Naturalpath

Healthy living enthusiasts are increasingly focusing on maintaining the proper balance in their diet between acidity and alkalinity.

Foods are classified as acid-forming or alkalizing based on their effect on the body. An acid-forming food contributes hydrogen ions to the body, making it more acidic. Alkalizing food, by contrast, removes hydrogen ions from the body, making it more alkaline. (This distinction is based on the effect foods have on the body after digestion, not on any intrinsic acidity or alkalinity -- or how they taste to us).

Common acid-forming foods include processed junk foods and those that are high in animal protein. Some common alkalizing foods are spinach, soybeans, raisins, carrots, and most citrus fruits. Many integrative health experts believe that a host of ills that assail us today result from our bodies losing their natural acid-base balance. Elson Haas, MD teaches his patients that eating too many acid-causing foods leads to inflammation and the breakdown of tissues. Naturopath Christopher Vasey, author of The Acid-Alkaline Diet, recommends that people eat an 80% alkaline diet (a diet with more non-acidic, base-like foods) to avoid providing a receptive environment for bacteria and yeast and to prevent a host of diseases, including cancer.

Dr. Theodore A. Baroody in his book Alkalize or Die, is that viruses and bacteria thrive in an acid environment. They eat waste acids and create toxicity with their own wastes. So, if a person is in balance with a healthy pH balance, they should be much less likely to get sick.

Leading Acid Forming Foods:

asparagus, barley, beans (dried), beechnuts, beef, bread, buckwheat, butter, cashew nuts, cereals, cheese, chestnuts, chicken, chocolate, clams, cod liver oil, cornmeal, cream, eggs, fish, flour, ham, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, horseradish, Jello, lamb, lentils, lobster, mackerel, macaroni, maple syrup, margarine, meats, mussels, mushrooms, oats, pasta, peanuts, peas, pecans, pistachios, pork, prunes, quinces, rice, rye, salmon, sauerkraut, scallops, smelt, sole, spaghetti, sugar, syrups, tapioca, turkey, walnuts, wheat, wine.

Leading Alkaline Forming Foods:: almonds, apples, apple cider vinegar, apricots, artichokes, bananas, beets, beet tops, blackberries, blueberries, brocoli, brussel sprouts, burdock, cabbage, cantaloupe, carob, carrots, cauliflower, celery, celeriac, chard, cherries, chives, coconut, cranberries, cucumbers, dandelion greens, dates, dill, dock, endive, figs (dried), flaxseed, garlic, grapes, Grapefruit, greenbeans (fresh), guava, huckleberries, kelp, leeks, lemons, lettuce, lima beans, limes, mango, melons, millet, mint, molasses, mulberries, mustard greens, nectarines, okra, olives, olive oil, onions, oranges, papaya, parsley, parsnips, passion fruit, Peaches, Pears, persimmons, pineapple, plums, pumpkin, radishes, raisnes, raspberries, rhubarb, romaine lettuce, rutabagas, sea grass, sorrel, soybeans, spinach, squash, strawberries, tangerine, turnips, vegetable oils, water chestnuts, watercress, watermelon.

What's the key takeaway on the acid-alkaline issue? Eat a balance of foods, with most of your foods coming from somewhere on the alkaline side of the charts. Remember, it's balance we're aiming for, not total alkalinity.

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