Alkaline Power Diet Cornerstones
The following foods form the centerpiece
of your daily diet, with some exceptions depending on where you
fall on the acid/alkaline spectrum:
Let your body be your guide when it comes
to choosing servings. Each woman is an individual, so I won’t make
recommendations that might be right for someone else but not for
you.
| Fruits (low acid) Vegetables Fish/Poultry Beverages Sweeteners |
Nuts/Seeds Legumes Whole grains Condiments |
Fruits (check
pH)
Fruits are a treasure trove of vitamins A and C, numerous minerals,
natural sugars, fiber and water. Some even contain protein and fat.
Helps with: Protecting against cancer, heart
health, lowering levels of bad cholesterol, reducing
heavy menstrual flow, strengthening
immune system, protecting against allergies, arthritis, and PMS
symptoms.
Good sources: Stick with fresh, dried, or frozen if possible.
Try to eat locally grown fruits in season, as they’ll be fresher
and riper, and be sure to wash all fresh fruits before eating them.
Try and eat the fruits whole or thinly peeled so you retain the
nutrients in the skin.
Caution: Try to stay away from fruit juices, or only drink
them in very small amounts. For more on the problems with fruit
juices, click here.
Avoid highly acidic fruits such as lemons, limes, and berries.
Vegetables (check
pH)
Like fruit, vegetables are outstanding sources of many of the essential
vitamins and minerals we need, providing bulk and fiber to our diet.
Helps with: Menopause
and heart health, reducing
risk of cancer, coping with stress, allergies, strengthening immune
system, PMS, excessive menstrual
bleeding, cramps.
Best sources: Try to eat as many raw vegetables as possible.
They’re freshest and contain the highest levels of vitamins. However,
quick-frozen and canned vegetables can also preserve nutrients fairly
well. Wash your vegetables well, and leave the skin intact or pare
it thinly, because the skin has large amounts of nutrients. If too
many raw vegetables result in digestive problems, click here
for suggestions.
Legumes (check
pH)
Think beans. Baked, dried, canned, frozen. Legumes are excellent
sources of low-fat protein, particularly when combined with whole
grains. They’re also great sources of fiber, and their complex carbohydrates
are broken down slowly in the body, benefiting women with blood
sugar imbalances or diabetes. If beans cause you any digestive problems,
click here for some
suggestions.
Helps with: Perimenopause
and menopausal symptoms, lowering risk of breast cancer, heart
health by regulating cholesterol levels.
Good sources: Black beans, black-eyed peas, green beans and
peas, kidney beans, lima beans, soybeans, mung beans, split peas,
Great Northern beans, Garbanzo beans, cranberry beans. Ready to
eat products include hummus, soy-based foods.
| Quicker Cooking for Beans To speed up cooking time for beans, bring three cups of water to boil for every cup of beans. Add the beans and cook for two minutes. Remove from heat, partially cover the pan, and let the beans cook for one hour. After one hour, drain and rinse with cold water and then freeze. When you’re ready to use the beans in a meal, thaw them quickly under running water. Boil five cups of water in a pot for every cup of beans, add the beans, lower the heat and cook for 30-50 minutes. |
Nuts and seeds. (check
pH)
Nuts and seeds provide valuable nutrients, including protein, B
complex vitamins, vitamins
A, D, and E,
and numerous minerals. The essential
fatty acids found in many seeds and nutslinoleic
acid and linolenic acidare also extremely important.
Helps with: Menopausal symptoms,
PMS, headaches, heart
health, arthritis, immune function, fatigue.
Good sources: Walnuts, almonds, flaxseeds, hazelnuts, pecans,
poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds
Caution: Nuts and seeds may be difficult to digest for people
who have fat intolerance. Ground flaxseeds are an exception, and
can be eaten daily.
| Using Seeds and Nuts Because seeds and nuts tend to be high in fatalbeit healthy fatyou probably don’t want to sit down with a pound of them and munch away. But they make excellent accompaniments to meals. Try sprinkling them on salads, vegetable dishes and casseroles. Try butters made with seeds and nuts, such as almond butter and sesame butter. Nut and seed oils can also be used in salad dressings, sauces, sautés, and baked goods. Flax seed oil is particularly good on popcorn, vegetables, rice, potatoes and whole grain pasta. |
Fish and Poultry (check
pH)
If you feel you must have meat in your diet, then stick with fish
and poultry. Both are excellent sources of high-quality protein.
Many types of fish are also good sources of omega-3
fatty acids, essential for controlling numerous reproductive
and inflammatory processes. But you should still use meat sparingly;
make your meat or fish the side dish, and grains and vegetables
the main dish.
Good sources:
Poultry: Free-range chicken, turkey, and duck, goose, guinea
hen.
Freshwater fish: trout, perch, pike, whitefish, catfish, bass, blue
gill, crappie, crayfish, carp
Saltwater fish: salmon, tuna, swordfish, shark, mackerel, sole,
bluefish, flounder, red snapper, sardine, herring, smelt
Shellfish: crab, lobster, shrimp, scallop, abalone, oyster, mussel,
clam
| If you are a naturally great alkalinizer add meat as desired; otherwise, consume meat only occasionally and in small amounts (4 ounces or less). |
Whole Grains (check
pH)
The seeds of various grasses, whole grains are often referred to
as cereals. They contain fiber, protein, carbohydrates,
fats, vitamins such as B
complex and E,
and numerous minerals, including calcium,
magnesium, potassium,
iron, copper
and manganese. They
are also excellent sources of lignans, plant chemicals that act
like mild estrogens in women, helping with numerous reproductive
problems. The high fiber in whole grains also binds to estrogen
in the intestinal tract, removing excess from your body, which helps
with reproductive problems, particularly during perimenopause.
Helps with: Perimenopausal
problems, heart health by
reducing cholesterol, fatigue.
Best types: Rice (brown preferred), barley, oats, rye, millet,
quinoa, amaranth, hominy grits
Caution: Stay away from wheat-based grains. For more on problems
with wheat, click here.
Beverages (check
pH)
Water, whether mineral or distilled, is always your best bet. If
possible, try to insure high quality of drinking water by installing
a home filtration system, using purification systems, buying spring
water or distilled water, or using a well on your own property.
As for other liquids, substitute soy or rice milk for
cow’s milk. For a hot beverage, drink herbal or green tea, or a
grain-based coffee substitute.
Recommended daily intake: While we get about half our daily
water from food, you probably need an additional 6 to 8 glasses
of water a day to maintain your fluid levels, even more during hot
weather and exercise, or when you’re sick or otherwise physically
stressed.
Seasonings and condiments
(check pH)
Because you should stay away from any excess salt,
you’ll find that seasonings such as peppers, garlic, and herbs become,
truly, the spice of life. But they do more than just
make your food taste better; many herbs and other seasonings contain
valuable minerals and vitamins, although we typically use them in
quantities too small to have much nutritive value.
Good sources: Hot peppers, garlic, canned olives, tahini,
flax meal, seaweed (e.g. kelp), basil, dill, oregano, tarragon,
ginger, licorice, cayenne, black pepper, and celery, mustard and
poppy seeds.
Sweeteners (check
pH)
Sweeteners provide concentrated flavor to the foods we eat and beverages
we drink. But the typical American diet has too much refined sugar,
which plays havoc with our energy levels and mood. For more on the
deleterious effects of sugar, click here.
There are sweeteners, however, that provide some nutrients. Molasses,
for instance, the residue from processing beet or cane sugar, contains
numerous minerals, including calcium,
magnesium and iron,
and is rich in B-complex
and E vitamins.
Good sources: Molasses, honey, brown rice syrup, maple syrup,
stevia.
For more on the Alkaline Power Diet, read on:
The Alkaline
Power Diet
Foods to Stay Away From
Food Substitutions
pH of Common Foods
Typical Alkalinizing
Meals