What is an Alkaline Diet? Is He Healthy?

Have you ever heard of the alkaline diet or alkaline nutrition model, which is based on a healthy standard of living? What does alkaline mean among popular diets? The alkaline diet or alkaline nutrition aims to make the body alkaline by focusing on vegetables and fruits while also limiting extra energy intake to lose weight. However, you shouldn’t get caught up in the dream of rapid weight loss. Losing an average of 2 to 5 kilos per month is healthy. It’s totally wrong to expect quick results from the alkaline diet and get caught up in the dream of fast weight loss. The goal of the alkaline diet is to maintain the body’s pH balance at a consistent level. But when this nutrition system is applied systematically, it yields effective results. Because no food changes the blood pH value quickly as soon as it’s consumed. Diet consisting of 1 liter of alkaline water for every 13.5 kg of body weight and 80% green vegetables, along with 15-30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week, aims to achieve an ideal body structure within 12 weeks.

Alkaline Diet Meal Prep

It’s important for those switching to an alkaline diet to keep an eye on the color and smell of their urine. They should avoid fruit juices and should drink the juice of vegetables at home. It’s recommended to increase fish consumption and cut out carbs from dinner. Besides drinking alkaline water, balancing acidic and alkaline foods is also key. For example, if you’re having 90 grams of meat in a meal, you should also include 360 grams of vegetables.

Acidic Foods

Many food items are acidic. Acidic foods can lead to many negative effects, from weakening the immune system to fatigue, forgetfulness, and rapid weight gain.

Low Acid Foods: Cow’s milk and yogurt, cream, butter, egg yolk, lamb, turkey, chicken, offal, orange, pineapple, apple, mulberry, papaya, pomegranate, white grape, tangerine, ripe banana, hazelnut, walnut, wheat germ, whole grain bread, chestnut, corn.

Medium Acid Foods: Ready-made yogurt, beef, organ meats, seafood, dried fruits, black tea, Turkish coffee, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, sunflower oil, corn, cottonseed oil, cornmeal, barley, oats, rye, pistachio.

High Acid Foods: Ice cream, pasteurized cow’s milk, cow cheese, beef, jam, fruit candies, soy sauce, margarine, burnt frying oils, coffee, alcohol, energy drinks, ready-made fruit juice.

Alkaline Foods

Alkaline foods, on the other hand, promise a healthy lifestyle. From eggs to lemons, goat and sheep milk to cheese made from these milks, many nutrients are beneficial for health in an alkaline way.

Very Alkaline Foods: Lemon, grapefruit, avocado, coconut, coconut milk, almond milk.

Moderately Alkaline Foods: Eggs, salmon, cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt and cheese made from goat and sheep milk, tofu, melon, figs, unripe green bananas, black plums, and grape molasses.

Slightly Alkaline Foods: Soy milk, rice milk, buffalo milk and yogurt, farmed salmon, tuna, anchovies, sardines, mackerel, watermelon, apricots, strawberries, blackberries, nectarines, dried dates and figs, pears, black grapes, and dried black plums.

Weight Maintenance After Alkaline Diet

Alkaline diet can be followed until you reach your ideal weight, but once you switch to a weight maintenance program, you should try to make it a lifestyle by staying away from acidic foods as much as possible without drastically reducing your energy intake. Going back to old eating habits after the diet ends and starting to consume restricted foods more often can trigger rapid weight gain. Therefore, after losing weight, it’s important to maintain the 3 to 1 balance between alkaline and acidic foods for a long time to keep your target weight. However, following an alkaline diet continuously for a long time can lead to many negative effects, such as muscle loss, decreased metabolism, anemia, calcium deficiency, and osteoporosis.

Example of a Day on an Alkaline Diet

Breakfast: Cottage cheese (until full) + seasonal greens (with lemon) + unsalted olives + 2 slices of gluten-free bread + green tea

Lunch: Soup + grilled fish + steamed vegetables + boiled potatoes with skin

Snack: 2 servings of fruit + 1 cup of herbal tea (made with alkaline water) + 10 raw almonds

Dinner: Grilled turkey meat + raw vegetables (four times the amount of meat) + boiled brown rice

Snack: 1 boiled egg