The Benefits of an Alkaline Diet

The alkaline diet is specifically designed to help you restore and maintain the pH balance in your body. You may have heard the saying “You are what you eat.” Your body’s pH should be slightly alkaline with a healthy balance in the vicinity of 7.4. In order for it to be in balance your food intake should be approaching 75% to 80% alkaline forming foods.

Most fresh fruits, vegetables and spices have an alkaline effect on your body. Whereas, animal proteins, sugar, processed foods, alcohol and caffeine are all acidic forming and an acidic pH in your body creates a favorable environment for diseases to form because harmful bacteria are able to rapidly grow and multiply. Knowing this, it is easy to clearly see why, over time, the health benefits of the alkaline diet are numerous.

 The Benefits of an Alkaline Diet

One of the first benefits that you will notice after transitioning to an alkaline diet is that it will be much easier for you to begin to lose those excess pounds even without crazy amounts of exercise. This is because the high fiber content in fruits and vegetables will begin to clean your whole digestive system and increase your metabolism so that you can begin to lose that excess weight.

Another almost immediate benefit of the alkaline diet is an increase in the amount of energy you will have. Once your digestive system is able to function properly, you will no longer be weighed down with heavy toxins which cause you to feel lethargic and fatigued, as these toxins will be removed from your body much more quickly.

Excess toxins in your body are the number one cause of premature aging. As they build up, your cells begin to deteriorate which causes wrinkles to appear. When the beneficial antioxidants in the fruits and vegetables release the toxins from the cells, they begin to come back to life, slow down and even reverse the signs of premature aging.

Find Out How an Alkaline Diet Can Benefit You

Naturally when your body’s pH is too acidic, your body’s systems will do everything in their power to restore that pH balance. To do this, the body takes the minerals which are stored in the bones and breaks them down and passes them into the bloodstream. Some of these minerals are calcium, potassium and magnesium. This causes your teeth and bones to become weak and eventually this can result in osteoporosis and tooth decay.

Studies have shown that Alzheimer’s is caused by a toxic buildup of metals around the brain. The high amounts of antioxidants which are consumed with the alkaline diet help to remove those harmful metals and other toxins in order to restore clarity back to the brain. Attention deficit disorders (ADD), anxiety, nervousness and depression can also be prevented and reversed with the correct diet.

Hydration is Key

Proper hydration will also help to balance your pH levels. It is recommended that you drink 8 glasses or more of water each day. Once your pH is balanced you should continue on a healthy diet in order to prevent disease.

Inflammation is where many problems start. There is a wide range of conditions and diseases that are linked with chronic inflammation or that have an inflammatory component. When your body goes into an inflammatory process, your defenses are weakened, which wears on your resources, leaving you susceptible to other diseases. According to many experts, consuming more alkaline foods than acidic foods may help to reduce low-grade inflammation, thereby reducing your vulnerability to other diseases or conditions. When your body does not have to work as hard to stay in balance, it will remain healthier and able to fight off inflammation and disease. It should be noted that stress and environment can also be important factors in all of the major inflammation based diseases, but assisting your body in staying healthy and in balance, instead of forcing it to work harder, can only benefit you and decrease your risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, arthritis and many others.

Did you know that cancer cells can only form in an acidic environment? When there is an alkaline environment in the body, the malicious bacteria which cause cancer and other diseases will rarely be able to grow or multiply to the point where the body can no longer fight them off. That is one reason why the alkaline diet helps to prevent cancer, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, arthritis and many common ailments associated with the typical western diet.

Juicing and Blending Are Beneficial

Consuming foods that are alkaline forming is especially important for your heart. Not only can you reduce low-grade inflammation, but because alkaline foods consist of vegetables, fruits, and certain proteins that are all heart healthy anyway, you are getting twice the benefit. This is not to say that eating high-alkaline foods will totally prevent or cure heart disease. 

Another benefit of eating high alkaline foods is that it may help fight the onset of type II diabetes. Again, the list of foods high in alkaline, includes vegetables and fruits. Acidic choices are processed foods and foods high in simple sugars. Vegetables and fruits may not only help reduce low-grade inflammation, but they will release glucose slowly from the liver, keeping your blood sugar levels within a tighter control. Most experts maintain that you still need to eat a variety of foods, but your alkaline selections should be substantially higher than the acidic choices in your diet. Many feel that the best goal to set is 80% alkaline to 20% acid forming.

Find Out How You Can Start Improving Your Diet Today

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Transitioning to a Raw or Alkaline Diet

A raw or alkaline diet is part of a healthy lifestyle

An important part of a healthy lifestyle is the diet you choose. You may want to consider transitioning to a more alkaline diet as it is the diet which best supports your body’s natural pH. An alkaline diet is one in which the overall balance is approaching 80% alkaline-forming to 20% acid-forming foods based on volume. You don’t need to get out the measuring cups and scales but rather, just kind of visually check your plate and realize the more alkaline-forming foods there are the better. Alkaline foods include most fruits, vegetables (especially green leafy vegetables) and many nuts and seeds. Foods that are acid-forming include dairy, red meats, alcohol, processed foods like cake, cookies and chips and soda. A diet that is high in acid-forming foods can mimic allergy symptoms, reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood and lower daily energy levels.

First take a look at your current diet. Evaluate the way you typically eat. You can use a chart or list, many of which are readily available, that details which foods are acid and which foods are alkaline. Write down your food intake under two columns, one for acid and one for alkaline, to see what your current consumption looks like in terms of balance. If you consume a lot of processed foods, your overall balance will be somewhat acidic. If you consume a lot of vegetables and fresh food, your balance will, more than likely, be a bit on the alkaline side. How you make that transition is the key to your ongoing success.

    Juicing can add enjoyment as you

       transition to a more alkaline diet.

Choose some foods to add and some foods to subtract. I like to begin by adding beneficial alkaline foods. Come at this from a positive, adding point of view and then think about what to delete. You know which foods are bad but it can be difficult to let some things go without first developing a taste for some of the better foods. Take your time. Trying to completely change your diet all at once may be setting yourself up for failure. There are some people that can do it and you probably know it if you are one of those people. For the rest of us, attempting a task like that cold turkey can be overwhelming and is more likely to produce negative results. When transitioning to a healthy, more alkaline diet, start with a few key foods. Replace one snack of cookies or chips every day with a raw vegetable plate or with fresh juice from your juicer or blender, for example. Did you know that when you eat a steak and potato dinner you will be digesting that food for 8 to 12 hours? If you replace that potato with a fresh salad, the time in your stomach would be reduced to 4 or 5 hours. Then, later on, maybe replace the steak with wild salmon. While the fish is still a meat, it is much healthier than the steak. These are great beginning steps. Small changes will allow you time to find enjoyment in new, more alkalizing foods and provide you with even more motivation to keep making healthy changes.

Pay attention to how your body feels. If you are aware of the positive changes taking place with regard to your comfort level; ie improved digestion (less gas and bloating), increased energy and reduced sluggishness, you will feel you have accomplished something positive and you will be motivated to add to those positive feelings. Write down how you feel after eating acidic foods and compare it to how you feel after eating alkaline foods. Notice that an acidic diet often produces allergy-like symptoms, including runny nose, brain fog and unexplained tiredness. Even as you transition, some people report there can be a brief detoxification period where mild flu-like symptoms may occur but overall you should expect to feel much better.

Hydration is key. You should drink as many as 10 – 15 glasses of water a day Also once a day drink lemon juice water by adding ½ lemon in 1 cup of water. This helps in cleaning the digestive system and reduces excess acid in the body. Believe it or not, the citrus fruits, although they may be acidic themselves, are alkaline-forming in your body upon digestion.

It is always important to stay hydrated when

you are transitioning to a raw diet.

Exercise is also important for anyone who wishes to have a healthy lifestyle. A little bit of exercise goes a long way to making your transition to a raw, more alkaline diet and a healthy lifestyle a smoother, more enjoyable one. Good exercise is will increase blood flow and help with digestion and elimination. Our bodies were not meant to be sedentary. We were meant to move.

Set realistic, reachable goals for yourself as you transition. Decide on a time frame in which you would like to have converted your diet but be flexible. You are doing something positive for yourself. There is no failure here if you just don’t quit. Three to six months is a reasonable length of time in which to make incremental dietary changes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis but be flexible. Changes in diet that happen slowly and produce tangible results are more likely to become healthy lifestyle habits that stick with you for the long term.

A raw, more alkaline diet is arguably the best choice for regaining your health and energy. If you would like a little more information on what is involved in transitioning to a raw more alkaline diet, you might like to check out this FREE 6-part e-course called 'Raw Food 101'. There is also a great book available called 'Eating for Energy' to take you step by step through the transition and really set you up to win. Check it out here.

You can enjoy your food while you are

transitioning to a healthy diet