Every year, in fact every season, our media stars get passionate about a new diet, sometimes a totally outlandish one. However this time, the alkaline diet they’re promoting is good news. It is a weight-loss diet, but more than that, it’s a new way to eat that’s healthier and better adapted to the body’s real needs. It’s often the solution to all our little everyday aches and pains. It means well-being and high spirits!

So what is the alkaline diet?

Depression, aches and pains, indigestion – our physical and psychological ailments are often closely linked to poorly balanced pH levels in our bodies. When we digest the food we’ve eaten, it influences the pH of our blood. Ideally it should have a pH of about 7.4. In reality it’s usually too acid, which causes a lot of discomfort. To reach this pH balance, we need to eat 65% alkaline foods, in other words foods that, when we digest them, make the pH of our bodies more basic. What foods are these? And how do we achieve balance?

The principles of the alkaline diet

The basis of the alkaline diet is a return to the simplest and most natural products, preferably seasonal ones. The nutritional enemies that make our bodies more acid are found, basically, in ready-made meals and highly-processed industrial foods. Dairy products and gluten should also be eaten only in moderate quantities, or even avoided altogether depending which medical problems you’re suffering from. Re-establishing the pH balance in your body is all about eating more vegetables and fruit, both cooked and raw, pulses such as peas, beans and lentils, and milk substitutes like soy milk. Meat can be eaten in small quantities but only very high-quality meats such as grain-fed poultry raised outdoors. There’s no ban on fats, either.

Why has the alkaline diet met with such success?

The reason it’s so attractive is basically that it works! You quickly get a feeling of well-being, and the change of diet provides swift relief. Not only that, but it allows you to treat yourself, to eat everything. No starving yourself, no going hungry, and no risking dietary deficiencies. It makes excellent sense and appeals to the whole family.

The alkaline diet is more than just a diet – it’s a real lifestyle choice!

Nu