The term pH literally means power Hydrogen. It's a measurement of the concentration of hydrogen ions. Each number of the pH scale represents a ten-fold difference in that concentration. Your alkaline buffer system has to work hard to neutralize overall acidity.
Food pH measurements can be deceptive. Just because a citrus fruit or apple cider vinegar measures a low or acidic pH doesn't mean it is acid yielding.
Five simple approaches for an alkaline yielding diet
Your alkaline buffer system is designed to take care of the inevitable alkaline/acid yielding food mix. But overworking your buffer will deplete it. Here's a list of acid and alkaline yielding foods to get an idea of what they are.
(1) Try to balance your diet with a 60/40 ratio of alkaline yielding foods to acid yielding, then up the ratio to 80/20. Typically, standard American diets (SAD) consist of mostly acid yielding foods. Fake fats, sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), bleached white breads and pastries and so on are extremely acid yielding.
Focus on organic green veggies, smoothies, and juicing as well as green super foods such as chlorella. Fruits of all types, even citrus fruits considered acid, are all alkaline yielding.
(2) Moderate exercise helps the lymph eliminate acid wastes. Over exercising can create lactic acid which is - well, acidic. It's all about balance.
(3) Hydrate. Spring water is alive and alkaline, but few have access to it. It's necessary to drink water treated by reverse osmosis to remove fluorides. The treated water tends to be acid yielding. That's remedied by a squeeze of lime or lemon or a few drops of liquid trace minerals available from your health food store.
(4) Speaking of minerals, key minerals involved with the buffering process are magnesium, potassium, calcium, and sodium. Ironically, dairy foods tend to be alkaline yielding. So other sources of calcium should be looked into.
It might be necessary to supplement magnesium, potassium, and calcium, at least until you've established an alkaline yielding diet. Look into magnesium oil (actually water applied topically) for the best magnesium solution.
(5) Oxygenate, sleep better, and stress less. Use deep breathing exercises or oxygen enhancing supplements. Increasing oxygen to cells increases their pH. Don't confuse that with cellular oxidation. Acidic cells cannot metabolize oxygen, so they ferment glucose to survive and become cancerous.
Stress and poor sleep contribute to lower pH or acidity. Cancer cells cannot exist in a high pH and oxygen-rich environment. High pH and strong cellular oxygenation are directly linked.
You can maintain your pH balance with these simple steps while ignoring those expensive magic-bullet pH boosting products.