Top 5 Things to Avoid for a More Alkaline Body and 5 Things You Should Do

Several types of white sugar - refined sugar and granulated sugar

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As with everything in life, balance is the key. A little sun is really good for you, but too much can kill you. Water is absolutely necessary for life itself; however, too little and we die of dehydration, too much and we can drown. Mother Nature has a perfect balance in everything she does, and that includes our body’s pH level.

When we talk about pH, we are referring to how acidic or alkaline something is. The blood in our body needs a slightly alkaline pH level to be healthy. We can help our bodies maintain this pH level by eating fewer foods that are acid forming and more of the foods that are alkaline forming.

Why should we do this? Although we need acid in order to digest foods, when we eat too many acid forming foods, our body must work to try to bring our blood pH back into balance. Your body does this by releasing minerals that are alkaline, such as phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium into the blood to do this. If your body cannot find these minerals in our foods, our body must pull them from our bones, organs, and/or teeth. This can make us vulnerable to disease and viruses. Scientists say that cancer cannot live in an acidic environment, so there are plenty of reasons to eat a more alkaline diet. A highly acidic diet creates the perfect environment for fungus and yeast. You might find that, after switching to a more alkaline diet, you have more energy as your chronic yeast infections begin to disappear.

We should strive to eat a diet that is 60 to 80 percent alkaline and 20 to 40 percent acid forming foods.

 

  The top 5 most acid forming foods that you should avoid are:

1. Sugar

2. Alcohol

3. Excessive consumption of red meat

4. Processed foods

5. Grains

Yes, there are other acid forming foods, but these are the worst offenders and the ones that Americans tend to consume entirely too much of.

Healthy green vegetable juice on wooden table

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The top 5 alkaline forming foods you should eat more of are:

1. Dark leafy greens such as spinach, broccoli, and mustard greens.

2. Raw, organic apple cider vinegar. Mix one tablespoon with water and drink this every morning.

3. Fruits such as berries, bananas, grapes, pears, peaches, and lemons. In fact, if you can’t deal with the taste of apple cider vinegar, squeeze a fresh, organic lemon in a glass of water each morning and drink that instead. Lemons are acidic in and of themselves, but they change to alkaline after we consume them.

4. Root vegetables like carrots, rutabagas, beets, and turnips.

5. Garlic. Be sure to eat about 2 slightly crushed cloves each day. Just chew them a bit and swallow them whole. Chew on some parsley afterwards to avoid bad breath.

 

SEE ALSO: Top Alkaline Foods You Should Eat to Beat Cancer

 

A good example of some alkaline food exchanges would be:

Eat a large salad at least once per day using plenty of green leafy vegetables, especially mustard greens, collard greens and kale. Add some asparagus, peppers and broccoli. Grind black pepper on anything and everything. Snack on pumpkin seeds and almonds or add them to your salad. Use apple cider vinegar instead of balsamic vinegar. Squeeze lemon or lime juice in your water, on your fish, or over your salad. Exchange your coffee for ginger tea with honey, or other types of herbal tea.  If you happen to love radishes, add them to everything or keep them on hand for a snack. Make lemonade and vegetable juices be your summertime drinks. Eat celery with nut butter, use avocados on toast instead of margarine.

An alkaline diet does not have to be boring by any means! There is a huge variety of tasty, healthy foods to eat and enjoy.

Sources:

Drbenkim.com

Eatalkalinefoods.com

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One Comment

  1. Kitsy WooWoo

    Mar 13, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    “Eat a large salad at least once per day using plenty of green leafy
    vegetables, especially mustard greens, collard greens and kale. Add some
    asparagus, peppers and broccoli.”

    Are you suggesting that all those veggies, especially asparagus, should be eaten RAW in the salad? I eat a large salad every day, but I also lightly steam some of those veggies — for example, asparagus, broccoli and collard greens. IMO they’re tastier when cooked a bit.