In order to take better care of my mediocre teeth I am wanting to replace the diet soda I drink with something less acidic. But everything I try seems just as bad. I first tried those 16.9oz bottles of water with the flavoring packets mixed in them, but I think the pH of those was around 3.
So I tried gatorade and powerade, but found out those were about 3. Then I tried light Hawaiian punch and read that that has a pH of 2.82.
So the only beverages I can think of are regular water, milk, coffee and certain kinds of tea. But I really don’t like the texture or taste of regular water. It may not appeal to the anarcho-primivists, but I can’t see myself drinking a gallon of regular water a day (which is how much liquid I normally drink in a day). I don’t want to drink that much milk or coffee. Maybe I can start drinking more tea, but I have to find non-acidic kinds.
I bought some pH test strips to try various beverages.
I’ve been told to drink acidic beverages with a straw, then rinse my mouth out with water when I am done. Supposedly that isn’t too dangerous (the danger comes from sipping small amounts all day).
But there really aren’t many options if you want something with a pH above 5.5.
With the carbonation, I’m pretty sure soda is the absolute worst beverage for your teeth. I switched from diet soda to bottled green tea for this very reason (a generic brand sold cheaply at Aldi around here). It’s still caffeinated, which I need, but I’m pretty sure it’s not very acidic. I don’t have pH testing strips to know for sure, but it doesn’t feel very acidic. There’s no throat-burning.
Have you tested the pH of coffee? How did that come out?
I don’t have the numbers, but I can say for sure that coffee is pretty acidic.
And the OP shouldn’t just be using pH paper. Where’s the fun in that? He should get a good pH meter instead, preferably something portable and easily recalibrated.
But those just look like thermometers. If the OP starts sticking little pieces of paper in everyone’s drinks he can tell them he’s checking for poison and see how long it takes for the rumors to start.
ETA, hell, he could just be honest and say that he’s checking to see how much acid is in the drink without offering up any further explanation and see where that goes.
A glance that those two charts show completely opposite rankings for many of the drinks; for example, the first one says that coffee and tea are highly acidic, while the second says they are alkaline (also, check out lemon in the first link; I also never knew that microwaving food makes it acidic). They also both appear to be referring to the effects on your body’s pH, since the second says to check your urine (according to the first chart, I ought to be in acidosis).
Without looking at (perhaps dubious) charts, I would hazard a guess that vegetable juices like carrot, spinach, wheatgrass, etc. are pretty non-acidic. (Can anyone confirm this?) They can be very yummy too.
People diagnosed with serious health issues change their lifestyles - or at least the ones who want to live longer and/or enjoy better health do. Yes, I can see that if you’re used to the stimulation of a flavored beverage, switching to water seems like a step backward - but if your teeth aren’t so great, and you want them to do better, you may have to make some sacrifices. Things like that can be a difficult transition to make, but once you get used to it, it will become “the new normal” for you.
Exactly. If water doesn’t taste good, you don’t need to drink anything. Nobody needs to drink a gallon of fluid a day, unless they are a manual labourer in the desert or something. I drink maybe a couple of pints a day, if that. Anything more and I’d be in the bathroom a dozen times a day.
To be fair, people with kidney issues (history of stones/urinary tract infections) should drink more fluids than normal. It’s the way I’ve managed to stay out of the emergency room for the last couple years. Manual laborers aren’t the only people who should drink a lot of water. Don’t know if that applies to the OP, just throwing it out there.
Also I do think that pH is more about absolute value. You don’t want highly alkaline beverages any more than you want highly acidic beverages. But I don’t believe there are nearly as many alkaline beverages as acidic ones, and they aren’t nearly as strong. So aiming alkaline could still be a strategy. Add soy milk to everything!
The only improvements I make in my life I make after all other avenues have been closed off, and I bitch and complain the whole way until my obsessive neuroticism drives friends and family alike away in droves.
Tooth decay occurs at 5.5pH and lower, so I just want beverages that will not cause my mouth pH to drop below 5.5
However, I don’t know exactly how it works. For example, drinking a beverage with a pH of 3 is acidic, but how far down does that drop mouth pH, and for how long? I have no idea, but the concept that drinking 20oz of something with a pH of 3 makes your mouth pH 3 sounds too simple. I’ve heard drinking acidic beverages is not a problem as long as you use a straw and drink water afterwards.