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The alkaline diet focuses on maintaining your body’s ideal pH balance by eating alkaline-forming foods to help fight acidity. The goal is to avoid acidic foods that can harm your body while adding helpful minerals to support your health.
When developing your alkaline diet meal plan, it’s important to know which foods are alkaline and acid-forming. Once you get familiar with foods that suit your alkaline diet, you can find many healthy and delicious meals while following an alkaline diet.
What is an Alkaline Diet, and Who Should Follow It?
The alkaline diet is based on the idea that certain foods can increase your body’s acidity level while other foods help maintain a more alkaline pH balance. People on an alkaline diet try to eat more foods that promote a less acidic pH in the body while avoiding acidity-promoting foods.
The diet is thought to reduce inflammation (anti-inflammatory diet) and improve bone health and is popular with people seeking these benefits. However, there is currently limited scientific evidence supporting these claims made by followers of the alkaline diet. Because of the lack of evidence, the diet may not suit everyone, especially if you are working to manage ongoing health conditions.
How Does an Alkaline Diet Affect the Body’s pH Balance?
Promotes Alkaline-Forming Foods
A vital part of the alkaline diet is eating alkaline-forming foods, not acid-forming. Examples of alkaline foods include many fruits and vegetables, such as apples, cherries, avocados, broccoli, and beets.
The theory behind the alkaline diet suggests that your body uses alkaline minerals from your bones to reduce the impact of acid-forming foods. Eating foods that combat this process, aka alkaline-forming foods, can prevent this loss of bone density and inflammation.
Blood PH Regulation
Your body naturally regulates and maintains a consistent pH. This process involves your kidneys and lungs, which filter and excrete acids from the body.
However, those who follow the alkaline diet believe your body takes minerals from your bones to help further fight acids from acid-forming foods. Eating more alkaline foods and avoiding acid-forming foods is thought to prevent the need for this process, supporting a healthy pH and bone health.
Potential Metabolic Effects
Proponents of the alkaline diet believe that eating alkaline-forming foods optimizes cell function, which can help maintain muscle mass as you age. Because people with more muscle mass tend to have a higher metabolism, following an acid-alkaline meal plan can potentially improve your metabolism.
Inflammation Reduction
Another benefit of the alkaline diet is that it may help reduce inflammation. Foods that promote acidity in the body, such as alcohol, coffee, and beef, can cause inflammation. Because you avoid these acid-forming foods on the alkaline diet, you may experience less inflammation.
Reduced inflammation can have many health benefits, including preventing heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Lower inflammation can also lead to great longevity, as it may slow down the aging process.
5 Best Food Choices for Maintaining Good pH Balance
When following an alkaline meal plan, you’ll want to incorporate foods like the ones below, which help maintain a good pH balance. When following any specialized diet, ensure you’re eating various foods to meet your nutritional needs.
Leafy Green Vegetables
Leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, and Swiss chard, are high in calcium, magnesium, and potassium. These minerals help neutralize excess acids in your bloodstream, giving them an alkalizing effect.
Citrus Fruits
You might be surprised that citrus foods, which are acidic themselves, are considered alkaline-forming! Though citrus is acidic, how these fruits are digested actually has an alkaline effect on your body. That means fruits like grapefruit, lemon, lime, mango, and cherries are great additions to alkaline diet recipes.
Nuts And Seeds
Many nuts and seeds are alkaline-forming due to their high concentration of healthy fats and alkalizing minerals like magnesium and calcium. Nuts are also excellent sources of fiber and antioxidants, giving them added health benefits. Raw, crunchy nuts are a great addition to breakfast foods like oatmeal and can be a delicious way to add texture to salads or vegetable sides.
Root Vegetables
In addition to leafy greens, root vegetables are another great veggie category to eat on an acid-alkaline diet. Root veggies are high in potassium, which is believed to have an alkalizing effect. They’re also rich in carotenoids, which can further support bone health. Sweet potatoes, taro root, beets, and carrots are great root veggies for your alkaline diet meal plan.
Herbal Teas
Many herbal teas, including green tea, rooibos, and yerba mate, are believed to help neutralize acid in the body. Herbal tea is also a great source of antioxidants, which can help protect cells from damage, increasing the benefits of drinking tea while following an alkaline diet.
Foods to Avoid If You’re on an Alkaline Diet
When following an alkaline diet, you want to avoid foods with acid-forming properties and those thought to disrupt your pH balance. Because these foods can increase your body’s acidity, it’s believed that they can negatively impact bone density and inflammation.
Reducing these food groups while following an alkaline diet may help minimize these adverse effects. That said, complete elimination may not be necessary to achieve the benefits of an alkaline diet—instead, use moderation to help make the diet easier to follow while still achieving the beneficial effects.
Sugar And Artificial Sweeteners
Sugar and artificial sweeteners are considered highly acid-forming, as they create acids during digestion. Sugar can also contribute to inflammation and rising blood pressure, which means that limiting the amount you consume can positively affect your overall health.
Caffeinated Beverages
Caffeinated drinks like coffee and soda can have an acidic effect on the body when consumed, so they are recommended to be avoided on an alkaline diet. Herbal teas like green tea and yerba mate can be a great substitute for your morning caffeine fix, as they have an alkalizing effect and contain a smaller amount of caffeine.
Dairy Products
Most dairy products are considered acidic due to their high content of compounds that leave acidic ash during digestion. This includes foods like eggs, milk, and cheese derived from cow’s milk. Milk and dairy substitutes like oat milk or almond milk and products made from these sources can be great, alkaline-forming substitutes on the alkaline diet.
Processed Meats
Processed meats like bacon, sausages, hot dogs, and lunch meat can cause your body to produce acid during digestion. For this reason, these foods are generally discouraged on the alkaline diet. Plant-based protein sources considered alkalizing, like beans and tofu, are great alternatives when following this diet plan.
Refined Grains
Refined grains, including white bread, white flour, and white rice, can contribute to a higher acid load in the body and increase inflammation. Instead, opt for whole grains like oatmeal, buckwheat, quinoa, and wild rice, which are not refined and are considered alkaline-forming.
Meal Delivery Services That Offer Meals Suitable for Alkaline Diet
Adhering to any specific diet plan can make it tricky to find new recipes that support your health goals. Meal kit delivery services can help take some of the work out of weekly meal planning by providing recipes and delivering ingredients right to your door.
Many meal delivery services offer fresh, plant-based meals suitable for people following the alkaline diet. Although these services may not offer specific alkaline-diet meal plans, you can easily find great alkaline-friendly meals by reviewing the ingredient lists and nutritional information for healthy, plant-based recipes.
Green Chef
Green Chef is a USDA-certified organic meal kit company with a robust menu of delicious plant-based and gut-healthy meal options. Many of these meals are rich in leafy greens, fresh vegetables, and whole grains, making them easy to adapt to suit an alkaline diet.
BistroMD
The meal delivery company BistroMD provides fully prepared meals and is an excellent option for those seeking meals that support a healthy lifestyle and may help reduce inflammation. Developed by doctors and crafted by registered dietitians, BistroMD offers nutritious meals with many anti-inflammatory ingredients, even though it doesn’t have a dedicated alkaline meal plan.
All meals from BistroMD are low in calories, rich in vegetables, low in unhealthy fats, and free from fried foods—ideal for those aiming to reduce inflammation. However, it is best to avoid the spicier recipes, as hot foods can sometimes trigger inflammation.
Splendid Spoon
Splendid Spoon specializes in providing ready-to-eat, plant-based smoothies, pre-made microwavable soups, and grain bowls to make it easy to eat well with a busy schedule. Many of their meals include health-promoting ingredients that align with alkaline diet principles, including root veggies, leafy greens, and whole grains.
Daily Harvest
Daily Harvest is a good option if you’re looking for healthy frozen meals to suit an alkaline diet. They offer plant-based meals, such as smoothies and bowls, that are nutrient-dense and convenient. Their meals include many alkaline-forming ingredients like spinach, beans, and buckwheat while avoiding acid-forming dairy and processed foods.
Bottom Line
The alkaline diet emphasizes eating foods that contribute to a more alkaline pH while limiting your intake of acid-forming foods. This means prioritizing plant-based foods like leafy greens, root vegetables, nuts and seeds, and whole grains while limiting processed foods and dairy.
The alkaline diet is believed to help improve bone density and increase your metabolism due to its supposed effects on pH.
Although scientific evidence for these effects is limited, many of the foods the alkaline diet encourages have proven health benefits. The diet prioritizes eating nutritious, whole foods that can benefit from a balanced diet.
If you’re considering trying an acid-alkaline diet, consult with a doctor before making any significant changes.
