In order to live you need to nourish your cells. When your cells eat, they make poo. Your lymphatic system, the so called sewer system, gathers the poo and take it further for elimination.
Alkalisation means changing the chemistry of your body from acid side to the base side. It can be done mainly through the right diet, with support of herbs and positive thinking (negative thoughts create acids as well, not mentioning stress...). Your body does not want to have acids (the only acidic chamber should be the stomach). It wants to be more alkaline than acidic.
When you eat crappy food (not designed for humans), your lymph becomes stagnant from the amount of acids and metabolic waste that are in interstitial spaces (and remember that acids are corrosive!!!). Everything starts to clog affecting the flow. Your body's avenues to eliminate decline.
Remember, you are a bunch of cells and two major fluids: lymph (cleansing) and blood (nuitrition).
Of course your body is very smart and will do everything it can to protect itself from the acids, otherwise they would eat you alive! Acids are burning your electrolites, what affects the cells, creating conditions where they cannot regenerate itself and function properly anymore. Your body, in order to protect itself from the acids, will steal calcium from your bones (osteoporosis) and connective tissue (floppy skin, descending organs, etc.) cousing their decay. Your survival, so neutralizing the acids, becomes the priority.
That is as well the moment where excessive mucus, water retention (water is a natural solvent and your body will use it if you have too many acids in order to buffor them) and cholesterol problems come in (cholesterol is a lipid and its levels are rising when your body is using it as a neutraliser for the acids and waste)! Later on you can experience some more severe damage to your body (tumours, cysts, cancer, etc.). This way your body tries to bring in the right pH and keep you alive.
The biggest problem though appears when the spaces between the cells are so full of acids, that the cell in order to protect itself "shuts down" its wall. Then guess what happens? The cell's poo doesn't get outside anymore. It stays inside. Can you imagine living covered in your own poo? What do you think can happen to that cell after some time? Will it survive? It is up to you and your chocies really.
The way to turn things back to normal is to change the diet at first. You have to bring in alkalisation in order to neutralise the acids and it will not happen itself or by taking a pill. You have to take action. Fruits and mucus free diet is the best option for that purpose. You need to clean your lymph.
Dr Robert Morse recommends 20 or 40 day mono-fast on dark seeded grapes (eating grapes or drinking freshly squezzed juice) as a way of cleansing the body (especially GI track) and rehydrating it. It is very good for improving digestion and cleansing the bowels (especially grape's seeds and grape's skin), but mono grapes are not a must. All the watery fruits will do really. They all have alkalising abilities (when rape), but dark seeded grapes are one of the best option. Raw foods, especially fruits melons or berries have biofotons and the highest Angstrom energetics (you can find more on that subject in one of the articles "Life energy of food- biophotons and Angstrom units"). It should mean a lot to you and your understanding of the foods you eat.
What can you do more than a diet change? Make some exercises and strech yourself every day in order to move your lymph. Sweat a lot (sauna would be a great option) as your skin is your largest eliminative organ. Take herbs (teas, tinctures, glycerins).
When you are on fruits or/and freshly squezzed juices, you do not need to drink additional clear water. You provide your body with enough fluids. Excessive amount of fluids (of any kind) will overburden your kidneys, which as a result will fail to filter properly. You should not drink 8 liters of juice a day (although the juice is healthy), it will not do you good. Clear water flushes the spaces around the cell, it does not hydrate the cell. That is the job for structural water which is in fruits. Only that kind of water (structural) is allowed to cross the wall of the cell. Your kidneys are to filter the toxins in your body. They are the eliminative organ and they were not deisgned to filter these large amounts of clear water people drink. It is killing them! They do not have the time to rest and regenerate. Talking of which...
Do not forget to make your kidneys filter, because otherwise all the acids and waste you have moved will circle in your body and will not be eliminated. Make dry fast, preferably 16-18 hours per day- it will help to restore your kidneys and get them filtering effectively. Although for a start, if you are not familiar with the dry fast subject yet, I recommend 12-14 hours.
Together with kidney filtration comes the subject of adrenal glands, which are located on top of each kidney. They control many processes in your body and have many functions, but what I would like point out now, is that adrenals control the kidneys using neurotransmitters. If your kidneys are weak, so will do probably adrenals as well (and the other way round). You can support your adrenals with herbs, acupressure, acupuncture, get closer to nature, relax and meditate in wide open spaces (like meadow, mountains with a vast view), walk barefoot and reduce the stress.
And do not give up! As long as you live, you have the chance :)
Lots of love!