The Alkaline Diet – Is Alkalizing the way to cleanse & detox your body the healthy way?

The theory of alkaline and acidic diets have recently become popular but do they work and can you detox and cleanse by alkalising? 

The main proviso behind this type of diet is that we consume too many acidic foods and that in turn can create a metabolic imbalance which may lead to illness and loss of minerals.

This type of diet focuses on achieving a balance by consuming alkaline foods to reduce acidity in the body, and therefore improve health.  It can also involve detoxing and cleansing.

Today we’ll look into this in more detail to see if you should be following this approach to better health.

Firstly let’s look at what is considered an acidic or alkaline food

Generally meat, poultry, salt, sugar, fish, caffeine and dairy products are considered to the most acid forming foods.  Grains are slightly acid forming.

On the other hand alkalinity is said to be promoted by fruits and vegetables.  Instantly you should notice that these are major food groups – could you still get your daily requirements for energy and nutrients if you were to remove or severely restrict foods from one, or all of these groups?  A good question – probably not.

What about the bodies pH?

Although there are claims that foods change the acidity of the body, the body must stay within a defined range (7.4) in order for cells to function and for life.  The stomach easily digests all types of foods in an acidic environment, but the pH of the blood and cells stays constant thanks to the action of the acid produced in the stomach, and the action of the kidneys, liver and gallbladder.

While there is no reason to remove acid forming foods from our diet, we could all probably do with eating more fruits and vegetables to help take the load off our internal organs.

Those individuals who eat large portions of meat would also benefit from smaller portions, but on the basis of fat and energy intake, as opposed to acid/alkaline balance.  A balance of foods from all food groups is needed to prevent mineral deficiencies.

A dietary detox is a personal choice – if you are keen to try this you should get medical supervision and plan carefully.

A better choice for those trying to improve their diet would be to ‘dejunk’.