Oh, the drama! The suspense! The angst! I am talking about systemic pH. Now that is a subject that gets the juices flowing.

(However, as I write this column, I notice that dear Art Stevens, the venerable columnist in a Sanibel paper, has started a new drama on the topic of longevity, red wine, and chocolate. I am pained to opine that his recommendation of three glasses of red wine and four boxes of chocolate daily will not lead to a long life, as he hopes. It will, instead, blow out his liver, turn his eyes yellow, and he will drop dead at the ripe old age of 49. Oh, and he’ll be fat, too. You see, one must not take things too far. Red wine and chocolate are incredible foods, yes. Red wine is rich in resveratrol; RAW chocolate is an amazing food. In the tradition of Brylcreme, a little dab will do you.)

Now back to pH. As I said last week, I have been testing my systemic pH each morning and found, to my dismay, that my body is over-acid. I tried to alkalize the standard way (lots of vegetables, baked sweet potatoes, and lentil soup) but that did not do the trick. So I purchased buffered vitamin C powder and did an ascorbic acid flush. That did it! Within two days, my pH was a resounding 7.5!

Interestingly, as my pH increased, my aches and pains decreased.

But last night I did it again! My children came for dinner and I prepared a luscious meal of sauted bok choy with leeks, baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob and a little sausage for protein. Then I said, “Let’s go out for dessert.” We went to a popular dessert place and I indulged in little pieces of fruit and cake dipped into melted chocolate and three bites of cheesecake. I said to myself, “You’re going to be sorry in the morning.”

This morning, my pH was 2.0. Yes, I was sorry. My back hurt, my knees hurt.

The moral of the story is this: purchase the pH strips and do your own daily testing. It could be one of the most amazing things you do to preserve your health, because you can then modify your own acid/alkaline balance.

One of the things I forgot to mention last week is that over-acidity is directly linked to all types of pain. As you alkalinize your body, your pain can be greatly reduced.

Carol is a certified lifestyle educator at the offices of Dr. Alan Gruning in Fort Myers. She owns the Island Nutrition Center on Sanibel. She can be reached at 472-4499.