Do you like spicy food? If the answer is yes, then I guess there’s nothing like a serving of spicy wings from your favorite restaurant to leave you feeling like your stomach is on fire. If you get this feeling frequently, even after a bowl of soup, you might have some serious stomach acid issues! This is where alkaline foods come to the rescue. Let’s discuss the effects of acid and alkaline diets on your body and take a look at the top 10 best alkaline foods.
Alkaline Foods vs Acidic Foods: Everything You Need to Know
A pH scale determines how alkaline or acidic is our body. Thereby, it’s measured from 0 to 14, 7 is considered to be neutral, 0 shows our body is completely acid and 14 indicates is completely alkaline. This scale can tell the pH of your blood, urine, and saliva. But which alkaline foods you should include in your diet? Keep reading to find out!
A healthy body is not 100% alkaline or 100% acidic. For example, the body lies within the range of 7.35 – 7.45 on the pH scale. The stomach must have 1.35 – 2.5 to maintain healthy digestion while on the other hand, blood should be rather alkaline and have a pH of 7.35 – 7.45. Anything less than this can make your body go extremely acidic.
The alkaline diet is formed mainly from plant-based foods, fresh fruits, soy products, nuts, and cereals. The acidic diet is formed from meat, fish, dairy, processed foods, white sugar, white flour, and caffeine.
What Is The Alkaline Diet
The alkaline diet has some other popular names like acid-alkaline diet or alkaline- ash diet. Why is it called the alkaline-ash diet? Let me explain why it’s called by that name!
Compare the digestion of your food with fire. After the things are burnt, they leave an ashy residue. Similarly, our bodies produce ash-like bioproducts after digesting the food. The ash in your body is the waste that we flush out when we go to the bathroom.
Both these processes break down solid mass with the help of chemicals. Chemical reactions taking place in your body are very slow and uncontrolled, unlike fire!
Your body’s pH is decided to depend on whether the ash is alkaline, neutral, or acidic. Acidic ash is bad because it’s believed to cause serious illness. On the other hand, alkaline ash can protect you from the same diseases.
The alkaline diet claims to reduce acidity and increase alkalinity in your body, take a look at the top 10 best alkaline foods:
Top 10 Alkaline Foods
1. Spinach
Spinach is rich in chlorophyll, a strong alkalizing agent and necessary food for red cell blood production. Spinach is also rich in vitamin A, manganese, folic acid, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin E, and dietary fiber.
Why is spinach one of the best alkaline foods? Because it has strong antioxidant effects, prevents ovarian cancer, slows down the aging process, and treats anemia.
2. Kale
Kale is a leafy green vegetable with alkalizing effects on the body. Kale contains antioxidants preventing cancer installation, substances capable to lower cholesterol levels, and nutrients that help detox.
Like spinach, kale stands amongst the alkaline foods and provides vitamin K, vitamin C, and a good amount of chlorophyll.
Its nutritive substances turn into compounds that help to prevent cancer development, atherosclerosis, protect the heart, inhibit cancer cell proliferation in the bladder, etc.
3. Cucumber
Cucumber is another healthy addition to an alkaline diet, being high in water content keeping your body hydrated. They can quickly neutralize acids and aid digestion. The nutritional profile of cucumbers is very impressive as well.
They are an excellent source of vitamin K, C, and different B vitamins. You can also get a good amount of copper, amino acids, carbohydrates, soluble and insoluble, fiber, potassium, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, biotin, and silica.
4. Beet Greens
Beet greens are one of the world’s most alkaline foods. Although beet greens aren’t the most popular green in our diet, their high alkalinity score makes them the best additions to smoothies or stir-fries.
In addition to being highly alkaline, beet greens also have a bitter quality that may help stimulate bile production to help you better digest fats.
5. Broccoli
Broccoli is an alkaline food indispensable to a healthy alkaline diet, which increases vitality and the body’s energy levels. This popular cruciferous vegetable prevents cancer, improves digestion, stimulates the detox process in your body, protects heart health, and distributes an important amount of antioxidants.
When eaten raw, broccoli can be one of the best alkaline foods! Introduce this in your diet by adding it to salads, fresh juices, soups or grilled.
6. Avocados
Avocados help flush out acidic waste and promote a more alkaline environment in your body. This creamy fruit is packed full of nutrients. Avocados contain dietary fiber, folate, potassium, selenium, and a generous amount of healthy fats along with vitamins K, C, B5, and A.
They also contain powerful antioxidants, such as beta-carotene and more. Adding avocado to your alkaline diet will help aid weight loss, fight inflammation, improve your heart health and boost heart health.
7. Garlic
A true miracle food, garlic is another ingredient on our top best alkaline foods that encourages overall good health. The main compound in garlic is allicin, which has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antioxidant properties.
Continue reading about: Garlic benefits
8. Lemon
Lemons are extremely high in alkaline minerals, such as potassium, and magnesium that have alkalizing effects on your body. The citric acid in lemons is highly acidic in a natural state, but once eaten gets metabolized and has a wonderful alkaline effect on your body. It stands at #8 in our top 10 best alkaline foods.
9. Celery
Like cucumbers, celery is an alkaline food extremely appreciated for its high water content, is used for fresh juices and soups. Celery provides a significant amount of vitamin C, A, E, and antioxidants.
This stands amongst the best alkaline foods, but it is also an excellent diuretic that helps the body eliminate excess fluid.
Also Read: Best diuretic teas for edema or swollen feet
10. Cayenne Peppers
Another surprising high-alkaline food is cayenne pepper in our top 10 best alkaline foods. Cayenne pepper is one of the most alkalizing foods, filled with antioxidants and anti-inflammation benefits.
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