Alkaline diet for weight loss: recipes
When talking about a craze for diets for beauty and harmony, it is unlikely that he will touch on such an instant as an alkaline diet. And it's not that this diet is ineffective. She, like many others, allows to say goodbye to a couple of extra pounds per week due to compliance with certain principles of nutrition. Just the purpose of such a diet is not initially a fight with weight, but a recovery of the body. Losing weight in this case is a positive side effect.
So what kind of diet is this, which allows the body to improve its health, and make the figure more slender? And what does its strange name mean "alkaline"?
Indications
As we have already understood, the alkaline diet was conceived by dietitians as a way to correct the shaken health in a natural way without the use of medicines. In their opinion, it is enough to create an alkaline environment in the body, and the processes in it will return to normal.
With normal nutrition with the prevalence of acid products, the pH of the internal environment of the body decreases. The body, in turn, tries to reduce the acidity of the blood and restore the normal acid-base balance by delaying water in the body. But this is not an option, because in this way the flow of metabolic processes is disturbed. Stocks of beneficial minerals migrate to the blood, making it less acidic. But at the same time, bones, muscles, nerve fibers, cartilages lose the substances they need, which affects our health and well-being.
As a result, the appearance of the following symptoms:
- chronic fatigue even in the absence of physical or mental stress,
- increased fatigue and, as a result, reduced efficiency,
- often recurring attacks of headaches,
- hypovitaminosis leading to anemia,
- propensity to allergic manifestations (rhinitis, tearing) due to increased sensitivity of the body to the effects of irritants,
- overweight, obesity and the resulting pathology,
- Increased episodes of catarrhal pathologies due to weakening of the immune system,
- mood swings, sleep disturbances, irritability and anxiety resulting from the incorrect functioning of the nervous system suffering from a deficiency of magnesium and B group vitamins,
- decreased sexual desire,
- development of pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, neurological diseases, disruption of the gastrointestinal tract, etc.
Most likely, most of the readers found these symptoms. But the appearance of such a number of unpleasant symptoms speaks not even of pathology, but only that the blood in the body is highly acidic. So, an alkaline diet can be useful to almost every one of us, especially those who have accumulated extra pounds during the years of malnutrition.
Moreover, scientists argue that with the help of this diet can not only improve the general state of the body, but even treat many pathologies.
We will not once again focus on the extra weight and such a pathological condition of the body as obesity, because everything is very simple here. The alkalization of the organism will lead to an acceleration of metabolic processes, and this state of affairs and excess weight are incompatible.
Since the struggle of the body with high acidity leads to the leaching of useful substances into the blood, and primarily calcium, as a known antacid, it is clear that the bones will necessarily suffer. Bone tissue will gradually break down and become fragile. The same situation is observed with other "consumers" of calcium: nails, teeth, hair, skin. It turns out that alkalizing the body will help preserve a useful mineral exactly where it is needed. And help in this alkaline diet.
In the same way, a change in the acid-base balance in the direction of increasing pH will help preserve magnesium and B group vitamins in nerve fibers, where they are most needed. Therefore, the treatment of neurological diseases associated with impaired metabolic processes in the nerves, it is advisable to combine with alkaline (alkaline) diet.
The same is true with muscle pathologies, because as a result of acidification of the body, muscles lose the vitamins they need (B, A, E) and minerals (sodium, potassium, zinc, magnesium, etc.). Alkaline diet will help restore the vitamin-mineral balance in muscle tissue, improving its tone and motor activity.
Acid-alkaline diet (it is also alkaline) helps to normalize the internal environment of the digestive tract. Using products with alkalizing effect, you can achieve the normalization of the acidity of gastric juice without the use of antacids and soda, which, incidentally, has its side effects (soda irritates the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract, and antacids often cause constipation). Leaching products, the bulk of which are fruits and vegetables, do not have a negative effect on the body, so an alkaline diet can be considered a safe method of getting rid of heartburn.
Let's talk about such a well-known autoimmune disease as psoriasis. Everyone knows that this disease is practically not curable. It has a chronic course and is prone to relapse. Relapses are usually observed against a background of mental or emotional overstrain.
But there is another important reason for this state of affairs - this is the predominance of acid reactions in the body. It turns out that a decrease in the acidity of the internal environment of the body, which is aimed at alkaline diet, will significantly reduce the incidence of relapse in psoriasis.
Alkaline diet against cancer?
We can talk for a long time about the usefulness and expediency of using an alkaline diet for various diseases, but let us dwell on those that have become a scourge of our time. It is a question of oncological pathologies.
Cancer belongs to the category of systemic pathologies of a metabolic nature. The most likely cause of its development are metabolic disorders, and as a result, deficiency of useful substances, inadequate functioning of the immune system, intoxication and acidification of the organism, leading to pathological changes in the cellular structure.
Now on the Internet you can find a lot of information about treating cancer with soda. But the essence of such treatment is the alkalization of the organism (is this not the case with the alkaline diet?), Because alkali inhibits the replication of cancer cells, and thus helps to stop the development of oncological pathology.
Perhaps many scientists and doctors disagree with this, rejecting the hypothesis that in the malignancy of cells, the Candida fungus is guilty (according to the theory of the Italian physician Tulio Simoncini), against which sodotherapy is directed. However, they also do not hurry to reject information that the probability of mutations in cells increases under the influence of meat and dairy products, sugar, fast food, etc., belonging to the category of acid-forming.
True T. Simoncini or not, but the alkalization of the body through soda gives its results, as evidenced by grateful reviews of the people rescued by him and their relatives. We will not dwell on the fact that there are also negative reviews, since they are also found in chemotherapy practiced in oncology centers. But there is a fact that treatment helps, so it makes sense to practice it, even if in combination with traditional treatment, as doctors insist.
Let's return to our diet. The purpose of the alkaline diet, as well as treatment by the method of T. Simonchini, is alkalization of the body. However, the effect that an alkaline diet has on cancer will be milder and safer than soda or chemotherapy
Harm such a diet will not bring, and even if there are doubts, whether it is able to cope with cancer, to prevent the development of oncology it is quite within its power. Acid-alkaline diet helps to normalize the metabolism, hence strong immunity, against which cancer, as is known, does not develop.
General information of the alkaline diet
Alkaline diet, also called the diet of Hollywood stars, as its fans are the popular kinodivy Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, El MacPherson and other equally popular actresses, allows recognized beauties for a long time to remain slim and young. Actresses themselves speak about the diet only positively, because the result that they say is obvious.
What allows the actresses in their 40-50 with superfluous years to look like 20-year-old girls with a gentle smooth skin and a slim figure? Most likely not only in the diet, but also in physical activity, professional skin care for the face and body, but women argue that to achieve this result without a diet they would hardly have succeeded.
So what is the essence of the "magic" diet that makes a woman healthy, slender and beautiful? The main goal of alkaline nutrition is to normalize the pH of the organism, which usually decreases under the influence of the usual products on our table: meat, milk, sweets, etc. The lower the pH level, the higher the acidic environment of the body (and blood in particular).
But if it is possible to reduce the pH of the blood with the help of products, then there is the possibility to increase this index in the same way, replacing the acid-forming products with alkaline ones, i.e. Those that, when ingested, can change the internal environment from acidic to alkaline.
Alkaline diet - this is not exactly the exact name, it is more correct to call it acid-alkaline, because it does not provide for extremes, which is the complete rejection of products that lower pH. According to the principles of the alkaline diet, 4/5 of all foods consumed (80 percent) should be alkaline, but 1/5 (20 percent) still remains acid-forming.
It is impossible to completely exclude such products. First, they are the source of protein (the building material of cells), and secondly, the removal of the acid-forming products from the diet can carry the danger of a body leaching, which is also fraught with a violation of metabolic processes.
Some sources say that the ratio of 80 to 20 is too cruel for the human body. It is enough that in the human diet there are only 70 percent of alkaline products, and the rest can be neutral and acid-forming foods and dishes from them. It is on this basis that an alkaline diet for slimming and purifying the body should be based, and a more rigid diet should be used to fight diseases.
What other factors need to be considered while following an alkaline diet? To begin with, you need to gradually switch to a diet. You can not sharply limit the use of protein products of animal origin. This will be a big blow to your well-being.
Since the total volume of acid-forming products in our diet usually exceeds the amount of products that create an alkaline environment, then at first you need to equalize these indicators, and then gradually shift the bar in favor of the latter, approaching the coveted ratio of 80 to 20 (or 70 to 30) .
Every day on an empty stomach it is recommended to drink 0,25 - 0,5 l of purified water (and preferably alkaline, which was initially passed through alkaline filters). Such a beginning of the day will help to make the inner environment of the body less acidic, activate digestive and metabolic processes in the body, which will contribute to its purification and improvement.
The food itself should be fractional if possible. This means that the usual portions will have to be reduced, and the number of meals will be increased to 5-6 per day. It is important to eat slowly, carefully chew the food carefully, focusing on the process of eating, and not on their problems. Poorly chewed food only slows down metabolic processes and creates an additional burden on the digestive organs, causing disruptions in their work.
By the way, according to the rules of the alkaline diet, the breakfast should include green and yellow vegetables.
As a drink after the main meal, you can use herbal infusions, pure water, fruit and berry juices, cooked without the addition of sugar and preservatives. It is advisable to take food for up to 19 hours, then give the body a rest, which is quite logical due to a decrease in physical activity in the evening. However, a cup of herbal tea should not be refused even in the evening.
Nutrition rules for alkaline diet
With an alkaline diet, it is important not only what you eat, but also how you do it. We are talking about ways of preparing dishes and combining different products in them, about the frequency of consumption of acid-forming products and their quantity.
Dishes of alkaline diet consist of different products, including acid. However, you should always follow the recommended ratio. For a healthy person, this ratio should be 50 to 50. If a person begins to experience malaise and shows suspicious symptoms, the ratio of products with the opposite action relative to the body's pH should change by 70 to 30. If the diet is used to treat existing pathologies that alkalinize foods in the diet for each the day should be already 80 percent.
Vegetables though are considered to be alkaline products, to use them better in raw form (or as an option cooked for steamed, boiled, baked). Thus, their action will remain strong and besides all useful nutrients and vitamins will be preserved.
The same goes for fruits, although no one forbids cooking delicious desserts in the form of jelly or mousse, but you can put sugar in such dishes in limited quantities. And it's better to do without it at all.
Perhaps, at first you will be tormented by an irresistible desire to eat something sweet. In this case, no one forbids to pamper yourself with sweet fruits and berries, brown sugar, natural honey or maple syrup. But from sweet confectionery products and sweets it is better to refuse altogether.
Cereal products (bread, cereals) should be included in the menu no more than 3 times a week, and not fatty fish only 1-2 times.
Dieticians advise, making a menu for the day, combine alkaline dishes with acidic so that their ratio is 2 to 1. Ie. Use at a time 2 products from the first group and 1 from the second.
In the morning it is recommended to choose a pair of green and red vegetables for breakfast (for example, lettuce and tomatoes or beets).
Caution should be observed with peas and nuts. Peas are better to eat green, then it will not acidify the body, and nuts are better in a small amount.
It is recommended to refresh dishes with vegetable oil or melted pork fat, almost completely eliminating butter and margarine.
Meat can be included in the diet in small portions 2-3 times a week, giving preference to products with a low acid-forming ability (beef, chicken, low-fat lamb). Lenten meat is better to use in culinary delights.
As for fish, here, as usual, preference is given to its marine species, which are characterized by low fat content.
Drinks must be present on the table. You need to drink plenty of clean water (2-2.5 liters per day) and herbal teas. It will also be useful to drink green tea without sugar. As for alcohol, it is better to switch to a healthy lifestyle if possible, leaving alcohol to enemies.
Another important point. Since practically all vegetables belong to alkalizing products, it is recommended to mix them in dishes with products of the 2nd group. Thus, the oxidizing effect of the latter will be compensated, and the pH of the organism is unlikely to change.
For example, boiled and stewed meat (this is the best way of cooking) during lunch can be served along with a salad of fresh vegetables. This neighborhood of products will be very useful and tasty. With the right approach to nutrition, you will not have to starve, or limit yourself to tasteless dishes.
Alkaline diet menu
Alkaline diet is a way to improve your body without violence over it. Therefore, it is advisable to gradually change one's habits and preferences, day after day accustoming one's body to new rules of existence.
If there is a desire to improve and throw off a few extra pounds, the alkaline diet should be followed for 2-4 weeks, during which the body can completely clear itself of the accumulated "garbage". In the first and subsequent weeks, weight is markedly reduced, and well-being is improving. Then there is an active decrease in acidity, until the pH of the blood reaches normal levels. The last week is the fixing of the result.
The menu of alkaline diet for each week is slightly different. In the first week you do not need to give up acidifying foods. It is important to limit their amount, allowing the body to gradually get used to the new diet and cleanse of the accumulated slag and toxic substances caused by the increased acidity of the body.
The menu of alkaline diet for the first week includes dishes of fish and meat in combination with vegetables. It is allowed to drink alcohol, flour and sweet dishes, but only in limited quantities. In other words, you can eat everything that you ate before, but somewhat changing the proportions of the ingredients in the dishes.
Consider 2 menu options for the day.
Option 1:
- Breakfast - fresh tomato salad, baked potatoes, fruit yoghurt
- Lunch - boiled chicken meat (it is better to take the breast, because it does not have fat), vinaigrette, a slice of rye bread, green tea
- Dinner - vegetable casserole, a glass of curdled milk
Option 2:
- Breakfast - oatmeal porridge, fruit salad, herbal tea
- Lunch - hake with tomato sauce, fresh vegetable salad, fruit and berry compote
- Dinner - fruit mousse, tea with bread
Additional meals can consist of fruits and dried fruits, fruit and vegetable juices, jelly, mousse, bread with a small amount of honey, compote, herbal decoctions and infusions, mineral water (preferably without gas). Water can be drunk in unlimited quantities, this will only help to prevent the acidity of the internal environment of the body.
Do not starve yourself. Take food as the appetite appears. And in the first week he will prevail often, until the body gets used to eating less and with benefit. But at the end of the week digestion comes back to normal, you begin to experience incredible relief and improvement of the general condition.
The second stage of the alkaline diet is more severe, it goes on after the amount of acidifying products has been minimized. From the menu it is recommended to remove alcohol, any flour products, sweets, strictly limit the consumption of meat and fish.
The approximate menu of one day of the second stage:
- Breakfast - vegetable salad, a glass of kefir, herbal tea
- Lunch - vegetable soup, fruit
- Dinner - cottage cheese with fruit, green tea
Twice a week in the menu, add a little boiled or baked lean sea fish or meat, a few nuts, a small portion of porridge from barley or buckwheat. Oatmeal porridge and milk whey can be consumed in large quantities.
By the end of the second stage, many people note lightness in the stomach, mood improvement, and headaches and other symptoms associated with low body pH also go away. During this time, the acid-base medium should be normalized.
The fact that the pH of the internal environment has approached the norm is not yet an occasion to return to the usual diet for us. First you need to consolidate the result, gradually adding protein and flour products to the diet, but still preferring alkaline vegetables, fruits and dairy products.
For example, a menu for a day can consist of:
- Breakfast: steam omelet with spinach, fruit salad, a glass of ryazhenka,
- Lunch: vegetable casserole with meat, salad with greenery, black tea with bread and honey
- Supper: barley porridge, a piece of boiled fish, cottage cheese, herbal infusion
After 7-12 days after the start of the third stage, you can leave the diet, returning to your old life. But you probably will not want to eat the way you did before the alkaline diet. The body will feel relief and will not want past problems. After 21 days after the start of the diet, the habit of proper nutrition is already developed, so it will not be difficult to adhere to its requirements in the future.
The usual diet in the days after leaving the diet should be balanced in such a way that the body receives an equal amount of alkalinizing and oxidizing products.
This diet option is considered to be the most effective, but if at the second stage you can not get rid of protein products to the maximum, you can not do this. It is sufficient during the whole period of the diet to adhere to the recommended ratio of oxidizing and alkalinizing products.
Benefits
To whom and when the idea to divide products into 3 categories occurred for certain is unknown. But in the middle of the XX century there was information that different products affect our body in different ways. Some change the internal environment of the body in the direction of increasing its pH, while others make it more acidic, while others do not affect the acid-base balance at all.
It would seem that they give us this information? They do not say anything to a common man in the street. But scientists and nutritionists tried to understand this issue and concluded that a violation of the acid-base balance in one direction or another may threaten the development of various diseases.
Normally, the acidity index of the internal pH medium should have an average value that is within the range of 7. The higher the pH, the closer the medium to the alkaline. So the pH of the blood is normal at 7.35-7.45. It is this indicator of acidity that is considered optimal for the flow of various chemical reactions in such a complex system as the human body.
Professor of Microbiology from America Robert Young insists that initially the human body is of an alkaline nature (take at least the pH of the blood, which is shifted toward alkalization). The increased acidity is observed only in the stomach (the pH of the gastric juice is about 3.5), but this is a necessity due to the fact that at high pH values the digestive process slows down and the food is absorbed by the body.
Having studied the lists of products capable of shifting the acid-alkaline balance of the organism in one direction or another, the scientists came to an unattractive conclusion. Products that acidify the body were much more than those that shift the pH level towards the alkaline environment. Thus, adhering to the usual diet, we ourselves violate the acid-base balance of our body, its internal environment becomes more acidic.
Should we greatly upset it? I guess, yes. Robert Young and his associates argue that many diseases in our body arise precisely because of a too acidic internal environment. It is the acidic environment with oxygen deficiency in it that is considered most suitable for the multiplication of numerous pathogenic microorganisms.
The higher the acidity of the organism (its liquid media, mainly blood and urine), the more bacteria the bacteria multiply, releasing into the body toxic products of vital activity. This can not but affect the health of a person who often begins to get sick. In this case, the disease in the presence of bacterial infection is more complex and often turns into a chronic form. Thus, it can be concluded that the cause of many chronic diseases in humans is precisely the high acidity of its internal environment.
Consider the effect of acid and alkali on the example of common abnormalities in our time gastrointestinal tract: gastritis, duodenitis, stomach ulcers and 12-goitre. The increased acidity of gastric juice promotes the reproduction of a specific bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which remains inactive in the alkaline environment, although it is present in the body. It is with the presence of bacterial infection that the transition of gastritis or duodenitis to a chronic form is associated, because the same Helicobacter pylori supports the inflammatory process in the gastrointestinal tract, which began due to irritation with mucous acid.
Application in the case of bacterial gastritis, duodenitis and gastric ulcer antacids, alkalizing the internal GIT environment is due not only to the need to create sparing conditions for damaged mucous organs, but also to make the life of Helicobacter pylori unbearable. Only by lowering the activity of this bacterium or destroying it, one can try to stop the inflammatory process.
But problems with the digestive tract are only part of the underwater iceberg. Acidification of the body leads to other health problems:
- General health worsens. Pathogenic microorganisms in the acidic environment of the body feel fine, but the owner of this environment begins to feel a strong fatigue and fatigue, reduced tone and weakened immunity. He begins to suffer more often from colds, he notices irritability and anxiety, as well as inexplicable weakness.
- Violated the sensitivity and integrity of teeth and mucous membranes of the mouth. Reproduction of bacteria in the acidic environment of the oral cavity leads to an increase in the sensitivity of teeth and cracks in the enamel, which is gradually transformed into caries provoked by a bacterial infection. The mucous membrane of the mouth also suffers, because the acid causes irritation and inflammation, and bacteria only support them. Hence parodontosis, periodontitis, stomatitis and other inflammatory pathologies of the gums and mucous membranes. Inflammation can also amygdala and tender skin on the lips (around the perimeter of the lips and in the corners appear cracks and sores).
- Deterioration of the skin. The skin becomes hyperemic and differs appreciably with dryness. On it appear cracks, foci of inflammation in the form of acne and acne.
- Urinary system. The change in the acid-base balance towards the acid leads to the fact that blood and urine become more acidic. And acid urine in turn leads to the formation of kidney stones and bladder stones, making it difficult to remove urine from the body.
As you can see, the situation is not pleasant, but everything is logical. It turns out that if you start to practice an alkaline diet that shifts the acid-base balance in the opposite direction, all of the above problems can be avoided.
It was to this conclusion and came in his research American Robert Young. His idea seemed quite logical to many, and the transition to food mainly with products with an alkaline environment is fully justified. And even if this idea is not supported by all, the alkaline diet has already proved its effectiveness many times, and why it was included in the list of the most popular diets, developed by the British Society of Nutritionists.
What can and what can not?
After we learned about the division of products into acidifying and alkalinizing, and also sorted out the main goals and principles of the alkaline diet, the reader will have a fair question: what products are related to alkaline foods and what exactly can they eat while observing a wellness diet?
What can you eat?
First, you need to understand that an alkaline diet does not exclude the use of acid-forming products. This means that there is everything possible provided that the alkaline products in the diet will still be much more. We'll talk about these products now.
Most of the products that can "extinguish" the acid are vegetables, fruits and berries. The most interesting thing is that almost all of them have the property of reducing acidity, even those that seem sour to taste.
Let's start with vegetables. The highest level of pH can boast of beets, garlic, celery, tomato, carrots, cucumber, lettuce. Slightly above the pH of the potato in the peel (it is its juice used to relieve the symptoms of heartburn caused by high acidity of the gastric juice), eggplant, broccoli, bell pepper, radish, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, melon, pumpkin. The property of the organism is also parsley and dill, beans and fresh beans. By the way, if the beans are dried or subjected to heat treatment (for example, bake), they will change their properties and contribute to acidification of the body.
A little less alkalizing effect is the green peas (dry it, like beans, helps to increase acidity), basil, coriander, onions, Brussels sprouts.
We pass to the fruit. A strong alkalizing effect can boast dried apricot and figs, dried apricots. Here you can also include citrus fruits (lemon, lime, grapefruit) and overseas fruits (mango, papaya).
Slightly less affect the pH of the body fresh apricots, avocados, oranges, pears, peaches, cherries, fresh and dried plums, prunes (plums in the form of preserves or compote are able to increase acidity).
The weakest alkalizing effect is possessed by apples, cherries, ripe banana (green bananas are able to lower the pH of the organism), fresh and dried grapes, dates.
As for berries, almost all of them, including watermelon, are able to fight with high acidity of the body. The strongest action in black currant and berries is black, weak - in cranberries.
Vegetable and fruit and berry juices should have an alkaline effect. But this applies only to those juices that are made from fresh products without the addition of sweeteners, flavors and preservatives. It is unlikely that such an action can be expected from the store juice.
As for cereals, only some of their types possess alkalizing properties. Preference should be given to oatmeal, followed by wild rice, millet, amaranth, kinoa.
Despite the prevailing view that dairy products are supposedly covered by a ban on an alkaline diet, some of them still possess alkalinizing properties, which means that they are acceptable for consumption in sufficient quantities. Such products include, in the first place, whey and cottage cheese, as well as "milks" with a weaker effect: cow and goat milk, yogurt and yogurt, goat's milk. These are products with a low fat content.
The average level of activity in terms of reducing acidity is also soy milk and cheese.
But nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, which, it would seem, should help to reduce acidity, behave on the contrary. The only exceptions are almonds, flax seeds and vegetable oils such as olive, linseed and rapeseed oil. They are characterized by an average indicator of anti-acid activity.
As for meat and fish products, a slight alkalizing effect is noted only for lard.
Among other products, natural honey and raw sugar can be added to the permitted products (regular sugar and refined sugar acidize the body), herbal tea, water with lemon, and real green and ginger tea. Black tea has a slight acidifying effect.
What can not be?
Let's face it, the question is not worth it. Alkaline diet does not belong to the category of therapeutic diets with strict limitations. All products in it are divided not into permitted and forbidden, but into alkalizing and acidifying. In this case, the first should be in the diet is much more than the second.
Acid-alkaline diet is not a short-term course of semi-starvation. It is a lifestyle for a long time that allows you to maintain the health of your body. Therefore, it is not possible to remove most of the products that are customary for us from the diet, because the body will soon begin to lack the many essential substances that are contained in products with oxidizing action.
Now we will talk just about this group of products that you can eat, but in limited quantities. They can also differ in efficiency. Some reduce the pH of the internal environment more strongly, others in this regard are less able.
Consider first products that have a strong oxidizing action. From many of these products you can refuse at all or use them occasionally (no more than 3 times a week) in a small amount.
Such products include:
- fruits and berries: sweetened juices from fruits and berries, jam and jam with sugar,
- vegetables and legumes: only the baked beans can greatly reduce the pH of the body,
- Nuts: here the leaders are walnut and peanuts,
- meat products: some kinds of game, beef liver, chicken,
- fish: almost all varieties of fish, especially fatty, seafood,
- drinks: any kinds of alcohol, low-alcohol drinks, fermentation drinks, sweet soda, cocoa
- sweets: chocolate and various sugar substitutes,
- eggs in any form, except raw yolk.
Now it will pass to products with an average and low index of oxidizing action:
- fruits and berries: pickled plums, unripe bananas, compotes with low sugar content,
- vegetables: mostly dried peas and beans,
- cereal products: barley, buckwheat, corn, as well as rye, white and brown rice.
To products with medium oxidation also include starch and flour, as well as food based on them (pasta, pastries, pancakes). Baking from rye flour and sprouted wheat has a low oxidizing effect.
- Dairy products: mostly fatty (hard cheese, butter, cream, sour cream). Soft cheese is famous for its low acidity.
- Nuts: Cashew and peanuts,
- vegetable oils: a low acidifying effect is corn, sunflower and pumpkin oil, as well as grains (seeds) from which these oils are cooked,
- meat products: low oxidizing effect of thermally processed lamb, bacon, ham, beef, pork, chicken and turkey meat,
- Also products with medium and low oxidation are coffee, sugar, honey and black tea.
These products can be consumed at least every day, but their total volume should not exceed 30 percent of the total number of products on your table.
Contraindications
Alkaline diet refers to the category of low-calorie, which allows it to not only cleanse the body of unnecessary "ballast", but also reduce body weight. Weight goes both due to the removal of the body of the slag, and by burning its own fat reserves, which will turn into energy due to lack of external inputs of fat and a small number of incoming carbohydrates, which were previously used as energy sources.
But, like any low-calorie diet, this method of healing the body is not suitable for everyone. A small amount of protein supplied to the body and a deficiency of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet is unacceptable during pregnancy. Such a diet can negatively affect the development of the fetus, which will not receive "building" material for its organs and systems, and as a result, various intrauterine malformations of the child's development may occur.
It is undesirable to sit on such a diet and breastfeeding moms. After all, for newborns breast milk is the only source of nutrients, vitamins, minerals and other components necessary for the growth and development of the human body.
If the lack of useful substances is dangerous even for the formed organism, then what can we say about children, many organs and systems of which develop for several years after birth. So, another contraindication to the use of an alkaline diet is the child's age. Full nutrition of the child - the guarantee of a healthy life in adulthood.
Do not start a diet if the deterioration of well-being is associated with developing pathology. In the acute period of any disease, the organism throws all its forces into the fight against it. If he experiences a shortage of the substances necessary for him, he will not have enough forces to fight. Lose weight and clean the body can only in the absence of acute pathologies or exacerbation of chronic.
Alkaline diet can negatively affect the health status of patients with pathologies of the digestive system. It improves digestion, but in healthy people. The presence in the stomach and intestines of inflammation, erosions or ulcers is treated with a special diet that takes into account the properties of the products themselves (acidic or alkaline), and not the effect that it exerts in the body. So, lemon, garlic, tomatoes, cranberries are alkaline products, but their use with increased acidity of gastric juice and presence on the stomach mucosa wound can only aggravate the situation.
Great care must be taken when selecting an effective diet and patients who have severe cardiovascular pathologies (eg, coronary heart disease or heart failure), functional disorders of the liver and kidneys.
Cautious should be and those who are diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes. Not all foods shown in the diet have a low hypoglycemic index, which means that diabetics will have an even rarer diet, which can adversely affect their health.
Complications
Despite the fact that the alkaline diet is considered to be fairly balanced and has a clear healing effect, which is noted not only by relatively healthy people, but also by patients with oncological diseases, psoriasis, gastrointestinal tract pathologies, etc., enthusiastic. In many respects it is connected with propagation of a diet, as improving, at presence of unpleasant signs which carry at the expense of the raised acidity of a gastric juice.
But, if you look closely, you can understand that all the above symptoms are not specific. Their appearance may indicate the development of many pathologies, including those that are noted in contraindications to the alkaline diet. The use of a diet under such conditions carries a real risk to health in terms of the development of various complications. Those. Before you start a diet, you need to get medical advice about the possibilities of its use.
Risks associated with the diet, this does not end there. Alkaline diet, according to doctors, is still scanty with respect to animal protein (building material for body cells) and polyunsaturated fats. Well, animal protein can be compensated to some extent by vegetable, but what about fatty acids, the main source of which is fatty fish, peanut butter and other "forbidden" foods?
The lack of omega-6 fatty acids in the body is not the best way to affect the skin, which will become dry and flaky, thicker and coarse. It may appear eczematous rashes. The growth of the body also suffers. In addition, the lack of omega-6 can cause hair loss, degenerative processes in the liver and kidneys, frequent cases of infectious diseases, complicated wound healing, infertility.
Deficiency of Omega-3 in a negative way can affect the health of the brain and nervous system. In addition, there may be violations in the work of the visual apparatus, the development of peripheral neuropathies. And if you consider that Omega-3 is considered a powerful anti-inflammatory component that contributes to the prevention of oncological pathologies, the benefits of rejecting such useful fats will be questionable.
If the diet is practiced for 2-4 weeks, it will not cause any special complications, but using it on an ongoing basis is a big health risk, often exceeding the benefits of such a food system.
Reviews about an alkaline diet
The opinion about the alkaline diet of nutritionists and doctors were divided. The first consider the alkaline diet to be sufficiently balanced and useful, therefore, actively advise it to its clients. The attitude towards the doctors' diet is based on doubts about its safety.
On the one hand, an alkaline diet helps prevent such a dangerous pathology as cancer. And, combined with traditional treatment, promotes even the speedy recovery of cancer patients. Helps alkaline diet and in terms of preventing relapses of psoriasis, as well as getting rid of heartburn caused by high acidity of the stomach.
But on the other hand, it can cause aggravation of existing diseases. Take, for example, heartburn, which is an indicator of the acidic environment of the stomach. As long as the elevated level of acid in the stomach does not cause inflammation and wounds on the mucosa, the use of diet can only benefit. But if the increased acidity of the stomach has led to the development of diseases, an alkaline diet is already a certain risk. Not to mention the cases, if the acidity of the gastric juice is already reduced.
According to doctors, only relatively healthy people can apply an alkaline diet for not more than a month. Another use of alkalinizing techniques without consulting a physician is not recommended.
As for the repetition of the course of alkaline nutrition, such recovery is recommended not to be performed more than once a year, provided that the diet has been adhered to for a month. If the diet is observed only a couple of weeks, then you can repeat the course 4-6 months later.
As for healthy people who have tried their meals according to the requirements of an alkaline diet, in general, many were satisfied. The very fact that during the first week of a diet you can part with an extra 3-5 kg, attracts more and more new fans to it. In the following weeks weight reduction is not so active, but it is, and many consider it a plus, because a gradual decrease in body weight and parallel cleansing of the body has a beneficial effect on both the figure and the skin condition.
The fact that Hollywood stars prefer the alkaline diet only inflames appetites. After all, from the screens of TVs and pages of magazines we are looked at by 20-30 year old beauties, who in fact are not less than 40 years old. This is not an incentive for a woman who dreams of always staying young and beautiful. Another question is whether diet alone is the cause of "eternal youth"? Or maybe the reason is that well-known beauties, in addition to diet, monitor their health, lead an active lifestyle, maintain the beauty and radiance of their bodies with the help of various cosmetic procedures.
Medical expert editor
Portnov Alexey Alexandrovich
Education: Kiev National Medical University. A.A. Bogomolets, Specialty - "General Medicine"
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