Alkaline Diet Benefits – 5 Awesome Ways To Help Reduce Acidity

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Why alkaline diets can make you more healthy

alkaline diet with baking soda

Alkaline Diet Benefits

Can an alkaline diet have a big impact on your health?

Carry on reading if you want to understand how alkaline and acidity affect your body.

If you feel you have symptoms of any of these problems, seek medical advice.

Read on so that you can discuss intelligently with your doctor.

To maintain an optimal environment, your body is designed to balance pH systems.

The optimal pH level of the body is between 7.3 and 7.35.

Anything below this is likely to affect the way your body works and results in several health problems.

To prevent this from happening, you will need to switch out acidic foods with alkaline ones.

Keep an eye out for symptoms that indicate that your body and diet are too acidic.

What causes acidity?

Your body needs an optimal PH of around 7.35 to allow for the proper functioning. Your kidneys and liver are usually at the forefront of balancing your pH. These organs do this by expelling carbon dioxide and acids or bases from your body. If your lungs and kidneys malfunction or are otherwise unable to expel these substances, your body may experience health problems.

There are two basic types of acidosis or acidity in the body. These include respiratory acidosis and metabolic acidosis. Respiratory acidosis occurs when your lungs are unable to expel carbon dioxide. This is caused by lung disease as well as taking drugs and other types of medication.

Metabolic acidosis occurs when the kidneys fail to perform their function of expelling acid from the body. Severe diarrhea, alcohol abuse, cancer, and diabetes are some conditions that contribute to metabolic acidosis.

Effects of acidity on the body

Acidosis affects your body in several ways and causes the following complications;

  • Osteoporosis
  • Kidney damage
  • Stunted growth in children
  • Increased risk for diabetes
  • Muscle wasting.

How an Alkaline diet helps with acidity

An alkaline diet is one that helps to maintain your body’s PH levels between 7.36 and 7.4. Maintaining this pH balance is important for your cells which can die if your blood is too acidic. 

Acidic urine is an indicator of disease, metabolic disorders, and diseases of the respiratory system. If your urine is acidic, this can be affected by diet. An alkaline diet will assist in your urine becoming less acidic. It will not change the pH of your blood.

An alkaline diet includes foods like; leafy greens, root vegetables, citrus and seasonal fruits, brassica vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, nuts and onions and garlic.

Can an alkaline diet help prevent kidney disease?

Most western diets tend to be high in protein, processed foods, grains, sugar. This combination of nutrients has been shown to cause acidity in the body. Meat and other animal proteins are especially hard on the kidneys and they can cause a buildup of acid in the blood. Too much acid can cause the kidneys to become overwhelmed, they may stop functioning properly. Besides, too much protein and acidity may exacerbate kidney disease and worsen its symptoms.

To make your diet more alkaline, reduce animal protein, and eat more alkaline vegetables. This will help stop the progression of the kidney disease.

Reducing the risk of osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease that occurs in older adults as well as those with insufficient intake of calcium. Osteoporosis puts you at greater risk for bone fractures, falls and back pain. An alkaline diet can help to reduce your risk for osteoporosis by reducing leaching of calcium through urine.

 Studies have also shown that your body uses more calcium to restore your body’s PH levels. An alkaline diet is high in minerals like calcium which helps to strengthen your bones and prevent osteoporosis.

Prevention of heart disease

Acidic foods cause an allergic response in the digestive system and as a result, are not easily absorbed into the blood. As a result, they enter your bloodstream as acid waste and attach to your arteries in the same way cholesterol does. Consistent consumption of acidic foods will mean more acid waste in the bloodstream and a buildup of acid in the arteries which may cause clogging and result in heart disease.

An alkaline diet can help to prevent this by balancing out your blood’s PH and reducing the production of acid waste. Besides, alkaline foods are easily digested in the stomach, which makes it easier to absorb into the bloodstream and provide the nutrients your body needs to perform optimally.

Cancer prevention

Anecdotal evidence exists to suggest that alkaline diets can help prevent cancer. We need more transparent research. Pouring an alkaline substance on cancer cells will kill them. The amount of alkaline required to do this is significant, and will be lethal.

The blood is naturally slightly alkaline. The body regulates the pH, and recent evidence appears to suggest that additional alkaline such as baking soda may make existing treatments more effective.

It appears that there may be a conflict of interest in the scientific community to perform studies transparently, without the income from treatments driving the findings. It would seem that taking baking soda as a cure for cancer must have had some success, and is therefore worth unhindered study.

If you have cancer, you should speak with your doctor about it, and the various treatments both natural and medical that may be available. Perform your own research and make up your own mind based upon what you find.

However, studies have found that a diet high in fruits, vegetables and legumes can help to prevent cancer thanks to the abundance of antioxidants that reduce oxidative stress on the body.

Besides, many alkaline diets are low in sugar, which means that they help to prevent weight gain from high-calorie sugars. Being overweight and obese has been shown to increase your risk of cancer and cutting out sugar and other acidic foods can help you maintain a healthy weight while reducing your risk for cancer.

Diabetes

Many acidic foods are high in processed sugar and as a result increase a person’s risk for diabetes. Conversely, an alkaline diet is low in processed sugar and it also restricts the consumption of high carb foods which can cause insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes. 

People who are diabetic as well as those who are at risk of getting diabetes should avoid acidic foods such as alcohol, coffee, refined grains, sugar, dairy products, and others while limiting their intake of meat, cheese, and eggs. This is because many of these foods cause insulin resistance and diabetes.

Alkaline diet: Conclusion

While diet does not have a significant effect on your PH levels, many alkaline foods such as fruits, vegetables, and lean protein are low in fat and can help you prevent weight gain and obesity, which are major causes of diseases like diabetes, heart conditions and cancer. Further, studies have found that reducing your intake of acid-forming foods such as animal protein and dairy can reduce your risk for kidney stones. An alkaline diet is helpful because it is low in fats, animal products, and processed foods and high in antioxidant-rich foods which help you maintain a healthy weight and fight oxidative stress.

Additional Information

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1051227616301881

https://europepmc.org/article/med/30474102