Orange Juice Alkalizes Your Body – And That’s a VERY Good Thing!

Orange juice is acidic. Toothpaste commercials might have you believe that’s a bad thing (with their worrisome fears of acid erosion to sell high end toothpastes), but in the grand scheme of things,  you really WANT the acidity that can only be found in citrus juices. Orange juice alkalizes your body.

When citrus, such as oranges, lemons, limes and tangerines, enter your body and are broken down and metabolized, it creates an alkaline effect. If you remember anything from high school chemistry, you might remember that acid and alkaline are very different from each other.

So the transformation of orange juice and other citrus fruits in your body from acid to alkaline is really, really cool.

Why should you care? Your body is healthier in an alkaline state and some research suggests that cancer cells actually can’t survive in high alkaline environments and bones are healthier in an alkaline environment.

Have I got your attention now?

Your body wants an alkaline environment to work properly. However, our modern American diet – high in animal proteins, dairy, added sugars and processed foods – produces an acidic effect inside your body. That’s not good.

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An acidic environment inside your body (keep in mind – this has nothing to do with the acidity of foods before you consume them) keeps your body from working properly. The more acidic your insides are, the harder your body has to fight to stay healthy. That doesn’t seem fair, huh?

With too much acidity, your body can’t absorb as much minerals and nutrients, or produce energy in cells (and don’t we all need some more energy?). Your cells can’t repair themselves as well. Even more scary, tumor cells thrive in acid environments inside your body – and no one wants that.

A lot of factors affect the very delicate acid to alkaline ratio inside your body. To recap chemistry class, pH neutral is 7.0. Anything over that is alkaline. Anything less than that is acidic.

Food has a MAJOR impact on whether or not your body is acidic or alkaline. To be fair, emotional stress and toxic overloads can spin your body into an acidic environment, too. So you want to consume foods that will have an alkalizing effect on your body, even if you think you eat right already.

Citrus fruits with their high acidity actually alkalize your body. So drinking lemon juice, orange juice, tangerine juice and other fruits that remind you of sunny days can bring down the acid balance inside and start to put your body into a healthier pH balance.

You want only pure citrus juice though, without any added sugars, flavors or preservatives. Organic is always best, too, in order to reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals, which could raise the acid count in your body.

Lemon juice is among the strongest alkalizing fruits available. Just behind lemons, though, are mango, guavas, nectarines and oranges. Beets and apples are moderately alkaline, too.

Let’s make it clear, though. As great as consuming orange juice can be for your health, the acid can still wreck havoc on your tooth enamel. The quick fix? Brush your teeth after drinking citrus juices. Or drink through a straw. Or at the very minimum – swish water around your mouth after consuming citrus foods.