How to Use Alkaline Diet Foods Properly

The general rule of thumb in following an alkaline diet is to consume a minimum of 70% alkaline diet foods and no more than 30% acid forming foods. The optimum way to eat alkalizing foods is in their natural raw state. It’s also beneficial to buy organically grown products for the best qualities and quantities of minerals, vitamins, proteins, enzymes, and amino acids.

Food Charts

Find a handy list of acid alkaline diet foods. This type of chart provides approximate ratings and is based on the alkalizing/acidifying affects of various foods, minerals, and sugars. You will find the following rating classifications: highly acidic, acidic, mildly acidic, mildly alkaline, alkaline, and highly alkaline.

Increase Alkaline Foods

It’s important to adhere to an acid reducing lifestyle so that we can achieve the right ph balance in our systems. The only way to do this is to increase the number of alkalizing foods and drinks we take in and reduce the amount of acid forming ones. Vegetables would be the mainstay in this type of diet and can include salads, fresh veggies, and healthy nuts and oils. The food should be prepared in as raw a state as possible. Steaming can be fine but the more natural state the food is in the easier it is to digest as cooking kills many useful enzymes.

Alkalized Water

It is also extremely vital to drink two to three liters of water daily. Water is the main requirement to flush our bodies of wastes and potential toxins. It’s needed to maintain a healthy ph level and it enhances cellular functions that help break down impurities and acids in our system. However water is processed and stored in different ways, all of which can affect the ph balance of the water itself and make it too acidic. A good habit to work on is regularly using an alkalizing agent to correct this. One idea is to use a home KDF purification system to treat your drinking water.

Proper Food Combinations

We also must eat the proper foods in the proper combinations to experience optimal results. This is partly due to the fact that when acids and alkaline substances come in contact with each other this produces a neutralizing affect and can retard digestion.

This should be taken in consideration because foods such as proteins need a highly acidic environment to digest whereas others like carbohydrates and fats need a more alkaline medium. When proteins and starches combine in the stomach they generate a conflicting response in the digestive juices. This creates a digestive medium that doesn’t digest either type of food very well. Many experience the results of this as gas, bloating and other abdominal discomforts. It also creates a less than ideal absorption of nutrients.

Another disadvantage is that foods that digest quickly are held back from the leaving the stomach by foods that take longer to digest. This can cause the already digested food to ferment and decompose which releases gases and acid into your system. Proper food combination can also utilize the nutrients in our foods to the fullest extent. This is also based on the theory that different food types require different periods of time to become fully digested.