Thursday, March 11, 2010
Acid-Base Balance
Another reason to remove grains, legumes, and sugar from the diet is that that they are highly acid forming. Meat and protein are also acid-forming, but eliminating meat is not as effective as eliminating grains and legumes for lowering acidity because of the nature of how most people eat them - meat, for the average person, still represents a relatively small percentage of the food mass he or she intakes compared to how the average person eats grain. Additionally, meat is vital to nutrition in other ways - we need protein, we need the good fats from animals, and we need the minerals. Meat also doesn't contain anti-nutrients the way that grains do. That said, paleo really isn't a meat-based diet. Paleo recognizes the importance of meat, but it's really a vegetable-based diet. Most vegetables are alkalizing, meaning they lower acidity. So, if you eat a lot of vegetables and a little meat, you get a net alkaline effect on the body. This will alleviate such symptoms as yeast infections, cold sores, acne, fatigue, and susceptibility to colds.
So, to recap, if you are looking to reduce the acidity in your body:
EAT LOTS OF VEGETABLES
and greatly reduce your intake of GRAINS, LEGUMES, SUGAR, COFFEE, and BOOZE.
Things like apple cider vinegar and lemon juice actually LOWER your acidity.
For me, the coffee and the booze will be a bit difficult, but again, I don't eat sugar or grains, which I think are much bigger factors for acidity. I did recently have a mild cold sore, but it quickly went away when I ate a lot of sweet potatoes, which are alkalizing.
Here is a great list of foods and their affect on the acidity in your body.
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