Tips to stay pH Balanced

You've probably heard of testing your swimming pool's pH, right? You may have heard about keeping the water in your fish tank at a certain pH, right? The importance of this is critical. For your swimming pool, keeping the pH just right prevents algae from forming and various other things from going wrong.

I had a pool for a while. I found it to be a lot of work keeping up with all the chemicals, treatments and testing. I sold it a few years ago.

Of course, mine didn't look anything like this. If it had, I probably would have had a pool man taking care of it for me.

I've had a couple of fish tanks. It's very time consuming getting it all set up. Put the water in and let it filter for a week before putting the fish in. Get all the right chemicals to get rid of the cholorine and such. Then it was time to get some fish and put them in. Tested the pH. All looked fine. We went along for quite some time. It was very nice. I have found that a bigger tank is much easier to keep clean, pH balanced, etc. Then I started losing fish. One by one they would be dead. Tested the pH. It was too high or too low. It was all over the place. Went out and got more stuff to treat the water to get it back in balance. Then we replaced some of the fish. This became the cycle for the next 5 years. Finally, I sold the fish tank.

They are so pretty.....when they are someone elses problem. I have a friend who put one in last year. It took her and her husband forever to get it all set up and running correctly. Then, since we live in a cold climate, they had to tear it all down and store the filter, drain the pond down some and winterize it. I got to thinking about how much work it would be and decided against it. Too bad to, I love to see other people's ponds. Oh, well, it's just not for me, right now. Maybe when I have more time. :-)

I love going to my friends and enjoying hers, so that will have to get me by for now. Maybe I really should hire a pool boy and then he could take care of my garden pond as well. Yeah, OK,nice dream, Michelle, ahhhhhhh OK, time to get back to reality.

How about the pH of your body? Have you ever heard of doing that? Many people haven't. I had never heard about it until about 4 years ago. Now it's all over the place. The Internet is a wealth of information about it. It's amazing the health benefits of having a proper pH balance in your body.

But, you may be wondering, how do you check the pH of your body? Glad you asked. There are two ways, actually. I've used both. My only issue is that they each read completely different. When I asked my friend who is a nutrition specialist, he said that if you check both ways at the same time and come up with two completely different numbers, just pick one about half way in between. So, with that said, I don't have a preference as to how I check mine, but here are both ways for your information.

First, the urine test. Quite frankly, you pee on the litmus paper. (found at any pool or pet store in the fish dept.) It's very important when you do this. It's best to do first thing in the morning, before you have anything to eat or drink. So, like your first visit to the bathroom in the morning. Check your numbers against the chart that should have come with the paper. Your reading should be between 6.8 and 7.2. This is the best place for your body pH to be and testing your urine is a good indication of what your entire body's pH is. When your body's pH is in this range, loads of great health benefits are right there as well.

The other way to test your pH is by using your saliva. Again, first thing in the morning, before eating, drinking, brushing teeth, anything. Get some saliva in your mouth and dip the litmus paper into it. Then check it against the chart. You should be in the 6.8 to7.2 range for optimum health.

If you are looking for litmus paper and can't find it, let me know. I can send you some.

Most Americans are walking around in the 5.5 to 6.0 pH range. I have a customer, (I'm a cosmetologist) who is a nurse, She says that most people, having a urine test, it usually comes back in this range, 5.5 to 6.0. This is much too low. Having a low pH means that your body is very acid. Many chronic diseases love an acid environment.

Here are some things that having a low pH can cause.

• arthritis
• cancer
• fibromyalgia
• lupus
• gout
• gall stones
• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol

This is a very small list. When your body's pH is too low, inflammation thrives, just loves it. Many of our chronic diseases start from an inflamed body. Think about it. Arthritis, inflammation of the joints. Fibromyalgia, inflammation of the muscles. High cholesterol, inflammation of the blood vessels. On and on.

If your pH is too low, which it probably is. As Americans, our diet includes many foods that cause our body to have a much too low pH range. Anything from meat, to coffee, processed foods, dairy, sugar, etc. These all cause your body to stay in the low pH, acid range, thus creating a perfect place for disease to thrive. When you are in this state, you need one thing to get your pH up to it's optimum range. That one thing is calcium.

Mind you, I'm not talking just any old calcium. Take a over the counter pill and you are only going to absorb a fraction of it. Buy a high quality capsule and get a better quality product with a better chance of absorption.

As Americans, we have always believed that if we drink our milk, we get enough calcium. Do you realize that when milk is pasteurized it makes an un-absorbable calcium. Look at us. We are the highest consuming dairy country with the highest rate of Osteoporosis in the world. Why is that? Could it be that we don't get calcium from dairy products after they are pasteurized???

So, where can we get absorb-able Calcium? Green leafy veggies, grasses, brightly colored veggies. I use a Calcium supplement from GNC and feel that I am getting exactly what I take. . Supplement your diet with these things. You are eating and drinking stuff everyday that is depleting your body of this life giving mineral. You have to supplement in some way.

Oh, by the way, sometimes doctors say that we have too much calcium and to not take any. When this is the case, it is usually a very good indicator that you have become so depleted of calcium that your body is pulling huge amounts from your bones and dumping it into your body and it is showing up as too much in your blood test. This is a good indicator of not enough calcium, not too much.

But, it's your call. Who can you believe? The doctor who has a wealth of knowledge in the sickness field and none in the wellness field... or me and thousands of alternative medicine practitioners who's whole focus is on wellness. How to stay healthy and well. That's the priority. Not waiting until you are already sick and giving you a "band-aid" to cover up the symptom.

Besides all this, how many natural products cause side effects when taken properly? None. Now ask yourself the same question about traditional medication.

Like I said, your choice. Good luck either way.

Michelle is a life long student of natural health and wellness. As such she has contact with people who are licensed in the field of natural health. Customized nutrition is here and available for you, free. No more guessing. Find out what your body needs, exactly.

Contact Michelle by email. michelle@michellemoseley.com She will get back to you, just as soon as she can.