Everything Goes With Green

An Alkaline Diet

Fat grams, calories and carbohydrates. Seems like we are bombarded by commercials, ads and tv shows which encourage us to look at what we are consuming in terms of weight gain. Well this is partially good but what you may be shocked by is that by eating certain foods will make your body alkaline.

As discussed in my Alkaline Water page, your body is meant to be in a basic state, meaning having a pH of 6.5 – 6.8 will help your body to fight off disease and function optimally. When our bodies are acidic, our bodies compensate by borrowing vital minerals including calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium from our bones and vital organes to re-align our pH. Because of this, high acidity is has been called ‘the silent killer’ and can lead to all kinds of problems including hormonal imbalances, weight gain, bladder and kidney problems, immune deficienty, brittel bones, hip fractures, low energy and yeast overgrowth. In fact in a lab setting, it is impossible for cancerous cells to replicate in an alkaline environment but they flourish in an acidic environment.

So, how do I know if I’m acidic and what foods should I be eating?

To test if you are acidic, go to your local pharmacy and purchase pH strips and all you need to do is test your saliva to see where your body is on the pH spectrum. The most accurate time to test your salive is first thing in the morning before you brush your teeth or consume any liquids or food.

Below you will find a chart that lists which common foods are alkaline and which are acidic.The goal is to have a ratio of 3:1 alkaline foods to acidic but currently most people are consuming the opposite and having 1 alkaline food to 3 acidic.

Alkaline Foods (chart from http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm)

…ALKALINE FOODS…		…ACIDIC FOODS…
ALKALIZING VEGETABLES Alfalfa Barley Grass Beet Greens Beets Broccoli Cabbage Carrot Cauliflower Celery Chard Greens Chlorella Collard Greens Cucumber Dandelions Dulce Edible Flowers Eggplant Fermented Veggies Garlic Green Beans Green Peas Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mushrooms Mustard Greens Nightshade Veggies Onions Parsnips (high glycemic) Peas Peppers Pumpkin Radishes Rutabaga Sea Veggies Spinach, green Spirulina Sprouts Sweet Potatoes Tomatoes Watercress Wheat Grass Wild GreensALKALIZING ORIENTAL VEGETABLES Daikon Dandelion Root Kombu Maitake Nori Reishi Shitake Umeboshi Wakame ALKALIZING FRUITS Apple Apricot Avocado Banana (high glycemic) Berries Blackberries Cantaloupe Cherries, sour Coconut, fresh Currants Dates, dried Figs, dried Grapes Grapefruit Honeydew Melon Lemon Lime Muskmelons Nectarine Orange Peach Pear Pineapple Raisins Raspberries Rhubarb Strawberries Tangerine Tomato Tropical Fruits Umeboshi Plums Watermelon ALKALIZING PROTEIN Almonds Chestnuts Millet Tempeh (fermented) Tofu (fermented) Whey Protein Powder ALKALIZING SWEETENERS Stevia ALKALIZING SPICES & SEASONINGS Chili Pepper Cinnamon Curry Ginger Herbs (all) Miso Mustard Sea Salt Tamari ALKALIZING OTHER Alkaline Antioxidant Water Apple Cider Vinegar Bee Pollen Fresh Fruit Juice Green Juices Lecithin Granules Mineral Water Molasses, blackstrap Probiotic Cultures Soured Dairy Products Veggie Juices ALKALIZING MINERALS Calcium: pH 12 Cesium: pH 14 Magnesium: pH 9 Potassium: pH 14 Sodium: pH 14 Although it might seem that citrus fruits would have an acidifying effect on the body, the citric acid they contain actually has an alkalinizing effect in the system. Note that a food’s acid or alkaline forming tendency in the body has nothing to do with the actual pH of the food itself. For example, lemons are very acidic, however the end products they produce after digestion and assimilation are very alkaline so, lemons are alkaline forming in the body. Likewise, meat will test alkaline before digestion, but it leaves very acidic residue in the body so, like nearly all animal products, meat is very acid forming.		ACIDIFYING VEGETABLES Corn Lentils Olives Winter SquashACIDIFYING FRUITS Blueberries Canned or Glazed Fruits Cranberries Currants Plums Prunes ACIDIFYING GRAINS, GRAIN PRODUCTS Amaranth Barley Bran, oat Bran, wheat Bread Corn Cornstarch Crackers, soda Flour, wheat Flour, white Hemp Seed Flour Kamut Macaroni Noodles Oatmeal Oats (rolled) Quinoa Rice (all) Rice Cakes Rye Spaghetti Spelt Wheat Germ Wheat ACIDIFYING BEANS & LEGUMES Almond Milk Black Beans Chick Peas Green Peas Kidney Beans Lentils Pinto Beans Red Beans Rice Milk Soy Beans Soy Milk White Beans ACIDIFYING DAIRY Butter Cheese Cheese, Processed Ice Cream Ice Milk ACIDIFYING NUTS & BUTTERS Cashews Legumes Peanut Butter Peanuts Pecans Tahini Walnuts ACIDIFYING ANIMAL PROTEIN Bacon Beef Carp Clams Cod Corned Beef Fish Haddock Lamb Lobster Mussels Organ Meats Oyster Pike Pork Rabbit Salmon Sardines Sausage Scallops Shellfish Shrimp Tuna Turkey Veal Venison ACIDIFYING FATS & OILS Avacado Oil Butter Canola Oil Corn Oil Flax Oil Hemp Seed Oil Lard Olive Oil Safflower Oil Sesame Oil Sunflower Oil ACIDIFYING SWEETENERS Carob Corn Syrup Sugar ACIDIFYING ALCOHOL Beer Hard Liquor Spirits Wine ACIDIFYING OTHER FOODS Catsup Cocoa Coffee Mustard Pepper Soft Drinks Vinegar ACIDIFYING DRUGS & CHEMICALS Aspirin Chemicals Drugs, Medicinal Drugs, Psychedelic Herbicides Pesticides Tobacco ACIDIFYING JUNK FOOD Beer: pH 2.5 Coca-Cola: pH 2 Coffee: pH 4 ** These foods leave an alkaline ash but have an acidifying effect on the body

This is a new way to look at food as we have been inundated and shaped to be obsessed with calories and fat grams but when you start thinking about alkaline vs acidic foods you are taking your health to a whole new level. And consequently since most alkaline foods are extremely good for you and low in fat, you have a built in diet so you don’t have to obsess about the calories.

Remember your body is meant to function in an alkaline state and the way we live and our diet promotes an acidic body so decide to take a stand and focus on alkalinity as the goal and not just caloric reduction.