Acid Base Dietary Balance and its Influence on Our Health and Well-being

'Some eat to live while others live to eat.' Some foods taste great while some are unpalatable. Some foods are expensive while others are not. They say that some foods are good for your health while others can damage your health. There is abundant literature available about cooking, diet, health, and food. In an effort to employ every means to stay fit, it has now become important for us to understand the acid–base balance of the internal milieu of our body.

Although nutrient dense fiber rich food and daily exercise is the obvious priority but it is increasingly essential to know all the underlying reasons for an unhealthy stressful body condition. One of the reasons could be attributed to the acidic state of the body. Scientific evidence is limited and it is still debatable whether excess build of acidic wastes and a long standing acidic environment in the human body can be excessively damaging and debilitating.

Nevertheless, due to a plethora of data available and logical reasoning, one cannot refute the findings and relationship established between increased acidity, ageing and disease.

Having a deeper understanding of the acidic waste build up and importance of feeding the body with all that would prevent the same, would add to our existing knowledge. Practicing it or at least following it to some extent would be help in leading healthier lifestyle.

It cannot be denied that calorie laden foods, nutrient deficit foods (refined foods, fatty foods, sweets, and colas), caffeine, medications, alcohol, smoking, stress, and pollution produce a highly unfavorable environment which further pushes the body to become over-weight, making it prone to conditions of high cholesterol, osteoporosis, and arthritis.

Leading researchers like Dr Robert Young advocates the benefits of alkalizing one’s body and following an alkaline diet. He notes that a number of diseases and conditions are associated with an acidic internal environment. He has conducted well-designed scientific researches with substantiating results and his book “The pH Miracle” has been a bestseller for years.

The western diets are acidogenic due to the high dietary acid load and a low intake of base-forming dietary minerals such as potassium, magnesium or calcium. So somewhere down the line it is important for us to understand this concept and make necessary changes in our eating pattern.