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THE ALKALINE DIET MYTHS5But why eat alkaline? You can’t change your pHand the stomach is full of acid... right?These are two good questions, and twocommon misconceptions.MYTH #1: You Can’t Change Your pH?This is actually a truth. You can’t changeyour pH. And that is the whole point of thealkaline diet! Confused? Let me explain…The body has a very important regulatorymechanism to maintain the pH of theblood (and other cells) at a pH of 7.365. Ifanything threatens to move that, the bodywill go to extreme lengths to keep it at7.365. If it went to 7.2? You’d die. It’s thesame type of system that maintains yourbody’s temperature in a very tight range.We have evolved with a very small ‘alkalinebuffering system’ in the body, as thebody has to maintain this slightly alkalinepH. Our normal bodily functions (such asour metabolism) cause a small amount ofacidity in the body, and that is what thisbuffering system is there to neutralize.However, with our hugely acidic modern,Western, “Standard American Diet” (whichis also closely followed in the UK, Europe,Australia and so on…) containing heapsof sugar, wheat, excessive dairy and redmeats, trans fats and refined, junk foods,the body is over-run with acidity.This alkaline buffering system is exhaustedbefore breakfast has even finished!And so the body has to maintain this alkalinepH in a much more devastating manner.Put it this way, the body will sacrificeall else to maintain this pH, such is it’s importance.It will sacrifice your medium andlong-term health to keep this short termgoal of homeostasis (the perfect balancein the body).The incredible stress it puts your body underto try to neutralise these acids is huge.It will overproduce sodium bicarbonate totry to neutralise the acidity from the foodand the excessive hydrochloric acid thestomach has to produce to digest thesefoods (reflux anyone?) It will draw alkalineminerals from elsewhere in the body (suchas calcium from your bones, and magnesiumfrom your vital organs) leading to allmanner of inflammatory conditions. Anyacidic toxins it cannot expel will be boundup in visceral fat to protect your organsfrom the acids and the toxic byproductsthey produce (and this visceral fat is justthe start of a whole lot more inflammation,as well as the love handles).And this is just the start.the alkaline diet myths