You probably already know that the alkaline diet is the fastest and most effective way to create an alkaline body pH. But you may be wondering what exactly you should do to quickly turn an acidic body into an alkaline body. In this article, you will learn five tips that will help you to quickly create an alkaline body pH.

1. Eat a Salad Every Day

Salads are one of the best ways to increase your intake of whole vegetables. But don’t just stick with the same boring old iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. Instead, enhance flavor and boost the nutritional benefits by using a variety of ingredients. For example, kale, spinach, and Swiss chard can add major nutrition. Almonds or pumpkin seeds can add crunchiness. And don’t forget the dressing–for the greatest health benefits, make it from flaxseed oil or olive oil.

2. Use Cheese as a Condiment

Some alkaline diet experts will tell you to avoid cheese altogether, and I can see their point. In addition to being acidifying, cheese is high in calories and saturated fat. My view is that you should either eliminate cheese, or use it sparingly. If you want to, it’s okay to add a few teaspoons of grated feta, mozzarella, or Parmesan to your salad or vegetable dish.

3. Add Flavor to Your Meals with Chicken Broth Instead of Meat

Here’s another suggestion that may ruffle the feathers of those who equate the alkaline diet with a vegan or vegetarian diet. But not everyone wants to give up meat altogether. It’s mostly protein that makes chicken acidifying. (The saturated fat is also problematic, but for different reasons.) Canned chicken broth adds flavor to soups and other dishes, without adding much protein, fat, or calories. It’s mildly acidifying, but much less so than whole chicken. The biggest drawback? It’s often high in sodium, so look for a reduced-sodium variety.

4. Boost Flavor (But Not Calories) by Adding Herbs and Spices

Make food flavorful without making it acidic or boosting your intake of fat or calories. It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it’s as easy as adding spices or herbs to your favorite foods. (Some of my favorites are chili flakes, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, and dried onion.) All of these ingredients are extremely low in calories and fat, and they don’t contain much sodium unless it has been added by the manufacturer. Best of all many herbs and spices are alkalizing–unlike table salt, which makes your body more acidic and can contribute to high blood pressure.

5. Try a Green Drink

Green drink powders contain different combinations of alfalfa, barley grass, oat grass, and wheat grass extracts, along with fruits and vegetables and other nutrient-rich ingredients, such as chlorella, spirulina, fiber, probiotics, lecithin, and bee pollen. Although barley and wheat are acidifying, barley and wheat grass are alkalizing foods with very different nutritional properties than the grains from which they are sprouted. A green drink is a healthy alternative to soft drinks. Unlike these acidifying beverages, green drinks help to create an alkaline body. They’re also rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Simply mix the green drink powder with water, or blend it with frozen fruit to create a delicious smoothie.

I’ve just given you five ways to create an alkaline body pH without needing a lot of time, money, or expert advice. The sooner you get started, the sooner you will create an alkaline body–so get started today!

What do people mean when they talk about the importance of an alkaline vs acidic body? First of all, it’s important to understand that your pH affects every organ and cell in your body. When your pH is perfectly balanced, your body’s systems function correctly. When your pH is out of balance, many health problems can result.

One of the clues to the importance of pH is the fact that your body has many systems for removing excess acid from your organs and tissues. Inside your body, carbonic acid is turned into carbon dioxide, which your lungs expel every time you exhale. Your kidneys expel various acids in your urine. Finally, your skin expels acid through your sweat. If pH didn’t matter, would your body go to all this trouble to maintain a very specific acid-alkaline balance? No, of course it wouldn’t.

Although doctors are sometimes skeptical that the foods you eat can affect your body’s pH, no one disputes that a proper acid-alkaline balance is absolutely essential for health. In fact, if your body became extremely acidic, you would quickly die. The symptoms of severe acidosis can range from shortness of breath to diarrhea, vomiting, seizures, and lapse into unconsciousness.

Fortunately, such extreme acidosis is rare. But many people in the United States and other Western countries do suffer from a milder, but still problematic, degree of overacidity, known as chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis. This condition is caused by a diet that contains too many acidifying foods and beverages, and not enough alkalizing ones.

The harmful effects of low-grade acidosis take two forms. First, some of the damage occurs as a byproduct of your body’s efforts to neutralize excess acid. This process of neutralizing acid is life-promoting. If your body did not neutralize acid, you would quickly become so acidic that you would die. Unfortunately, the process of neutralizing acid uses up alkaline minerals, including calcium, magnesium, and potassium. As these minerals are depleted, several harmful effects can occur, including bone loss and osteoporosis, elevated levels of parathyroid hormone, high blood pressure, muscle wasting, pain and inflammation.

The second reason that an acidifying diet harms your health is that it can overwhelm your body’s efforts to neutralize the acid, causing your body to become chronically acidic. This can lead to a number of problems, including accelerated aging, dental and periodontal disease, fatigue, frequent and painful urination, inflammation, weakened immune function, and yeast overgrowth.

Now that you understand the differences between an alkaline vs acidic body, you can see the importance of transitioning from an acidic body to an alkaline body. Because the cause of acid-alkaline imbalance is a diet that contains too many acidifying foods and not enough alkalizing ones, then the best way to alkalize your body is to follow the alkaline diet.

In recent years, many people have discovered the benefits of the alkaline diet. When you eat mostly alkalizing foods, you alkalize body chemistry. And when you create an alkaline body, many aspects of your health are positively affected. Many people have found that this way of eating leads to improved health, increased energy, and sustainable weight loss.

You might be thinking that this sounds like an impossibly complicated or restrictive way of eating. But the good news is that to alkalize body chemistry, you don’t need to give up acidifying foods altogether. The fact is that virtually everyone eats a combination of acidifying and alkalizing foods. The problem is that whether you live on processed foods, or you follow a trendy low-carb diet, you could be eating 70 percent, 80 percent, or even 90 percent acidifying foods.

In contrast, to achieve a proper pH balance, you need to turn that ratio upside down and eat 65 to 80 percent alkalizing foods. This means that the bulk of your diet should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with a moderate amount of alkalizing whole grains, nuts and seeds. In addition to being alkalizing, these foods are low in fat, sugar, and calories, but rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates.

On the other hand, high-protein diets are strongly acidifying, because nearly all high-protein foods are acidifying. Of course, you do need some protein for optimal health. Fortunately, 20 to 35 percent of your diet can consist of acidifying foods, and your protein foods will fit into this part of your diet. You can get your protein from some combination of lean meats, fish, low-fat dairy products, and eggs. If you are a vegan or vegetarian, you can combine whole grains with legumes to create a vegan source of complete protein. Nuts and seeds are mostly fat, but they also contain some protein, and can be a good supplementary source.

Finally, you want to include some foods that provide healthy fat. These foods include nuts and seeds, avocados, and healthy oils, especially olive oil and and flaxseed oil.

As you can see, you don’t need to have a Ph.D. in biochemistry to alkalize body chemistry. You just need the right information and the will to succeed. Why not get started creating an alkaline body today?

The alkaline body diet is also known as the acid alkaline diet, or simply as the alkaline diet. Whatever you call it, it isn’t as complicated as some people think. In fact, you can get pretty far just by following the five rules below:

1. Get Enough Protein, But Not Too Much

If you listen to bodybuilders and low-carb diet gurus, they will give you the impression that protein is a miracle for building muscle and gaining fat. But the truth is that too much as well as too little protein can damage your health.

Protein is made up of amino acids, many of which are rich in the minerals phosphorus and sulfur. When the protein has been digested and absorbed, the phosphorus and sulfur combine with water to form phosphoric and sulfuric acid. So while some protein is essential for health, too much protein leads to overacidity.

How much is too much? Well, consider that the U.S. government recommends a daily protein intake of 56 grams for men and 44 grams for women. Yet many Americans consume over 100 grams of protein per day! If you eat this much protein, reducing your protein intake could be the single most important thing you can do to improve your acid-alkaline balance.

2. Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Sound familiar? It should. Study after study has supported the benefits of eating whole fruits and vegetables. These foods are high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial phytochemicals. They are also filling, but low in calories, making them suitable for weight loss. Finally, most fruits and vegetables help you create an alkaline body because they are rich in potassium.

Some specific alkalizing vegetables include asparagus, kale, eggplant, lotus root, and most types of squash. Alkalizing fruits include apples, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, mangos, and papayas.

3. Cut Out Soft Drinks

Soft drinks are highly acidifying, and they’re a major source of empty calories. Enough said, right? But please understand that I’m not just talking about colas and citrus-flavored soda pop. When I tell you to lay off soft drinks, I’m using that term to include iced tea, energy drinks, sports drinks, and sweetened “vitamin waters.”

In fact, I recommend that you avoid any beverage that contains added natural or artificial sweeteners. What should you drink instead? Green tea, herb teas, red bush (rooibos) tea, white tea, mineral water, and plain old water, preferably tap water that you have run through your own reverse osmosis filtration system.

4. Cut Back on Baked Goods

In addition to bread, this category also includes things like bagels, crackers, pop tarts, and sweet rolls. The main ingredient in most baked goods is white flour, which in addition to being acidifying, is almost completely lacking in nutritional value. Making a bad situation worse, these foods often contain sugar and unhealthy fats as well.

If you want to eliminate baked goods from your diet altogether, more power to you. You don’t need to eat these foods to be healthy. If you don’t want to give them up altogether, exercise moderation and choose whole-grain options.

5. Junk the Junk Food

Most junk foods fall into one of two categories: There are salty snacks, like corn chips, crackers, mixed nuts, potato chips, and pretzels, and then there are sweet snacks, like hard candy, chocolate bars, cupcakes, and sweet rolls. As you can see, some of these “junk foods” also overlap with the “baked goods” category.

What’s wrong with these foods? Let me count the ways. First, they’re high in fat and calories. Second, think about the ingredients that go into them: There are processed flours, usually made from grains that were acidifying to begin with. There are bad fats, made worse by being highly refined, heated to high temperatures, then left sitting around in warehouses and on grocery store shelves. Finally, there’s a lot of sugar in the sweet snacks, and a lot of sodium in the salty ones.

If you’re willing to eliminate packaged snacks altogether, that’s fantastic. If not, eat them occasionally.

There you have it: Five important rules for anyone who is following the alkaline body diet. It can be a challenge to put these five rules into practice, but the result will be a slimmer, more energetic, and healthier you.

In recent years, many people have become interested in the alkaline diet. In response to this interest, a number of products have become available that are intended to create an alkaline body chemistry. Among other choices, you can find alkaline bottled water, alkaline water machines, and alkaline nutritional supplements, as well as books that tell you about alkalizing foods that you should eat more of, and acidifying foods that you should avoid.

But before you buy any of these products, you might want to know exactly what factors create an acid or alkaline body chemistry. As it turns out, there are at least 9 factors that can have an effect on your internal pH.

1. Genetics. Genes have a profound effect on many aspects of physical and mental health. Although little research has been conducted in this area, it seems likely that genetic factors help some people to eliminate acid more efficiently than others.

2. Kidney function. Because the kidneys are the body’s primary organ for eliminating excess acid, impaired kidney function can cause your body to become too acidic. Some people have poor kidney function from birth, while in others it occurs due to disease or as the result of aging.

3. Illness. The connection between pH and health cuts both ways: Overacidity can make you more prone to illness, but illness also makes your body more acidic. If you are overcoming an illness, it is especially important to eat an alkalizing diet.

4. Smoking. Tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide, which is acid-forming.

5. Air pollution. Like cigarette smoke, polluted urban air contains carbon monoxide, which makes your body more acidic.

6. Altitude. Believe it or not, living at a high altitude makes your body more alkaline. But there’s no need to head for the hills. Regardless of where you live, you can shift your body’s acid-alkaline balance by changing a few easier-to-control factors.

7. Prescription and over-the-counter medications. Most medications have an acidifying effect on the body, including antibiotics, antihistamines, antiseptics, psychotropic drugs, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

8. Exercise. Exercise helps make your body more alkaline, because you expel carbon dioxide with every breath.

9. Foods and beverages. This is the most important factor, and it’s something that you have complete control over, no matter where in the world you live. Coffee, meat, and processed foods make your body more acidic. Most fruits and vegetables make it more alkaline. Virtually anything you eat or drink has some effect on your internal pH.

In recent years, many people have discovered that creating an alkaline body is an important key to lifelong health. Why is it so important to have an alkaline body? Because your body’s internal pH has a profound effect on the function of nearly every process in the body, all the way from the mitochondria within your cells to your largest and most important organs.

Fortunately, alkalizing your body does not need to be complicated or expensive. Virtually every food you eat either makes your body a little more acidic or a little more alkaline. By following the three simple tips below, you can go a long way toward achieving an alkaline diet.

Reduce Meat Consumption

Perhaps the most important step in achieving an alkaline body is to cut back on how much meat you eat. For years, we have all heard that fat and carbs are making us fat and sick. Logically, if we want to avoid foods that are high in those macronutrients, our only remaining option is to eat foods that are high in protein. But the conventional wisdom is simplistic. Not all fats and carbs are bad for us. And by the same token, a high protein diet is not the best solution for weight loss and all-around health.

Protein is highly acidifying because it is high in sulfur and phosphorus. After the meat has been digested and metabolized, these substances remain in the body and make it more acidic. This doesn’t mean that we should avoid protein at all costs. As with all things, balance is key. A certain amount of protein is essential for health. The problem is that the average Westerner eats so much meat that we’re getting far more protein than even government dieticians recommend. A vegetarian or vegan diet can be very healthful, but you don’t necessarily have to give up meat altogether to have an alkaline diet. A good place to start is to reduce your meat consumption, using it as a condiment instead of as a main course. Or try going meat-free a few days a week and get your protein on those days by combining whole grains with legumes.

Eat More Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

I know, you’ve been admonished to eat more fruits and vegetables a hundred times before. But in the constantly-shifting field of nutrition, the health benefits of fruits and vegetables are one thing that never goes out of style. Ounce for ounce and calorie for calorie, fresh produce has the highest nutrient density of any food group. In contrast, the processed foods that most people eat are high in calories, but sorely lacking in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Another advantage of fresh fruits and vegetables is that they’re very low in calories, making them ideal for anyone who is interested in losing weight or avoiding weight gain— and these days, that’s just about everyone.

But from an alkaline diet perspective, the key fact about fruits and vegetables is that they are the most alkalizing foods available. This is because, unlike meat and dairy products, which are high in sulfur and phosphorus, fruits and vegetables are rich in alkalizing minerals, particularly potassium. This means that eating more fruits and vegetables is one of the most important things you can do to create an alkaline body.

Cut Out the Soft Drinks

It’s simply impossible to eat an alkaline diet while eating mostly packaged snacks and soft drinks instead of whole foods. Unfortunately, synthetic food products get the lion’s share of the shelf space in every grocery store.

I could tell you plenty of things about the harmful effects of corn chips, potato chips, candy bars, and many other types of junk food, but I want to single out soft drinks as an especially big culprit in the health problems that are rampant today.

The most common sweetener in soft drinks is high fructose corn syrup, which is cheaper than cane sugar. Like most sweeteners, corn syrup is strongly acidifying. These processed sweeteners are also why soft drinks are full of empty calories, which lead to obesity and set the stage for diabetes.

Many soft drinks also contain caffeine, phosphoric acid, and various artificial flavorings, colorings, and preservatives. All of these chemicals have an acidifying effect on the body as well.

Start Working Toward an Alkaline Body

I hope you have found this information educational, but more importantly I hope you’ll take action immediately to achieve an alkaline body. The three simple suggestions in this article prove that alkalizing your body does not have to be difficult or expensive. True, fruits and vegetables are a little more expensive than many processed foods. But by cutting back on meat, soft drinks, and junk foods, you can free up enough of your food budget to buy more produce. Most importantly, think of the peace of mind that you and your family will experience when you know that the foods you’re eating are contributing to lasting health.