After the holidays, help your body regain its acid-base balance

[Article updated on 19/09/2023]

To thus reduce its elimination work!

Did you have a great end of year celebration? You probably ate a little more protein, fat, alcohol, and/or sugary foods. Maybe you went to bed later, and did less physical exercise… In short, you treated yourself and took a break!

It’s time to take the work out of eliminating your body and lighten up! To do this, we will help the body regain its acid-base balance!

What is the acid-base balance of the body?

Changes in the pace of life and diet (excess proteins, lipids, rapid sugar) lead to metabolic failures and the body often becomes too acidic.
Indeed, our body is made up of so-called alkaline fluids (like blood for example) or acidic fluids (digestive juices). Our body must strike a balance between the two because this imbalance leads to fatigue, infectious diseases but also depression, insomnia…! It must therefore be readjusted.

Refined foods produce acids, due to a lack of vitamins and trace elements (ionization, pasteurization, etc.) or due to the difficulty of being completely transformed by the body.
The objective of the acid-base diet is to rebalance ions, increase vitality and prevent diseases, including osteoporosis in particular. It will allow you to shed the few pounds gained during the holidays even if this is not your primary objective!

We measure the acidity and alkalinity of our body using PH

So, if it is too acidic or conversely too alkaline, our body risks experiencing some weaknesses.

• A pH around 7 is neutral (this is the case for water for example) and is a guarantee of good health!
• Any substance below this value is acidic.
• A substance greater than 7 is therefore defined as alkaline.

When the pH is unbalanced, it leads to the appearance of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other parasites.
To know if the body is too acidic or too alkaline, you must measure the urinary pH (the strip test prescribed by the doctor) or take a blood test.

Joint and muscle pain and fatigue are also concrete signs that are easy to detect!

Our body eliminates acids via:

• the lungs because they reject volatile acids which will be transformed into carbon dioxide released during respiration;
• the kidneys because they reject non-volatile acids (uric acid for example);
• the skin during sweating.

Anti-acid diet: instructions for use

To restore the body’s acid-base balance, priority must be given to diet but also:

• Drink a lot: It is recommended to drink at least 1.5 liters of water per day to facilitate the kidneys’ elimination work. Choose water with a neutral pH;
• Do at least 30 minutes of physical exercise every day to increase the work of eliminating volatile acids through the lungs, maintain your heart and your muscles;
• Reduce your salt intake: we tend to eat too much salt, with cold meats and ready-made meals in mind, which increases potassium/sodium intake.

We consume on average 10 grams of salt per day even though health authorities recommend it. Excessive salt consumption leads to hypertension, heart failure, osteoporosis, etc.

We eat too much animal protein, too many refined and cooked foods and not enough fruits and vegetables.

Limit acidifying foods

A consumption of proteins, particularly animal proteins, in excess of your needs (around 1g per kilo of weight), causes an overload of work on the kidneys to evacuate this surplus because there are no protein reserves in the body! These transformations increase the acidity!
In order to limit the acidifying effect, be sure to compensate by consuming alkalizing products such as vegetables, potatoes and/or fruits during the same meal and, above all, consume only one portion of protein per day! Choose small amounts of quality protein!

THE acidifying foods are :

• animal proteins: Meat, game, cold meats, meat extracts, poultry, fatty fish, shellfish, mussels, shrimp;
• cheese (strong and aged ones are more acidic than soft ones), sterilized milk, whey;
• animal fats (butter), cooked fats, refined, hardened vegetable oils (margarine);
• refined cereals: wheat, oats, especially millet; bread, pasta, flakes and cereal-based foods….
• legumes: peanuts, soya (except milk), beans, broad beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.
• refined sugar, sweets: syrup, pastries, candy, jam, candied fruits, etc.
• industrial drinks: lemonade, soda, sparkling water, etc.
• certain oilseeds: walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachio, sunflower;
• coffee, tea (especially black), cocoa, chocolate, wine, yeast, aspirin….

Promote the consumption of alkalizing foods

The processing of these foods by the body does not release acidic compounds either.

These are foods rich in bases and poor in acidic substances such as:

• floury ones: potatoes, sweet potato, pumpkin, chestnut, etc.
• green vegetables: raw or cooked and colored vegetables (except tomato, sorrel, rhubarb), vegetable juice, fruit compote (non-industrial);
• certain seeds (sesame seeds, etc.) and sprouted legumes (soybeans), dried vegetables (white beans, etc.), corn (polenta);
• whole grains (whole rice, whole wheat, etc.);
• certain oilseeds: almond, Brazil nut, black olive (in olive oil and not in brine);
• sweet and ripe fruits: apple, pear, banana, etc. and certain dried fruits (dates, grapes, except apricot) if dried to maturity in unsulphured form;
• alkaline mineral waters (ph>7);
• first cold pressed virgin oils;
• almond milk, soy milk, raw milk, well-drained cottage cheese, fresh butter (uncooked), crème fraîche;
• whole sugar, egg yolk, oyster, sea salt, marine or fresh water algae.

Adapt your consumption of “acidic to taste” foods according to your sensitivity

Acidic tasting foods are acidifying for people who are sensitive or have metabolic deficiencies.
These are foods naturally rich in acidic compounds, such as lemon juice, which when metabolized will neutralize and release the mineral bases of the fruit: the result will therefore normally be an alkalizing effect.

However, in a person with a metabolic deficit, the neutralization of acids will not be able to take place through physiological pathways and acidic foods will therefore have a strongly demineralizing effect and will favor the inflammatory terrain (at the joint, muscular, digestive level. ..).
Thus, the acidifying or alkalizing effect of acidic foods depends on the metabolic capacities of each person.

For these people, their consumption of these foods must therefore be done with great caution:

• Whey: yogurt, curdled milk, kefir, cottage cheese;
• Fruits: the less ripe the fruit, the more acidic it is. Red berries: redcurrant, blackcurrant, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, sea buckthorn, sloe. Citrus fruits: lemon, grapefruit, orange, tangerine. Apples (bell), cherries (griotte), plum, apricot, brugnon, greengage, pineapple, kiwi, melon, watermelon, grapes, plum, peach, fig, mirabelle plum, mango, pomegranate, persimmon, fruit juice;
• Acidic vegetables: tomato-peppers-potato (especially cooked, skin and seeds removed), rhubarb, sorrel, watercress, spinach, chard (especially cooked); sauerkraut and lacto-fermented vegetables, vinegar, condiments;
• White wine, champagne, cider, honey, maple syrup.

Click here to see the list of acidic and alkalizing foods

Take care of your body and after the holidays, reduce the acidity in your body!

Change your diet: rather alkalizing fresh vegetables and fruits, slow down on proteins, a little vegetable fat and slow floury or whole carbohydrates!

Rest and move for at least 30 minutes every day!

You will reduce the acidity of your body and regain your vitality, increase your immune defenses and protect your organs which will return it to you!