Tip 53. Avoid acidosis.
Acidosis
is
t
he enemy of
the healthy, alkalising diet.
Whenever the alkali
n
ity of the blood
is reduced,
even slightly, its ability to transport t
h
e carbon dioxide gets reduced.
T
his resul
t
s in the accumulation of acid in the tissues. This
c
o
ndition is known as acidosis or h
y
po-alkali
n
ity of the blood.
Its symptoms are hunger, indiges
ti
on,
burning se
n
s
ation and
p
ain in the p
h
arynx, nau
s
ea, vomiting, headache,
various nervous disorders a
n
d drowsiness. Acidosis is the breeding ground for most dis
e
ases. Nept
h
ritis or Bright's dis
e
ase, rheumatism, premature old age,
arterioscler
o
sis, high bl
o
od pressure,
skin disorders a
n
d various degenerative diseases
are
traceable to
this con
d
iti
o
n. It seriously interferes with the functions of the glands and o
r
gans of the
body. It also lowers the
vitality of the system, thereby increasing the
d
anger of inf
e
ctious dise
a
s
es.
The main cause of acid
o
s
is or hypo-alkali
n
ity of the blood is
f
aulty diet, in which too
many acid forming foods have been consumed. In the normal process
o
f metabolism or conver
t
ing the
food into e
n
ergy by the
body,. vari
o
us acids a
r
e formed in the system and in additio
n
, other
acids are in
t
roduced in
f
ood. Whenever there is substanti
a
l increase in
t
he formation of acids
in the system and these
a
c
ids are not
properly eliminated through the lun
g
s, the kidn
e
ys and the bowels, the
alkali
n
ity of the blood is
r
educed, resulting in
a
ci
d
osis.
Other causes of acid
o
s
is are depleti
o
n of alkali r
e
serve due to diarrhoea,
dysentery, cholera etc., accu
m
ulation of c
a
rbon dioxide in asphyxia and anoxia as in ci
r
c
ula
t
ory and pulmonary
diseases a
n
d accumula
t
ion of acet
o
ne bodies r
e
sulting from
starvation, vomiting and diabetes mellitus.
Acidosis
c
a
n be prevented by main
t
aining a pr
o
per ratio be
t
ween acid
a
nd alkaline
f
oods in the diet. Certain foods leave alkaline
a
s
h and help in
maintaining the alkali
n
ity of the food,
while others leave highly acid
ash and lo
w
er the alkali
reserve of the blood and
tissue fluids
to a very large extent. Eggs do t
h
e same but less stron
g
ly than meats. Cereals of
all kin
d
s, including all
sorts of bre
a
ds are also
acid-forming foods, tho
u
gh much less than meats. All frui
t
s
,
with exceptions like plums a
n
d prunes, a
n
d all green
a
nd root vegetables are highly alkaline foods and
help
to
alkali
n
ise
t
h
e
blood
and
other
tissue
fluids.
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