Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/84869
Wellness By Shana Hopkins, MS, CN; WAC Nutritionist Tamela Thomas, Wellness Manager tamelat@wac.net 206.464.4639 Puffy face? Achy joints? Think diet I 've been a fan of alkalizing foods ever since someone loaned me the book Alkalize or Die. Compelling title, right? It made sense to me that foods were affecting inflammation, as I often noticed how when I woke up in the morning my eyes would be puffy if I ate certain meals for din- ner. As I got older, I also noticed a difference in how good or bad my joints felt depending on how I had been eating. I even used those pH-testing strips for a while to test my alkalin- ity first thing in the morning. If I tested acidic, I started my day with some alkalizing foods. Nowadays, I focus on eating alkalizing foods on a daily basis. There are always opportunities to eat foods that make me acidic, so when I have a chance to pick alkaline-producing foods I do. In this month's Wellness article, you'll learn how important that choice can be. " The acid-alkaline diet E Keep your system in harmony with good eats which through time contributes to certain disease states. To counterbalance the acidifying nature of such a diet, the body has to pull from its mineral and protein reserves to maintain a preferred alkaline state. Let's take a deeper look at what all this means. First, we should review basic chemistry. On a pH scale, 7.0 is neutral. Water is an example of a fluid that is neutral. On that same scale, 0.0 is pure acid and 14.0 is pure alkaline. Human blood is slightly alkaline, with a pH of 7.4, and human life requires a tightly controlled pH level to survive. From a dietary perspective, food has either a net acid or a net alkaline effect on the body. In other words, everything you eat and drink—after it's digested and metabolized—either pushes the body toward an acidic or alkaline state. Examples of alkalizing foods include: dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, sea veggies, grass juices, lemon, watermelon, figs, raisins, avocado, almonds, coconut, chestnuts, flaxseed, millet and buckwheat. Examples of acidifying foods include: cheeses, cow's milk, butter, beef, bacon, lamb, tuna, pork, wheat, oats, coffee, black tea, sodas, artificial sweeteners and liquor. at a diet high in alkalizing foods." You may have heard this before, but what exactly does it mean? In a nutshell, advocates of an alkalizing diet maintain that our modern American diet exerts an acidifying effect on the body, 22 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | OCTOBER 2012 LUKE RUTAN