Just as there are acidic foods, thoughts, and emotions, did you know there are also acidic exercises that should be avoided?
Today we share some ideas on alkaline exercise—specific types of exercises and some do’s and don’ts—from the book “The pH Miracle, Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health”.
- - - -ALKALINE EXERCISE“Exercise makes you breathe. It makes you sweat. It pumps your lymph system. And in doing so, it is an invaluable component of getting and stayingalkaline. That's because the power of exercise to cleanse your body, eliminate acids and all kinds of toxins, is just as important as its ability to build strength and enhance flexibility. It is just as important as the cardiovascular benefits and the support of the bones and joints and the stress busting and the mood stabilization. It is just as important to clear acids from the body to boost metabolism, or to improve blood pressure, triglycerides, and insulin levels.
The key thing is to get exercise. But you also have to make sure it is the right kind of exercise and the right amount. Too little, too much, or the wrong kind, and you'll make yourself more acidic. LOVE YOUR LYMPHATIC SYSTEMYou can burn calories with pretty much any form of exercise. But burning calories is not the most important thing about exercise. Sweating is. Perspiration moves acids out of your body through the pores in your skin (thirty-five hundred of them per square inch!). In fact, sweat is one of the main ways your body has of eliminating acids. Moving your body enough to break a sweat pumps the lymphatic system, which serves to remove toxins acidic wastes tissues and fluids and release them through the skin. Sweating open up your pores, which allows both liquid and gaseous acids to pass through. If you areexercising enough to sweat, you are also exercising enough to increase your breathing, and respiration is another key way for acids and toxins (in gas form) to leave the body.
The lymphatic system is a secondary circulatory system that runs parallel to the blood system, composed of a network of lymphatic nodes, capillaries, and vessels that carry a clear, alkaline fluid called lymph. (The spleen thymus, appendix, tonsils, and bone marrow also contain lymphatic tissue.) Its purpose is to move fluid away from the tissues back into the blood, and to move acids, wastes, bacteria, and other toxins out of the body. The lymph also delivers nutrients to the cells, and helps exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. The lymphatic system supports the immune system by moving white blood cells around the body. 
You have lymphatic vessels pretty much anywhere you have blood vessels. They are lined with a thin, smooth wall of muscle. There are hundreds of lymph nodes spread out along these vessels, with particular density in the neck, armpits, and groin. Lymph moves through the vessels into the lymph nodes to be filtered, but it doesn't have a large built-in pump the way your circulatory system does (the heart), so it requires pressure changes to stimulate the flow of lymph. Those pressure changes occur through deep breathing and muscular activity. In other words, exercise is what you need to activate your lymphatic system, and you need to pump your lymphatic system to get and keep your body alkaline.
If the lymph slows down or stagnates, you'll have poor circulation, and fresh oxygen and fuel can't get to the cells. The cells themselves will bathe in acidic, rather than alkaline, fluids-fluids that may have toxins and debris in them without the lymph system functioning to pull them away. Your body won't work as efficiently, and you'll feel you have no energy. You'll have systemic and/or localized pain due to acid buildup. You'll retain fluids–one of your body's strategies for neutralizing acid. And you'll be wide open to degenerative disease.
These are the far-reaching effects of a lack of exercise and a lymph system that doesn't get properly “pumped." Acid foods, sugar, and toxic chemicals cause lymph problems, too. Acidic waste from chemical reactions in the cells, from breakdown of tissues and cells, and from any acidic by-products that can't be cleared by the bloodstream, can block your lymphatic system. Emotional and psychological issues can have an effect, too. Unmanaged anger, stress, fatigue, or emotional shock can slow the lymph system
CHOOSE AEROBIC EXERCISE The wrong kind or amount of exercise, however, can actually block your lymphatic system. Lack of regular aerobic exercise has that effect, and so does over exercising. Anaerobic exercise (more about which in a minute) is also a problem. What you need is aerobic
exercise in moderate amounts. Aerobic exercise is any exercise that increases the body's use and flow of oxygen—aerobic means, literally, "with oxygen." The increased oxygen demand is what causes the familiar increase in heart rate and breathing.
Many types of exercise are aerobic. Whether or not a particular exercise is aerobic often depends on how it is performed. Generally, aerobic exerciseis exercise of moderate intensity done for a relatively long period of time Jogging several times around the track at a reasonable pace? Aerobic. Jogging full-out so you can't carry on even a small conversation with your running partner? Not. ANAEROBIC EXERCISE
Exercise that causes the body to incur an oxygen debt, however— exercisethat is anaerobic, "without oxygen'—shuts down the lymphatic system and will make the body more acidic. What enables the body to make any movements at all is the electrical potential or free electrons that every cell in the human body requires in order to function properly. We recharge our bodies with electron-rich alkaline foods, drinks, and sunshine. Without those electrons, we couldn't power any exercise at all. When electrons are consumed for energy, this creates acidic by-products, which vary somewhat depending on the source of the food or drink we are obtaining our electrical potential or electrons from. As long as the body is taking in plenty of oxygen, carbon dioxide—a less toxic acid—is released through the lungs as the body extracts energy via respiration. But without sufficient oxygen—in anaerobic conditions—the metabolic process shifts from respiration to fermentation, and the more toxic lactic acid is formed and expelled into the tissues. The classic example of anaerobic exercise is weight lifting (especially when you tend to hold your breath). But anytime you exercise to the point where you are gasping for oxygen, you are doing anaerobic exercise—even if it’s a type of exercise we tend to think of as aerobic. Cycling? Generally aerobic. Cycling up long hills? Anaerobic.
Anytime you do any kind of exercise to the point of exhaustion, you have crossed the line into anaerobic exercise. That is, anytime you feel exhausted, and have soreness or pain in your muscles—that's the lack of oxygen talking.
GET THE AMOUNT OF EXERCISE THAT'S JUST RIGHT Like Goldilocks, you shouldn’t settle for exercise that’s too much or too little. You need to get the type and amount of exercise that’s “just right” and not cross over into the anaerobic, sugar-producing exhausting exercise. That means at least twenty to thirty minutes a day of activity. If you don’t exercise every day, acids will build up in your tissues. But you don’t have to do it all at once, if it works better for you to break it into ten-or fifteen-minute sessions, go right ahead. In fact, exercising more often is better than exercising for longer periods of time in one go…
All this presupposes you’re eating an appropriate amount of healthy alkalinefood for your body weight. IF you’re following the pH Miracle plan, your body will be getting the electron energy or fuel it needs—no more, no less—which allows you to streamline your workout this way. If you eat more than you should—or more acid than you should—you need more exercise.”
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Also mentioned in the book is a section on specific alkaline exercises. Here is an abridged version of that information:
Be careful to conduct active exercises like walking, jogging, cross training, and rebounding at a safe and non-acid-forming level. Don’t push to the point of pain or loss of breath.
You can do staticexercises like yoga, Pilates, stretching and pain-free weight training, every day.
Several passive forms of exercise are also excellent for moving the lymphatic fluids, reducing acidity in the body. These exercises include deep breathing, acupuncture and acupressure, infrared saunas, massage, lymphatic massage, self-massage/body brushing, and whole-body vibration.
To learn more, get the book and become an alkaline exercise expert!
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Young, Robert O., and Shelley Redford. Young. The PH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health. Wellness Central, 2010. |
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