acid diet

Since starting my alkaline acid diet I have started to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. One of the ways I have been able to stick to my new healthier lifestyle is reading about or creating my own acid diet recipies. The options are only limited by your imagination. I do not use this diet for weight loss. Instead my goal is a feeling of energy and vitality. High alkaline foods can not only taste delicious but they provide many positive health benefits. This diet really can help with low energy levels, irritibility and lack of concentration.

Working out at the gym is one of my favorite hobbies. Previously on returning home I would have a protein drink which I now know has an overall acidifying effect upon the body. Now my preference is for a fruitier alternative. Using a blender to mix up a banana, some frozen blueberries, a bit of protein powder and some soy milk gives me a protein shot as well as the alkalizing goodness of the fruit. Incidentally, I am finding that basing more of my dietary choices around a better pH balance as proposed by the alkaline acid diet as well as taking regular exercise has a virtuous spiral effect. Eating better makes me want to exercise. And working out down the gym encourages me to keep a closer eye on the food I eat.

There are a variety of ways to make your diet more alkaline. As mentioned above, bananas form a great base for smoothies. Depending on the time of year I can go for fresh strawberries or frozen blueberries to add some flavour.

Prior to discovering the alkaline diet I had no idea that the typical foods those of us wanting to gain muscle eat constitute an acid diet. Body builder diets may not be considered unhealthy. There is plenty of good food and nutrition consumed however the high quantities of protein have an overall acidifying effect on the body. These days I am consuming less meat, a bit more fish and tons more fruit and vegetables. My health goals have also changed somewhat from being primarily concerned with muscle and outward appearance to more about the health of my body on the inside as well as energy levels and simply feeling good. From my experience with the alkaline acid diet it definitely seems to be working.

A great recipe that I have eaten for a while but only just discovered that it is actually an alkaline acid diet recipe is natto omlettes. While the eggs have an acidic effect on the body they also contain plenty of beneficial vitamins and minerals. The natto, which is very easy for me to get hold of as I live in Japan but can found at many asian supermarkets, because of its very high potassium content helps to neutralise some of the acid produced by our bodies and has an overall alkalizing effect.

Natto is a great breakfast food and can be eaten simply with some rice. This is a traditonal Japanese breakfast. It is filling, healthy and beneficial for our body’s pH balance.

If you want health then alkalize! For people suffering from symptoms of depression the alkaline diet may be of use. This is because the more fruit and vegetables we eat, the more “up for it” we feel. Adding some Innerlight SuperGreens formula to any fruit and vegetable drinks you make can give them an extra pH balancing kick. Using an alkaline food chart or my alkaline acid diet food calculator is a good way to determine some great ingredients for your own alkaline acid diet recipes.

Searching online for “acid diet food chart”, “alkaline acid diet food list” and so on pulls up a variety of information for people looking to alkalize their diets. The issue I had when I was doing this for myself was the conflicting information contained within the food charts themselves.

On the positive side, all the listings that I looked at tend to agree that meats and dairy products are acidifying food stuffs. It is the alkalizing information that is often not in agreement.

Another frustrating aspect to the online pH balance charts is that they don’t appear to explain where their classifications come from. Are they based on scientific evidence, copied from somewhere, made up or something else? The fact that sources for the acid/alkaline classifications are not provided fills me with further doubt regarding their reliability. Many of us eat an acid diet and while there are differences between available online food charts, they are still useful tools to help us alkalize our diets.

That said, from all the reading I have done regarding improving health and the alkaline acid diet in particular, the data shown on the food charts seems to correlate roughly with the available scientific papers on the subject.

The leading researchers in the field are T. Remer and F. Manz. They have written a number of scientific papers discussing a variety of topics related to dietary intake and the resultant acidifying or alkalizing effects upon the body. A method that they propose is their PRAL (Potential Renal Acid Load) calculation. This can be used fairly accurately to estimate the NAE (Net Acid Excretion) of the human body. PRAL is based on food consumed while NAE is determined by analysing urine samples. So for those of us who would rather keep our hands clean, calculating the PRAL values of the food we eat may be a better option. For anyone interested in doing so, my brother has written me a script that allows us to determine the alkaline acid diet effect of any food we choose.

Any alkaline acid diet food charts that use this formula as their basis would classify all fruits and vegetables as alkali foods. This conflicts with all of the food charts that will be discussed shortly. This does not mean that either are necessarily wrong in their allocation of the pH balancing effects of certain fruits.

Taking cranberries as an example, these are often thought to have an acidifying effect upon the body. However according the PRAL formula, they are in fact alkalizing fruits. Both definitions may actually be correct. This is at the crux of the alkaline acid food classification dilema. The reason for this is that there are certain organic acids found in some fruits like cranberries. They are phenolic and benzoic acids. These acids are not metabolized in the same manner as other fruit acids and they do in fact have an acidifying effect upon the body. The PRAL calculation does not take this into account.

Another possible concern when thinking about acid base (alkaline) balance is that the sulphur content of proteins has a bearing on upon their acidifying properties. Again, the PRAL formula does not take this into account. Dispite these two concerns, it has been shown to be a fairly accurate way to determine the NAE. So while it may not be 100% accurate in working out the acid alkaline properties of all food stuffs, it has been shown scientifically to be a reliable method that could be used to create an acid diet food chart.

The food pH charts that I have been looking at to date have defintely given me valuable information for my own alkaline acid diet food preparation. Some discrepencies that I have noted are as follows:

• Coffee being listed as an acid forming drink. The Remer/Manz method suggests that coffee has mildly alkalizing properties. This chart suggests that most fruits are on the alkaline side. [link]
• This pH food chart has on the same chart that berries are alkalzing AND that cranberries are acidifying. [link]
• A third chart states that almost all fruits produce a pH lowering outcome (acidic) on their alkaline acid diet food classification. This is interesting however an explanation of this is not provided. [link]

An acid diet food list based on the formula discussed above would give those of us interested in pH balance through moving towards more of an alkaline diet a clear indication of what alkalizing and acidifying food groups actually are. I look forward to posting just such an acid diet food chart in the future.

Foods that are highly alkalizing are fruits and vegetables. These foodstuffs produce a negative PRAL (Potential Renal Acid Load) rating when the nutritional content is analyzed. For people interested in the alkaline acid diet and optimum pH balance of the body it is worth noting that within this group of alkali producing food, some produce has a more beneficial effect on the body than others. For example, according to the study by Remer and Manz, rasins are one of the most highly alkalizing fruits and spinach is a high alkaline vegetable, both being great for health. We must remember that it is not the amount of acid contained in fresh fruit that determines the acid alkaline balance but rather the pH of the ash after we have burned the food in our bodies.

What I was interested to discover was further details regarding high alkaline foods. There were two parts to this question regarding their health benefits. Firstly what are the highest alkaline fruits and vegetables that we can include in our diets? And secondly what is it about the nutritional content of these foodstuffs that cause them to have a strong base (alkali) forming effect? Knowing what these foods are may be useful in combatting the effects of acid foods.

Using the data from the study Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH. the highest alkaline forming fruit, out of those measured, was raisins with a PRAL value of -21.0 while for vegetables the highest was spinach at -14.0. The negative values indicate alkaline forming foods while a positive value would indicate an acid forming potential. The formula that I will be using as the basis for the comparison of the alkaline properties of the fruit and vegetables I mention in this article follows:

For the sake of comparison I shall include the relevant nutritional information for apples, oranges and raisins to see if there are marked differences in any of the nutrients.

Raisins PRAL = 0.49*3.07 (protein) + 0.037*101 (phosphorus) – 0.021*749 (potassium) – 0.026*32 (magnesium) – 0.013*50 (calcium) = -11.9697

Apples PRAL = 0.49*0.26 + 0.037*11 – 0.021*107 – 0.026*5 – 0.013*6 = -1.9206

Oranges PRAL = 0.49*0.70 + 0.037*12 – 0.021*169 – 0.026*10 – 0.013*43 = -3.8897

The nutritional data for these fruits was taken from the United States Department of Agriculture site (see references). This is a great site regardless of what diet you are interested in. It contains details of the nutritional content of a wide variety of foodstuffs. The site makes it possible to determine the PRAL values for any alkaline acidic foods we are interested in. As can be seen from the figures above, even though raisins have higher levels of protein they also have much more potassium. This seems to be what accounts for the large negative value and therefore the highly alkalising effect they are reported as having. So a simple option to consider for those wanting to combat the effects of an acidic forming diet would be to eat more fruits in general but in particular, raisins.

One of the main goals for people interested in the alkaline acid diet who want health is to alkalize by eating healthy quantities of acid and alkaline ash foods. We must also remember that incorporating exercise into our lifestyle is an essential part to becoming healthier overall. Being aware of the high alkaline foods such as those discussed in this article offer ways to get an extra alkali kick.

References: USDA National Nutrient Database

Thomas Remer, Triantafillia Dimitriou and Friedrich Manz Dietary potential renal acid load and renal net acid excretion in healthy, free-living children and adolescents American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 77, No. 5, 1255-1260, May 2003