The premise is simple, certain foods like diary, caffeine, fish, grains and of course sugar, make the body too acidic which can lead to issues such as diabetes and cancer. Well, it’s a load of bunk.
The whole idea and so-called diet plan came from now jailed wellness guru Robert Young who was sent to prison in the U.S. in 2017 for practising medicine without a license. He’s also facing numerous lawsuits. He published a book on balancing your PH levels in your body, among other books as well. The idea that you can balance your acid levels caught on like a wildfire and it’s still, sadly, around.
Dr. Ali Zentner, an internal medicine specialist in Vancouver says “It’s ridiculous.” She continues “It’s just the resurfacing of another ‘diet of the day’ and it’s a symptom of a bigger issue. Diets are like a religion—people latch on to one and feel theirs is the best, even though there’s no data to support it.”
A number of celebrities originally endorsed the diet, such as Gwyineth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Elle MacPherson. Despite it being debunked by doctors around the world. The thing is, our body automatically adjusts our acidity and alkaline levels through our kidneys and lungs. The kidneys adjust acidity and the lungs take out the CO2.
While it’s unlikely you will cause any significant physical damage to your body, when you take on the alkaline diet, you’re making your body work harder to do something it already does. Besides, according to Dr. Zentner, it’s not possible to change your acidity through food alone anyway. And if you could, that would be dangerous. So the alkaline diet is just pointless. Unless you want some emotional stress from it not working. You may also miss out on some essential vitamins and minerals with this diet as well. So in the end, there’s nothing helpful about the alkaline diet at all. Consider as well, the guy that started the whole thing is in prison.
We also wrote about why the keto diet can be very dangerous as well. As with any diet, be cautious with new ones and before jumping on the trend bus, do some research and be wary of Dr. Google too! Avoid processed foods as much as you can and be aware of how different foods affect your body.
