Acidic Foods: What You Need to Know

You may not know much about acidic foods and the negative consequences that they have on your overall health. There might even be a chance that you’ve never even heard of acidic foods before, and that’s okay. I’m here to get you caught up to speed and share with you the health concerns that they can cause when you consume too much of them.

The bad news is, you probably enjoy eating acidic foods more than you’d care to admit. Let’s talk about acidic foods and what you need to know.

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Acidic Foods: What You Need to Know

Certain diets out there will suggest that you remove entire food groups (like acidic foods) from your diet, and that’s not what I’m suggesting. That’s because they too have several important nutrients in them that should not be ignored. Here’s more on acidic foods and what you need to know about them.

Top Acidic Foods

I’ve already mentioned that acidic foods cover most of our favorite foods to eat (at least mine anyway). Here’s a list of some of the top acidic foods out there, so that you can do a better job of limiting how much you consume.

Meat

This one is a personal heartbreaker for me because meals just aren’t the same without some meat. Animal proteins contain purines, which then form uric acid, and can cause serious health issues if consumed in large quantities. If you’re like me and can’t go without meat, steer towards organic and free-range meat that usually contain more nutrients.

Grains

Glutinous grains are harder on your digestive system and help to create inflammation, due to their acidic nature. Quinoa, brown rice, and buckwheat are still considered to be acidic, but are much less than other grains.

Dairy

Cow’s milk provides our bodies with the calcium that they need, but we’re also getting too much phosphorus from it as well. The end result is that our overall bone density takes a hit. Calcium from our bones is released in order to make sure our blood does not become too acidic.

Coconut, almond, and nut milks are all milk alternatives that are less acidifying.

Nuts

Nuts are a great source of protein and a substitute for meat if that’s your thing, but they also contain small acidic traces. In case you missed this post, Health Benefits of Nuts: Stock Up

Eggs

Eggs certainly do the body well, as they are filled with key nutrients and minerals, but they are considered to be acidic due to the purines that come from them. If you still plan on eating them (like I will), just be sure to limit your consumption and balance it by increasing your intake of alkaline foods.

Legumes

Legumes have a mild acidic level, but they also contain several health benefits. You don’t need to remove them from your diet, but eating them in moderation, and also alongside alkaline foods, is a smart option.

Alcohol

Alcohol is considered to be highly acidic. It plays a negative role in removing magnesium and other alkaline minerals from our bodies, as well as causing stomach aches for those who already have digestive issues.

Coffee

For all you faithful coffee drinkers out there, don’t shoot the messenger on this one. Coffee is considered to be acidic, but not as much so as orange juice and soda pop. Some types of coffee are more acidic than others, depending upon the beans and how they were roasted and brewed.

Vegetable Oil

Vegetable fat and oils, like sunflower and canola seed oil, are considered mildly acidic, but they also have essentials for good health. Those are healthy fats that should be used in moderation.

Refined Sugar

A majority of the convenient and processed foods that you enjoy have refined sugar in them that are also acidic. Refined sugar foods include candy, soda, muffins, white bread, pastries, as well as processed grains. What’s alarming, is that a lot of people eat them as part of every meal or when they’re wanting a snack.

Why the Craving of Acidic Foods?

So why do we love eating acidic foods so much? Well, our bodies are wired to crave the foods that we most often eat. If you enjoy eating acidic foods, your body will become conditioned to keep the pH in your blood from becoming too alkaline, which in truth, should be the other way around.

Maintaining a healthy pH level in our blood is extremely important, and one of the best ways of doing that is limiting the number of acidic foods that you eat.

How Acidic Foods Can Affect Us

Acidic foods lower our blood’s pH, bringing it closer to acidic levels instead of a more basic and healthy level (around 7.4 pH). A number of negative health conditions can arise because of this.

Many people complain of stomach aches when they’ve eaten too many acidic foods. For those who already have pre-existing digestive issues, it can cause acid reflux and stomach ulcers when the protective lining of their stomach is being challenged.
Eating acidic foods has also been linked to canker sores, especially in areas of the mouth that have already dealt with tissue injury.
When our bodies are consuming too many acidic foods, the calcium within our bones will be released to help neutralize our blood’s pH. This leads to a loss in our overall bone density, which can become a more serious issue the older we get.
Acidic foods can cause more serious repercussions as well. It can lead to kidney stones and cause problems with our livers because they are not able to detoxify and properly cleanse the body from harmful toxins.

There is also an increased risk of several types of cancer when pertaining to acidic foods.

Final Word

I’m not suggesting that you completely remove acidic foods from your diet because they have their value too. But it is imperative that you watch how much you are eating and limit as best as you can the acidity you consume. What acidic foods do you crave most often and find yourself eating too much of?

To help counter your craving of acidic foods and the negative impact that they have on our bodies, here’s a look at several alkaline foods that you should be eating. What do you think about acidic foods: what you need to know?