What piques your curiosity around a diet? When a group of your friends gloat about a new diet they are trying and are receiving amazing results, a diet you are not familiar with? The same occurred recently and I just have to ask you, have you heard of the alkaline diet? Does it make a difference what the pH balance is of your food and does that really affect your health? Find out in Alkaline Diet: Is it Worth You Trying It?
What is an Alkaline Diet?
This diet is based on the theory that some food products cause the body to produce acid, which is harmful. So, in order to have a healthy body, certain food and drinks should be consumed which change the pH level of the body to a more alkaline state. This change in pH is said to improve health and also aid in weight loss. It’s also believed that the shift in pH level prevents a lot of health issues.
Understanding the Chemistry: What is the “pH Level”?
The measure of how acidic or alkali water is, is called pH. The scale of pH runs from 1 to 14, where 7 is neutral. Any number less than 7 is designated as acidic, and any number greater than 7 is called basic or alkaline in nature. The substance to be measured is dissolved in water first then put through testing to determine its pH level.
Which Foods are Acidic, Neutral or Alkaline?
Here is a list of food products as per their pH categorization:
- Acidic: Meat, eggs, dairy, poultry, alcohol, grains, soda, packaged food
- Neutral: Neutral fats such as milk, butter, olive oil etc, starch and sugar
- Alkaline: Fruit and unsweetened fruit juices, vegetables, soy food, nuts, legumes, mineral soda water
Side-Effects: Is an Alkaline Diet Harmful?
Shifting to an alkaline diet will reinforce sensible, healthy eating. The diet will now consist of lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as drinking copious amounts of water, whilst cutting back on foods such as meat, alcohol, sugar and processed food.
An alkaline diet will help improve your overall health and also aid in weight loss, but the claims of the diet reducing the risk of cancer has yet not been categorically proven. (It very likely does, however.)
It’s always a wise idea to incorporate fruits and vegetables into our diet, human beings are said to be fruitarian. For example, look at our incisors, they’re blunt, not extremely sharp like a lion’s – and all our teeth are blunt for chewing grains and nuts thoroughly mainly, not for tearing flesh. That said, we have the privilege to choose our diet and wiser choices still need to be made!
