Acid and Alkaline Foods

ACID AND ALCALINE FOODS

Acid forming foods:
Meat, Fish, Chicken, Cheese, Eggs, All grains except Millet, Bread, cakes, biscuits, cereals, food containing sugar, fizzy drinks, Ice cream, beans, peas, lentils, chicks peas, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan, pickles, sauces, vinegar, tea, coffee, cream, cream cheese, buttermilk, yogurt.


Alkaline forming foods:

- Fruits: Apples, Apricots (fresh and diets), Bananas, Dates, Figs, Grapefruit, Grapes, Kiwis, Lemons, Oranges, Melon, Peaches, Pears, Pineapple, Prunes, Raisins, Raspberries, Strawberries.


-Vegetables: Asparagus, Aubergine, Avocados, Beet, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Chives, Courgettes, Cucumber, Fresh Peas, Kale, Leeks, Lttuce, Marrow, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsnip, Peppers, Potatoes, Radishes, Runner Beans, Spinach, Scallions, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watercress.

-Nuts: Almonds, Brazil, Chesnuts, Hazelnuts, Pine Kernals

- Grains: Millet, plus wholegrain rice and flour are less acod forming than white rice anf flour. Besides, butter and vegetable oils are neutral.

A balanced diet contains 20% acid forming foods & 80% Alkaline Forming Foods.

A low-phosphate diet is not necessarily one lacking in phosphate, since much of the food we eat has a phosphorus content far exceeding the recommended daily intake. It is not stricly a diet at all, but rather the kind of food familiar to our forebears, before the modern era when most foods became processed.

Twenty-five years ago German clinical pharmacists Hertha Hafer did much the same thing in her book, The Hidden Drug: Dietary Phosphate, as Percy Weston has in Cancer: Cause & Cure. She identified surplus phosphorus in modern food as triggering a serious problem, curable with a low-phosphate diet, and then challenged the medical profession to reproduce her experiments and explain them scientifically.

So far they have not risen to the challenge. Hafer's special interest is hyperactivity and behavioural problems in children, including Attention Deficit Syndrome. One of her findings is that almost every such child had laryngitis as an infant or toddler - an earlier indication of imbalance in mineral metabolism caused by excessive phosphate in diet. Typically these children have an increased suceptibility to allergies, which continues into later life. For them the effect of earing phosphorus-rich food is dramatic. "Within minutes of ingesting phosphate, the balance of calcium, potassium and magnesium is disrupted and the production of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine in the brain is impaired or blocked." (p.77 of The Hidden Drug)


From being a perfectly well-behaved and normal on a low-phosphate diet, the phosphate-sensitive child in her case studies could give the appearance of becoming suddenly "nasty, arrogant, obnoxious, egocentric, disruptive, deceptive and malicious" and remain that way for days due to a single dietary lapse such as drinking a glass of Coke (which contains phosphoric acid) or eating a piece of chocolate cake made with eggs.

Hafer's low-phosphate diet is also low in sugar, and acids of the citric acid cycle, notably citric and malic acid. As she done more than most to identify what are acceptable foods for those wishing to reduce their phosphate intake, here are some of her suggestions:


Baked foods: Wholemeal bread is OK if made from flour, water, yeat, salt. But be wary if the word "emulsifier" is among the ingredients. Phosphorylated starch is another phosphate to avoid. Avoid bread made with milk or milk powder, or lecithin. Shortcrust, puff, flaky, strudel and pie pastries are OK but avoid all others. Raising agents sour dough, potash, bicarb of soda, ammonium carbonate and cream of tartar are OK, but avoid all whole grains (including Ryvita), all white bread and rolls if ingredients are unknown, frozen pastries, instant cake mix, commercially baked cake and biscuits, and phosphate baking powder.

Meat: Eat pure fresh meat, poultry and game. But avoid meat and sausages made with phosphate additives (mineral salts, emulsifiers and lecithin), bacon, cold-pressed meats such as ham and bologna, sweetbreads-kidneys, liver, offal, etc, chicken or beef stock cubes, instant stock powder, soup mixes.

Fish: Eat fresh and frozen fish and crustaceans, sardines and other fish in oil. Avoid frozen fish fingers and other frozen instant fish meals.

Dairy: Eat butter, fresh untreated or sour cream, small amounts of hard cheese and cottage cheese, icecream made at home from fresh cream and pureed fruit. Avoid all cows milk, buttermilk, skim milk (as an additive or not), yogurt, all processed cheeses, cheese spreads, cheese dishes, all margarines, and manufactured icecream.

Fruits and vegetables: Fresh salads and vegetables, potatoes mashed with butter and water, green beans, peas in moderation, ripe stone fruits, canned fruit without the syrup. Avoid mushrooms, sweet corn, soy products, legumes -dried peas, beans, lentils, tomatoes.

Carbonhydrates: Favour rice, seminola/cream of wheat, sago, tapioca, arrowroot, durum wheat pasta, unbleached flour -wheat or rye, homemade puddings and custard prepared with cream and water, cornflour, roce flour, potato flour, fructose (fruit sugar). Avoid oats, oatmeal, muesli, instant rice, instant noodle, instant pudding mixes, instant thickening sich as instant gravies, pancakes, sugar, honey, glucose and dextrose.

Nuts: All have phosphorus to excess. Avoid.

Alkaline fruits (capitals indicate almost neutral): apples and cider, apricots, avocados, bananas (speckled only) berries (all), breadfruit, cactus, cantaloupe, carob, pod only, cherimoyas, cherries, citron, currants, dates, figs, grapes, grapefruit, guavas, kumquats, lemons, ripe, limes, loquats, mangoes, melons (all), nectarines, olives, sundried olives, oranges, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, persimmons, pineapple, plums, pomegranates, pomelos, prunes and juice, quince raisins, sapotes, tamarind, tangerines, tomatoes.

Acid fruits: all preserved or jellied, canned, sugared, dried, sulphured, glazed fruits, raw with sugar. Banana if green, cranberries, olives, pickled, green.

Alkaline vegetables:

Artichokes, asparagus, ripe, bamboo shoots, beans, green, lima, beets and tops, brocoli.

Alkaline vegetables: Cabbage, red and white carrots, celery, cauliflower, chard, chayotes, chicory, chives, collards, cowslip, cucumber, dandelion greens, dill, dock, dulse (sea lettuce), eggplant (aubergine), endive, escarole, garlic, horseradish, frsh jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leek, legumes, except peanuts and lentils, lettuce and romaine mushrooms (most varieties), okra, onions, oyster plant, parsley, parsnips, peppers, green or red, potatoes (all varieties), pumpkin, radish, rhubarb (oxalic acid), rutahaga (swede), salsify, sauerkraut (lemon only), sorrel, soy neans, soy bean extract, spinach, squash, taro, baked, turnips and tops waternut, watercress.

Acid vegetables: Artichokes, asparagus tips, white, beans, all dried, brussels sprout, garbanzos, Lentils Rhubarb.

Alkaline dairy products: Acidophilus, Buttermilk, Koumise, Milk, Raw (human, cow or goat), Whey Yogurt.

Acid dairy products: Butter, Cheese, Cottage cheese, Cream, Ice cream, Ices Custards, Milk boiled, cooked or pasteurized, malted dried, canned.

Alkaline flesh foods: None (blood and bone only are alkaline forming).

Acid flesh foods: all meat: fowl and fish, beef tea, fish, shellfish, all gelatin, gravies.

Alkaline cereals: Corn, green (1st 24 hours).

Acid cereals: All flour product, Buckwheat, Barley Breads, all kinds, Cakes, Corn, Cornmeal, corn, flakes, starch and hominy, crakers, all Doghnuts, Dumpling, Grapenuts, Macaroni and spaghetti, noodles, oatmeal, pies and pastry, riceand rye-Krisp.

Alkaline Miscellaneous: Agar, Alfalfa products, coffee subtitutes, Ginger, dried, unsweetened, Honey, Kelp (edible), Teas, Unweetened-alhdesert and mate, alfalfa, clover, mint oat, oriental, saae strawberry.

Acid Miscellaneous:

All alcoholic beverages, candy and Confectionnery, Cocoa and chocolate, coffee, Condiments as, curry pepper salt, spices, etc. Dressings and thick sauces drugs ans aspirin, eggs, especially whites, Ginger, preserved Jams and Jellies Flavourings, Marmalades, Mayonnaise, Preservatives, as Benzoate, Sulphur, Vinegar, Salt, Brine, Salt, Brine, Smoke, Sago (starch), Tobacco, Juice, Snuff, Smoke, Vinegar, Lack of sleep, Overwork, Worry.

Alkaline Nuts: Almonds Chestnuts, roated Coconut, dried.

Acid Nuts: All nuts, mereso if roasted Coconut, dried Peanuts.

Neutral: Sugar, refined, oils, olive, corn, cotton seed, peanut, soy, sesame, etc. Fats, lard and other greases.

Note: Because a fruit is "acid" is no indication that its reaction is the same in the body, because it actually may be alkaline. Honey and raw sugars yield alkaline ash, but on account of high concentration of sugar, become acid formers. Rhubarb with raisins or dates is very good.

End of day:

Each question in this section starts with a list of symptoms associated with nutritional deficiency. Underline the conditions you often suffer from. Please underline them in all cases.

Vitamine A:

Mouth ulcers, Poor night vision, Acne, Frequent colds or injections, Dry flaky skin, Dandruff, Trush or cystitis Diarrhoea.

Vitamine D:

Rheumatism or Arthristis, Back ache, Tooth decay, Hair loss, Excessive sweating, Musle cramps, or spams, joint pain or stiffness, Lack of energy.

Vitamine E:

Lack of sex drive, Exhaustion after light exercise, Easy bruising, Slow wound healing, Varicose veins, Loss of muscle tone, Infertility.

Vitamine C:

Frequent colds, Lack of energy, Frequent infections, Bleeding or tender gums, Easy bruising, Nose bleeds, Low wound healing, Red pimples on skin.

Vitamine B1:

Tender muscles, Eye pains, Irritability, Poor concentration, Prickly legs, Poor memory, Stomach pains, Constipation, Rapid heart beat.

Vitamine B2:

Turning or gritty eyes, Sensitivity to bright lights, Cataracts, Oily hair, Eczema or dermatitis.

Vitamine B3:

Lack of energy, Diarrhea, Insomnia, Headaches or migraines, Poor memory, Anxiety or tension, Depression, Irritability, Bleeding or tender gums, Acne.

Vitamine B5:

Muscle tremors or cramps, Apathy, Poor concentration, Burning feet or tender heels, Nausea or vomiting, Lack of energy; Exhaustion after light exercise, Anxiety or tension, Teeth grinding.

Vitamine B6:
Infrequent dream recall, Water retention, Tingling hands, Depression or nervousness, Irritability, Muscle tremors or cramps, Lack of energy

Vitamine B12:
Poor hair condition, Eczema or dermatitis, Mouth over sensitive to hot or cold, Irritability, Tension, Lack of energy, Tender or sore muscles, Pale skin.

Folic acid:
Eczema, Craked lips, Prematurely greying hair, Anxiety or tension, Poor memory, Lack of energy, Poor apetite, Stomach pains, Depression.

Biotin:

Dry skin, Poor hair condition, Prematurely greying hair, Tender or sore muscles, Poor apetite or nausea, Eczema or dermatitis.

Acids:

Dry, rough skin, Dry eyes, Frequent infections, Poor memory, Loss of hair or dandruff, Excessive thirst, Poor wound healing, PMS or breast pain, Infertility.

Calcium:

Muscle cramps or tremors, Insomnia or nervousness, Joint pain or arthritis, Tooth decay, High blood pressure.

Magnesium:

Muscle tremors or spams, Muscle weakness, Insomnia or nervousness, High Blood pressure, Irregular heart beat, Constipation, Fits or convulsions, Hyperactivity, Depression.

Iron:

Pale skin, Sore tongue, Fatigue or listelessness, Loss of apetite or nausea, Heavy periods or blood loss.

Zinc:

Poor sense of taste or smell, White marks on more than two, Finger nails, Frequent infections, Stretch marks, Acne or greasy skin, Low fertility, Pale skin, Tendency to depression, Poor apetite.

Selenuim:

Family history of cancer, Signs of premature ageing, Cataracts, High blood pressure, Frequent infections.

Cinomium:

Excessive or cold sweats, Dizziness or irritability after 6 hours without food, Need for frequent meals, Cold hands, Need for excessive sleep suring the day, Excessive thirst, 'Addicted' to sweet foods.

Manganese:

Muscle twitches, Childhood 'growing pains', Dizziness or poor sense of balance, Fits or convulsions, sore knees.