In order to maintain the basic functions of life, our body must first have a certain acid-base balance. So, what do the concepts of acidic and basic (alkaline) mean? Acidic refers to situations where pH is less than 7, and basic (alkaline) refers to situations where pH is greater than 7. The ideal pH value of our blood is 7.4, and even small deviations up or down are life-threatening. We have a great responsibility in maintaining this balance.
Some of the foods we consume are naturally acidic, while others are alkaline. Unless we create a balanced acid-base environment in our body, we cannot expect our organs to carry out their activities in a healthy way. Especially fast food style nutrition, excessive consumption of animal fat and protein, irregular lifestyle, inactivity, diabetes, eating habits rich in simple sugar, excessive alcohol consumption and some digestive disorders create an acidic environment in our body over time. This damages the functioning of our organs and weakens our immune system. To prevent this from happening, we need to choose most of the foods we consume from alkaline and a small portion from acidic foods. To find out which food is alkaline and which food is acidic, please review the table of alkaline-acidic foods. After a while, you will no longer need to look at the table and you will have a positive or negative judgment about all of these foods.
Apart from the foods we consume, other negative factors that contribute to the creation of an acidic environment in our body can be listed as follows:
- Eating too much,
- Eating too fast,
- Eating too often,
- Eating a diet rich in foods that are difficult to digest (especially fried meat, etc.)
- After eating going to bed or eating late in the evening.
All these factors seriously increase the burden on our digestive system, regardless of the nutrients we consume. Food that passes into the stomach without being properly chewed in the mouth causes gas formation and an acidic environment in our digestive system. Nowadays, unfortunately, the body's increasing acid load is held responsible for many chronic diseases, especially cancer.
So, the golden advice of this section is as follows: Let's list them below;
- Benefit abundantly from the raw oil of non-genetically modified fruits such as olives,
- Consume fish such as salmon, sea bass and sea bream by cooking them so that their nutritional value is not lost, ( in the oven)
- Consume plenty of home-fermented yoghurt, buttermilk and kefir made from that yoghurt, (Although yoghurt seems slightly acidic, it exhibits alkaline character in our body.)
- Refined salt consisting only of sodium and chlorine. Remove it from your table completely! Instead, start consuming unprocessed salt, known as Çankırı salt or Himalayan salt, which contains all 84 minerals in our body. Shift the balance towards alkaline by adding it to your water, ayran, food or salad according to your taste. (I will share my thoughts on Himalayan salt in detail under a separate heading.)
- Do not forget to consume foods that have alkaline properties and will keep you full for a long time, such as dried beans, chickpeas and kidney beans,
- Do not miss valuable foods such as spinach, broccoli, cucumber, celery, zucchini, onion and garlic from your table.
- By squeezing and extracting the juice from wheat grass, which you can grow at home and which contains many times more minerals and vitamins than many vegetables. or consume it by adding it to your salads. I prefer to benefit from its fiber by adding it to my salads.
- Make it a habit not to skip meals. After skipping meals, we often eat too much and too quickly. If you think you will have a busy day, be careful and take unroasted, unsalted almonds with you. Almonds both suppress your hunger and prevent you from attacking high-calorie foods later.
- Consume plenty of salads using foods such as lettuce, cabbage, arugula, parsley, carrots, dill and mint. I do not recommend any dressing other than lemon and extra virgin olive oil for your salad.
- Never forget to consume pickles made with Himalayan salt and homemade natural vinegar. You can eat pickles consisting of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, garlic and beets with peace of mind. Thanks to its alkaline character and probiotic structure, pickles support our digestive system and keep our immune system active.
Completely. A diet consisting of alkaline foods is not sustainable. I believe that the secret of many things in life is hidden in the word balance. As long as we manage to be moderate, we can consume many foods we like, even if they are acidic. Since I believe that enjoying life is one of the most important factors that nourish our soul, I have always avoided compulsive, strict diets. This is my advice to you. We need to create a lifelong sustainable diet without putting too much strain on our souls. Because good mental health means good physical health.
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