almost impossible for you to lose weight permanently?  Well, if you recall, one of your body's buffers is fat.  Your body will actually produce fat to envelope the acid and take it out of your blood stream.  Fat cells tend to harbor many toxins - for our protection, of course.  When you do begin to lose weight, these toxins are released into the body/blood as the fat is burned for fuel.  Now the toxins need to be neutralized again!  Thus begins a viscous cycle.

Constantly acidic pH levels also cause your body to accumulate fat in another way.  It is believed an acidic pH signals a famine thus causing your body to produce more insulin than is needed and, as a result, store calories as fat instead of being burned as fuel.  The constant bombardment of excesses of insulin causes a condition referred to as Insulin Sensitivity.  With the body consistently producing more insulin than needed, more fat is produced and stored.  As you can see, at this point you are definitely already on the road to diabetes.  A definite change in lifestyle is necessary, BUT, is exercise the answer?

Exercise and acidosis
Two types of acidosis exist - respiratory and metabolic.  When we exercise, our heart beats faster, our blood pressure rises, and the amount of blood pumped through our heart increases.  As we breathe faster and faster, more oxygen is rushed to our muscles, heart, and skin.  As our metabolic processes increase, more CO2 and H+ are produced.  CO2 is very acidic to our system.  Our lungs, especially during exercise, help to lower our pH by removing CO2.  If the lungs are not able to handle the amount of CO2 metabolically produced we have what is called respiratory acidosis.  Metabolic acidosis occurrs when our bodies are unable to neutralize the excess acids from our blood via elimination methods such as the liver and kidneys. 

In general, moderate exercise is alkalizing to our system.  If we exercise to exhaustion or are in very poor health, exercise can actually be detrimental.  Please don't use this as an excuse to not exercise though.  If we have very low buffer reserves or we exercise past the point of consuming the reserves, we push our bodies into acidosis.  Although, over time, if we continue to exercise, we will build up our cardiac and lung output which results in the ability to exercise longer and harder than before (without the risk or acidosis).  In a nutshell, exercise in moderation. 

Moderation can apply to changes in your diet as well.  Changing every aspect of your diet overnight will most likely result in feelings of deprivation and may cause you to return to your previous eating habits.  Instead, make small changes.  If you drink soda, eliminate it first and replace it with pure, filtered water.  It may take a while, but after you get past the withdrawals and cravings, you will be amazed.  By the way, a little tidbit on information - it takes approximately 32 glasses of  alkaline water (pH8) to neutralize the acid from one 12 ounce can of soda. 

As you can see, we really are what we eat.  If we want to be healthy and vital we need to eat foods with similar properties. 

Read the next article in the series: Disease and pH - Acidosis Part III