The Syndrome of Acidity and 14 Tips to Alleviate It.

Being a gardener really makes you understand that you don’t need to go against any of nature’s flavours or preferences. Some plants, for example, like to grow in acidic soil. The sweetest blueberries and the brightest azaleas grow near pine trees, where soil is rich in acid. Other plants need more neutral or alkaline soil to thrive.

In the same way, our bodies need a certain fluctuation between a mild acidity and alkalinity. It is for this reason that nature has created for us food that is either alkalinizing or acid-producing. We can choose to give ourselves a balanced intake of food that maintains this delicate and mysterious inner balance.

Acidity is unfortunately predominant in our list of food options. For example, coffee, white sugar, vinegars, meat, junk food and nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, pepper and eggplant) are favoured because of their addictive nature. You can learn more about acidic and alkalinizing foods here.

You can imagine acidity in the body as putting our cells into a bath of a corrosive substance that ultimately wants to help the process of decay. As a defense, the cells invest their energy into inflammation (puff up), therefore reducing their functional capacity for metabolizing, assimilating and distributing food and energy. Acidity has a link also to a reduced ability to rest, relax and to turn off our daily stress. As acidity wants to speed up the process of decay, the cells enter into a mode of surviving, creating existential anxiety (represented, perhaps by concerns about money, security, or any issues related to life supporting you). After a period of time, this bath of acidity in the cells of the body creates a deep fatigue that seems insurmountable, as well as despondency and helplessness. Acidity becomes an internal enemy that shifts your perception of yourself and of reality. It is also linked to mood swings and anger. Acidity reduces your fertility and your creativity.

Acidity also can be produced by holding certain emotions, primarily those related to disappointment and resentment. At the mental level, acidity is very friendly to the go-go mind, which requests us to destroy our naturalness and to tap into an idealistic perfection. It is our responsibility to choose thoughts and emotions that are conducive to a balanced environment.

As you are reading this article, you may be wondering about the level of acidity in your body. There are simple acidity tests that you can purchase at the pharmacy that are sensitive to the ph-level of your urine. The test will locate on a scale your level of acidity or alkalinity. For an accurate reading, you should test your urine early in the morning.

To balance acidity, we need to look at different angles, from our personal position in front of life, the food we eat and the environment we live in. Our lifestyle can aid to make acidity less predominant in our body and life and to give a chance to our organs and to our perception to sustain inner evolution. Acidity destroys its nature but also can give, in the right proportions, wonderful fruits to make our inner landscape produce all we need for a full life. 

14 Tips to Alleviate Acidity

1.     Inform yourself by reading on acid-forming foods

2.     Combine your food properly. Protein and vegetables are friends. Fruits like to be eaten alone. Sweet fruits can go together (ie. Apples, pears and peaches). Acidic fruits (oranges, grapefruit, grapes) can go together but not with sweet fruits.  Starch/grains and vegetables are friends. Protein and grains/starch are not friends. Legumes and vegetables are friends.

3.     Eat your next meal only once you have properly digested your last meal.

4.     Cut intake of chocolate, refined sugars, junk food, cigarettes and coffee.

5.     Drink 2L of pure water every day. Fresh water from a well is most commonly alkaline, and will aid the process of balancing your body’s ph. Be aware that water from the tap is acidic.

6.     Once a week, take a mild laxative and evacuate your bowels completely (ie. laxative teas, senna leaves).

7.     Clear your liver once a year. (learn how)

8.     Drink 2 cups of warm water with lemon in the morning before breakfast.

9.     Take your daily triphala (2 capsules/day).

10. In the evening, take ½ cup of warm water with 1 tsp of baking soda (away from meals, after your last meal has been fully digested)

11. The herb to neutralize acidity is Avipattikar purchase here

12. Do yoga that stimulates liver, pancreas and stomach functions.

13. Don’t go to bed when your stomach is still digesting (from 2-6 hours, depending on what you eat).

14. Deep breathing and laughter!