VIDEO: How Does pH Balance Affect Our Health?

Host: Welcome back to Dr. Stengler's Natural Healing. We're switching gears right now and we are going to talk about pH — the pH of your body, the importance of balancing pH, what it is, why it's important, and how we balance it. There are books out there saying you must have this pH. What is it and why is it important?

Dr. Stengler: There's a lot of confusing information out there on pH. pH stands for potential of hydrogen — it's a fancy way of saying how acidic or how alkaline a person is. In our body, our blood, urine, cells, and tissues all have to maintain a certain pH value for the body to function and be healthy. Our blood, for example, maintains a very narrow pH range of about 7.35 to 7.45, and it will do whatever it has to to maintain that, including pulling minerals out from your bones like calcium. So let's say you drank a soda pop — people think soda pop can lead to bone loss, and yes, it does, because it makes you more acidic internally in the blood, and then your body responds by pulling calcium out of the bones to neutralize that and alkalinize.

Host: So most people you see in your clinic are quote-unquote acidic?

Dr. Stengler: It is true, which would make sense if you look at the standard American diet — whose abbreviation is SAD. People are too acidic, and then you combine it with things like high stress, pharmaceutical medications, chronic infections like chronic fungal infections, and other toxins like heavy metals such as mercury and aluminum — all these contribute to making a person acidic. Your cells, the enzymes in your cells, function in a very narrow pH range, so if you're too acidic, the enzymes can't function properly, and that includes energy production, how your immune system works, and detoxification. There have even been studies on pH and osteoporosis — if you're too acidic, you're more apt to lose bone — and one study in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry found that abnormalities in pH could turn on the genes involved in breast cancer. It's one of the things people can do on their own to improve their overall health, help heal from disease, and prevent disease.

Host: So do you just assume one's acidic when they come into your office?

Dr. Stengler: In reality most people are, but we do it scientifically. It's not reasonable to draw blood gases on patients, so what we do is have them measure their first morning urine pH. In the morning, collect your urine sample and measure the pH with some pH strips you can get from a pharmacy or health food store, and we look for a range of about 6.6 to 7, which reflects what's going on inside the body's tissues, cells, and blood. Most people, when they first start testing, are like 5.8 or maybe 6.0 — quite acidic. As we work with their diet and they get more alkaline, they do feel better — better mood, better energy, better skin. We have patients test their morning urine pH for five days in a row and take the average. Some very health-conscious people doing fresh juicing and eating very healthy are at a good range, but most people aren't, at least initially.

Host: So what can you eat to be not so acidic?

Dr. Stengler: It really comes down to the foods. Mainly plant foods — it doesn't mean you have to be vegetarian, but fruits and vegetables, especially the vegetables, because they're rich in potassium. When you look at studies from the University of San Francisco, it's really the potassium and bicarbonate amounts in foods which have an alkalinizing effect on the body. You see all these books that say this food's acidic and other books say it's not, and they all contradict, but good research from the University of San Francisco has, in my opinion, cleared up the confusion, and that's what I go by; it works well with patients. So more fruits, especially vegetables, and then balance it out with foods that are acidifying. Sugar is very acidic, and Americans eat a lot of it. Grains are acidic, even whole wheat; your white breads and grains are more acidic. Red meat is acidic, and salt's acidic. You can have these foods in moderation, but get enough plant foods to balance out the acidic effects.

Host: So when you sit down to dinner, you want more vegetables than red meat?

Dr. Stengler: To become more alkaline and healthy, I recommend 50% vegetables, 25% carbs (preferably complex carbs, good carbohydrates) — it can be a little bit of fruit in there — and 25% protein, like chicken, eggs, meat, or fish, even better. That's a good balance that will help alkalinize people's blood and tissues.

Host: Does exercise help with any of this?

Dr. Stengler: Yes. Exercise will reduce your stress hormones, which when they're at high levels make you more acidic, so in the long run, yes, it will make you more alkaline.

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