Understanding the Acid Alkaline Balance Diet
The acid alkaline balance diet is frequently designated the acid alkaline diet, and sometimes it is simply described as the alkaline diet. Even so, although there are a number of different names for this popular diet, the acid alkaline balance diet may be a particularly suitable one. That’s because the central fact behind this diet is that you should eat so as to attain a balanced internal pH.
Some fad diets that you may have seen tell you that you should eat only alkalizing foods. In fact, however, eating only alkaline-forming foods would be both unhealthy and impractical.
To begin with, a 100 percent alkalizing diet would be pretty dull. Not only would meat, seafood, and dairy products be completely out of bounds, but so would peas, prunes, and even whole-grain baked goods.
A second issue with an extreme alkaline diet is that you would miss out on important nutrients which are found in some acidifying foods. For example, tomatoes are rich in cancer-preventing lycopene. And at least one study shows that prunes can guard against osteoporosis.
As its name suggests, the purpose of the acid alkaline balance diet is not to go to an extreme of alkalinity. For this reason, it isn’t necessary to eat only alkalizing foods in order to create an ideal acid-alkaline balance.
Yet you probably do need to eat many more alkalizing foods, and fewer acidifying foods. Whether you eat this food or that food is less important than the overall ratio of acid-forming to alkaline-forming foods in your diet.
This is to say that if you completely remove sugar and acid-forming beverages like soft drinks, you have a little more wiggle room, which means that you can eat a little more meat and dairy foods without your body becoming too acidic. To give you another example, if you choose to eat meat, you should compensate by eating less dairy, and so on. There is no one correct answer for how to divide up your “budget” of acidifying foods, but in general it is always a good idea to emphasize foods that are low in calories and rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other beneficial ingredients.
The good news is that no matter what kind of diet you have right now, you can start making simple changes to attain a healthier acid alkaline balance.
Tags: acid alkaline diet, alkaline diet, health, nutrition