What is the Alkaline Diet?
One of the biggest buzzwords in the health and wellness world is BALANCE. There’s a good reason for that. All the systems of our body have a narrow margin in which they function best, and we need to do all the good things to keep ourselves in that narrow margin, or we risk deficiencies, premature aging, and impaired function of our brain and body. Today, we’re going to talk about one of the best ways to stay in balance, by using the Alkaline Diet model.
What is the Alkaline Diet? It’s based on the idea that the fluids in our body help our tissues function best when they are at a certain pH, which is a measure of acid/alkaline levels. We want to lean towards the alkaline end of that scale.
The best alkalizing foods to eat are, unsurprisingly, vegetables. Lots of green leafies, clean and raw, form the backbone of a good alkalizing plan. Kale, spinach, chard, and seaweed top the list, so make sure to include at least one of these every day. Cauliflower, broccoli, celery, cucumber, cabbage, asparagus, beets, and many other readily available vegetables quickly follow, and they are best consumed in as raw a state as possible. Focus on using them as foods, but in some cases juicing them is just fine.
Be careful not to add too many fruits. A little here and there is fine, as long as they are eaten as a whole food. Fruit juice, however, is too high in sugar without the fiber you would get from the food, so avoid isolated juices.
Many of the things that are common in our daily diets are acidifying, and therefore contribute to unbalancing our system. Things like refined sweets, coffee, an abundance of meat, and most grains are on the acidifying end of the spectrum. This isn’t to say you have to give them up entirely, it just means you need to be aware of how much of them you are eating.
When you begin to limit the acidifying foods and increase the alkalizing foods, you’ll start to notice all kinds of health benefits. Not only will your skin look brighter and your mind sharper, but you’ll be more energetic and have a reduction in stiffness and pain. The long term benefits are especially encouraging, you’ll have improved bone density as well as cardiovascular stability.
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