HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT ACIDIC FOODS AND WHAT HARM THEY CAN DO TO YOUR BODY???  I CAN ALMOST GAURENTEE YOU EAT THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY

Sometimes I hear people say “I eat healthy most of the time”  Healthy to you maybe you didn’t order fries with that steak or you consume low calories,or you follow diets such as Weight Watchers or other "fad" diets.  But the real issue is not just eating healthy, its the WHY we should be eating a healthy diet with a good balance in the foods we consume...and I'm NOT talking food pyramid here.

The point I’m trying to make is its not about how healthy we eat or think we eat, its really about what our bodies are telling us through our energy levels, our mental state, our ability to exercise for periods of time.  Are we prone to sickness. headaches, a common cold, disease?  That’s what we should be really concerned about.  I strongly believe that  what we eat can dictate our overall health and ability to fight off disease and sickness.  That’s the long term goal right?  We want to be able to live and enjoy longevity without getting sick or prone to a long term illness.  I also believe that SUGAR(ACIDIC) causes major acidity in our bodies& feeds cancer cells, but that my friends is an entire other blog post. ( My mom said to me the other day that it drives her nuts that the dieticians in cancer treatments feed their patients ice cream for desserts.  I couldn’t agree more.)

Back on target…..

So that brings up acidity in our bodies.  To be in an acidic state vs. an alkaline state, the first step is to take a look at the foods you are consuming.  It can be a very dangerous place to be in, and LOTS  and I mean LOTS of us live in this state day to day to day and we think we are eating healthy.

Many of us have heard about acidic and alkaline states of our bodies—your PH levels determine the state your body is in you can EASILY test your PH levels by testing your urine. Find PH strips at your local CVS or drugstore. 

An acidic balance will decrease the body's ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients, decrease the energy production in the cells, decrease it's ability to repair damaged cells, decrease it's ability to detoxify heavy metals, make tumor cells thrive (cancer), and make it more susceptible to fatigue and illness

The reason acidosis is more common in our society is mostly due to the typical American diet, which is wayyyyyyyy too high in acid producing animal products like meat, eggs and dairy, and far too low in alkaline producing foods like fresh vegetables and fruits.  FRESH is the way to go.

 Additionally, we eat acid producing processed foods like white flour and sugar and drink acid producing beverages like coffee and soft drinks, and alcohol. AND PROCESSED FOODS. By processed foods, I don’t just mean SPAM. I mean if you buy it off the shelf in a bag or a box chances are its processed.  If you can’t read or understand what all the ingredients are on your food label..its processed.  We use too many drugs, which are acid forming; and we use artificial chemical sweetners like NutraSweet, Sweet 'N Low, Equal, or Aspartame, which are poison and extremely acid forming.

So I just told you what can happen in an acidic environment, and I told you what types of food causes an acidic environment.  Its not always about weight loss and looking our best, its about protecting our bodies against disease (cancer, heart disease, way too many to list)

Ideally you want a balance of acidic foods with alkaline foods, not necessarily a 50/50 balance.  Some experts say a 75% alkaline balance mixed with a 25% acidic balance is ideal.

Here is a chart listing acidic foods and alkaline foods that I found online, there are more out there but this is just a sample.

Alkaline Forming Foods VEGETABLES Garlic Asparagus Fermented Veggies Watercress Beets Broccoli Brussel sprouts Cabbage Carrot Cauliflower Celery Chard Chlorella Collard Greens Cucumber Eggplant Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mushrooms Mustard Greens Dulce Dandelions Edible Flowers Onions Parsnips (high glycemic) Peas Peppers Pumpkin Rutabaga Sea Veggies Spirulina Sprouts Squashes Alfalfa Barley Grass Wheat Grass Wild Greens Nightshade Veggies FRUITS Apple Apricot Avocado Banana (high glycemic) Cantaloupe Cherries Currants Dates/Figs Grapes Grapefruit Lime Honeydew Melon Nectarine Orange Lemon Peach Pear Pineapple All Berries Tangerine Tomato Tropical Fruits Watermelon PROTEIN Eggs (poached) Whey Protein Powder Cottage Cheese Chicken Breast Yogurt Almonds Chestnuts Tofu (fermented) Flax Seeds Pumpkin Seeds Tempeh (fermented) Squash Seeds Sunflower Seeds Millet Sprouted Seeds Nuts OTHER Apple Cider Vinegar Bee Pollen Lecithin Granules Probiotic Cultures Green Juices Veggies Juices Fresh Fruit Juice Organic Milk (unpasteurized) Mineral Water Alkaline Antioxidant Water Green Tea Herbal Tea Dandelion Tea Ginseng Tea Banchi Tea Kombucha SWEETENERS Stevia Ki Sweet SPICES/SEASONINGS Cinnamon Curry Ginger Mustard Chili Pepper Sea Salt Miso Tamari All Herbs ORIENTAL VEGETABLES Maitake Daikon Dandelion Root Shitake Kombu Reishi Nori Umeboshi Wakame Sea Veggies

Acid Forming Foods FATS & OILS Avocado Oil Canola Oil Corn Oil Hemp Seed Oil Flax Oil Lard Olive Oil Safflower Oil Sesame Oil Sunflower Oil FRUITS Cranberries GRAINS Rice Cakes Wheat Cakes Amaranth Barley Buckwheat Corn Oats (rolled) Quinoa Rice (all) Rye Spelt Kamut Wheat Hemp Seed Flour DAIRY Cheese, Cow Cheese, Goat Cheese, Processed Cheese, Sheep Milk Butter NUTS & BUTTERS Cashews Brazil Nuts Peanuts Peanut Butter Pecans Tahini Walnuts ANIMAL PROTEIN Beef Carp Clams Fish Lamb Lobster Mussels Oyster Pork Rabbit Salmon Shrimp Scallops Tuna Turkey Venison PASTA (WHITE) Noodles Macaroni Spaghetti OTHER Distilled Vinegar Wheat Germ Potatoes DRUGS & CHEMICALS Aspartame Chemicals Drugs, Medicinal Drugs, Psychedelic Pesticides Herbicides ALCOHOL Beer Spirits Hard Liquor Wine BEANS & LEGUMES Black Beans Chick Peas Green Peas Kidney Beans Lentils Lima Beans Pinto Beans Red Beans Soy Beans Soy Milk White Beans Rice Milk Almond milk

I’m not saying that all the acidic foods are bad for you, I think you can figure out that part, but I am stressing is we need to be eating wayyy more of the alkaline foods and way less of the acidic foods.

I dare you test your PH levels.