Here are the 13 reasons why our bodies, if given the right nutrition, will be so much more alkaline when including meat in the diet.
1. On the Alkaline Paleo diet stress is greatly relieved. Stress is the greatest acidifier and getting the right nutrition will calm the mind enormously.
It’s been both mine and Ian’s experience that stress is no longer nearly the problem it was prior to going on this Alkaline Paleo diet. By getting all of our amino acids so necessary from high quality protein (meat, eggs or fish)and the good fats we need, we’ve created a platform for the body to have the brain function as it should. Amino acids from good proteins are essential to a healthy psych. There are studies that show that many psychiatric disorders can be reversed when amino acids are supplied adequately to the diet.
| The Alkaline Paleo protocol will help to create a really calm and clear mind, a mind that doesn’t get caught on the small stuff and with the big stuff is able to creatively find way through and beyond. A calm mind created more alkalinity. |
And a calm mind allows for deep breathing. When we are stressed we shallow breathe which means we don’t eliminate the carbon dioxide so well from our lungs. Carbon dioxide comes from carbonic acid which is acidifying and part of the way the body gets rid of excess acids. Depression which doesn’t allow good thinking has become something that is very rare for us now and only lasts for a very short time before we get to understand what it is about and then do what it takes to move quickly through it.
And stable blood sugar levels from the Alkaline Paleo diet ends the up and down mood swings that come from fluctuating blood sugars. Ian used to get really grumpy when he didn’t eat on time as his blood sugar would get low if he missed a meal. Now because his blood sugar is balanced due to Alkaline Paleo diet he can now miss a whole meal and remains a happy boy!
2. On the Alkaline Paleo diet we don’t eat grains. Grains are much more acidifying to the body than meat.
Meat is acidifing but the most acidifying food (apart from sugar) is grains. One of the things about any grains is they are not easily digested because of many factors including phytates, lectins, gluten (forms of gluten are found in all grains) and high carbohydrate levels. When foods are difficult to digest this sets up inflammation in the gut which then promotes gut dysbiosis and finally inflammation throughout the body.
| Through incomplete digestion in the intestines, grains cause inflammation. Inflammation causes stress and therefore more bodily acidification. |
One way to gauge acidity is to measure acid-induced calcium loss in the urine. A study by the Uni of Toronto examined the effect of increasing gluten consumption with the level of calcium loss in the urine. An incredible 63 percent increase in calcium loss occurred with an increase of gluten from bread. About 10,000 years ago our Paleo ancestors ate meats, vegetables and a small amount of fruit, nuts and roots. This formerly alkaline human diet pH balance shifted to the acid side with the introduction of grains, especially wheat.
3. On an Alkaline Paleo diet sugars, the most acidic foods of all, are almost eliminated and cravings for sugar just disappear!
If we do decide to eat berries we will be ingesting some acidity and sugar from these fruit, but for the most part, with the Alkaline Paleo diet, Ian and I just prefer savoury foods now. Our sweet tooth has just faded away. No more cravings. This doesn’t mean there isn’t an occasional foray into the fruit world but where we craved sugar and fruit before, it is now just a nice thing to eat a tiny bit of fruit every now and again – as it would have been with our Palaeolithic ancestors.
4. On the Alkaline Paleo diet we need only a small amount of meat, eggs or fish with every meal.
| Compared with the amount of grains, nut and legumes we need to consume to get enough nutrition without eating meat, the amount of meat, eggs or fish we need is comparably much smaller in sheer bulk. This means we are not ingesting nearly as much acidic foods. |
Meat, eggs and fish are the only foods that contain all the essential amino acids, B12 and easily absorbed iron. We are probably even saving money on this diet!
5. On the Alkaline Paleo diet there are other factors in meat that lessen its acidity.
In his book ‘Wheat Belly’ Dr William Davis tells us that:
“New research suggest that meats have other effects when ingested that partially negate the acid load.
“Animal protein exerts a bone-strengthening effect through stimulation of the hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which triggers bone growth and mineralization.
| The net effect of proteins from meat, despite their acid-generating properties, is that of increasing bone health. Children, adolescents, and the elderly who increase their meat intake show increased bone calcium content and improved measures of bone strength.” |
The fact that vegetarians don’t eat acid-forming meat would lead us to expect their bones to be strong and healthy but they actually have the highest incidence of osteoporosis.
6. On the Alkaline Paleo diet overall food consumption lessens, due to satiety from eating healthy fats, and less food consumption means less acidity in the body.
Eating too much is very acidifying no matter how alkaline a food is. When the stomach and digestive system is overloaded it puts tremendous stress on the body to deliver the saliva, hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes, bile, digestive enzymes and all the other hormones and enzymes needed for digestion. We all know what it’s like to be over-full. We feel awful. The body is in an enormous amount of stress trying to deliver what is needed to digest this surplus of food and we know what stress does – it acidifies! Dairy – especially plain milk – is acidic and so is cheese.
7. On the Alkaline Paleo we eat very little dairy products. Dairy products are acid making in the body.
Dairy is very hard to give up as it has a opioid like effect in the brain which will cause cravings. Why do I mention this? Being addicted to any substance drugs or drug like food causes a stress reaction in the body and stress is acidifying.
Dairy is usually a part of a vegetarian diet as it is one of the few ways that a vegetarian gets enough quality protein, and fat soluble vitamins such a Vitamin A, K2, D3 and the vitamin B12.
If someone is vegan and doesn’t eat these foods they quickly become deficient in essential amino acids. These vitamins & amino acids will need to be supplemented in pill form in order to get these nutrients. Is this an optimal diet if you need supplements to survive?
What happens if you are vegetarian and have a food sensitivity to dairy? Unless we supplement with a large amount of eggs we will have a lot of deficiencies, we will get sick as vegetarians and vegans often do, despite their alkaline diet. I know, I was one of them. Bringing back meat into my diet allowed me to get nutrients I was badly missing.
8. On the Alkaline Paleo diet we drink leafy green vegetable juices. These are very alkalizing due to the high potassium levels – we love them.
We drink (when we are back in Australia) a green vegetable juice every day. We don’t add carrots, beetroot or fruit as they are high in sugar. Fruit juice is acidic also. We have juices of kale, celery, cabbage, cucumbers, parsley, lettuce, coriander (detoxes mercury) and some ginger.
| The alkalinity of the palaeolithic diet has been estimated to be 6 to 9 times more alkaline than the modern diet, thanks to its large potassium salt intake from vegetable sources. |
It is thought that our ancestors’ urine pH was as high as 7.5 to 9.0 compared to the our modern range of 4.4 to 7.0. Our Paleo forebears also lived in a much cleaner world where his air was clean and rich in oxygen, with clean food and (most likely alkaline) pure water, stress would have been limited to those moments where they were hunting – or being hunted!
9. On the Alkaline Paleo diet we have stable blood sugar levels from eating good fats and no high carb foods.
Even blood sugar levels are really important as spikes in blood sugar are very acidifying and cause glycation which cause the ageing process. Diabetics are an example of the effects of high blood sugars levels as they age much faster than those with healthy blood sugar levels.
10. On the Alkaline Paleo diet drinking alkaline ionized water alone will increase alkalinity – and help to negate the effects of AGE’s (free radicals).
Unlike our Paleo ancestors” world, in today’s world we need all the help we can to stay alkaline and drinking alkaline water is an easy and great way of achieving this. Alkaline water is a rich sourse of antioxidants. Antioxidants are fantastic for negating AGE’s in the blood stream thereby increasing the ability of the body to remain youthful and healthy.
11. On the Alkaline Paleo diet Candida Albicans and other bad gut bacteria, with their excretion of very acidic waste, will no longer thrive.
Getting the proper probiotic environment back into the gut is essential for alkalinity.
12. On the Alkaline Paleo diet we eat more vegetables now than we did as vegetarians. We don’t fill up on bulky grains, pulses or nuts so there is more room for fresh vegetables.
Apart from eating meat and fat all the rest of food we eat are alkaline vegetables.
13. On the Alkaline Paleo diet we eat very little fruits as they are high in sugar and not nutrient dense.
We don’t eat much fruit as I have stated before it is acidifying due to the large amount of sugars now found in it.
Fruit is more like a treat than a necessary part of the diet, to be eaten sparingly
| This is what Dr Kate Shanahan, author of “Deep Nutrition” says when she speaks at Sean Croxtons’ Real Food Summit: “I should have corrected myself to say… (fruit is.)..mostly empty calories. They’ve been bred for sweetness and while fruits do of course convey nutrients to our bodies the nutrient to calorie ratio of most vegetable is far greater than that of most fruits.” |
This has been so good to write and I hope I have helped to make it clear that contrary to our modern belief that eating meat = acidity actually eating meat= great nutrition and more alkalinity. I would love any comments on the above or any ideas you might have about why the Alkaline Paleo diet might contribute towards alkalinity.
