I’ve read two health and nutrition books this week: Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food and Alkalize or Die by Dr. Theodore A. Baroody. Each book offers its own set of advice. Pollan says simply.
Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
Baroody gives his advice in a more complicated fashion.
Your body needs to be more alkaline than acidic. The ideal ph level is between 6-7. He gives a chart that shows the ph levels of most foods and throughout the day you want to eat most of your foods from the alkalizing side of the chart. Optimally you want to have a 80/20 ratio of alkaline verses acidic foods. He also lists lots of substances (and I call them substances only because I’d never heard of any of them) that you can use to supplement and create a more alkalizing environment. He also recommends colonics about twice a year (no thank you). Oh and he says that you should chew every bite of food 25-50 times as some foods go from acidic to alkalizing just by being over-chewed. In between all of the advice he also simply scares the shit out of you (my coffee habit will certainly be the death of me).
But after I finished reading Alkalize or Die and stopped obsessing about mine and my family’s demise via acidic foods, I realized that he said basically the same thing as Michael Pollan. When I looked over the list of alkalizing foods they were all real food (no processed food like stuff) and were mostly plants. And of course, as I learned, if you take his advice and thoroughly chew your food it’s almost impossible to overeat. So really if you eat real food, not too much, and mostly plants you will also probably create a more alkaline environment in your body.
I will say though that I learned a lot from the Alkalize or Die book. It has great information wrapped up in a doom and gloom package. I’ve come to understand that most (or even all) of our diseases and ailments are caused by what we eat. We’re eating insane amounts of food that is not real food and food that is also extremely acidic. I first sought out this information because I wanted to get healthier and thinner, but lately I’ve explored it further because I have joint pain (my knees and hips). I am 37 years old, not 77. I plan to be active until I die peacefully in my sleep at the age of 102, so I’ve got to take care of this vessel I’m in.
I’ve watched people in my life get diabetes and still NOT change their eating habits (or change them temporarily only to return) and I found it crazy. I mean if all it took to heal was eating differently, how could you not do it? But now I get it. I know I could feel better if I could just commit to giving up coffee, sugar, and other food like substances, but that feels the same as if someone told me to run a marathon tomorrow. So I’m going to take baby steps and start training for my marathon. I really hope that I’ll be able to say I finished it, kicked my acidic substance use and reached an entirely pain-free state, but I’m just going to focus on the process instead of the product.
And for those reading this. If you are experiencing pain in your body, it is quite possible it is caused by an acidic environment due to diet. If you are at your wits end, I’d definitely suggest exploring food (real food, mostly plants) as medicine.
