Shift Your Body Back Into Its
Alkaline Comfort Zone.

Here are ten simple dietary tips for shifting your body back into its alkaline comfort zone.

You can also take a look at our chart and the Acid-Alkaline Food Guide to see where some common foods fall on the acid-alkaline spectrum.

Eat more veggies and fruits. This is the most important step of all — even if you can get no further down the list than this, you can instantly make a huge difference to your bones. Plant foods contain abundant organic anions (negatively-charged “basic” particles) that combine with cations (positively-charged, or “acidic” particles) when metabolized, in turn reducing our net urinary acid load and naturally creating alkaline balance in the body. Again, keep in mind that the mineral deficits in our topsoil and water reduce the availability of minerals in the conventional food supply. If you want better bones, we suggest more than the standard “five-a-day” servings of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds — nine to ten is better. As an aside, our perspective on plant foods follows the adage that “fruits are cleansing, vegetables are building” — fruits definitely have a place in the diet, but if you want to build bone, we suggest you focus on the veggies!

Reduce soda intake, or eliminate it altogether. Clearly my example above should demonstrate why soda pop isn’t good for your bones. Aside from the overwhelming amounts of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, aspartame, or other chemicals of little to no nutritive value that soda contains, its high phosphoric acid content requires your body to sacrifice a great deal of alkaline buffering salts so it can excrete the acid without damaging your urinary tract.

Replace refined carbs with tasty roasted roots, tubers, and gourds. Most grains are somewhat acid-forming — particularly when they are ground, bleached, and otherwise refined. Root, tuber, and gourd crops like sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes, parsnips, beets, carrots, squash and potatoes are super-rich in minerals that will alkalinize your blood, plus they’re loaded with antioxidants and vitamins. So instead of eating pasta, pizza, pastry, rice or bread, try substituting with root crops a few days a week. While they are higher on the glycemic index than many other vegetables, they are satisfying and again, micronutrient-rich.

Add fresh lemon and lime to your water. Though we typically think of citrus fruits as acidic, they’re highly alkalizing in the body (limes especially). This is due to the conversion of citric acid to citrates on digestion. Help balance your acid load by squeezing a wedge of fresh lemon or lime into your water bottle or glass throughout the day. For that matter, get into the habit of giving your cuisine a squirt just before serving: lime is delicious on papaya, melons, salads, Mexican and Asian dishes, and lemon juice can really make a soup, curry or fish dish sing!

Consider adding sea vegetables to your culinary repertoire. For some of you, I know this is “out of the question!” Others of you will have already adopted this practice at one point or another in your lives, or it may be part of your heritage. For others who are willing to try new things, why not experiment with packaged sea veggies available in the macrobiotics section of your health food store or Asian supermarket? Or, if you’re lucky enough to live near a pristine beach, forage around and harvest a sample or two of your own. Consider the fact that just a hundred years ago, much of the seaboard here in Eastern North America was actively engaged in the harvesting of sea vegetables. While delicious seaweed dishes are still regularly enjoyed throughout much of Asia, it wasn’t so long ago that many people on both sides of the Atlantic were also enjoying dulse, agar agar, and other mineral-rich seaweeds in soups, stews, and puddings (blanc mange).

Drink 64 ounces of high-mineral spring water daily. So often our public drinking supply has been processed, stripped of the health-enhancing minerals water naturally picks up from the earth as it percolates through the ground. Then it’s doctored with minerals like chlorine and fluoride which — despite conventional wisdom — are present at levels that many scientists feel are not healthy for teeth and bones. “Mineral waters” contain dissolved minerals and trace elements in widely varying amounts as they emerge from their sources in the ground. These include calcium, magnesium, and potassium salts, so it’s an easy way to replenish your alkaline reserves. Since our diets are for the most part high in sodium, I’d avoid the ones that contain sodium unless you’re living in a hot climate or working out and sweating a great deal. We like brands such as Essentia and Pellegrino, but many people develop an allegiance to this or that label, so I’d encourage you to sample a few and find your own favorites.

Reduce animal protein to 60 g or less per day. Animal proteins, which are high in the sulfur-containing amino acids cystine, cysteine, and methionine, are particularly acid-producing as your body metabolizes them. Protein is absolutely required for your bones and just about every other body tissue, but you can limit your animal protein sources (beef, chicken, pork, eggs, and dairy products) to 60 grams or less per day and upping plant-based protein sources. As recently as one or two generations ago people ate beans nearly every single day, sometimes at every meal, and in many places in the world legumes remain the number-one source of protein. Lentils in particular have a super alkalizing effect on the body compared to other protein sources, they cook more quickly than most other dried beans, they’re versatile, and they’re also more digestible for many people. Soy is another high-protein option you can try that’s high in calcium and good for the bones.

Add cinnamon, ginger, and other herbs and spices. Cinnamon is a wonderful alkalizing spice that you can add to just about anything. It’s great with sweet potatoes, apples, or sprinkled in hot tea. Ginger root is a great alkalizer and detoxifier that spices up many dishes and makes a tasty, warming winter tea. Experiment with your spice cabinet — herbs and spices don’t just make things taste better, in most cases they’re good for your health.

Monitor your urinary pH. Tracking your first morning urine pH (after at least 6 hours of sleep) is a simple and convenient way to keep track of how your nutritional changes are affecting your body. When this number is between 6.5 (slightly acidic) and 7.5 (slightly alkaline), it indicates that your overall cellular pH is likely where it should be — slightly alkaline. Results in an acid range can suggest that your bones are being depleted of minerals to offset the excess acid in your system. Super-sensitive and highly accurate, our own pH paper is designed specifically to test either saliva or urine. For specific details on my recommendations for measuring your pH, see our pH Kit page (http://www.womentowomen.com/products/betterbonesphtestkit.aspx).

Supplement your diet with a high-quality multivitamin–mineral complex. No matter how attentive we are to what we eat, where it’s grown or harvested, and how we dish it up, we just can’t always have a perfectly balanced diet. You still have lots of options when it comes to making up for that fact of life, one of which is the peace of mind a top-notch bone-healthy supplement provides, like the ones we offer in our Personal Program for Better Bones . These formulations are designed to enhance pH balance through an alkalizing nutrient base, plus they provide a potent dosage of the key nutrients required for deep bone nourishment. Should your pH stay low after several weeks of this, you may have a greater need for alkalizing mineral complexes — so feel free to contact us for help*.

*This post is an excerpt from http://www.womentowomen.com/bonehealth/alkaline-bones.aspx