Our western diet is considered quite acid-forming and science shows that replacing acid-forming foods with alkaline foods can improve our health.
Our ancestors mostly ate what they grew from the earth: fresh fruits, vegetables and legumes – and their diets were rich in alkaline foods.
Our current diet, however, consists predominantly of meat, sugars, caffeine, processed foods and food products with little or no nutrient content, like those from packets and jars. Eating for convenience has made it harder for our bodies to maintain its critical pH equilibrium.
When the pH in our blood is out of balance, every cell in our body suffers. All gardeners know that most plants need alkaline soil to grow and if the soil becomes too acidic, plants die. Human bodies are the same. The cells absorb minerals, vitamins, electrolytes and enzymes and utilise nutrients to produce energy. Cells that live in an unbalanced environment absorb too little or too much of certain elements, causing a range of health issues, such as obesity, early ageing, cancer, heart disease, allergies, fatigue and general low resistance and low immunity, making us further prone to bacterial and viral infections.
But when our bodies are alkaline its much more difficult for a disease or infection to take hold.
So the type of foods that are more acid-forming are things like Processed foods and refined sugar. Things like dairy, eggs, meat and most grains are too. I’m sorry to say that alcohol and coffee are in the acidic category too! But before you panic, this doesn’t mean cutting all those things out, it’s just good to be more aware and work towards a balance that suits you.
The basis of the alkaline diet is eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. Eat the rainbow, as they say, to include plenty of variety. A good starting place maybe simply to get rid of any packets or jars of convenience food, cut out fast food and processed food.
Like most things, an 80/20 rule is fine – in favour of alkaline rich foods – because there will always be times when you want to indulge. And of course, like anything else we talk about on Tweaklets, check things out for yourself. Get advice, determine if this is for you and never just jump into something…..ease in.
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