Thursday, February 4, 2016

About Acids and Alkalines

Lets talk acids and alkalines...

... in my last food post I talked a little bit about acids and alkalines when I told you why I decided not to eat any white flour nor any refined sugar for (at least) a year. Some of you asked why sugar and white flour is bad for you so I thought it may be a good idea to write a little bit more about acids and alkalines (which are only PART of the story of why white sugar and white flour is bad - the other part is all about the gut flora which I may write about someday too). 

Now, what is the story with acids and alkalines? Your body maintains a delicate acid-alkaline balance and everything, truely everything, in your body (and outside too actually - like water, soil...) is affected by pH. PH stands for “potential hydrogen” and it is the measure of hydrogen ions in a particular solution, like your blood for example.

The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline a substance is and ranges from 0 to 14. Seven is neutral. Below 7 becomes increasingly acidic, above 7 increasingly alkaline. Proper pH varies throughout your body for many reasons. For example, your bowels, skin and vagina should be slightly acidic – this helps keep unfriendly bacteria away. There is a constant balance throughout your body when it comes to acids and alcalines. Hence, acids are not always bad and alkalines not always good - its all about the balance.

By far the most important measurement is your blood. For optimal cellular health, your blood pH must be slightly alkaline with a pH between 7.365 and 7.45. Your body will maintain this range no matter what, since even the slightest dip or rise in pH can have seriously dangerous consequences. Now here is where food comes in: when you eat loads of acidic substances and foods, like meat, dairy, highly processed food products, white flour, and refined sugar your body has a looooot of work to do to keep up with a healthy pH. 

To keep up the pH between 7.365 and 7.45 your body is forced to borrow minerals—including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium—from vital organs and bones to neutralize the acid and safely remove it from the body. Because of this strain, your body can suffer severe and prolonged damage due to high acidity — a condition that may go undetected for years and can lead to various symptons, such as cardiovascular damage, bladder and kidney conditions, including kidney stones, immune deficiency, premature aging, osteoporosis, joint pain, low energy and chronic fatigue.


By eating a more alkaline diet (leafy greens, veggies, sprouts, fruits) as opposed to an acidic diet (high in animal products, white flour, refined sugar, soda, etc), you will give your body more alkalinity, vitamins and other nutrients.



So far so good. But what is an alkaline diet and how many acids do you need?

The most acid foods are animal products of any kind, white sugar, white flour, all processed foods, soda etc. The most alkaline foods are all fruits (except for cranberries), all veggies, all greens, almonds, quinoa, amarant, wild rice etc. However, some foods are somwhere in the middle - like oats, corn, or potatoes. So even on a plant based diet you will get some acids. And this is good! Because you need SOME (around 20%). However, you only need SOME! When eating animal products, white flour or sugar you will easily come up with muuuuuch more than 20% of your total food intake as acids and hence, you will be out of balance. 

This is why I decided to stop eating white flour and refined sugar on top of eating a vegan diet :)  

Does this sound too complicated to you? Its not! Its easy - just eat all the good whole plants out there and you will have so much fun in the kitchen, feel full of energy, save the planet (animal production is responsible for 50-85% of emissions!) and be happy :) 

And in case you need some help to begin with, there are tons of awesome ready made products out there which are truely healthy for you and the planet. I recently tried this yummy quinoa mix from Alvito which is composed to help you to get your alkalines. Its full of alkaline ingredients such a herbs, veggies, quinoa, amarant and millet. Plus its really tasty. I added some extra veggies to it and had some chicory and chili-soy-yogurt with it. Delicious! 
Feel free to check out more alkaline products on alvito.com (German only as far as I can tell)


Writing my Thursday posts is always so much fun! I am really happy with the decision to post only twice a week instead of three times. I have more time to prepare my posts and I enjoy writing these long posts on Thursdays. I am already looking forward to next weeks Thursday post (it will be beauty related...;)) and for the one the week after (which will be sweet and yummy ;)).

But now tell me how you liked this post and if you were familiar with the topic before! Are you now able to understand better why I decided to stay away from refined products such a white flour and sugar? 

Sending sooooo much love to all of you wonderful readers and friends!

24 comments:

  1. Yum!

    _____________________
    www.justynapolska.com
    Fashion & Beauty

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  2. Thank you for telling this useful info for me!

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  3. Nice post dear!! :)

    mystylishcorner.blogspot.ba

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  4. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing! I'd personally love to hear more about your recipes and what you actually eat every day. I know I am personally trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals in my diet and am always looking for inspiration. I know you already do that some, just saying I like it. :)

    Amy Ann
    Straight A Style

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  5. Wirklich ein toller Post!
    So genau habe ich mich damit noch gar nicht beschäftigt, deshalb fand ich es sehr interessant zu lesen :)

    Liebe Grüße

    http://nilooorac.blogspot.de

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  6. thanks a lot, my dear :D You always are so lovely <3

    Seems to be delicious!!! I really love this kind of food :D

    NEW POST | FOREO LUNA GIVEAWAY
    InstagramFacebook Oficial PageMiguel Gouveia / Blog Pieces Of Me :D

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  7. Great post, amazing tips as well, very inspiring, I love it, thanks for sharing!!!

    xxx

    http://bridesonamission.com

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  8. Lovely post dear! Have a great weekend! xx

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  9. Very interesting post, I'm glad you've written about it, cos I was curiosus when you last time mentioned that topic:) About beans - I dont have a pressure cooker unfortunately, so I really dont know about cooking beans in it, but I guess it can be a great option since beans needs so much time to cook. Have a great weekend, hugs:)))

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  10. Very interesting post, thanks for sharing!
    xx


    http://losaway.blogspot.com

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  11. This is so delicious ;)

    http://retromaggie.blogspot.pt/

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  12. That looks so great!

    xoxo
    www.its-dash.com

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  13. Wow das sieht unglaublich lecker aus! Ich habe zwar gerade erst gefrühstückt (okay vor 2h aber es fühlt sich wie soeben an, weil ich immer noch total satt bin ^^) aber hierfür würde ich mich sofort wieder hinter Gabel und Messer schwingen ♥

    Ich wünsche dir einen fabelhaften Sonntag
    Liebste Grüße
    Vessa

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  14. This sounds like a great idea, an alkaline diet is super good for our health~
    And very yummy too!
    xx

    www.sakuranko.com

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  15. Liebe Larissa, ich bin wieder einmal mehr beeindruckt, wie konsequent Du bist - und vor allem auch, wie viel Du über Ernährung weißt. Ich bin überzeugt davon, mit diesem Wissen kannst Du unglaublich vielen Menschen helfen und ich sehe nichts, was einer Zukunft für Dich in dieser Hinsicht im Wege steht.
    Alles Liebe und einen tollen Start in die neue Woche, Rena
    www.dressedwithsoul.com

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  16. Like reading about preventing health every day and enjoy in text each time :)
    Kiss, kiss, Silvy

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  17. Looks so healthy and delicious!!! YUMMMMY!
    kisses
    xoThe Beckerman Girls

    www.BeckermanBlog.com

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  18. This is great for reminding me about maintaining homeostasis in my acid base balance :)

    Styleccentric Fashion | Current post >> Villa Escudero | BLOGLOVIN

    xo, Alyssa

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  19. Such an interesting and useful post Larissa! Thanks for sharing this information! Have an amazing week!
    xx
    cvetybaby.com

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  20. All diese Dinge sind für mich nichts neues. Wir in der Familie setzten uns mit solchen Sachen schon länger auseinander und daher sind wir da bestens informiert und halten uns auch an viele Sachen. ;) Heutzutage ist es echt auch angebracht sich etwas mehr mit Lebensmitteln usw auseinander zu setzten.
    Ich bin jetzt seit längerem krank und habe schon ganz schön mit der Gesundheit zu kämpfen. Da achtet man sogar noch mehr auf solche Dinge.

    Von oben kriegt man halt ein ganz anders Gefühl für einen Ort; einen ganz anderen Überblick. :)
    Dankeschön für dein liebes Lob und die tollen Worte. Grad, wenn sich jemand von einem fotografieren lassen würde, ist das immer ein echt großes Kompliment. ;)

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  21. You explain everything in a easy way my dear!
    Personally I will not be able to avoit eating white flour nor refined sugar, cause I think little pleasure - like a sweet caramel and double choccolate cup cake *-* - fill your life so, why not?
    xoxo
    www.milleunrossetto.blogspot.it

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