What is the purpose of an alkaline diet? In an interview with the Health Channel, Carla Duenas, Registered Dietitian with Baptist Health South Florida, talks about this type of diet and the belief that most diseases arise from an acidic environment. 

Carla says that an Alkaline diet deals with the pH of the food you are eating. She posits an Alkaline diet as the opposite of an acidic diet. On the pH scale, acidic foods encompass a range of one to six point nine, with seven being neutral. Past seven on the scale, those foods are considered alkaline. 

Carla says that most diseases are caused by the overconsumption of acidic foods. The Alkaline diet was created in order to combat this condition. Carla says that, “believe it or not, [alkaline foods] are all healthy. They’re all fruits and vegetables and whole grains.” It is also about trying to limit or eat very little red meat and animal protein because animal protein is more acidic than vegetables, for example. Carla says that these diet changes are on the right track and are actually healthy changes you can make to your diet. 

However, Carla takes issue with the idea that you can change your body’s pH to help prevent disease. She says in that sense Alkaline diets are a fad diet because the assumption you can change your body’s pH with diet is just not possible. “As soon as you eat food, whether it’s acidic or alkaline, it really doesn’t matter, your stomach’s going to turn it all acidic. If it can’t turn it into acidic, you can’t digest that food. That’s how it breaks it apart,” Carla explains. As the food travels through your small and large intestine it will vary in pH a little bit, but your body requires the food to be turned acidic in order to digest it. “It really doesn’t matter the state or the pH of the food on the outside, once you consume it, in that stomach, it’s pretty much all the same,” she says. 

Carla says that the best way to manage the pH of your body is to keep your kidneys and liver healthy so they can do their job detoxifying the body. A healthy liver and kidneys will balance your pH levels according to what is correct for your body. So keeping them in good condition will allow your body to work in the way it is supposed to. 

To watch the full segment of Carla Duenas explaining what the purpose and potential benefits of an Alkaline diet are, visit: https://youtu.be/ziko2P86dmo