Alkaline Diet

As I progress with my alkaline acid diet it is becoming clear that eating more alkaline foods while at the same time reducing my acid food consumption is going to involve giving up meat. Possibly to the point of becoming a vegetarian. Even though meat is an acid food I love it too much to exclude it completely from my diet at the moment. One tactic that I am employing right now is improving the quality of the food I eat regardless of the alkaline/acid divide. As far as meat is concerned, this simply means eating better quality cuts while at the same time eating it less frequently. Substituting fish for meat is another tactic that may slightly reduce the acidity of my diet. There are other health benefits associated with fish consumption so their acid status doesn’t overly concern me.

Eating more alkaline foods is displacing the majority of the junk in my diet (high sugar snacks and fizzy drinks). I’ve also found that reducing my bread consumption to a couple of servings a week was fairly easy. My alkaline food consumption comes primarily from fruit and vegetable juices that I make. Some advocates of the alkaline acid diet suggest that only a select few fruits are alkalizing. However as discussed in my acid or alkaline food article I believe the scientific evidence shows clearly that vegetables and fruits are all alkalizing. There may be exceptions however I have not found any scientific evidence of this yet.

While living in Japan, it would be a shame if I don’t take advantage of the widely available healthy foods. Currently I am looking to soy products to satisfy an ever increasing portion of my protein needs. I believe that soy products are alkaline foods. My current diet includes soy milk, tofu, natto and miso soup. Apart from their slight alkalizing effects, Wikipedia states soy contains significant amounts of all the essential amino acids for humans, and so is a good source of protein. Oriental products can be used to alkalize in the West too. Chinese supermarkets usually carry a wide variety of soy products.

Finally drinking more water is another step I am taking to improve my pH balance. Some mineral waters are even classed as alkaline foods. Regular tap water is pH neutral. Replacing sodas with tap water is another option that may be worth considering to improve overall acid/alkaline balance.

The alkaline acid diet has really captured my attention. I currently enjoy eating an alkaline diet breakfast every morning. At its most basic level it simply advocates eating plenty of fruit and vegetables (alkaline foods) to improve the pH balance of our bodies. It is common knowledge that fruit and vegetables are good for us. The alkaline acid diet offers one explanation as to why that is the case.

References: Wikipedia, see also previous articles.

The conflicting information available online about the alkaline acid diet means that you might have difficulty determining whether coffee is an alkaline food or an acid food. Despite the fact that I originally believed it was an acid food and actually decided to stop drinking coffee based on various alkaline acid food charts I had seen, I now believe that rather than having an acidifying effect upon our bodies, it actually has a mildly alkalizing effect.

But is coffee acid or alkaline? The alkaline acid diet has much to teach us about the effects various foods have upon our bodies. However my opinion is that it is rather absolute to base your dietary decisions solely on whether a particular food is an acid or alkaline food. For example, other than their alkalizing effect upon our bodies, there are many other reasons why we should eat sufficient fruit and vegetables. Conversely, even though egg yolks have a strongly acidifying effect upon our bodies, they are full of nutrients. So eating acid foods isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The premise of the alkaline acid diet, that eating alkaline and acid foods in a ratio between 70:30 to 80:20 alkaline to acid allows our bodies to remain in the best pH balance is appealing. However it acan be frustrating when you see a food appear on the acid foods side on some charts while being on the alkaline foods side of others. Which is it? Is coffee acid or alkaline?

The reason I now consider coffee to be an acid food is  because of the charts that list it as such. While many of the “popular” charts suggest it is acidic, or even highly acidic, the charts that actually provide scientific references for their data, as well as the seminal research by Remer and Manz say that it has a mildly alkalizing effect. However most pop food charts don’t provide any reference as to where their data is from.

There are other arguements both for and against drinking coffee. Looking into green coffee beans may be an option for the health conscious to consider. From the available research I feel confident that as far as the alkaline acid diet is concerned, coffee is actually an alkaline food.

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