As I have mentioned before my “healthy diet” ideals are varied and spread out among numerous ideologies and theories. I cherry pick the things that appeal to me and work for me and I drop the things that don’t work so well. For instance I started out liking the WAPF way of eating but kind of moved away from it as I narrowed in on a grain free, dairy free diet. Yet I still love the bone broth, probiotics, and organ meats they promote so heavily. I like the variety of veggies and plant based foods that vegans and vegetarians eat but I am not so much a fan of all the grains they typically eat. Living off pasta, bread, and rice is not healthy in my opinion. I ended up deciding that for me the best diet is a nourishing paleo diet with lots of raw foods and greens. I adore green smoothies with things like spinach, collard greens, turnip or beet greens, parsley, mustard greens, wheatgrass, or wild greens like dandelion. Greens have tons of nutrients and you are also ingesting ALKALINE foods.
I used to think that to eat mostly alkaline you had to eschew meats and dairy. In fact that is what my Doctor told me after my cancer diagnosis….that cancer loves acidic body conditions and that I need to cut those things out of my diet. This is likely why I had that whole vegetarian stint that lasted a couple years. Now I know better and that what I should have removed was grains, sugar, and dairy. Meat is completely healthy and makes for a great balanced diet when you also load up on fresh fruits, veggies, and greens. The caveman diet is great. You just have to gnaw on some wild greens along with those babyback ribs.
The typical person on a SAD (Standard American Diet) is not striking a balance between acidic and alkaline foods. When our body is too acidic it is like giving your cells an acid bath and you are providing a hospitable place for things like Candida (yeast) and cancer.
I have pH testing strips at home that I use to test my pH a couple times a week to see how I am doing. I also use a water alkalizer. LOVE it! Alkaline water benefits can not be highlighted enough. When I get too acidic I start getting hives. I used to get hives pretty bad about once a month. Now I can go 8-9 months or longer without having an outbreak. That is an immediate benefit that I can see and measure. I get hives when I stop drinking my smoothies (with alkaline water and greens) and let my diet get out of whack. I have never been able to explain way they come on but I know from online searches that other hives sufferers also think it has to do with pH. I also see a big difference in my skin when I am not drinking alkaline water. If the outside cells of my skin react so favorably to an alkaline environment I can only assume the inside cells are swimming around in joy.
Below is a quick guide for keeping that alkaline balance. You don’t have to despair and avoid all foods that tend toward the acidic. I am not giving up meat any time soon! The fact is though that conventionally people eat the acidic foods in mass quantities and they do it the majority of the time. They are consuming alcohol, and coffee, and refined sugars, and lots of grains, and healthy portions of meat, and quite a bit of cheese and milk/cream. It is an acid overload and unless we want be to giving our cells a daily acid bath we need to be more aware of our choices. Hope it helps!
Image Credit: Bawell Ionizers
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