acid diet

The alkaline acid diet proposes that we increase the quantity of alkaline foods in our diet and limit the acid foods that we eat. This is to help us maintain the healthiest pH balance.

Depending on where we start determines how much we will want to change the food we eat. When I started on the alkaline diet I was eating less than five servings of fruit and vegetables per day. This was definitely an acid diet.

A simple way to think about how acidic your diet is to your body is to count the servings of fresh fruit and vegetables you eat in one day on your fingers. If you run out of fingers, you may well be on your way to alkalinity. Conversely, if you don't make it off your first hand, this indicates an acid diet.

Want Health then Alkalise

Eating an acid diet is not the healthiest way to live. Here are some of the areas alkalizing your diet may help with:

• greater energy levels
• reduces aches and pains
• aids digestion
• weight loss
• increased mental clarity
• boost to vitality
• overall well being
  

I would suggest it is not simply the alkalinity of the foods that is beneficial to our health. An acid diet is typically low in fresh fruit and nutritious vegetables. Improving our pH balance involves eating more alkaline foods. These are specifically the fruit and vegetables that are lacking in the typical Western acid diet. These are abundant sources of vitamins and minerals, in other words quality calories.

How to alkalize

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to start of on the alkaline acid diet is to make changes to one of your meals. This gradual approach will be less of a shock to the system and may be easier to stick with as it doesn't involve massive change all at one time.

Personally I started with the first meal of the day and thought about how I could begin eating alkaline acid diet breakfast foods. I looked at what I was eating for breakfast, typically toast and eggs. Then decided how I could replace these acidic foods to get a more alkalizing effect in the morning.

I have tried things like eating grated carrots as well as eating a grapefruit breakfast. These are good options to reduce the acidity of the diet. An even better way though simply because it is possible to increase the quantity consumed is to make fresh fruit and vegetable juice.

The official alkaline diet is not a no acid diet. Instead it is more of a high alkaline foods diet. Processed low in nutrition foods are not good for the body. This is something most people know about. People who are interested in the alkaline acid diet often consume alkaline green drinks. These can be make fresh, from powder or even taken in capsule form. It depends whether you would rather have fresh green vegetables or a manufactured product. Powdered green alkaline drinks, even though they are not fresh use a greater variety of raw ingredients compared to a fresh green juice. The advantage of fresh juice is simply that it is made from raw green leafy vegetables. The simple message seems to be, if you want health then alkalise. Not going as far as a no acid diet. This may be as harmful for the body as a high acid diet. If you want to alkalize your body, the simple message from alkaline acid diet food chart lists suggests that we should eat alkaline and acid foods in a ratio of 80/20.

A no acid diet would mean that the pH balance of your body we become unbalanced. This can result in a condition know as alkalosis. It appears that an acid diet alone is unlikely to result in this medical condition. Hyperventilation can cause alkalosis. Eating a high alkaline foods diet can help with acid diet osteoporosis. Vegetables and foods that leave a higher than neutral pH mean that the rate of bone breakdown is reduced. As we get older this can certainly be beneficial.

Alkaline acid diet foods for children are fine. Most parents are keen for their children to eat their greens. Whether we are aware of alkaline green vegetables or simply know that eating vegetables is good for health doesn't really matter. The fact that alkaline acid diet food helps us regardless of our age is the important point. I am always keen for my son to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables for a whole variety of reasons, nutritional content, water content and other alkaline acid diet issues.