The Best Way to See If Your Body Is Alkaline

A pH-balanced body is a healthy body. Your body should have a pH level between 7 and 7.5 during the middle of a normal day. Any number above this amount is alkaline, and any number below is acidic. Too much alkalinity or acidity is undesirable and can be controlled to some extent through diet.

Urine Testing

• Urine pH testing measures how effectively the body is using good minerals, including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium. To urine test, get pH urine test strips. Go to the bathroom and urinate on a test strip. These are color-coded with an accompanying interpretation chart, so you can see at a glance if your urine is acidic or alkaline. The healthy colors are usually green or blue, or between 7 and 7.5. If it is the first thing in the morning, your urine will be more acidic, so wait until later in the day to retest. Exercise of a high-impact nature can also make lactic acid go into the urine, making it more acidic.

Saliva Testing

• Saliva testing shows how well your digestive enzymes are working. Saliva testing is also done with pH test strips. In fact, some test strips can be used for either saliva or urine, but not both at the same time. To test saliva, do not eat anything for a few hours, so the test will not be contaminated. Drinking water is okay. Then you should "rinse" your mouth with your own saliva, swallowing twice, before placing a test strip in your mouth.

Why Alkalinity is Important

• The body's pH is different from the stomach's pH. These tests measure the overall body's acidity. The pH is a measure of the body's acid and alkaline balances between acid-making positively charged ions and alkaline-making negatively charged ions. When a body is too acidic, it steals minerals like calcium from the bones and uses them to function, leading to an overall deterioration of the body's systems.

  Ben Kim, D.C., a Canadian chiropractor and acupuncturist with a radio show and health website, says, "If you spend years eating a poor diet that is mainly acid-forming, you will overwork some of the buffering systems mentioned above to a point where you could create undesirable changes in your health." This means that while eating acid-forming foods occasionally may not harm you, eating acid-forming foods in excess may.

Controlling Acid

• If your body is too acidic, it can be controlled through a better diet. Acid-inducing foods include meats, eggs and dairy. Preservatives and artificial sweeteners are also culprits. To combat acidity, you need to drink more water and have a mostly vegetable and fruit diet, rather than a mostly animal-based protein diet. You should also avoid white processed sugars and flours.