Alkalize Your Body

The newest health craze taking over the world is the Alkaline diet. The difference between most other health fads and this one is that the alkaline diet is actually backed by scientific evidence to provide a whole range of benefits for the human body. In today’s pop culture world being called basic is as bad an insult as you can get but in the nutrition world being basic (alkaline) is all the rage. Gywneth Paltrow, Kirsten Dunst, Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Aniston are big endorses of the diet and have accredited the diet for keeping them looking young and fit.

The body pH scale ranges from 1-14. The lower end of the scale being acidic and the upper end is alkaline with 7 being neutral. Water has a pH of 7 and most bottled water have a pH which is slightly lower or higher than this value. Alkaline water has a pH of 8-9.5.

Most foods that we eat break down to acidic and alkaline base when digested. Fresh fruit, vegetables, roots, nuts, and legumes are all good. Pasta, wheat, all dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish, coffee, tea, sugar, fizzy drinks and alcohol are acidic. Unfortunately these are the foods that we tend to enjoy the most and find it hard to avoid. Fruits and vegetables are usually naturally alkaline. Fruits that are alkaline include watermelon, apples, mangos, pears, grapes, avocados and passion fruit. Vegetables that are alkaline include celery, asparagus, carrots, turnips and pumpkin. Conversely we tend to avoid these healthy foods as they are not as gastronomically appealing as the previously mentioned acidic foods.

Going out of our way to eat these alkaline foods is difficult for many busy working adults so the best way to alkalize our body is to drink alkaline water. Even if you do have the time to follow an alkaline diet the key element of the diet is alkaline water since it is the best and fastest way to alkalize our body. Victoria’s Secret Supermodel Miranda Kerr is a huge fan of alkaline water and has been quoted saying “”I have alkaline water filters in my kitchen sink and on my shower heads, so it’s purified and alkaline. I learned about the benefits of alkaline in your body from studying nutrition, and there are many ways to do it — drinking alkaline water is one of them.”

Our normal blood pH is tightly regulated at 7.35-7.45. If the blood pH falls below 7.35 this results in acidosis which can lead to kidney disease, lethargy, arthritis, muscle wasting, negative calcium balance. Alkaline water works in harmony with your body’s ‘acid-alkaline’ balance and helps keep your blood maintained at a slightly alkaline pH of 7.365.

The benefits of the alkaline water do not end with maintaining the blood’s pH level. In fact the biggest benefit of alkaline water is its anti-oxidant qualities. When an apple is cut and left for too long it turns brown, this is due to oxidation. When the molecule loses an electron it becomes a free radical which in turn steals an electron from another molecule, forming more free radicals. It’s a vicious cycle that can eventually cause cellular damage. Free radicals are known to be a causal factor in just about every disease including cancer. They’re also a major factor in pre-mature aging. Oxidation is a part of life and occurs every time we breathe and is made worse by factors like pollution, chemicals, junk food, smoking and stress. This is where antioxidants come in; they have extra electrons that can be donated without it becoming unstable. These antioxidants go looking for free radicals and donate the lost electron, thus creating a stable, harmless molecule. In other words drinking alkaline water can slow down the effects of aging and lead to better skin. Not only can alkaline water slow down the effects of aging it is also an effective way of reducing the risk of cancer, according to a Japanese study.

By instantly denaturing pepsin and increasing the acid buffering capacity, consuming alkaline water is an effective way to combat acid reflux disease. Alkaline water also provides benefits for people suffering from high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

In addition to those benefits, drinking alkaline water can also help improve the performance of athletes and anyone involved in active exercise. When muscles work they produce acid and CO2, decreasing the pH. Once the muscle pH goes below 6.5 it is unable to function. This is when we start feeling soreness in out muscles and find it difficult to carry on exercising. Drinking alkaline water can help maintain the pH at an optimal level for longer periods and thus performance time can be increased as it takes longer for muscle fatigue to set in. Elite athletes and fitness enthusiasts have found that their post workout fatigue is considerably less and their recovery times are shortened when following an alkaline regiment. In addition to this alkaline water can help improve the body’s immunity and is a source of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, nickel and manganese.

Alkafresh is Sri Lanka’s first and only bottled and it is brought to you by the country’s premier bottled, drinking water company, Aquafresh. Alkafresh has a pH of 9+ and is specially purified with trace levels of magnesium and calcium carbonate. This process provides alkalizing benefits and is ideal for those seeking a pure, balanced form of hydration.