I’ve taken a closer look at many diets on this blog: The no-sugar diet, the bone broth trend, anti-inflammatory diets, even looking at adaptogenic herbs and their benefit. In today’s blog post, I’m going to tackle another subject: the benefits of alkaline diet, and how it can improve your health.
Balance in Our Bodies
Everything we eat and drink has an impact on our bodies. The old adage, “we are what we eat” is truer than most people realize. One way to measure our body’s health is to measure our pH levels, which show us how acidic we are. Maintaining a healthy pH balance is crucial to living a healthy life. When we eat foods that are considering to be acid-forming, our bodies must fight to maintain healthy pH levels. Eating alkaline foods helps lower our body’s acidity – resulting in a healthier immune system and stronger bones.
Alkaline vs. Acidic Foods
Our bodies react differently to the food we use to fuel it. While acid-forming foods aren’t bad, they must be balanced correctly with plenty of alkaline foods to keep our pH balanced. The general consensus is that we must eat a diet of 60-80% alkaline foods, balanced with 20-40% acidic foods (source). Here are some examples of alkaline vs acidic foods (view a larger list here):
- Alkaline Foods: Vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbal teas, fruits. Specific examples include beets, dandelions, cucumbers, garlic, green beans, mushrooms, rutabaga, onions, kale, chard greens, carrot, tomatoes, wheat grass, almonds, chestnuts, millet, mustard, cinnamon, mineral water, and much more.
- Acidic Foods: Meats, dairy, fast foods, processed foods, grains, beans. Specific examples include cranberries, olives, white and wheat flour, barley, oatmeal, quinoa, corned beef, beef, bacon, scallops, tuna, butter, flax oil, coffee, cocoa, alcohol, pesticides, drugs, sausage, and much more.
Benefits of Alkaline Diet
Now that we’ve discussed the basics, we can take a closer look at the benefits of alkaline diet. There are many different benefits of alkaline diet. Here are a few of them:
- Improved Immune System
- Healthy Weight
- Cancer Prevention
- Improve Digestion
- More Energy
- Clearer Skin
- Increased Mental Acuity
- Better Sleep
- Stronger Bones
As you can see, there are many benefits to an alkaline diet. Take a look at the list of foods above, and do some research on your own to learn more about how to keep your body’s pH levels balanced.