Alkaline Diet

To move away from an acid diet and improve pH balance it is necessary to know which foods are acid foods. A scientific paper by Remer and Manz published in 1995 provides details of foods and food groups and how they affect pH balance. Reading their report is an excellent way to find out about acid diet foods.

They discovered that in general the most acidifying effects come from cheeses with higher protein content. Followed by meat and meat products, cheeses with lower protein content, fish, flour, noodles and pasta then grain products. Foods that have an alkalising effect are vegetables as well as fruits and fruit juices.

The alkaline acid diet is not specifically a weight loss diet, although it can be used as part of a weight loss plan. This diet is much more about overall well being and improving health.

acid drinks

A study published in 2007 of 88 different research papers concluded that the avaiable science strongly supports a reduction in our soft drink consumption. They leave an acid ash that our bodies have to find a way to deal with. The authors reported clear associations between increased caloritic intake and body weight with levels of soft drink consumption. Higher soft drink consumption was further associated with lower levels of milk, calcium and intake of other nutrients. Soft drink consumption also increases your risk of a variety of medical concerns, e.g. obesity and diabetes. Their work clearly supports alkalizing our diets and moving away from the acidifying effects of fizzy drink consumption.

The paper also noted that there appears to be a difference in the reported significance of soft drinks in the diet depending on who finances the study. Industry funded studies suggest less adverse health effects. However, adverse all the same. So an array of studies appear to agree that they are indeed acid foods although to what extent is where there is disagreement.

acid foods can cause bone loss

I had often heard that drinking colas and other carbonated drinks was bad for your bones. However other than the high sugar content having a potential negative effect on teeth, thought this was nothing more than an old wives’ tale. Then when I continued researching the topic found out that it does appear that these kinds of drinks, if their effect is not negated, do have an adverse effect upon our bones due to the nature of their acidic ash.

A separate study points out that carbonated soft drinks have a strongly acidifying effect on our bodies. Drinks containing phosphoric acid, used for acidifying and flavoring, often have a very low pH of around 3. Our bodies cannot simply get rid of this excess acid without it first being diluted. This is where it can effect our bones negatively. If we do not consume enough alkaline foods to balance the acidifying effect of carbonated soft drinks, we neutralize the acid from the acidic diet food (or drink) by using calcium salts which comes from our bones!

This shows the damage that we can do to our own bodies by consuming an acid diet. But it also demonstrates that eating some acid foods is not necessarily bad. We simply have to make sure that we eat enough alkaline foods to balance our acid intake and keep us healthy.

While some may disagree with the science regarding the alkaline acid diet, the main ideas behind the diet are simple: as a proportion of our total food intake, increase the amount of fruit and vegetables we eat while at the same time aiming to reduce the amount of low quality acid diet foods we consume. What are poor acid foods? These are foodstuffs that have poor nutritional value. The worst kind being high in calories and low or completely lacking in any beneficial nutritional content. Eating acidic foods is not necessarily the problem. Not eating enough alkaline foods and eating bad acid foods may have a more detrimental effect upon our health.

References: Uriel S. Barzel and Linda K. Massey Excess Dietary Protein Can Adversely Affect Bone – The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 6 June 1998, pp. 1051-1053

Remer T., Manz F. Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH – J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1995; 95:791-797

Lenny R. Vartanian, PhD, Marlene B. Schwartz, PhD and Kelly D. Brownell, PhD Effects of Soft Drink Consumption on Nutrition and Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – American Journal of Public Health April 2007, Vol 97, No. 4 pp667-675

How scientific is the alkaline acid diet? The main ideas that the acid diet suggests are straight forward. We should increase the amount of fruit and vegetables we eat while also reducing the amount of low quality nutrition acid foods in our diet. So what are these poor acid foods? These are foods that have low or empty nutritional value. The worst low quality acid foods being high in calories while low or completely lacking in any beneficial nutritional values. Eating acidic foods is not necessarily a bad thing. However not eating enough alkaline foods and eating bad acid foods can have a negative effect upon our health.

To alkalize the body and achieve optimum pH balance we want to eat a high alkaline foods diet. An alkaline diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables. These two food groups are the main alkalising foods. The vast majority of other foods fall into the acid food category. Acid foods include highly processed foods with added salt and sugar, dairy, meat, fish and foods made from grains.

Eating an alkaline acid diet can have many beneficial health effects such as improving energy levels, increasing concentration, providing a greater feeling of overall well being, as well as making you more alert and improving all round health and warding off illness. Advocates of the alkaline acid diet suggest eating a diet of 80/20 alkaline to acid foods. How much fruit and vegetables are required? If you eat a typical Western acidic diet made up of high amounts of meat and processed foods then alkalizing your body by eating increasing amounts of alkaline diet foods may have beneficial health outcomes. We all know that eating more fruit and green vegetables is good for us. The alkaline acid diet is not a vegetarian diet although becoming vegetarian or even vegan would likely produce an alkalizing effect upon the body, provided high quantities of fresh produce was included in the diet. Some vegetarians seem to think that by simply not eating meat and instead having potato chip sandwiches that they are being healthy. The important point is to consume a high alkaline foods diet rich in plant products.

Acid diet foods are certainly not all bad for the body. Plenty of so called acid foods are jam packed with nutrition. However the acidifying effect upon the body could be seen in a negative light. The good news is that by simply increasing the alkaline diet food consumed, it is possible to counteract any negative effect produced by eating so called acid foods. It is not that acidic lemons for instance are actually acidic foods either. Rather it is the pH of the ash that is produced after the body burns the food, or fuel, we eat. As it turns out, acidic lemons in their original state turn into alkaline lemons after we eat them surprisingly alkalising the body!

There are many ways to alkalize your body. Changing the pH of the body by dietary means by simply eating a high alkaline foods diet is the healthiest in my opinion. Alkalizing foods have more positive health effects than simply their pH balancing effect. They also contain nutrients, vitamins and minerals. People who follow the alkaline acid diet know because they eat more alkaline foods they can improve their body’s pH balance.

What is an acid diet? More importantly, are you eating one? These two questions may have profound implications for your health.

I first became interested in the topic of acid and alkaline diets when I was looking for a way to improve my own health. Although the diet can be used as part of a weight loss regime, this is not a focus for me, I was simply looking for information on what foods would make me feel more energetic throughout the day and make me feel healthier and more vitalized. Of course for people more concerned with weight loss, something like the insulin resistance diet may be of interest.

After some google searching I discovered some information on the alkaline diet, a diet which also goes by the names alkaline acid diet, acid alkaline diet and alkaline ash diet.

An alkaline diet is one high in fresh fruit and vegetables. These two groups of foods are the main alkalizing foods. Almost everything else falls into the acid food category. In particular, acid foods include processed foods, dairy, meat, fish and grain products.

Data from scientific research tells us which food groups fall into each category. In fact we even know the acidifying and alkalising effects of specific foods. The most authoritative report that many other papers reference, with regards to acid/alkaline effects, is titled Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH. The authors analysed numerous foods to determine the effects on our bodies. Fruit and vegetables are the only food groups that could be termed alkaline foods.

After discovering this information I realized that the typical Western diet which I ate was certainly an acid diet. This set me off on my journey towards a more pH balanced diet as I work to improve my overall health and well being.

Advocates of the alkaline acid alkaline diet suggest eating a diet made up of 70-80% alkaline foods. This is a lot of fruit and vegetables to get through! While it may seem difficult if not impossible to eat this kind of amount, it is easy to increase furit and vegetable consumption slightly and then build upon your success and move away from eating an acid diet.

References: Remer T., Manz F. Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 1995; 95:791-797