urine pH Archives - Better Bones, Better Body
Questions? Text 1-315-595-5564

Tag Archive for: urine pH

You are here: Home / urine pH

Posts

Dr. Susan E. Brown

10 tips for an alkaline diet

/0 Comments/in /by

Eating an alkaline diet can produce tremendous results —and I would like to add that it’s not just the latest Hollywood fad like many ways of eating!

Eating alkaline as a long-term approach is simple and something everyone can do.  Here are 10 simple tips to get started:

10 simple tips for eating alkaline

1. Eat more veggies and fruits. Even if you don’t go any further down this list, taking this one step can instantly make a huge difference.

2. Reduce soda intake, or eliminate it altogether.

3. Replace refined carbs with roots and gourds.

4. Add fresh lemon and lime to your water. Though we typically think of citrus fruits as acidic, they’re highly alkalizing in the body (limes especially).

5. Consider cooking with sea vegetables. For some of you, I know this is “out of the question!” But if you’re willing to try new ingredients, why not experiment with packaged sea veggies available in the health-food or Asian section of your supermarket?

6. Drink 64 ounces of high-mineral spring water daily.

7. Limit animal protein. Try to limit your animal protein sources (beef, chicken, pork, eggs, and dairy products) to 1 serving or less per day and increase plant-based protein sources.

8. Add cinnamon, ginger, and other herbs and spices.

9. Monitor your urinary pH. Track your first morning urine pH (after at least 6 hours of sleep) to know how your nutritional changes are affecting your body. When this number is between 6.5 (slightly acidic) and 7.5 (slightly alkaline), it suggests that your overall cellular pH is where it should be — slightly alkaline.

10. Supplement your diet with a high-quality multivitamin–mineral complex. No matter how attentive we are to what we eat, where it’s from, and how we dish it up, we can’t always have a perfectly balanced diet. Gain peace of mind with a top-notch bone-healthy supplement.

Learn more about our Alkalizing products, including my food guide and pH paper.

Dr. Susan E. Brown

Can stress change your pH balance?

/in /by

I often talk about the connection between body and mind, and recently a client showed me something that clearly demonstrated why the connection between your body and mind is so important. In this short video we talk about how stress can change your pH balance.

Stress is bad for your bones

Over the years, I’ve noticed again and again that emotional distress worsens metabolic acidosis. We know that emotionally charged thoughts such as worry or fear cause production of stress hormones, the best known of which is cortisol. Cortisol impacts the body in many ways, promoting a loss of minerals from the body and increasing the acid load – which is bad for your bones.

Dramatic data from my client Lynn

As with all clients, I asked Lynn to measure her first-morning urine and see how close her first-morning urine pH was to the ideal 6.5 to 7.5 pH range. After working with the Better Bones Program for several weeks, using our Alkaline for Life diet combined with our bone building supplement program, she achieved the ideal urine pH of 6.5 to 7.5 on a very regular basis. Lynn kept careful records of her diet, supplements, and emotional state while recording her urine pH level daily. She actually enjoyed seeing her chemistry move from a bone-depleting low pH level to the ideal bone-preserving 6.5 to 7.5 level.

At one point, however, Lynn noticed that her pH dropped dramatically. Looking back at her records, she realized that this drop in pH occurred after a few days of highly internalized emotional distress. Recognizing this, she modified her stress response and found healthy ways to cope — and sure enough, her first morning urine pH returned to the ideal range.

Listen to Lynn tell her story of how she discovered the link between stress and pH balance:

With any form of stress, half the battle is recognizing that the stress is there. Mindfulness — recognizing what’s challenging you and whether your response to it is helping or hindering — is an important key to ensuring that your thoughts don’t have a lasting effect on your body. Once you know the problem, taking steps to find inner peace can help you cope — and avoid harming your bones.

Reference:

Brown, Susan E. The acid alkaline food guide, 2nd ed. Square One Publishers, Garden City Park, NY, 2013

 

Fruits and vegetables to alkalize
Dr. Susan E. Brown

Summer’s alkaline fruits and vegetables are great for bone health

/0 Comments/in /by

[Updated June 16, 2019]

An alkaline fruit-and vegetable-based diet is the cornerstone of my approach to bone and total health. It’s such an easy and efficient (and delicious) way to provide your body with many key nutrients it needs for bone health and it reduces the acid load that burdens your bones and your kidneys — the two body systems most involved in neutralizing and excreting metabolic acids that contribute to bone calcium loss.

Comprehensive research has documented that regaining a healthy, slightly alkaline pH balance reduces both urinary calcium losses and unwanted bone breakdown, as well as making it easier for your kidneys to function efficiently.

What’s more, excessive calcium loss has been shown by a meta-analysis of 14 scientific studies to be related to a high acid load. Noted researcher Dr. Lynda Frassetto and colleagues reported a few years back that metabolic acids can be neutralized with either potassium citrate or potassium bicarbonate to conserve calcium and reduced unwanted bone breakdown. And clinical studies in patients with chronic kidney disease show that high fruit and vegetable intake can reduce metabolic acidosis (which harms both bones and kidneys).

Alkalize with delicious summer fruits and vegetables

Now that we know why we should choose wholesome in-season fruits and veggies for bone health, what’s out there, and how good is it for alkalizing your body? Here are my top alkaline diet choices:

Fruits

Blackberries
Nectarines
Strawberries
Persimmon
Raspberries
Tangerines
Limes and lemons
Papaya
Pineapple
Watermelon
Cantaloupe/Honeydew

Veggies

Broccoli
Asparagus
Onions
Greens: kale, collards, mustard, endive, arugula, lettuce
Summer squash
Cauliflower
Eggplant

These lists are far from comprehensive— in another blog post I came up with 99 ways you could get 9 daily servings of alkalizing fruits and vegetables!. However, it’s my experience that most of us can’t achieve the ideal pH with diet alone. So many acid-producing activities in our modern lifestyles mean that most of us need to complement our diets with high-quality alkalizing mineral compounds. Luckily, alkalizing is not as difficult as you might think. You can start rebalancing your pH with my Alkaline for Life pH Test Kit.

References

Lambert, H, Frassetto, L et al.  the effect of supplementation with alkaline potassium salts on bone metabolism—a meta-analysis. Osteoporosis International, published online 9 January 2015. DOI 10.1007/s00198-014-3006-9

Giannini, S, et al. Hypercalciuria is a common an important finding in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.  European Journal of Endocrinology, September 2003;149:209-213.

Goraya, N, Simoni, J, et al. Treatment of metabolic acidosis in patients with stage 3 chronic kidney disease with fruits and vegetables or oral bicarbonate reduces urine angiotensinogen and preserves glomerular filtration rate. Kidney Int 2014;1031-1038.