alkaline diet weight loss tips

The alkaline diet can be used as part of a sustained healthy diet regime and sustained weight loss plan. However its aim is not to promote extremely fast weight loss nor work like a “miracle diet”. Instead alkalising is much more useful simple to make us look, feel and be more healthy. Eating alkaline foods in and of themselves will help improve our overall general well being which can in turn be a major part of a weight loss plan.

The alkaline acid diet simply promotes eating high quantities of alkaline foods. These are primarily fruits and vegetables. Advocates of the diet talk less in terms of denying ourselves any specific foods. That said, being aware of which foods have an acidifying effect upon our bodies can certainly help us make more informed dietary choices. The diet is not specifically about restricting the calories we consume either. That said, it would certainly be possible to alkalise and be on a calorie controlled diet at the same time. However as already mentioned, this is not the focus of the alkaline acid diet. Its main aim is instead to simply make us feel much healthier. By increasing the amount of alkaline foods in our diet we can bring about many positive health benefits for ourselves. These range from helping to improve our overall fitness and health levels, warding off disease and improving our concentration and energy levels throughout the day.

For people wanting to alkalize and lose weight at the same time it is important to remember that changing diet alone is not the most sensible way to change our body shapes. There are many other sources of weight loss tips that discuss a variety of ways to get healthy and lose weight as well as help us improve the quality of our lives available online. Losing weight of course can be helped by reducing the amount of calories in the diet. On top of this taking some kind of regular exercise is also of paramount importance. Walking for a reasonable period of time is a great way to burn some calories. Thirty minutes of walking, or more, a day on top of eating more fruit and vegetables in the diet will not make you shed extreme amounts of weight in a short time however alkaline diet weight loss tips are not designed to do so. Rather an alkaline diet combined with regular exercise provides a much healthier and satisfying way to improve how we feel and lose weight if we so desire.

Alkaline foods in the morning

Opening your morning with a nutritious breakfast meal is a good way to provide your body the energy it needs for the coming day. The alkaline diet suggests eating more alkaline foods to provide improved pH balance throughout the day. These are not free fast weight lose tips, instead they are just suggestions on how to eat a healthier breakfast.

Some easy suggestions of healthy alkaline diet breakfasts include grated carrots or freshly squeezed orange juice. But what is it that makes these vegetable and fruits alkaline? Basically it is by virtue of being fruit and veg. Online there are a variety of alkaline acid diet food charts explaining what food is acidic forming and which ones are alkaline forming. The information on these charts is often different which makes it difficult to know for sure what to eat. One can get an idea of whether the food we want to eat will help us to improve the pH balance of our body. Food lists are one way to help us decide what kind of alkaline acid diet breakfast food we should eat.

Two brief examples of healthy alkaline breakfasts include banana smoothies or a freshly squeezed vegetable juice. Fruit and vegetables are the main alkalizing foods. On the web there is a variety of alkaline food information charts detailing which foods are acidic and which foods leave an alkali ash. The information is often different depending on what chart you look at. This makes it a little unclear which are the best foods to eat. It is possible to get a good indication if the food we want to eat will help to improve the pH balance of our body. Dietary food charts are one way to help you choose what alkaline diet breakfast foods you want to eat.

Some breakfast cereals are very healthy. These are often full of dried fruits which can be highly alkalizing. A healthy option is drinking a fruit and vegetable juice along with cereal containing fruit will provide the best pH balancing effect. Adding your own fruit to cereal, for example berries are suggestions to enlarge fruit consumption in the morning.

Other ideas include fruit and vegetable drinks, scrambled eggs, with some vegetables, Japanese natto and grapefruit. Personally I often make a homemade fruit or vegetable juice and scramble some eggs. After drinking a pint or so of juice containing all kinds of minerals I feel totally hydrated and ready for action.

An alkaline acid diet breakfast menu is basically what we would all consider healthy eating. Eating alkaline food is a great option at breakfast time to start the day on the right footing.

acidic soft drinks?

An area of the acid alkaline diet that confuses me is the pH of a food stuff vs. the pH of its ash. From my initial reading round the subject I became happy with my understanding that the pH of the ash is what determines what is an acid food and what is classed as an alkaline foodstuff. This is why we know that foods like lemons are in fact alkaline foods even though the pH of a fresh lemon is fairly acidic.

However after continuing to research the alkaline acid diet I find that I am once again confused regarding the classification of foods. On one hand this is very frustrating as I want to know for certain but on the other hand I am happy that I am not blindly following one particular food chart or method to determine what to eat as part of my alkaline diet.

A quote taken from The Journal of Nutrition states:

An example of a food product that yields high levels of acid for the body to dispose of is a cola drink. Phosphoric acid is one of the ingredients listed on the cola container. The pH of cola is ~3.0, ranging from 2.8 to 3.2. The human kidney can excrete urine with a pH no lower than 5. If one ingests and fully absorbs a beverage with a pH of 3, one has to dilute it 100-fold to achieve a urinary pH of 5. Thus, a can containing 330 mL of cola would result in 33 L of urine! This does not happen because the body buffers the acid of the soft drink. For full buffering, 1 L of cola requires some four tablets of Tums, which contain 16 mEq of carbonate as the calcium salt.

This suggests that carbonated soft drink consumption is bad for our bodies due to their low pH.

However calculating the Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) of cola using data from the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory, cola comes out as only having a mildly acidic effect upon the body.

Of course, both methods are referring to different aspects of cola. The first is the pH of the soft drink itself while the second, PRAL, refers to its ash.

The fact that the above information comes from credible scientific sources complicates my understanding further. Are the figures presented above mutually exclusive? Or do I simply need to get my head around the scientific papers?

In one respect it doesn’t matter a great deal because I have cut out carbonated soft drink consumption from my diet completely anyway. However as part of my research into the alkaline acid diet I would like to gain a better understanding of the scientific data.

 

Resources: Uriel S. Barzel3 and Linda K. Massey Excess Dietary Protein Can Adversely Affect Bone The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 6 June 1998, pp. 1051-1053

Remer T, Manz F. Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH. J Am Diet Assoc 1995

USDA NUTRIENT DATA LABORATORY

alkaline acid diet and coffee

It is interesting to note that on various alkaine acid diet food charts found on the internet, coffee has a variety of classifications. These range from highly acidic to mildly alkaline. This raises may questions. Which chart or charts are to be believed? According to the alkaline acid diet, should we drink or avoid coffee? Besides pH, what other effects does coffee have on our bodies both positive and negative?

Despite the conflicting information regarding the pH of its ash there are many studies that have been made into the health effects of drinking coffee. One such study suggests that it may have beneficial effects as far as preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes. The study referenced below examined 15 studies into the relationship between coffee drinking and type 2 diabetes. These studies say nothing that relates directly to the alkaline acid diet.

The researchers concluded that it appears that coffee may play a part in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes in regular drinkers.

Even though coffee is often viewed in a negative light as far as health is concerened. Its relationship with the alkaline acid diet is no different. But is it really bad? And is it really an acid food?

The study makes no mention of this but does indicate that coffee consumption may actually be a good thing.

For followers of the alkaline acid diet it is worth carefully considering the benefits of drinking coffee before you decide not to drink it because of its alleged acid food status.

 References: Rob M. van Dam, PhD; Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD Coffee Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes The Journal of the American Medical Association

acid alkaline foods

Advocates of the alkaline acid diet recommend a diet made up of more alkaline foods than acid foods. Typically, the suggested ratio of alkaline to acidic foods is 80:20. Our bodies need alkaline foods to counteract acidic conditions in our bodies, e.g. acidosis. It can also be used if you are searching for acid reflux treatments. The alkaline acid diet is what most people would simply consider a healthy diet as it consists mainly of fresh fruits and vegetables which are alkaline forming foods.

To eat more alkaline foods we have to know what they are. There are many food charts available on the internet. Often though their information is slightly contradictory. However by looking at a variety of food charts you can get a general picture of which foods are in the acid and alkaline forming groups. Generally, fruits and vegetables have an alkaline ash, however there are exceptions to this rule. For example, cranberries and prunes often appear within the acid forming food lists. Highly alkaline fruits are watermelon, dried figs and rasins. Spinach is one of the most alkalizing vegetables. Almost any vegetable has a mild to high alkaline “ash”. Asparagus and brussel sprouts appear to be two of the exceptions.

Overall, increasing your consumption of fruit and vegetables has a variety of health benefits over and above the alkalizing effect it has on the body. Eating a higher percentage of alkaline foods likely means you will eat less foods of poor nutritional quality. This displacement of processed foods high in salt, sugar and additives will have a double beneficial effect. More good food and less rubbish making you feel healthier and more energetic. Eating an alkaline breakfast is a great start to the day, setting you up to begin your day with loads of energy.

alkaline acid diet

The alkaline acid diet may look like a fad diet when you look at some its proponents. The Wikipedia article mentions two of the alkaline diet’s advocates, Edgar Cayce and Robert Young. The first a “psychic” and the second pleaded guilty to a “misdemeanor charge of attempting to practice medicine without a license”.

While one may look on this kind of diet unfavorably, if you spend a bit of time looking at what kind of diet the alkaline diet actually is you might begin to view it as more than simply a fad. It will not help with all dietary concerns, e.g. vitamin b12 deficiency symptoms but eating more healthy foods as this diet suggests does help improve our overall health.

The alkaline diet proposes the use of food charts on which foods are labeled alkali or acidic. The suggested ratio of alkali to acid foods is 80:20. Comparing this ratio to a typical Western diet would show that our diets are much more acidic than they should be according to the alkaline acid diet doctrine.

Changing from an acid diet to one where you eat more alkaline foods can be beneficial for your health. Feeling more energetic and alert are typical benefits that you will notice very quickly.

Alkaline foods are things that you would normally just think of as healthy food. That’s why the alkaline acid diet is more than just a fad. Who would argue that eating more vegetables is a bad thing?

That’s basically what the alkaline acid diet is all about, eating more fruit and vegetables and cutting down on acidic foods, e.g. processed foods, fatty foods, sugar and salt.

There are numerous acid/alkaline food charts available on the internet that you might find it interesting to look at. While this kind of diet may not be the fastest way to loose weight it is certainly a healthy option. The aim of the diet is not specifically weight loss, it is much more concerned with overall bodily health. Another option for health and weight is to lose weight with acai.

If you want to increase your energy levels throughout the day, you could do worse than consider the alkaline acid diet.