When our core metabolic rate is faster than the baseline, it will register as too much acid in the body. As a result, the body’s demand for alkalinity will spike (allowing us to maintain pH7). This results in a pH paradox. When we are too fast, we are simultaneously too alkaline.
When our core metabolic rate is slower than the baseline, it will generate too little acid in the body. As a result, the body’s demand for alkalinity will plummet (allowing us to maintain pH7). This, too, results in a pH paradox. When we are too slow, we are simultaneously too acidic.
pH7 merely indicates there’s an equal amount of acid and alkali in the body; it does not indicate the correct amount. The amount of acid and alkali in the body has implications for the amount of hydrogen (H+) and hydroxide (OH-) ions, respectively.
Our pH may be capable of compensating for i.e. “correcting” a basal metabolic rate that is too fast or too slow. But in so doing, it masks the underlying derangement. We can be faster or slower than the appropriate core metabolic rate—so long as we are also more alkaline or more acidic at the same time.
