Alkaline Foods List: The Most Effective Alkalizing Foods To Reset pH Balance
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The human diet must consist of a variety of different foods from this alkaline foods list, in order to have a balanced vitamin-to-mineral status.
Due to the fast-pace of modern life, and the fact that today’s fruits and vegetables are not grown the same way as they were 40 years ago, many of us tend to use dietary supplements.
The Acid-Alkaline Balance
Before we go into why we need to eat more alkaline-forming foods, let’s first understand what is our body pH and what happens when our body is acidic.
What does pH stand for?
pH stands for “potential of Hydrogen”. Technically, pH reflects the concentration of hydrogen ions (positively charged molecules) in any given solution.
A pH value is a number from 1 to 14, with 7 being at the middle point (neutral). Values below 7 indicate the acidity level, with 0 being the most acidic.
Values above 7 indicate the alkalinity level, with 14 being the most alkaline.
What is normal human body pH?
The pH levels vary throughout a human body.
For example, your stomach produces acid for food digestion, thus it needs to be a pH of 3.5 or below.
Urine tests usually measure at an average of pH 6.0. If it’s a smaller number than this, it may indicate an acidic environment that is conducive to kidney stones and other diseases.
Urine tests can provide the best estimate of what’s happening in the body’s tissues, but it is not always accurate. Blood pH is more reliable and a better indicator of internal health conditions.
Generally, your blood is slightly alkaline at a pH of between 7.35 and 7.45. But, ideally, it should be maintained tightly at a pH of 7.365.
Your body will always try to maintain the blood at this pH level, but what happens when there is an imbalance?
What happens if your body is too acidic?
Your body will go to great lengths to maintain appropriate, slightly alkaline blood. However, when you consume too much acid-forming foods in the long term, it cannot cope up.
Our bodies cannot tolerate extended acid imbalances. In the early stages of the imbalance, symptoms may be mild, such as skin eruptions, headaches, allergies, low immunity, sinusitis and so forth. But, in the long run, organs in the body become weakened and start to give way, resulting in diseases.
In its effort to stay neutral for as long as possible, calcium (an alkaline mineral) may be leached from the bones in your body’s effort to maintain homeostasis blood pH, leading to osteoporosis.
Other alkaline minerals will also be drawn out from tissues to compensate, such as magnesium from muscles, leading to muscle cramps.
Overacidification of blood pH sets the perfect environment for sickness and diseases to take a foothold. This includes overgrowth of yeasts, bacteria, viruses and parasites that can cause a whole set of other health problems.
The more acidic the blood, the more oxygen levels will decrease and cellular metabolism will stop and die prematurely. This is a state of acidosis.
In fact, Dr Otto Heinrich Warburg said that “Cancer grows in oxygen deprived acidic tissue”.
What happens if your body is too alkaline?
While your body can become acidic with a poor diet, overdoing alkaline foods, juices and supplements may also cause alkalosis. Other underlying health issues such as low potassium or hypokalemia may also contribute to an overalkaline condition.
In a state of alkalosis, your body may experience involuntary muscle twitchings or spasms, numbness, cramping, or even go into a state of shock.
One of the biggest mistakes I often see in cases of alkalosis is of people drinking excessive alkaline water. This is the reason why alkaline water is not a good idea in trying to make your body alkaline.
How to know if your body is too acidic or too alkaline?
One of the ways that you can know if your blood is too acidic is when your blood is thick. Unfortunately, there is no way to know whether your blood is thick unless you do a blood test.
So, another way to check is by knowing your symptoms. This doesn’t require pricking with a needle.
Dr Eric Berg explains it well in this video:
What Foods Are Highly Alkaline?
What’s an easy way to understand which foods are alkaline and which are acidic? We discuss this below.
Alkaline-forming Foods
Foods that are rich in the alkaline minerals are often alkaline-forming. And I’m talking about the nutrient contents, not the taste.
Vegetables and some fruits fall into this category of alkaline-forming foods. A majority of your foods (80%) should ideally be alkaline-forming foods.
Not only are vegetables and fruits alkaline-forming, they are also very low in calories and rich in nutrients. They contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, enzymes, phytonutrients and are excellent foods for cell hydration.
Acid-forming Foods
Acid-forming foods should form about 20% of your diet to have that right balance. However, it is important to choose your 20% from the “healthier” items in this list:
Eat: Animal protein (grass fed or wild is preferred), fish, eggs, fermented foods, some fruits, lentils and legumes, most seeds and nuts.
Eat less or avoid: Processed and refined foods, dairy, grains, alcohol, flour and sugar products (pastries and bread), soda and carbonated drinks, refined vegetable cooking oils. Read more >>
Food Groups That Are Alkalizing
1. All Green Vegetables
Green vegetables have all the right nutrients the body needs. They are alkaline-forming foods that also have very high antioxidant contents, making them the ideal foods to help reset the body pH levels.
The following is a list of vegetables that are most alkaline:
- Artichokes
- Asparagus
- Aubergine
- Barley grass
- Beetroot
- Beetgreens
- Bell pepper (capsicum)
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Chicory
- Collard greens
- Cucumber
- Daikon
- Endive
- Ginger
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Leek
- Lettuce
- Lotus root
- Mustard greens
- Okra
- Romaine lettuce
- Rutabaga
- Spinach
- Sprouts
- Turnip greens
- Watercress
- Wheatgrass
- Zucchini
2. Fresh Fruits
HIGHLY ALKALINE
- Avocado
- Coconut, young
- Lemon
- Lime
- Papaya
- Tomato
- Watermelon
MODERATE ALKALINE TO NEUTRAL
- All berries
- Cherries
- Grapefruit
- Guava
- Kiwifruit
- Olive
- Persimmon
- Plum
- Pomegranate
- Tangerine
NEUTRAL TO MILDLY ACIDIC
This list of mildly acidic fruits is added here as the healthier choices of foods that should be included in your diet to form the 20% acidic foods.
- Apple
- Apricot
- Banana
- Currants
- Dates
- Fig
- Grapes
- Mandarin
- Mango
- Orange
- Peach
- Pear
- Pineapple
3. Herbs
All herbs are alkaline-forming, especially the bitter herbs. As herbs are often used for medicinal purposes, it is best to consult your herbalist who can advise you on best herbs to take for your specific health needs.
4. Miscellaneous
Other alkaline-forming foods that you can include in your alkaline diet, also for their rich nutrient contents:
- Seaweeds: kelp, wakame, nori, dulse
- Algae: spirulina and chlorella
- Medicinal mushrooms: shiitake, maitake, reishi, chaga
- Oils: almond oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil
- Goat milk
- Herbal teas
- Baking soda
References:
https://nutritiondata.self.com
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