Diet is one of the biggest determinants of your health. What you put into your body every day affects everything: your biochemistry, your mood, your brain, immunity, muscles, tendons, bones, nerves, kidneys, liver.
Unfortunately, when it comes to diet, most people are on autopilot, following a disease-making Western Diet that is high in acidic foods and low in alkaline foods. The Western dietary pattern also called the Standard American Diet (SAD) is high in processed foods, fried foods and red meat. And it’s low in whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and healthier fats and proteins such as nuts, seeds and fish.
Many studies have concluded that the Western Diet increases inflammation and cholesterol. It also causes and contributes to the development of osteoporosis, heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and autoimmune diseases.
The explanation is very simple. Your body evolved to work optimally when provided with the right environment to function. The internal environment in your body requires a healthy mix of nutrients, and when it doesn’t get them consistently over time, things go haywire.
The Role of pH
One way diet affects your health is through a process called “acid-alkaline balance.” The pH (potential of hydrogen) determines a substance’s acidity or alkalinity and is measured on a scale of 0 to 14. The lower the pH the more acidic the solution. The higher the pH the more alkaline (or base) the solution. When a solution is about in the middle of the range—neither acid nor alkaline—it has a neutral pH of 7.
The body regulates pH in very narrow ranges. In the different organs throughout the body, finely tuned physiological systems constantly work to keep the pH within specific ranges for optimal function. Stomach acid, which is important for healthy digestion and as a protection against potential infections, has a low pH, about 2-3. When the pH of your stomach cannot get low enough, it causes problems with digestion and can create acid reflux. Most people and medical approaches to acid reflux assume that there’s too much acid, when in fact the problem might to too little acid. Blood is kept at a neutral pH, between 7.35-7.45.
When your blood becomes too acidic, fine-tuned physiological mechanisms kick in to adjust the pH to a healthy level. One way it does this is by releasing calcium from bone. Over many years, this may contribute to developing osteoporosis.
Acidic Foods
The Western Diet is composed of acidic foods such as proteins, cereals, sugars and processed foods. Processed foods are highly acidic and almost completely stripped of their nutrients. Refining flour removes more than 80% of B vitamins, 85% of magnesium and 60% of the calcium from what was in the whole wheat. Eating a Western Diet increases your risk for nutritional deficiencies. When I couldn’t find a dietary supplement for my patients that contained the optimal doses and combination of nutrients to adequately support healthy nutrient levels I created Supreme Multivitamin.
In addition to the nutritional deficiencies damaging your health, dietary acid load in the modern diet can lead to a disruption in acid-alkaline homeostasis in various body compartments and eventually result in chronic disease through repeated borrowing of the body’s alkaline reserves.
Alkaline Foods
The opposite of acidic foods are alkaline foods. In the Western Diet, alkaline foods such as vegetables are eaten in much smaller quantities; their alkaline content is insufficient to neutralize surplus acids. Stimulants like tobacco, coffee, tea, and alcohol are also extremely acidifying. Stress and physical activity (both insufficient or excessive amounts) also cause acidification.
Many foods as they exist in nature alkaline-producing by nature, but manufactured and processed foods transform the nutrient content of foods and make them mostly acid-producing.
The 75/25 Rule
Remembering the 75/25 rule will help you eat a more balanced diet. It’s important to balance each meal with 75% alkaline-producing to 25% acid-producing to maintain health. We need plenty of fresh fruits and particularly vegetables (alkaline-producing) to balance our necessary protein intake (acid-producing). This pattern is essentially similar to the Mediterranean Diet, which research over the past 50 years has shown to be the healthiest dietary pattern. We also need to avoid processed, sugary or simple-carbohydrate foods, not only because they’re acid-producing but also because they raise blood sugar level too quickly (high glycemic index therefore fattening), are nutrient-lacking and may be toxic too.
In fact, research shows that these recommendations are so effective at promoting bone health and reducing osteoporosis and hip fracture risk that I’ve incorporated them into my book, Fracture-Proof Your Bones: A Comprehensive Guide to Osteoporosis.
Water is the most abundant compound in the human body, comprising 70% of the body. The body has an acid-alkaline (or acid-base) ratio called the pH which is a balance between positively charges ions (acid-forming) and negatively charged ions (alkaline-forming.) The body continually strives to balance pH. When this balance is compromised many problems can occur.
It is important to understand that we are not talking about stomach acid or the pH of the stomach. We are talking about the pH of the body’s fluids and tissues which is an entirely different matter.