Acidic foods are one of most interesting topics related nutrition and diet. But not everyone is aware of this food group. Even we do not really care about until we have some problem that related and be advised by nutrition experts or our doctors. Or in the case we really care about the healthy lifestyle through our attention of food groups and the limit contained in them.
Daily meals of yours and I may have some acidic foods but sometimes we may not concern about. This food group really has a certain obvious influence on our health if we have not balance in consuming.
Acid in general understanding
Acid is a substance which could cause the pH lower than 7 for any liquid it joins. The pH level will measure the acidity, 7 is the neutrality, and the lower pH level is, the more acidity it will be. Each part of our body has a different pH level, commonly from 6.8 to 7.4, that balance will help our body works efficiently. Over or under this level could be harmful, especially to the liver, the spleen, heart and kidney.
There is a part where the pH always at low level (around 2 to 2.5), that is our stomach. This low level means the acidity is very strong, because our stomach has to work with varieties foods daily, and so, it could be said that this part gets the directly affection from the acidic or alkaline foods. The food which is high acidic when digested by the gastric juice and enzymes, will increase the acid concentration and could injure the stomach. That’s why we should combine the foods in our meal carefully and sensibly.
Food groups
There are two main groups of food such as acidic foods and alkaline foods we could consider to make pH level be balance.
- Acidic foods are the foods which contain acidic element, or could join to lower the pH level. They are: protein-rich foods (meat, fish, egg), carbonated and energy drinks, grains, fast food, spices, vinegar, sweet food (marmalade, cake, syrup), starch, tea, coffee, alcohol, sugar…
- Alkaline foods are the foods which contain alkaline element like calcium, magnesia, sodium, potassium or the substance that could be changed to the alkaline products. They include nuts (almond, chestnut), vegetables especially green vegetables, carrot, bell pepper, tomato, mushrooms, fruits and fruit juices (lemon, grape, apple, avocado, mango, melon, strawberry, apricot, tangerine, banana…). Some fruits like tangerine, orange… although have sour flavor but through the digestion, will make the alkaline reaction.
How to concern about acid food group?
We may know about food groups in which there is acid food group by its typical factors. But how we know to limit or balance the acid food group daily. And how could we know that our body is over-acidity? There are some symptoms like flatulent, brash, nausea, indigestion that could warn us, because these signs may come from the over-acidity in our stomach. And we should adjust our menu as soon as possible to avoid the harmful effect to other parts of our body.
The most important and easy way we could remember to keep the pH of our body balanced, is never have the alkaline foods less than the acidic foods.
