Easily Improve Your Health With An Alkaline Diet

 

Because of factors like diet and stress, many people in the industrialized world have bodies that are too acidic and over-burdened with toxins, and so are afflicted with health problems that run the gamut from minor and major skin irritations to depression, chronic fatigue and back pain to arthritis, ulcers, osteoporosis and cancer.

Just consider the following facts:

• Diseased bodies are unbalanced, having a high concentration of acidity in their tissues and the blood. And yet the absence of this balance is rarely noticed by our standard medical tests. So tests may show you are fine, but you feel otherwise.

• The #1 cause of excess acidity is waste products left behind by incomplete digestion. We need hydrochloric acid to digest our food. The more difficult a food is to digest, the more acid is required to digest it.

• In general difficult-to-digest means acid-forming, and easy-to-digest means alkaline.

• Health is easier to achieve and maintain if one consumes four times as much alkaline food as acidic food. When such an ideal ratio is maintained, the body usually has a balanced body chemistry and strong resistance against disease.

SIMPLE SOLUTION: Find out what to eat (and what to avoid) to improve your health! The more alkaline foods are excellent for almost everyone, with certain exceptions like patients of ulcer, allergy and sugar-sensitivity -- who may react to sweet fruits or other specific foods.

To help you get started in improving your health, take a look at this list of alkaline and acidic foods:

Alkaline-to-Acid Food List

Lower down foods become less alkaline and more acid-forming (usually more difficult to digest)

MORE ALKALINE: The best foods, also good for detox-diet

Lemon/calamansi water with a pinch of salt
Herb tea
Honey (a little)
Apple cider vinegar
Coconut water
Citric fruit juice
Other fruit juices
Vegetable juice
Lactobacteria drinks without milk
Citric fruits
Juicy fruits
All other fruits including super-ripe banana (except 4 starchy fruits below)
Green leafy vegetables and sea vegetables , sprouts
All other vegetables (except 2 starchy veggies in next category, and 3 listed at bottom of chart)
Extra virgin oil produced without heat friction- best flax oil, hemp oil, then coconut and olive oil

SEMI-ALKALINE: Good for healthy people

Small amount of yogurt just for lactobacteria (among dairy, best is goat’s milk yogurt)
Molasses
Starchy vegetables/fruits (potato, eggplant, normal banana, avocado, jackfruit, breadfruit)
Nuts (in small quantity, blended or very well-chewed, not fried)
Raw sugar

SEMI-ACID-FORMING: Good for healthy people in smaller quantity

Buckwheat (which is an herb, not a grain)
Mildly sautéed vegetables (better use coconut oil)
Millet (the most alkaline grain)
Other whole grains (including 100% wholegrain bread/rice/noodles, corn, oats, barley)
Fresh tofu
Legumes (e.g. mung beans, lentils, soya, peanut)

ACID-FORMING: A little bit is not too bad for healthy people

Refined grains (including white bread, white rice, white noodles, veggie-meat)
Most “junk foods”

EXTREMELY ACID-FORMING: Eliminate or minimize

Deep fried foods
Fish
Poultry
Meat
Eggs (the most difficult to digest food, and also the #1 cause of bad cholesterol)

Notes: 1) Dairy products vary according to personal situation – for some it is good, for others it is bad. 2) Refined sugar, tea and coffee are not difficult to digest, but if one consumes them liberally then they are very acid-forming and also rob the body of needed nutrients. 3) Onion, garlic and mushroom are not difficult to digest, but they heat up the lower glands, and thus very much disturb the emotions.

Gradually increase the alkaline foods in your diet, and see for yourself how your health improves!

Dada Dharmavedananda has been teaching yoga and natural therapy for nearly 40 years. He is the founder-director of the Ananda Marga Wellness Center. Visit his website to find out more about natural therapy and for more health information