What Do I Do If My Body Is Too Acidic? Restoring Your pH Balance

November 19, 2025 •

4 min read

A normal pH range for human blood is a tightly controlled 7.35 to 7.45, demonstrating the body's sophisticated balancing act. So, what do I do if my body is too acidic? Understanding the signs and causes of an acidic state, known as acidosis, is the first step toward reclaiming your health with smart lifestyle and dietary choices.

Quick Summary

Combat an overly acidic body by adjusting your diet with more alkaline-forming foods, prioritizing hydration, and managing stress levels. Consult a doctor for persistent or severe symptoms.

Key Points

Alkaline Diet: Focus on consuming a higher proportion of alkaline-forming foods like vegetables, fruits, and legumes to support pH balance.
Hydration is Key: Stay well-hydrated with plain or alkaline water to help flush toxins and regulate your body's pH.
Manage Stress: Reduce stress through practices like meditation or deep breathing, as chronic stress can contribute to body acidity.
Exercise Moderately: Incorporate regular, low-impact exercise to aid circulation and detoxification, supporting natural pH regulation.
Be Mindful of Symptoms: Pay attention to chronic fatigue, headaches, or digestive issues, but consult a doctor for persistent or severe symptoms, as these can indicate a serious medical condition.
Limit Acidic Foods: Reduce your intake of highly acidic-forming foods such as processed goods, sugary drinks, and excessive meat and dairy.

Understanding Body Acidity (Acidosis)

Acidosis is a condition where an excess of acid builds up in the body's fluids, with the blood pH falling below 7.35. While the body possesses robust systems—the kidneys and lungs—to maintain this delicate acid-base balance, certain health conditions and lifestyle factors can overwhelm these processes. Severe, clinically diagnosed acidosis is a serious medical issue that requires professional intervention. However, many people wonder about a more subtle, chronic state of low-grade acidity often linked to diet and lifestyle. Symptoms associated with an overly acidic state can include fatigue, headaches, inflammation, and digestive problems. The good news is that for non-clinical issues, many lifestyle and dietary modifications can help support your body's natural balancing efforts.

Assess and Identify Potential Signs

Your body sends signals when something is off. When you're questioning, "what do I do if my body is too acidic?", pay attention to these common, non-specific indicators. Remember, these can point to many different issues, so it's important not to self-diagnose. Consulting a healthcare provider for any persistent symptoms is crucial.

Chronic Fatigue: Feeling tired or weak constantly can be a symptom of an overly acidic system.
Digestive Distress: This includes frequent issues like bloating, acid reflux, and constipation.
Skin Problems: Dry skin, breakouts, and other irritations may manifest when your body is struggling to balance its pH.
Headaches and Brain Fog: Regular headaches, confusion, and difficulty concentrating can be linked to imbalances.
Increased Inflammation: Joint and muscle pain without a clear cause can be an indicator.

Actionable Steps to Restore Balance

If you're looking for what to do if your body is too acidic, there are a number of dietary and lifestyle changes you can implement to support your body's natural pH regulatory mechanisms. The focus is on reducing acid-forming foods and increasing alkaline-forming ones.

1. Adjust Your Diet

Adopting a more alkaline-focused diet is one of the most powerful steps you can take. This doesn't mean eliminating all acidic foods, but rather shifting the balance to favor more alkaline options. Aim for a ratio of 70-80% alkaline-forming foods to 20-30% acid-forming foods.

Prioritize Leafy Greens: Incorporate large quantities of spinach, kale, and other leafy greens into your daily meals. They are exceptionally alkaline-forming.
Eat More Vegetables: Non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers, and carrots are excellent choices.
Enjoy Fruits: Though some are acidic outside the body, most fruits like lemons, watermelon, and avocado have an alkalizing effect once metabolized.
Swap Grains: Replace refined grains with options like quinoa, millet, and buckwheat, which are considered less acid-forming.
Choose Plant Proteins: Opt for plant-based proteins like lentils, nuts, and seeds over heavier animal proteins.

2. Stay Hydrated

Dehydration can contribute to an acidic environment. Drinking plenty of water is vital for flushing out toxins and waste products.

Drink Alkaline Water: Some studies suggest that alkaline water (pH 8.8 or higher) can help inactivate pepsin, an enzyme involved in acid reflux. While its overall effect on systemic pH is debated, it can help manage digestive symptoms.
Try Lemon Water: Despite being acidic on its own, adding lemon juice to water has an alkalizing effect on the body after digestion.

3. Manage Stress

Chronic stress increases cortisol levels, which can contribute to acidity. Incorporating stress-reducing practices is key to maintaining balance.

Meditation and Yoga: Both practices help regulate stress and promote deeper breathing, which assists in expelling acidic carbon dioxide.
Deep Breathing Exercises: Even short, purposeful deep breathing sessions can have a positive effect on body acidity.

4. Get Regular Exercise

Consistent, moderate exercise supports circulation and helps remove acidic waste from the body.

Choose Low-Impact Activities: Activities like brisk walking, swimming, or stationary biking are beneficial. High-intensity exercise can sometimes increase lactic acid and should be balanced with proper recovery.

Comparison of Alkaline vs. Acidic Foods

This table provides a simple guide to help you shift your dietary focus towards more alkaline-forming options. The pH effect is based on the food's effect on the body after digestion, not its original state.


Alkaline-Forming Foods	Acidic-Forming Foods
Leafy Greens (Spinach, Kale)	Red Meat & Poultry
Most Vegetables (Broccoli, Avocado)	Processed Foods & Refined Grains
Fruits (Lemon, Watermelon)	Sugar and Sugary Beverages
Nuts (Almonds, Pumpkin Seeds)	Dairy Products
Legumes (Lentils, Soybeans)	Alcohol & Caffeine
Quinoa, Millet	Most Grains (Wheat, Corn)
Herbal Teas	Unhealthy Fats & Fried Foods

When to Seek Medical Advice

While many dietary and lifestyle changes can help support a healthy pH balance, it's crucial to understand the difference between minor discomfort and a serious medical condition like metabolic or respiratory acidosis. If you experience any of the following, you should consult a healthcare professional immediately:

Persistent or severe symptoms like rapid breathing, confusion, or severe fatigue.
Symptoms that don't improve with lifestyle changes.
If you have a pre-existing condition like kidney disease, diabetes, or lung disease, which are common causes of clinical acidosis.

An authorized resource for learning more about metabolic acidosis and the body's acid-base balance is available from the National Institutes of Health(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507807/).

Conclusion

Maintaining a proper pH balance is vital for overall health, and while the body has powerful natural systems to do so, diet and lifestyle play a significant supporting role. By focusing on a diet rich in alkaline-forming foods, prioritizing hydration, managing stress, and incorporating regular, moderate exercise, you can empower your body to perform its natural balancing act more effectively. For persistent or severe symptoms, it is always best to consult a medical professional to rule out underlying medical conditions and receive appropriate guidance. Simple, consistent changes can make a profound difference in how you feel and function day-to-day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Non-specific symptoms often associated with an overly acidic state include chronic fatigue, headaches, digestive issues like acid reflux and bloating, skin problems, and unexplained muscle or joint pain.

For systemic pH, the body has strong regulatory mechanisms, making the effect of alkaline water minimal. However, some research suggests alkaline water can help inactivate pepsin, an enzyme involved in acid reflux, and may provide relief for digestive symptoms.

Home tests using saliva or urine strips are available, but they are not reliable indicators of your overall systemic pH balance. The body tightly regulates blood pH, and accurate measurements require specific blood tests like an arterial blood gas (ABG) test, performed by a healthcare provider.

Focus on consuming plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens, broccoli, and lemons. Other alkaline-forming foods include nuts like almonds, legumes, and certain grains like quinoa.

It's best to limit acid-forming foods such as processed and refined foods, sugary drinks, excessive caffeine and alcohol, most dairy, and red meat.

While an alkaline-focused diet is generally healthy due to its emphasis on plant-based foods, it's not recommended to completely eliminate all acidic foods, as some are nutritious. The goal is balance; if you completely restrict major food groups, you risk nutritional deficiencies.

Severe, clinical acidosis (metabolic or respiratory) is a serious condition that can be life-threatening and is often caused by underlying health problems like uncontrolled diabetes, kidney failure, or lung issues. It requires immediate medical attention, especially if symptoms include confusion, rapid breathing, or fatigue.