Alkaline diet

Have you noticed you can’t buy a bottle of water these days without seeing its pH on the label? The pH scale (remember, from high school bio and chem?) measures acidity (low pH) versus alkalinity (high pH), and it’s a big factor in the alkaline diet, which is all about the body’s acid/alkaline balance. Here’s the theory: Our tendency to eat lots of animal protein (meat and dairy) and grains, and too few vegetables and fruits, has made our bodies too acidic, which contributes to a range of health problems. According to this diet’s approach, the way to correct the imbalance is to eat more plant-based foods, which promote alkalinity and shift the body’s pH in a healthier direction. One point of clarification right off the bat: Although the alkaline diet focuses on pH, it’s not the pH of a food itself that matters, but how it affects you. In general, fruits and veggies are alkaline-forming, while meats, grains, fish, cheese, and other dairy foods are acid-forming. (By the way, if you see claims that the diet alters blood pH, it doesn’t. That’s strictly maintained by the body at about 7.4.) Basically, the more alkaline-forming foods you eat, the more alkaline the insides of your cells can be, which helps them work better. This is the Cliff Notes version; if you want more science—and there’s plenty of it!—just check out “PRAL” (potential renal acid load) and nerd out!