Acid/Alkaline

I saw a cool documentary a few weeks ago called "Forks Over Knives":

http://www.forksoverknives.com/ (you can find it streaming online for free, but I think it's illegal so I won't post a link here)

Also, this summer I read a book called "The Thrive Diet" - it's by a triathlete who decided at a young age that he wanted to be an athlete who excelled on a totally plant-based diet. He started experimenting on himself with what works best, and his books/diet recommendations reflect his own personal experience. Despite it's 'slick'ness, I really liked the message and the information.

And, when I was a kid, I inexplicably was always convinced that lemons were the cure to cancer.

Where does this all lead? The basic linkage I'm making is in the message that our bodies function best when slightly alkaline. The ideal range is between 7.35-7.45 according to this website: http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm Check it out because it has a full list of different foods that fall to one side or the other, and it's pretty comprehensive.

The pH scale goes from 1 to 14, with 7.0 being absolutely neutral, anything lower being acidic, and anything above being alkaline. So, for example, vinegar is around 3, while your average soap is around pH 9.

Though the foods we eat will test at a certain pH before we eat them, once they're in our bodies the way that we digest them can change the total pH effect they have- so when talking about eating we describe alkaline-forming or acid-forming foods, not just 'acid food' or 'alkaline food'.

Anyway! I thought I'd share this because it really, really corresponds to my own life experience with food. And, we're the best guinea pigs! I'm learning how to feed myself and listen to my body. Over the past few months I've really seen how eating fruits and veggies for most of the day has SUCH a different mood, energy level, etc, than if I eat mainly chocolate, bread, or other treats/convenient food items that cause my body nutritional stress.

Nutritional stress? I heard about this from that thrive diet guy - some foods are easier to digest, and some are harder. The harder, longer and more energy it takes for our body to digest something, the more nutritional stress our body undergoes.

Why is this important? Because we already have a lot of other stressors in our lives... anything you stress about causes a stress reaction in your body - (by the way, chemicals released during our natural stress reaction make our bodies more acidic) - which is added on top of the nutritional stress caused when we don't take care of what we're feeding ourselves. If you don't think you have a lot of psychological stress in your daily life - why add nutritional stress?

I'm sure we all sometimes feel tired or irritable during the day, often we don't really know why or we think "ah, bad sleep last night" or "ah, stressed out about work/school/home.." in reality, a lot of this is connected to what we are or aren't eating.

Test it out! Try for a day, or a week, really planning your diet around things that are easily digestible, which are mainly alkaline-forming. See what happens!

Cheers :)