The human body is alkaline by design and acidic by function. If you are not familiar with acid and alkaline then they are measurements of hydrogen ions in liquid or tissues. Acidic substances increases the concentration of ions and alkaline decrease it. Both are measured by the potential of Hydrogen (pH) scale that ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral, anything below 7 being acidic and anything above 7 being alkaline. In order to maintain homeostasis, the body’s environment need to have the proper acid-alkaline balance.
There are different ranges of pH that indicates the fluctuations that occurs and need to occur for the body’s survival. What makes these fluctuations possible are minerals obtained from wholesome plant-based foods, quality protein sources, and alkaline water. See, every food eaten is burned into either alkaline-ash or acid-ash and therefore must be consumed in a ratio that maintains the body’s pH environment. When this balance is achieved, the benefits include homeostasis and more oxygen is delivered to organs such as the brain. However, an imbalance leads to over acidic conditions and chronic over-acidity corrodes body tissues. In the other extreme too much alkaline foods can swing the body’s pH out of balance also. If left unchecked these conditions will interrupt all cellular activities and functions from the beating of the heart to processes involving the activities of the brain.
So what can you do to maintain the balance?
First, get some pH strips and samples of your child’s urine. Dip the pH strips into the urine and record the results. Your pH strips should come with a chart to help you determine your child’s pH reading. Get about 3 days worth, then take the average. This will give you a base line to work with.
More than likely your child with eczema will read acidic or at least normal range. If s/he is acidic then you want to create a plan of action to include more alkaline foods such as fresh vegetables in his/her diet and less acidic foods such as meats and nuts. To help you with this you can search the internet for acid-alkaline foods and you should be able to find a chart of the foods. Print it out and circle all the alkaline foods your child is familar with and will eat. Reduce as much of the acid forming foods as you can such as the meats and nut family. You also want to give your child more alkaline liquids such as spring water, broths, and herbal teas.
After about 1 week to 10 days of this balancing recheck your child’s pH. Another way you will be able to determine how well your child’s body is starting to turn to be more alkaline is that your child will have less scratch/itch episodes.
This is just a basic overview of the acid/alkaline balance. If you have any questions just post it below.
Yours for health and wellness,
Sandra Hurd, MS
Certified Nutrition Consultant
http://www.stopmychildseczema.com
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