Acid & Alkaline Foods
by Dr. Lynn Tan N.D.
While many have heard about an acidic or alkaline body, only a few understand what this really means.
Diseases are always associated with an extremely acidic body. The body can only be healthy if it is alkaline.
Whether the body is acidic or alkaline mainly depends on the type of food consumed. Certain foods tend to favor an acidic condition, while other foods will add alkalinity to the body.
Since the health of the body depends very largely on the type of food consumed, it is of vital importance that one should know what type of food is alkaline and what type of food is acid. By so doing, the body is able to work towards a perfect balance of about 80% alkaline and 20% acid.
Various experiments have been done on animals that were alkalinizcd. Poisons like turpentine or viruses were later injected into them. It was found that the damage done to their bodies was very slight and they actually had a quick rate of recovery. The same was not true when the animals were acidized. When the same amount of poisons or viruses were injected into the animals, disease or death followed.
Similar cases were foundwith patients in certain hospitals during clinical experiments. It was found that for patients with high acidity in their urine, the rate of recovery from various diseases was slow as compared to those people who had low urinary acidity. It is obvious that a high alkaline body is the first line of defense against illness and death.
Acid-Alkaline Defined
Many people do not understand fully what is meant by acid and alkaline foods. It brings further confusion when we say that a lemon is alkaline because people realize that a lemon is sour and acidic.
When a food is called alkaline, it means that after this food is broken down, its ash is alkaline. This contributes to an alkaline condition in the body, It is not the initial acid or alkaline condition that is of importance. It is the final end product after digestion and assimilation that is of importance to the body.
Table 1 clearly shows the list of alkaline and acid foods.
You will note that all vegetables and fruits are alkaline in nature. That is, they produce alkaline ash after being broken down by the body, therefore creating an alkaline condition in the body.
You will also notice that all meat products are acidic in nature. That means they will develop an acid condition in the body after being broken down.
Also all legumes, nuts, and grains are acid foods. Therefore bread, rice, noodles, bee hoon, spaghetti, macaroni, biscuits and cakes are acid producing.
While most of the sources of starchy foods are acid producing, some like potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, bananas, and squash are alkaline producing.
Take note also that while sugar is acid producing, raw honey is alkaline producing.
It is interesting that while citrus fruits like lemon, limes, and oranges are sour and obviously acidic, yet they produce alkaline ash for the body. This fact is also true regarding pineapples and most other fruits.
While citrus fruits, cranberries, pineapple, strawberries, blackcurrants, and rhubarb are all recognized as acid fruits, most other fruits come under the sub-acid classification.
Rambutan, papaya, mangoes, starfruit, peaches, pears, apricots, apples, durian, and even coconuts are all examples of sub-acid fruits. Yet their ashes are alkaline to the body.
This is true only when the fruits are plucked tree ripened. Fruits that are plucked green and which later turn yellow because they are rotting become acidic in the body.
For example, it is increasingly difficult to buy tree ripened papaya. What tends to be available is papaya that is anaemic, not fit for consumption. Not only does this papaya not provide the proper nutrients to an individual, but also it is acidic to one’s body instead of being alkaline. This is true with all other fruits that are plucked green.
Some may ask, are vegetables acidic in their natural state? Yes, at least all the vegetables are which I have tested. Test it out yourself; you don’t have to be a great scientist to do so. Just dip a piece of blue litmus paper into some vegetable juice. You will find that the litmus paper will turn pink, indicating that the vegetables are acidic.
Let us ponder for a while upon the purpose of our Creator, the Almighty God, in creating all fruits & vegetables to be acidic, and yet all of them are alkaline to the body after they are broken down.
God’s design of the body is absolutely flawless.
The body is healthy when it is in an alkaline state. The whole intestinal tract, beginning with the stomach, is acidic in medium in order for digestion and other intestinal functions to be carried out properly. The stomach produces very strong acid in order to breakdown the food which we consume. Both small and large intestines are also acidic in medium, though not as strongly acidic as in the stomach, so the friendly bacteria can thrive in that environment.
As fruits are consumed, they contribute to the acid medium of the intestinal tract, enhancing digestion, assimilation and elimination. The ash of the fruits are alkaline to the body, which fits the Creator’s design just right.
Alkaline Water
Some people think that drinking alkaline water will enhance their health. But in reality, this contradicts the design of nature. The argument for taking alkaline water is that since the body is healthier in an alkaline state, therefore, one should consume alkaline water.
This argument is totally irrelevant. As you now understand, what is of primary importance to the body is what happens to food and drink after it is broken-down, not before.
Drinking alkaline water is not necessarily harmful to the body since it is only very mildly alkaline. However, the reason behind promoting drinking alkaline water is totally wrong. Just imagine how strongly acidic a stomach is. By the time the alkaline water reaches the stomach, it will all be neutralized by the strong acids there. And if too much alkaline water is consumed at mealtime, digestion will be greatly affected because of reduced acidity in the stomach.
Distilled Water
The best water that we should drink is distilled water.
Some people who are selling other forms of water argue that distilled water is not good for health because it is acidic. This argument is a bit deceptive and needs to be clarified.
Distilled water, being the only form of pure water, is by nature neutral. That is, it is neither acidic nor alkaline, with the pH value of 7.
However, after distilled water is exposed to air which contains oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the dissolved carbon dioxide becomes carbonic acid, which is mildly acidic. The water then has a slightly acidic reading of pH<7.
When health authorities say that it is not good to drink acidic water, what they mean is water that has been turned acidic through the pollutants from the atmosphere, which they call acid rain. These pollutants are poisonous and therefore the water is not fit for consumption.
Other forms of water may or may not be slightly acidic, depending on other contaminants contained in it.
For example, if water was contaminated by chemicals that were alkaline, the amount of carbonic acid in the water produced by dissolving carbon dioxide front the air would hardly effect the strong alkaline state of the water. Therefore, the water may read alkaline or neutral.
This would not necessarily indicate that pH7 means "pure water," or that it is fit for drinking. The acidity due to the desolution of carbon dioxide in distilled water is so very mild that you cannot even pick it up by the litmus paper test. You may test it by dropping a piece of blue litmus paper into the distilled water. You will notice that the color hardly changes. But if you use the blue litmus paper and put it in contact with a peeled banana, the blue litmus paper will immediately turn to a beautiful pink. What does this tell you?
Acid-Alkaline Balance
Returning to our previous discussion of acid-alkaline foods, by examining the chart you will realize that a normal Asian meal contributes mainly to an acidic body. Unless one consciously moves towards more alkaline foods, he will be building a diseased body. By following the New Life diet, as suggested in our Body Detoxification And Rejuvenation Program booklet, a person can definitely move towards building an 80% alkaline and 20% acid body.
