Have you or anyone you know had cancer, an autoimmune disease, or heart disease? Most of us have lived through one of these issues, or know someone who has. All three problems have one common denominator: inflammation. As a matter of fact, almost all of our health issues start with inflammation. Even common allergies cause inflammation and in the next ten years modern (western medicine) is going to become tuned in to this problem and how we can minimize inflammation in our bodies. Controlling inflammation is the key to staying healthy and controlling it starts with keeping your body alkaline.
Acidity and alkaline in the body can be a little confusing, but it’s very important for the body to remain alkaline for many reasons, most of all to keep inflammation at a minimum. So put simply, acidity causes inflammation and being alkaline minimizes inflammation. Staying alkaline can make all the difference in how a person with an autoimmune disease feels.
How do you get alkaline?
Let’s start by looking at how a body gets acidic. And, like most things that have to do with how you feel, acidity comes from what you put in your body.
Acidic foods include: meats, table salt (not sea salt), milk (a huge offender), sodas, coffee, chocolate (heartbreaking), sugar, alcohol, cheese, and some grains.
So, one of the best ways to get alkaline is to try to eliminate these often tasty items from your diet.
Why? Because being acidic can cause lots of serious problems ranging from general inflammation to life-taking cancer. Other potentially serious acidity problems include: osteoporosis (an acidic body will steal from the bones), kidney problems and cardiovascular disease. So… you really don’t want to be acidic, even if you don’t have an auto-immune disease.
What are some things you can put into your body each day to make it alkaline?
It’s easy :O)… most fruits and vegetables, apple cider vinegar (in place of acid causing regular vinegar), and adding half a lemon in water. Adding these things to a meal that may have some acid-forming foods provides balance for the body. If you’re feeling inflamed, avoid the acid forming foods and drink lots of lemon in water. See if that helps how you’re feeling.
Some great books that discuss the importance of staying alkaline are Clean, by Alejandro Junger, M.D. and The Paleo Diet, by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. Both books address autoimmune diseases and have some great ideas on how to care for the body holistically.
Got some thoughts about acidity and alkaline? I’d love to hear it!!
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