Wow!

Quite the responses from all of you in talking about this subject , internal pH and balancing your health. Before we jump into why/how it can affect your weight I think first some of you need a better understanding of what the body recognizing as a food being acidic or alkaline actually means… 

You make think its acid but its not

Considering whether a food is acidifying or alkalizing in the diet can require some mind-bending, because some foods that we think of as “acidic” are, in fact, alkalizing in the diet. It’s actually better to look at whether the food isacid–forming or alkaline–forming, not where the food itself falls on the pH scale. So even though we think of citrus as acidic, fruits like lemons and tangerines are alkalizing because when they’re consumed, they break down and donate alkaline mineral salt compounds like citrates and ascorbates.Similarly, foods we might normally think of as meek and mild in nature are acid-forming when ingested. Grains and milk are two examples.

What’s important is not so much the pH of the food as it goes into our bodies, but the resultant pH once the food is broken down — and this is dictated by the residues the broken-down nutrients leave behind, particularly sulfates and phosphates.Below is a chart that will hopefully help you to make better sense of what foods to consume more of or less of.

You will notice that  their are some very healthy foods on the acid side of things; it does not make them bad to eat. Remember that there needs to be a balance between acidic and alkaline not a dominance.

Chart of alkalizing  and acidic foods
Alkalizing vegetables
Alfalfa
Barley grass
Beets and beet greens
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumber
Fermented veggies
   (sauerkraut, kim chee)
Garlic
Green beans
Green peas
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Nightshade veggies
   (tomatoes, peppers,
   eggplant, etc.)
Onions
Peas
Pumpkin
Radishes
Sea veggies
Spinach
Sprouts
Sweet potatoes
Wild greens
Alkalizing fruits
Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana
Berries
Cantaloupe
Cherries, sour
Coconut, fresh
Currants
Dates, dried
Figs, dried
Grapes
Grapefruit
Honeydew melon
Lemon
Lime
Muskmelons
Nectarine
Orange
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
Raisins
Raspberries
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Tangerine
Tropical fruits
Watermelon
Alkalizing protein
Almonds
Chestnuts
Millet
Tempeh (fermented)
Tofu (fermented)
Whey protein powder
Other alkalizing foods
Apple cider vinegar
Bee pollen
Green juices
Lecithin granules
Mineral water
Molasses, blackstrap
Probiotic cultures
Soured (cultured) dairy products
 
Acidifying vegetables
Corn
Olives
Winter squash
Acidifying fruits
Blueberries
Canned or glazed fruits
Cranberries
Currants
Plums
Prunes
Acidifying grains
Amaranth
Barley
Bread
Corn
Oatmeal
Quinoa
Rice
Rye
Spelt
Wheat
Acidifying beans and legumes
Black beans
Chick peas
Green peas
Kidney beans
Lentils
Pinto beans
Red beans
Soy beans
White beans
Acidifying dairy
Butter
Cheese
Ice cream
Milk
Acidifying nuts
Cashews
Legumes
Peanuts
Pecans
Tahini
Walnuts
Acidifying animal protein
Bacon
Beef
Carp
Clams
Cod
Corned beef
Fish
Haddock
Lamb
Lobster
Mussels
Organ meats
Oyster
Pike
Pork
Rabbit
Salmon
Sardines
Sausage
Scallops
Shellfish
Shrimp
Tuna
Turkey
Veal
Venison
Acidifying fats and oils
Avocado oil
Butter
Canola oil
Corn oil
Flax oil
Hemp seed oil
Lard
Olive oil
Safflower oil
Sesame oil
Sunflower oil
Acidifying sweeteners
Carob
Corn syrup
Sugar
Acidifying alcohol  
Beer
Hard liquor
Spirits
Wine

Now some of this may get a little ‘science-geekish’ on you, but its important to understand!

As food makes its way from your mouth to your stomach, the digestive tract becomes more acidic. Pepsin, the enzyme responsible for protein breakdown, needs an acidic environment and therefore gets released into the stomach, where pH is very low (about 2.0–1.5). Your small intestine is where most of the nutrients in your food get absorbed, and where the pH increases from 2.0 to 6.5 as the food travels from the stomach to the small and large intestines.

Protein — particularly in the form of red meats — requires huge amounts of alkaline minerals for complete digestive processing. When the system goes looking for the alkalinity needed to offset the acid load, it looks first to the minerals currently in the digestive tract. If it fails to find alkaline nourishment there, it draws on the calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium minerals stored in our bones.

This is where the healthy, good for you greens and essential vitamins and minerals come in. When we eat a diet that is rich in nutrients, there’s no need to draw on the stored minerals in the bones. It’s when we don’t consume a nutrient-rich diet — or, worse, when we overconsume foods that promote acidity in the body — that we start tapping our bone resources. In the short-term, this isn’t an issue, but in the long run, it can have serious consequences, not just for our bone health but for our overall health.

Tune in tomorrow for the portion of why this can be affecting your weight…I do believe we’ve chatted long enough today~

Smiles and see you tomorrow!