are alkaline foods better?

[jenny25]

A number of years ago, alkaline foods were all the rage and everybody was drinking their green juice and taking green supplements. That pretty much died off, but now I’m starting to hear about it again. I’m not sure what to believe.

Should I be switching to a diet that concentrates more of alkaline foods or is that just the latest fad like “evil carbs”? I know it’s not unhealthy to start eating that way, so it couldn’t hurt, but it’s a major change from my usual diet so I’d like to at least know that there’s a chance that it could work before I try to rework my eating.

[Kyra]

As long as you don't go too crazy about it, it can't hurt to increase the amount of alkaline foods you're eating. It helps to boost your metabolism and assists your body in absorbing nutrients better and faster. I consider it an overall healthy way to eat.

Also, coincidentally, alkaline foods are often ones that are filled up with great nutrients, so you're doing your body a big favor by eating them.

[tobetinytina]

I think that alkaline diets are meant to make you healthier but aren't necessarily designed for weight loss. Of course, if you're eating healthier and you're exercising, too, then you'll probably start to lose weight, but all I mean is that I don't think that it is the purpose of eating food with a high alkalinity.

You're right, though, it has been coming back into "fashion" in that I've seen it mentioned in a growing number of places, too. I don't know if that means they've discovered new benefits, or if it's just making its rounds again. These things seem to move in waves.

[taylorlaury1]

Alkaline foods SHOULD still be all the rage these days. The American diet is constantly filled with simple carbs, processed foods & and an atrocious amount of sugar. To balance ph levels in the body, we really don't have a choice but to include alkaline foods in our diet. Kale and collard greens are good vegetables to begin with, but any will do. And it's not just about the food we eat - aerobic exercise also helps balance the ph levels in the body. Failure in doing this can result in acid reflux and can cause bone damage, resulting in osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Why bone damage? because highly acidic foods rob calcium - the nutrient that helps us build our bone structure.

[Penny]

The alkaline diet is basically a healthy diet.... Alkaline diet, as opposed to acidic diet, keeps the weight off because it's a diet that gradually makes your body healthy.You should maintain a healthy pH balance in the body which can be maintained by consuming 80 percent alkaline foods and 20 percent acidic foods.

How do you know the alkalinity of a food? If I wanted to start a diet where I'm paying attention to that kind of thing, it's not written on the package, so how do I go about making sure that I'm eating the right balance of alkaline versus acidic foods?

This is super interesting and I want to start to get into it, but nutrition labels just don't offer that kind of information. Is there a book/website that has that information in a table or chart?

[antoniojones1968]

How do you know the alkalinity of a food?

I'd be willing to bet that there are databases or lists or other searchable alkaline information available on websites all across the internet. You can find just about everything online, so you could probably either use these resources on your smartphone while you're in the grocery store, or you can do a little bit of planning in advance by building your shopping list and looking up all of the ingredients to make sure that they are helping you to keep your balance.

They really do have just about everything you could ever want just by doing the right google search.