Consistently repeated diet advice on television from medical experts such as the famed Dr. Mehmed Oz or Dr. Sanjay Gupta is to eat five to seven fruits and vegetables a day. This is consistent with the advice of the popular diet books The Paleo Diet and The Mediterranean Diet. It is the basis of the alkaline diet as well. But here’s an extra twist of the lemon.
Alkaline-Forming Foods Vs. Acid-Forming Foods
A body in a chronic state of metabolic acidosis must be cleansed in order to lose weight and keep it off. Not all fruits and all vegetables are equal. Some fruits and vegetables add acids to the body’s internal system and actually help create disease if not limited in the diet, according to Christopher Vasey, N.D., author of The Acid-Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health.
The alkaline diet is about achieving the correct balance in what you eat: to lose weight, your food intake is temporarily 80 percent alkaline-forming foods and 20 percent acid-forming foods. This ratio eliminates acid overload and stimulates weight loss. Once weight loss is achieved, a normal ratio for most individuals to maintain a healthy lifestyle is eating 65 percent alkaline forming foods to 35 percent acid.
Protein Warning
Meat, fish and soy, milk, eggs and cheeses are protein rich and highly acidic. “Very few people including nutritionists and dieticians are aware that the acid base content of your food can effect your health,” states Loren Cordai, Ph.D, author of The Paleo Diet. Although his diet may seem to encourage the meat eating that many advocates of the alkaline diet abhor, he stresses reducing these acid-forming foods as well.
“Eating too many acid foods and not enough alkaline foods can contribute to bone and muscle loss with aging,” Dr. Cordai states. Of course, the body needs protein; can’t live without it. There is no ban against eating meat or other proteins in the alkaline diet, just no more than 20 percent as they are acid-forming foods. This is the opposite practice of the Atkins low carbohydrate diet that allows high intake of acid-forming foods.
How Alkaline-Acid Imbalance Affects the Body
To grasp the intrinsic value of an alkaline diet, start with a little medical knowledge. It is critical to understand that every human being has an ideal pH level. It is achieved only when there’s a proper blend of acids and alkalines in the body.
The body naturally expels excess acid chemicals to maintain a neutral position of 7.35 pH. But, when intake of acid forming foods occurs too often, the body has more work to do than it is designed to do. Often the body cannot expel all acid overloads and, as a result, these toxic substances lodge deep into cells of the body.
Acidosis Bad for Health
The contemporary Western diet leads to chronic, low-level acidosis, to the detriment of your health and well-being, according to certified nutritionist Susan E. Brown, PhD., CCN, and Larry Trivieri, Jr., authors of The Acid Alkaline Food Guide. In their book they explain how most fast foods and processed foods produce a low-grade systemic acidosis in otherwise healthy people.
Foods that some people think are healthy such as steak and chops do produce high levels of acid in the body. “Osteoporosis, age related muscle loss, kidney stone formation, gout and other joint diseases and back pain are among the conditions associated with the move toward an even slightly acidic state,” assert Dr. Brown and Trivieri.
Lose Weight Controlling pH Levels
It is impossible for the body to lose weight and maintain the weight loss when the body is chronically out of balance. “The problem is while diet is the key not only to slimness but also to over all health and well being it has to be a diet that properly balances our body chemistry,” states authors Robert O. Young, Ph.D. and Shelley Redford Young in their book The pH Miracle.
Eating more alkaline forming foods than acidifying may be the key to renewed health and a slimmer you. To succeed, it is advisable to get guidance from a physician or licensed practitioner of alternative medicine who specializes in nutrition.
Resources
Loren Cordain, Ph.D. The Paleo Diet. New York , John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. 2002.
Susan E. Brown, PhD. CCN, and Larry Trivieri, Jr. The Acid Alkaline Food Guide: A Quick Reference to Foods & Their Effect on pH Levels. Garden City Park, New York. Square One Publishers. 2006
Robert O. Young, PhD and Shelley Redford Young. The pH Miracle. New York. Warner Books. 2002
Christopher Vasey, N.D. The Acid-Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health. Rochester, Vermont. Healing Arts Press. 1999.
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