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What I've read thus far about this diet--reducing acidic foods in order to reduce the amount of work the body has to do to regulate its levels (by leeching calcium from the bones, etc.) makes sense. But what I don't get is that a lot of the foods one is supposed to avoid in this diet are also very high in antioxidants. Like blueberries, walnuts, prunes, and coffee! Now, what would be better--eat these foods and reap their anti-inflammatory benefits, while also making the body a bit more acidic, or avoid them and have a more alkaline body but miss out on those antioxidants...?
It's all very confusing, those diets.
The point is to maintain a healthy alkaline/acidic balance. There is no reason to avoid blueberries or other natural forms of antioxidants. Just balance it out! Most people today are overly acidic by way of processed & fast foods, sodas, and sugars etc, and are therefore unbalanced.. The alkaline "diet" is not about losing weight. It's about curing disease & attaining health. I suggest reading up on Edgar Cayce..
Not sure I agree that their pH levels would be the same.. An alkaline diet is crucial for people w/ or recovering from cancer, and is also a preventative measure for those at risk. It is also recommended to correct and prevent candida overgrowth in the body- which is attributed to an acidic internal environment. So, while one person may or may not seem healthier than the other, the person w/ a primarly acidic diet puts themselves at a much greater risk for developing serious health problems or diseases as they age, & programming those health problems into their DNA for future offspring.
Nope, the body adjusts pH within a narrow range: 7.35 to 7.45, usually close to 7.40. Anything you do to your diet is not going to change that assuming you are healthy.
Nope, the body adjusts pH within a narrow range: 7.35 to 7.45, usually close to 7.40. Anything you do to your diet is not going to change that assuming you are healthy.
Not sure I agree that their pH levels would be the same.. An alkaline diet is crucial for people w/ or recovering from cancer, and is also a preventative measure for those at risk. It is also recommended to correct and prevent candida overgrowth in the body- which is attributed to an acidic internal environment. So, while one person may or may not seem healthier than the other, the person w/ a primarly acidic diet puts themselves at a much greater risk for developing serious health problems or diseases as they age, & programming those health problems into their DNA for future offspring.
No one really cares whether you "agree" pH levels would be the same any more than whether you "agree" the earth orbits the sun....facts are facts and "agreement" is meaningless.
An alkaline diet is not "crucial" to any one recovering from cancer....has no bearing whatsoever since the whole premise is nonsense.
There is also no such thing as Candida overgrowth, more nonsense...
So if I develop serious health problems and diseases as I age I might "program" those problems into my DNA for future offspring, good to know, I'll try not to procreate when I'm 75 when my DNA has been so "programmed"
The point is to maintain a healthy alkaline/acidic balance. There is no reason to avoid blueberries or other natural forms of antioxidants. Just balance it out! Most people today are overly acidic by way of processed & fast foods, sodas, and sugars etc, and are therefore unbalanced.. The alkaline "diet" is not about losing weight. It's about curing disease & attaining health. I suggest reading up on Edgar Cayce..
Edgar Cayce???
Yeah, I try to make most of my decisions on diet and health based on the writings of a quack psychic who died 70 years ago....doesn't everyone?
Correct - however, that applies to the blood. The pH of the tissue, etc, does fluctuate. (IE, you can test your urine easily and see it fluctuate throughout the day.)
This is somewhat true. The blood, and the lymphatic system that is maintained in a more alkaline state than the blood help maintain the pH of most tissues.
But some tissues will have fluctuating pH levels. For example, the stomach that increases in acidity for digestion or the duodenum that becomes more alkaline as the acids in the chyme exiting the stomach are neutralized by pancreatic bicarbonate. Or the bones, which use citric acid in the remodeling process to keep the bones healthy. Or urine can become alkaline during urinary tract infections due to the bacteria using the enzyme urease to split urea in to ammonia to protect itself from acidity of the urine.
But the most important pH we are concerned about is the blood since it is fluctuation in this pH that lead to death.
ORAC does not mean much. It is used loosely as a sales tool, but does not really take in to account all the various antioxidant systems of the body. This is akin to looking at a single bearing and claiming to know what car it came from. People need to look at the whole puzzle, not just one piece.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djohanna
That said, it's true white potatoes are very alkaline, while coffee is very acidic. Overall, I'm not sure which is better: very alkaline food with little antioxidant value, or very acidic with very high antioxidants.
Actually there is no such thing as a truly alkalizing food. ALL foods will eventually metabolize in to acids, and most of the so-called "alkaline foods" are loaded with naturally occurring acids.
The first link does not prove anything about an alkaline diet making the blood alkaline. If you read the study they point out the benefits if the alkaline diet comes from the increased nutritional value, not from making the blood alkaline.
When they do mention alkalizing they do this in reference to the use of bicarbonates, which are not part of an alkaline diet. This is like saying that Bayer aspirin is part of an acidic diet and thus can help in cases of alkalosis.
In the second link they state "Although protein is important for maintenance of muscle mass, eating fruits and vegetables that supply adequate amounts of potassium and magnesium are also relevant."
There is a major flaw here in the fact that they do not prove at any point that the diet has any alkalizing effect to begin with. They mention meats for example that contain various acids and fruits and vegetables that contain sugars and fibers that are metabolized in to acids. Both meats and fruits and vegetables also contain "alkaline salts". So why would one be "acid forming" and one "alkaline forming" when they all contain and produce acids and all contain "alkaline salts"?
The fact is that diet does not alkalize the blood. Our pH is maintained primarily by respiration followed by hydrogen ion retention or excretion by the kidneys.
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An alkaline diet is crucial for people w/ or recovering from cancer, and is also a preventative measure for those at risk. It is also recommended to correct and prevent candida overgrowth in the body- which is attributed to an acidic internal environment. So, while one person may or may not seem healthier than the other, the person w/ a primarly acidic diet puts themselves at a much greater risk for developing serious health problems or diseases as they age, & programming those health problems into their DNA for future offspring.
