Because a majority of Americans live on processed foods that have been stripped of essential nutrients, most of us could use more alkaline food in our diets. Alkaline foods are higher than 7.0 on the pH scale. Your blood’s optimal pH level should be slightly alkaline at 7.365 pH. This means that the body functions best when the majority of your diet consists of alkaline foods.

The majority of alkalizing foods are vegetables. According to Dr. Robert Young’s relative pH scale, cucumbers, sprouts, wheatgrass, and barley grass are a few of the most alkalizing foods on the planet. These foods are all close to 30.0 on the relative pH scale. Cabbage, celery, garlic, spinach, tomatoes, avocados, fresh soybeans, and lemons are also very alkaline. They range from about 10.0-15.0 on the pH scale.

On the other end of the spectrum are foods that are very acidic. Pork, beef, vinegar, liquor, and processed fruit juice are all below negative 30.0 on the relative pH scale. Also close to negative 30.0 are beer, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Chicken, eggs, hard cheese, and white sugar are all in between -15.0 and -20.0.

When trying to adjust your diet to include more alkaline foods, you should do it gradually instead of all at once. Making too many changes to your diet at one time can be overwhelming and it is much harder to stick with instant changes for a long period of time.
Instead of the all at once approach; try introducing just one or two new alkalizing foods into your diet at a time. For instance, you could try incorporating cucumbers and tomatoes into your meals more often. Or you could try drinking green tea two or three times a week.

After you have become accustomed to a few alkaline foods, you can begin to think about cutting down slightly on acidic foods. It is a lot easier to simply cut back on acidic foods instead of trying to abandon them altogether. When you begin to eat or drink less and less of an acidic substance, you can then start to think about taking it out of your diet completely, if you wish.

If you are looking for alkaline recipes, you should check out Dr. Young’s book called the ph miracle . It is packed full of useful information in addition to the delicious recipes. You might also want to consider purchasing an alkalizing water filter. Drinking this water can work wonders for low pH levels because it is much more alkaline than tap or filtered water.