Our bodies are alkaline by design and acid by function, meaning our cells typically live in an alkaline environment and produce acid as a by-product of the metabolic process. And though most of this natural, organic acid is easily eliminated by the lungs as the nutrients are assimilated, the acid produced by some foods must be eliminated by the kidneys, depleting the alkaline reserve.

Here’s how it works:

As foods are digested, they create a residue called ash, which is alkaline, neutral, or acid. Fruits and vegetables produce healthy alkaline ash.
However, other foods – meats, grains, eggs, and dairy products – leave acid ash. During digestion, the usable parts of food are absorbed to help nourish the body, and a residue that can’t be used is left. When eating meats, grains, eggs, and dairy products, this residue is acid. The body doesn’t need it, so it will eventually make its way through the kidneys or bowel and out of the body. However, before it is eliminated, it must be neutralized – weakened, buffered. If it isn’t neutralized, it can burn delicate kidney tissue. Your body has this handled. The primary protection it uses against strong acid is alkalizing minerals.

These vital minerals can neutralize or tone down the acid. Unfortunately, in the process of neutralizing the acid, the minerals are eliminated right along with the residue. That’s the bad news. The good news is that these lost minerals are easily replaced by eating fruits and vegetables.

So, what if you don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables compared to meats, grains, eggs, and dairy products? Well, the body will handle that, too. If minerals that were lost aren’t replaced, other minerals jump in to do the job. However, these substitute minerals weren’t just sitting on the bench waiting to be called into the game! They have important full-time jobs, too. When they are called on to handle the emergency, they are taken from their primary jobs. For example, Calcium is a “substitute” neutralizing mineral. If you don’t replace neutralizing minerals by eating fruits and vegetables, calcium is taken from the bones.

A diet can, therefore, be so top-heavy with acid ash foods that the neutralizing or buffering systems are overwhelmed. When those acid-laden materials arrive at the kidneys, the kidney still must act to neutralize the acid-fast. This additional backup system is ammonia. Your kidneys generate ammonia, which has a pH of about 9.25. That ammonia raises the pH value.

So, when the body is too acid for too long, it plays the game of life with a lineup of backup systems. These backups are either substitute minerals or ammonia. When the body is too acid – when the internal pH is too low – the systems and organs of the body work overtime just to stay even. But, systems and organs aren’t designed to function flat-out in red-alert mode all the time. They need rest just as you do. If the red alert goes on for months or years, because of a diet consisting of mostly high protein foods and comparatively fewer fruits and vegetables, systems and organs become exhausted. An exhausted body can’t compete with disease, and eventually, disease wins the game.