Signs of Too Much Acid in Your Body

June 09, 2019 Dr Daryl Gioffre

Are you feeling sluggish, exhausted, bloated, and heavy?

Do you feel tired even after a good night’s sleep?

Or worse, do you toss and turn in the middle of the night, then wish you could sleep all day?

Do you struggle with persistent symptoms like headaches, acid reflux, or acne (or any skin condition for that matter!)?

These are all classic signs and symptoms of acidosis, or too much acid in your body.

As a doctor and health investigator, I have always been interested in WHY some people are energized, healthy, and feel great, when other people (MOST) are tired all the time, always in pain, and can’t seem to get rid of those extra nagging pounds (Read: suffering).

Like a detective, I followed the evidence and the evidence led me to acid. It didn’t matter what the condition or symptom was, people who suffered from:

Stubborn weight gain
Stress
Fatigue
Joint pain or osteoarthritis
Muscle cramps
Acne, eczema, dry skin, or other skin problems
Acid reflux
IBS, gas, bloating, or poor digestion
Frequent headaches or migraines
Yeast or fungal infections
Hormonal imbalance
Osteoporosis
Slow metabolism
Blood sugar imbalance
Diabetes
Heart disease

…The common denominator and the smoking gun was ACID.

Why Is ACID So Bad?

Think about what acid does from a common sense standpoint. Pure acid with a pH of 0 on a scale of 0-14 can burn a hole through metal (think of battery acid), and if it can do that to metal, think about what that’s doing inside your body, to your digestive system, your joints and muscles, your cardiovascular system, and your BRAIN.

Just like your body temperature needs to be tightly regulated to 98.6, the pH of your blood ALWAYS tightly regulates itself at 7.4, so just about neutral on the pH scale but slightly alkaline. This number is so important that if it deviates by even as much as a half of a point, you are dead.

One of the questions I get all the time from my patients is, “If the pH of my blood is constant and always tightly regulated, why do I have to eat and drink alkaline?”

The purpose of eating alkaline foods and drinking alkaline water is NOT to try and raise the pH of your blood.

Your body has a priority system that it uses to find these minerals to neutralize the damaging acids and toxins in your body. It will “rob Peter to pay Paul” so to speak, pulling minerals from anywhere in the body before it lets the blood become too acidic, and the first place it goes is your mouth.

The saliva in your mouth has a small amount of alkaline minerals to act as a buffer, and that is why pH testing of your saliva is so important. If it is below 7.0 (ideally between 7.2 – 7.4, which can be measured RIGHT before you wat, which I call the Eating Saliva pH Test), you are acidic and lack the necessary mineral reserves or buffers your body needs to neutralize any acids or toxins in your body.

Health is all about the TERRAIN, and as a result, the internal environment becomes more vulnerable to things like colds, viruses, candida, bacterial overgrowth, fungus, mild parasites, and even cancer.

Unfortunately, your saliva doesn’t contain a big reserve of minerals, so you soon run out. After extracting what it can from saliva, urine, and muscles, your body turns to its greatest mineral bank – bones.

It’s been estimated that the standard American diet robs our skeletons of almost half its calcium over a period of 20 years. No wonder pharmaceutical companies are making millions from osteoporosis drugs!

So in summary, the goal is NOT to change the pH of your blood – it’s designed to make your body more sufficient in alkaline minerals and nutrients and remove the daily chemical stresses that result from an acidic lifestyle so that your body is more efficient.

In other words, we don’t want your body to have to work so hard, which exhausts it, and depletes it. Let me give you an example…

Let’s say it’s a hot summer day, and you have your air conditioner pumping at full throttle to keep you cool. Let’s also say that you NEVER cleaned out (or detoxified) the filter in the air conditioner – think about how much HARDER you’re A/C unit will have to work to keep the room cool. Sooner or later, it will break down.

Well, your body is NO different! If you are stressed, and pumping your body with crappy carbs, sugar, and all other forms of acid-forming foods. Add to that, toxins in the water, air, environment, home, personal care products. You get my point?

You are exposed to on average 80,000 chemicals in a single year. Your body has to deal with that, otherwise they will take you out!

And that is my point – the reason WHY we need to eat healthy, with an alkalizing diet loaded with greens, healthy keto fats, minerals, moderate protein, and low sugar, is to take the stress OFF your body’s system so it doesn’t have to work so hard doing all the regulating.

If you don’t, you will conk out just like the air conditioner, but in today’s world, we call that heart disease (heart attack, stroke, etc), cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, etc.

If you want to prevent this, you have to pay more attention to the single most important number in your body, the pH (which stands for potential for hydrogen, but I like to say, Perfect Health!)

But here’s the fact - most people pay more attention to the pH of their soil in their garden or the water in their pool than the pH of their own body!

But it’s important you pay attention because the Standard American Diet (AKA the SAD diet) is pumping us up with damaging acids every single day, meal after meal with foods like:

Sugar
Gluten
Processed foods
Coffee
Dairy
Meat
Carbonated water
Artificial sweeteners
Soda

If you’re not combatting all of that acid (which even occurs in the HEALTHIEST of individuals), the accumulation of toxins and acids combined with daily stress creates massive amounts of inflammation in your body and joints.

This is the foundation of disease and pain that plague our society today.

And it makes waking up every morning a struggle, with the energy we need to tackle our day almost impossible.

Most Americans attempt to combat this lack of energy with caffeine, coffee, sugar, and energy drinks and it just doesn’t work. They are tired all day, and by bedtime, they are so wired from all the acidic stimulants, they can’t sleep restfully at night.

If all of this sounds too familiar, chances are your body is acidic and it is robbing you of your health and vitality every day.

But here’s the good news…

You can make changes now to help slow down, stop, and reverse the damage done to your health by an acidic lifestyle.

I won’t lie. It doesn’t happen overnight. When lifestyle changes happen too quickly and drastically, they aren’t sustainable. Period.

But if you make the commitment now to GET OFF YOUR ACID, the investment you make will be well worth it each and every day for the rest of your life.

It’s not about trying to be perfect, or cutting out EVERYTHING you enjoy. Far from it!

It’s not about deprivation either.

It’s about adding the nourishing foods that make the biggest difference and doing them daily.

Start today by making one of these 7 simple changes to get you on your way from being acidic to alkaline.

Do deep breathing exercises 3 times a day. Not only will you get more energy, you will also get rid of the most damaging acid in your body, carbon dioxide, which is 120 times more acidic than every other acid in your body COMBINED, including the acid in your stomach!

Here’s my 3:6:5 Power Breath exercise that will energize you. It can even change your pH in just a few minutes. That’s why this is such a fantastic way to alkalize – you can do it anytime, anywhere.

Hydrate (and coffee doesn’t count)!Drink half of your body weight in ounces of filtered water daily. So if you weigh 150 pounds, then you ought to be drinking 75 ounces of water daily. Better yet, add a slice of lemon to increase the alkalinity.

Avoid or minimize harmful acidslike sugar, gluten, dairy, coffee, alcohol, soda, processed food, artificial sweeteners, and carbonated water. Even cutting out one of these foods is going to make a difference in your alkalinity and your energy levels.

Replace your acidic breakfast with a green smoothie.Having a fresh, green smoothie daily is an awesome way to pack nutrient-dense alkaline super foods into your body.

Always go with a green like spinach or kale as your foundation, a small amount of fruit for sweetness and some healthy fats to neutralize any sugars in the fruit like coconut oil, raw almond butter, or chia seeds. Then add a plant-based liquid like coconut water, coconut milk, or almond milk, blend, and enjoy.

5. Exercise for at least 20 minutes every day.Sweating will help your body release the toxins and acids that have built up over time, even if you’re doing something as simple as a brisk walk. Find what works for you and make it a part of your routine. My favorite is the rebounder.

Go 80/20. Again, being healthy is NOT about deprivation! You can have fun, and in fact, I encourage it! Indulge from time to time, but stay balanced. In other words, aim to eat 80% alkaline foods and only 20% acidic foods. Grab my Ultimate Alkaline/Acid Food Guide to make it easy to choose alkaline.

Get plenty of greens & minerals.If you’re going to make ONE simple change

The fastest way to crush acid is to give your body the alkaline nutrients you’ve been missing, and your body will start to heal itself. By starting each morning with Alkamind Daily Greens, you’ll have abundant energy and mental clarity each day, boost your immune system, and get 5 whole servings of organic super food greens in just 30 seconds.

Then take Alkamind Daily Minerals every night to ensure a good night’s rest, less stress and brain fog, fewer sugar cravings, and easier workout recovery.