Body's Acid ▲ Alkaline balance

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• pH
  • What does pH mean?
  • Measuring Body pH
• ACIDOSIS
• BUFFERING
• FOOD CHARTS
  • GENERAL GUIDELINES
  • FOOD GROUP CHARTS

General guidelines to balance acid and alkaline foods

When foods are broken down in the body, they leave certain chemical /metallic residues (sometimes called a noncombustible "ash"), which when combined with body fluids, yield either acid or alkaline solutions

•  Some foods are acid-forming

•  Some are alkaline-forming

Two methods are typically used to determine the acidity or alkalinity of a food:

1.  PRAL value (Potential renal acid load)  - determined by measuring the pH of the ash residue after a food is "burned". This method does not accurately reflect whether the food is acid-forming or alkaline-forming in the body after consumption, since this method burns away two major determinant contents of a food, viz: sugar and yeast, which would otherwise sway the results in the acidic direction.

2.  Effect on the body - based on the foundational work of researcher Robert Young, who strongly advocated a predominately alkaline diet for optimum health. He determined a list of foods as acid-forming or alkaline-forming using data collected from > 40,000 live blood analysis tests.

General factors of foods having an ALKALINE effect on the body:

A  food with 2 or 3 of these factors is likely alkaline:

Freshness: nutrients intact, not made acidic through processing. 

 Rich mineral Content: alkaline foods typically contain alkaline minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium bicarbonate, manganese, iron.

Low in Sugar: all forms. whether glucose, fructose, dextrose etc. are highly acid-forming in the body. Many fruits have a high fructose content and should be eaten in moderation.

Vegetables: with few exceptions are mildy-to-very alkaline forming.

High Water Content: high water content foods are generally more alkaline forming.

Green: green foods contain alkaline-forming chlorophyll

General factors of foods having a more ACIDIC effect on the body

A food with ANY of these factors is most likely acidic:

Contains Sugar: sugar is the biggest contributor to a food's acidity!

Contains Yeast: similar to sugar, another big contributor to a food's acidic effect

Contains Dairy

Contains Gluten: acidifying and causes inflammation

Fermented:  Miso, tempeh, apple cider vinegar, kombucha etc. are all acid forming

Refined: processing, refining, cooking makes food more more likely to be acid forming.

ACID /ALKALINE FOOD CHARTS:

Acid  / Alkaline food charts (by effect on body)