How Good is an Alkaline Diet for You?
What to eat and what not to eat are the major topics of discussions around the world these days. Alkaline diet is one such highly discussed food topic.
Whether alkaline diet or other highly touted diets such as Atkins diet, ketogenic diet, Paleo diet, Dash diets and many other diets are really useful or not is another topic for debate.
It is believed that an alkaline diet essentially balances the acid and alkaline ratio in the blood to make you healthy.
These discussions and debates have become necessary as deteriorating health conditions due to food habits and other lifestyles have reached worrisome stages. Almost every person is suffering from one of the lifestyle disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease or cancer.
Different foods play significant roles in this deteriorating health conditions for causing the problem as well as in solving the problem.
Our dependency on processed food has significantly increased during the last 5 decades. This has impacted our overall health. All processed foods generally are acidic in nature, therefore countering them with an alkaline diet is the most logical thing to do.
And it works if we look at the research work on alkaline diet.
Scientists have found evidence of alkaline diet reducing I'll effects of chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, arthritis and other bone and joint conditions.
What's an Alkaline Diet?
In simple terms, an alkaline diet is a mineral rich natural diet. These minerals are potassium, magnesium, sodium and calcium.
pH value is the measure of level of acidity or alkalinity in the blood in this context.
Value of pH 0 is considered a totally acidic condition whereas the highest value of pH 14 is considered totally alkaline. Therefore a value of pH 7 is neutral.
Our blood pH generally stays in the limits of 7.35 - 7.45 so it has a slight alkaline bias. Depending on the different requirements for proper functioning of each body organ its pH value is decided. For example, the stomach which breaks down food for digestion has a pH value of around 3.5.
On the other hand, depending what kind of food you have recently eat, the pH of your urine will indicate. The value there for Urine pH will fluctuate.
Since our modern lifestyle food habits are more acidic in nature, it has become essential to consume more alkaline food to maintain the healthy pH.
So an alkaline diet is nothing but a diet rich in minerals that helps to increase alkalinity in the blood to maintain it balanced.
Our blood has tremendous capacity to maintain the pH even under hostile acidic foods intake, but the alkaline diet makes this job easier.
Best Alkaline Foods
You have a large variety of alkaline foods to choose from. Following are basic guidelines to choose and get the best out of the alkaline foods
1. Fresh Fruits
All citrus fruits are alkaline fruits although their taste and citric acid in them gives the impression of being acidic food. It is the minerals in them that gives the blood required alkalinity. Other fruits such as dates, figs, watermelon, ripe bananas and raisins are also great alkaline foods.
2. Vegetables
The range is very big. Vegetables like mushrooms, radish, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, avocados, tomatoes and all greens such as spinach, kale, celery are good alkaline foods.
Wheatgrass, barley grass and alfalfa grass are also excellent alkaline foods that you can grow in your kitchen in a short period of less than a week.
All kinds of green and other beans are good alkaline foods.
To get the best of alkalinity and nutrition, eat the above foods raw. Cooking them depletes them of the essential minerals. You can juice some of the fruits and vegetables and steam the others but never overcook them.
You can make green drinks from green leafy vegetables and grasses to get good alkalinity.
3. Tree Nuts and Plant Proteins
Almonds and lima beans are your best choices in this category of alkaline foods.
4. Alkaline water
Our dependency on filtered and reverse osmosis (RO) water is increasing as the availability of clean drinking water is constantly reducing. Unfortunately the RO water is slightly acidic. Alkaline water generally has pH ranging from 9 - 11.
You can add lemon or baking soda or both to your water to make it alkaline and drink.
Non Alkaline Foods to Avoid
As you see the list of such foods you will realize that your dependence on such foods may be currently high and you will have to slowly reduce that dependency.
Researchers have found that acidic foods increase morbidity and mortality rates. So, you can now understand how important it is to reduce dependency.
The following foods are acidic foods
- Lentils
- Oats and all grains
- Milk
- Peanuts and walnuts
- Eggs
- Meats of all kinds
- Processed foods
- Alcohol
- Caffeinated drinks
Lack of exercise or over exercise, chronic stress, pollutants, poor chewing and eating habits and shallow breathing are some of the other causes that reduces alkalinity and increase acidity in your body. So correct these.
How Alkaline Diet Benefits You?
1 Reduces Chronic Pain and Inflammations
Chronic acidosis has been found to cause chronic back pain, headaches, menstrual problems, muscle spasms, joint pains and Inflammations.
Alkaline Diet reduces chronic acidosis and relieves you from these complications.
2 Helps in Weight Loss
Alkaline diet helps to burn fat and lose weight.
3. Lowers Stroke Risks
Alkaline diet lowers blood pressure and cholesterol by reducing Inflammations. This improves overall cardiovascular health and lowers the risks of stroke.
4. Protects Bone Density
Calcium, magnesium and phosphate are essential for proper development of bones. Increase consumption of alkaline foods improves absorption of these minerals by the body giving bones the density and strength.
5. Improves Muscle Mass
Minerals are essential to increase muscle mass. Lack of minerals not only reduces muscle mass but also increases spasms and pains.
AlkLine diet helps to absorb minerals efficiently to increase muscle mass and reduce muscle related complications.
6. Boosts Immunity
Lack of minerals affect the absorption of vitamins and other nutrients by the body. At the same time the toxins and pathogens accumulate. This compromises the immune system. As a result complex conditions like cancers develop. So ensure that your diet is leaned towards alkaline foods.
7. Prevents Magnesium Deficiency
Due to magnesium deficiency people suffer from muscle pains, headaches, anxiety, sleeping problems and heart complications. Alkaline Diet helps reduce magnesium deficiency and in terms reduces Vitamin D Deficiency as magnesium is essential to activate Vitamin D.
With all the benefits it is safe to believe that the alkaline diet is good for your health.
Yes, it is true. But some of the acidic foods also have their space to contribute to your health. For example walnuts are acidic but essentially for your heart health. There are so many other acic food that are essential.
So the focus has to clear. Avoid bad acidic foods and increase the alkaline food consumption to improve your overall health.