The Acid Alkaline Diet

While most people pay little regard to the pH balance of their bodies, pH level is an important component to maintaining overall health. Diet is one variable that can positively or negative affect the pH level of your body--in this sense, you quite literally are what you eat. In a quest to manipulate the acid-base relationship within your body for better health, the Acid-Alkaline Diet can help get your body back on the right track.

pH and Diet

According to the pH scale, a pH score of seven represents a perfectly balanced pH level, neither alkaline or acidic. Different fluids in your body have varying normal pH levels. For example, the normal pH level of human blood is right around 7.41, which is slightly alkaline. Contrast this with urine, which can range from a pH level of 4.5 to 8--either acidic or alkaline. Foods can be categorized as either acidic or alkaline, with a corresponding effect on your body.

Acid Alkaline Theory

Most of the foods you consume on a day to day basis are acidic. Meats, fish, eggs, dairy and grains are all acidic items, according to their representative PRAL scores, a scale used to measure the degree of acidity or alkalinity in foods. As these form the bulk of most individuals' diets, their bodies are correspondingly out of balance with their natural pH tendency towards alkalinity. The Acid-Alkaline Diet attempts to balance this out by promoting consumption of additional alkaline foods to restore your body's normal pH level.

Following the Acid-Alkaline Diet

To follow the Acid-Alkaline Diet you must strive to decrease your consumption of the aforementioned food categories (meats, fish, eggs, dairy, and grains) while increasing consumption of alkaline foods. Sample alkaline food categories include vegetables, fruits, and nuts, with the most alkaline foods being raisins and spinach. Thus, each meal while on the Acid Alkaline Diet should include an equal number of servings from acid food groups and alkaline food groups, with the balance slightly tipped towards alkalinity.

Primary Benefit

Keeping your body in an acidic state forces it to compensate to restore the balance on its own. Your body does this by drawing calcium away from your bones, weakening them slightly in an attempt to ensure alkalinity. According to Canadian nutritionist and biochemist Dr. John Berardi, Ph.D., balancing your diet will result in the cessation of this process, resulting in stronger bones and avoiding the development of diseases such as osteoporosis.

Ancillary Benefit

According to Dr. Berardi, retaining an alkaline state in the body can help to maintain proper thyroid function, and decrease levels of cortisol in the body (a stress hormone which can contribute to fat storage). Additionally, including more fruits and vegetables in your life by following the Acid Alkaline Diet can have other benefits, including decreasing your risk of cancer and other diseases, as institutions like the American Cancer Society have long since established the beneficial properties of additional fruits and veggies in helping to ward off cancers.