During the twenty-plus years I’ve been a practicing physician, I’ve seen quite a few patients who were frustrated with their doctors’ failure to help make them well.

Tired of misdiagnoses and ineffective treatments, they come to me with a wide range of serious ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, fatigue, digestive problems, kidney stones, gout – you name it.

And here’s what I generally find – a combination of inflammation and acidosis that has spiraled out of control. When this gruesome twosome set up shop in your body, the result is stubborn symptoms and chronic discomfort that don’t respond well to traditional medicine’s Band-Aid “cures.”

What Is Acidosis?

So let’s start with acidosis, a biochemical condition in the body that paralyzes every cell, preventing the absorption of oxygen and essential nutrients.

Acidosis is caused by an acid-alkaline imbalance in the body’s pH levels. Excess acid can be due to stress, environmental toxins, insufficient oxygen and a poor diet. Processed and fast foods, coffee, sodas, alcohol, meat, dairy products, and anything with added sugar create acid.

What Are The Symptoms Of Acidosis?

When It happens, your body doesn’t function at optimal levels. You’re likely to have one or more serious chronic ailments, or symptoms that have your doctor scratching their head.

That’s because acidosis causes internal symptoms that are easy to miss. Excess levels of acid damage tissues and organs so badly, for example, that they can harden or develop lesions to prevent acid from penetrating tissue.

Acidosis can also wreak havoc with your body’s mineral supply, elevating your risk of osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and other disorders.

Here’s the most important thing I want you to know about acidosis: Every illness exists in an acidic state.

It’s easy to measure your pH levels using saliva or urine with litmus paper. Ideally, your pH should be slightly alkaline, in the range of 7.2 to 7.4 (just a bit more alkaline than water, which has a neutral pH of 7.0).

If your pH is lower than 7.2, you’re in a state of acidosis. By contrast, a pH above 7.43 signals excessive alkalinity, or alkalosis, which is very rare.

Untreated, acidosis sets the stage for inflammation. In small doses, inflammation is a lifesaver. It’s the body’s defense against foreign substances, like bacteria and virus.

If you cut your finger, for example, the skin around the cut swells and turns red, as your body mounts a defense against enemy microbes that could enter your bloodstream. After the cut heals, the swelling and redness go away.

But with chronic inflammation, your entire body is a battleground. And like any enemy combatant, inflammation tends to attack the weakest organ system first, depending on genetics or pre-existing health conditions.

Telltale signs of inflammation might present as painful, arthritic joints or digestive issues (gastritis). Sometimes, inflammation turns up as repeated urinary tract infections, skin problems such as eczema or hives, or immune disorders leading to one cold after another.

Inflammation can be easily measured with a blood test for CRP (C-reactive protein). A score higher than 1 means there’s active inflammation in your body. But this is not a standard test and you will have to ask your doctor to write you a prescription for this test if you suspect that you have chronic inflammation.  You may even have to pay for this test yourself, if your insurance doesn’t cover it, but isn’t your health worth it?

Many medical authorities consider inflammation the root cause of all disease, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Earlier, I said the much the same thing about acidosis. Clearly, living with these two silent killers can destroy your health.

So what can you do to tame inflammation and correct acidosis? I’ve got simple solutions for both conditions.

How To Treat Inflammations?

To treat inflammation, supplement your diet with curcumin, an extract of the spice turmeric. Take 500 mg of curcumin up to three times daily. But make sure you purchase a formulation with enhanced bioavailability to ensure that your body will actually absorb the curcumin.

Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) are another option. Look for a product that’s purified and molecularly distilled, then take 1,000 mg daily.

How To Treat Acidosis?

Unlike inflammation, which is recognized by conventional doctors, acidosis is completely ignored. That’s really a shame, because acidosis is simple to identify and correct.

If litmus paper shows you’re acidic, simply increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. Almost all fruits and vegetables – even citrus – are alkalizing (it may sound odd that acidic citrus fruits are alkalizing but that is really the effect in your body.) Only tomatoes, cranberries, and blueberries are non-alkalizing. So if you have acidosis, go light on these.

No time to cook? Use a powdered greens supplement. Just mix with juice or water, and you’re good to go.

These changes are simple, but powerful. Many patients tell me that as soon as their acid levels go down, they feel so much better. Lowering inflammation has the same effect, although it takes a little longer.

Simple changes can have powerful health benefits. I hope you’ll get started on correcting excess acidity today, because the benefits are dramatic. And the sooner you start, the better for your health.

Last Updated: May 4, 2021
Originally Published: September 1, 2014