Hollywood’s unofficial new diet hinges on reducing acid and balancing your pH.
An intriguing diet craze of Acid meets Alkaline? For those of you who dozed off during that week of high school chemistry you better listen up – this is basic science!
A 28 year old private chef in Los Angeles (who will go unnamed) was struggling with the same 10 pounds she’d put on in college despite what she thought was a healthy, well-balanced diet. She decided to see a nutritionist, who suggested that her diet was too acidic and needed a major alkaline boost. While the changes she made may seem drastic (easing off all dairy, caffeine, and animal-based products), she says the effects of consuming a heavily plant-based, higher pH diet were quick and dramatic – and well worth it. She also felt tons more energy without needing the caffeine boost, hasn’t been sick and has experienced no breakouts. And she’s also 10 pounds lighter.
Here’s a cram session for the un chem-savvy: the human body, primarily the urinary and lymphatic systems, works hard 24-7 to maintain a slightly alkaline pH level in the blood and to clear out an excess of either acid or alkali. Everything that you consume has its own pH, and the lower it is, the more acidic it is, and the higher it is, the more alkaline it is. Acidic foods tend to be the least healthful: white bread, soda, processed foods, and to a lesser extent, meat and eggs.
An alkaline diet focuses on fresh fruit and vegetables along with soy products (like tofu) and certain nuts and whole grains (such as almonds and quinoa) while minimizing dairy, gluten, processed foods, and sugar. If you’re diet is too acidic (say you’re a diet coke addict) your body may siphon off vital minerals like calcium from your bones to neutralize the acid. It will also tend to have more toxins. The result? Congestion and constriction in your body, which can hamper blood flow, deplete oxygen, and speed up the aging process.
Eventually, too many acidic foods can also stymie the immune system, inhibit digestion and contribute to things like osteoarthritis, says Lindsey Duncan, a nutritionist and naturopath – Marc Jacobs as a client.
You can crowd out poor choices by including a morning green smoothie, for example, and a green salad before dinner – and keep acidic foods to a minimum. Some are going even further, ditching acidic tap or bottled water for alkalanized Kangen Water, produced by water-ionization machines from Enagic, a Japanese company that claims its water flushes out toxins better than regular H2O. The water is a hit among Hollywood A-listers, who attribute their renewed vigor to it.
The bottom line: Should we all go alkaline all the time? While few experts would dispute the virtues of a diet high in dark leafy greens, juicy fruit, and plenty of water, it’s hard to give all the credit to pH. Will the pH thing sort itself out? While we’re deciding, in the meantime, a high quality diet that’s heavy on produce and scarce on processed foods is always a good idea.
Taken from an article By Liz Krieger for InStyle magazine.
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