If you’re a stranger to ‘alkalinity’ as it relates to food, let me break it down for you: The alkaline diet is a system of eating based on the belief that certain foods leave an alkaline residue in the body. Foods are classified as alkaline, neutral, or acidic based on their pH. pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity of water soluble substances. It  stands for ‘potential of Hydrogen’. A pH value is a number from 1 to 14. Values below 7 indicate acidity– 1 being the most acidic. Alkaline foods are those that have a positive pH. Advocates of alkaline food regimens believe that eating this way can improve digestion, help stave off cancer, osteoporosis, eczema and others skin conditions, allergies, obesity and other issues.

Even though minimal research has proven the validity of some of these claims, many alkaline foods are undeniably some of the healthiest we can consume. Another layer to this is how we can use a plant-based diet to keep our bodies in a more alkaline state. Despite what you might think about veganism, we can’t deny that plant foods tend to be the most alkalizing of anything we can consume. Reducing meat and dairy intake and increasing the amount of alkaline plant foods we eat each day has been thought to lower our risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and so on. Many advocates of alkaline diets believe that when we possess a less acidic internal environment, disease cells can not thrive and proliferate.

With that being said, if you know me or read any of my blogs you know that I am not an advocate of any one kind of ‘diet’. I’ve evolved in my thinking over the years and now believe that optimal health includes maintaining a healthy body weight, regular physical activity, quality sleep, stress reduction and positive social connections. There is no singular dietary model, or particular eating pattern that can improve our health by itself. It is and will always be a healthy combination of various practices.