Alkaline Diet

The alkaline diet is primarily concerned with pH balance of the body and overall well being. By eating a better ratio of alkaline to acid foods than the typical Western diet we are able to keep our body in a better state of balance. As alkaline foods are mainly fruits and vegetables it is apparent that the more of them we eat the healthier we will likely become. However how useful a diet is this for people interested in weight loss?

If you want to know how to lose weight with the alkaline diet this article will provide some suggestions as to how this can be achieved. The alkaline acid diet is not a calorie controlled diet. Rather it focuses on what we eat as opposed to how much we eat. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables in our diet has  many positive health effects upon our bodies. It helps with digestion and keeping our bowel movements regular. The alkaline diet makes us feel more alive. By eating more living foods we provide our body with abundant nutrients. This diet also helps with our powers of concentration and makes us more able to focus. On top of that, alkalising the body may also help with disease prevention. It has been shown that an alkaline rich diet has beneficial effects upon our bones.

So while the alkaline diet is great for helping us to feel healthier and more alive it is not specifically aimed at helping us to lose weight. Personally my aim is not to actually lose weight but as I am interested in weight training and fitness, I want to put weight on! Again though, this diet does not explicitly help with that either. To gain weight eating more protein is helpful but alkaline foods contain more water, vitamins and minerals than fats and proteins. So to me it is a kind of calorie neutral diet. As in the alkaline diet alone does not promote weight loss or weight gain.

For people interested in feeling and becoming healthier while at the same time lowering overall body weight I am sure the alkaline diet could be used successfully. The same sort of principles used in any calorie controlled diet would need to be followed. Swapping out acid foods like fatty meats and proceed grain products and eating alkaline foods such as healthy fruit and vegetables would increase the amounts of health giving nutrients being consumed while at the same time likely reducing the amount of calories consumed. This would have the double effect of reducing the amount of calories consumed each day and feeling better because the foods eaten are also better for us.

Becoming healthier is also about exercising and this is also a very important factor in losing weight in a healthy fashion. Taking exercise appropriate to existing fitness levels while getting enough sleep and eating a healthy alkaline diet could be a great way to lose weight.

The alkaline acid diet is about more than just bringing your body back to, or keeping your body at, optimum pH balance. Eating a higher percentage of alkaline foods than the typical acidic Western diet certainly will have an overall alkalizing effect. However the foods that the alkaline acid diet advocates that we increase our consumption of are packed full of nutrients too. So even though the focus of the alkaline acid diet is alkalizing the body, there are other significant benefits.

Here are ten quick tips regarding how to alkalize your diet:

• drink a fresh fruit and/or vegetable juice.
• drink a soy smoothie
• eat an alkaline breakfast
• drink water instead of soda
• eat fruit instead of potato chips and candy
• cut out dairy
• replace red meat with chicken
• reduce egg yolk consumption
• eat a vegetarian meal
• fill up on salad e.g. cabbage

Drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juice is one of the best ways to alkalize your body. Packed full of nutrients and minerals, without the fiber it is easy to consume between 3-5 (or more) servings of fruit and veg in one health giving juice. Without my juicer it would be much harder to follow the acid alkaline diet. Why not read a Breville BJE200XL review to find out more about a reasonably priced centrifugal juicer?

To add variety to my juicing I sometimes go for a soy smoothie using my blender instead. Mixing a banana and a handful of strawberries then adding soy to taste is another great healthy alkaline option.

There are plenty of options regarding alkaline breakfasts. A simple way to alkalize your breakfast is to eat a grapefruit or two and drink a glass of water. It is surprising how well this breakfast keeps you going. If you can’t make it to lunch, a mid-morning banana will likely fill the gap.

An underlying philosophy of the acid alkaline diet is eating nutrient dense calories as opposed to empty calories. Looked at another way, drinking water is much healthier than drinking carbonated soft drinks which are high in sugar, nutritionally barren and have an acidic pH.

Snacking is one way to sabotage an otherwise healthy diet. Fruits are one of the cornerstones of the alkaline diet so eating fruit, e.g. a banana or an apple instead of a packet of potato chips provides you with a nutritionally superior snack and is better for acid/alkaline balance.

Dairy products while high in calcium actually have an acidifying effect upon the body. Green leafy vegetables, e.g. spinach, while not quite as calcium rich as milk, are an excellent source of dietary calcium. The benefits include getting calcium from an alkaline food source. Dairy products are also full of cow hormones which is a major reason I try to avoid them.

Red meat is more acidic than chicken which is also leaner. So eating chicken instead may be healthier according to the alkaline diet protocol. Cutting down red meat consumption may be beneficial for more than just acid alkaline pH balance. Doing so will obviously help you alkalise your diet. On top of that other health benefits will accrue.

Egg yolks contain plenty of minerals and vitamins however also have a strongly acidifying effect upon the body. I still eat plenty of whole eggs however sometimes discard an egg yolk when making an omelette.

As fruit and vegetables are alkalizing while meat has an acidifying effect upon the body, a simple idea (possibly more complex in practice) is to eat a vegetarian meal once  a week. It is best to eat organic foods as they are likely to contain less pesticide residue than conventional vegetables. The only drawback is that organic produce is usually slightly more expensive.

Currently I eat fish daily, meat a few times a week, then once or twice have a vegetarian meal. Usually it is just something simple, e.g. approx 4 servings of fruit and vegetable juice, rice, natto and steamed greens. This kind of meal may not be the most exciting thing I eat but it is nutritious, alkalizing and satisfying.

Simply adding a salad to meals is a way to consume more which may help you fill up however not overload you with calories. Chopped raw cabbage with a lemon juice dressing is easy to prepare, filling and of course alkalizing.

There are plenty other things outside these 10 simple tips to alkalize your diet regimen.