What REALLY is a balanced diet?
What REALLY is a balanced diet?
We’ve all heard at some point that eating a balanced diet is good for you but what REALLY is a balanced diet? I remember growing up to think a balanced diet was meat and three vegetables. Well now I know that the portion size is correct, 25% protein to 75% vegetable. But I’ve also learnt that each vegetable, fruit, meat, fish and dairy is either alkaline or acid forming in the body. And acid forming is not healthy in excess as it wears our body out quicker predisposing us to many illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis and even compromises our immune system. This condition also forces the body to borrow minerals including calcium, sodium potassium and magnesium, from vital organs and bones to buffer (neutralise) the acid and safely remove it from the body.
If your body is high in acidity you may initially suffer from headaches, food allergies, bloating, panic attacks, lack of energy and cold hands and feet to name a few symptoms. You may take medication, which is acidic, thinking that you’re helping. If the acidity continues you can then develop cold sores, hives, depression, migraines, yeast infections etc. Keep ignoring the symptoms long enough and acidosis eventually leads to chronic conditions and cancer.
In 1933 a New York doctor William Howard hay published a ground-breaking book “A New Health Era” in which he stated: “Now we depart from health in just the proportion to which we have allowed our alkalis to be dissipated by introduction of acid-forming food in too great amount …”
Dr Theodore Baroody says: “The countless names of illnesses do not really matter. What does matter is that they all come from the same basic root cause … too much acid tissue waste in the body!”
What to Avoid – fast foods (recent research shows link with ADHD), coffee, sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, drugs, too much meat, chicken at one meal etc. and cola drinks (cola drinks can be 50,000 times more acidic than neutral water and needs 32 glasses of neutral (pH 7) water to counteract the consumption of one glass of cola with its active ingredient Phosphoric Acid).
To find out your own pH there is a test kit available at your pharmacy to self-test your urine/saliva complete with a booklet on which foods are acid/alkaline.
My suggestion is to learn as much as you can; eat a balanced diet; drink lemon in warm water each morning; include herbs (all herbs are alkaline and also contain essential oils) in each meal you eat; supplement with good quality alkaline supplements, use filtered water; buy organics if possible and limit your exposure to synthetics and drugs.
My warmest wishes to you,
Cheryl Gilbert (Owner/Creator of Balanced Essentials).
Disclaimer: (Unfortunately I have to add this disclaimer but I do not agree with all of it. Often people know more about how to treat themselves than their health professional.) This information is provided with the hope that it may be helpful for those who choose to take a greater responsibility for their own health. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. You should always speak with your doctor or other health professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement or adopting any treatment for a health problem.