What is an alkaline diet?

What is an alkaline diet and how it supports your health

Your health depends on many factors—one of which is maintaining the right pH balance in your body. A stable pH level supports enzyme activity and cellular function. An imbalance can lead to serious health issues. This is where an alkaline diet may offer significant benefits. But first, what is an alkaline diet?

What is an alkaline diet?

An alkaline diet, also known as the acid-alkaline diet or alkaline ash diet, involves eating foods that help balance your body’s pH level by reducing acid-forming foods and increasing alkaline-forming ones. The goal is to maintain a healthy blood pH level between 7.35 and 7.45, which is slightly alkaline.

Core principles of the alkaline diet:

• Avoid acid-forming foods: meat, dairy, eggs, processed grains, alcohol.
• Focus on alkaline-forming foods: fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts.
• Limit neutral foods: natural fats, starches, and sugars.

Why pH balance matters

Your body’s pH influences everything from enzyme function to oxygen transport. A pH imbalance can result in serious health conditions such as seizures, kidney failure, or chronic fatigue.

How an alkaline diet can help correct low pH levels (acidosis)

A drop in pH level can result in threatening health consequences like seizures, heart arrhythmia, or even coma.

A decrease in pH level is commonly caused by the following:

• Chronic alcohol use
• Heart failure, cancer
• Seizures
• Liver failure
• Prolonged lack of oxygen
• Low blood sugar

Additionally, prolonged exercise can sometimes lead to lactic acid build-up and cause muscle aches, burning, rapid breathing, nausea, and stomach pain. An alkaline diet might help you manage your body’s pH level better.

How an alkaline diet can help a high pH level (alkalosis)

An increase in alkalinity causes pH levels to rise. When acid levels in your blood are too high, it's called acidosis. When your blood is too alkaline, it is called alkalosis.

Alkalosis refers to excessive alkalinity in the blood and can result from:

• Diabetic acidosis develops when acidic substances (ketone bodies) build up during uncontrolled diabetes (usually type 1 diabetes)
• Hyperchloremic acidosis is caused by the body losing too much sodium bicarbonate, which can happen with severe diarrhoea
• Kidney disease
• Lactic acidosis
• Poisoning by aspirin, ethylene glycol, or methanol
• Severe dehydration

In cases of alkalosis, dietary changes should be approached with medical guidance.

Can an alkaline diet help you better control your pH level?

Fortunately, you can take control of your pH level and avoid the resulting health hazards.

Ideally, you must keep your pH level in the 7.35 to 7.45 range. The range goes from 0 - 14, with 7 being neutral, a pH level less than 7 indicates acidity, whereas a pH above 7 indicates a base and can harm your health.

You can control and maintain your pH level by alkalizing your body through an alkaline diet which is referred to as the acid-alkaline or alkaline ash diet.

What an alkaline diet requires:

1. Avoiding acid-forming foods, such as meat, dairy, fish, eggs, grains, and alcohol
2. Consuming plenty of alkaline-forming foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes
3. Limiting neutral foods like starches, sugars, and natural fats

The following are the benefits of an alkaline diet:

• Deeper and more restful sleep
• Reduction of candida overgrowth
• Increased mental acuity or alertness
• Enhanced memory and cognition
• Easier weight loss
• Increased energy
• Reduced muscle wasting
• Proper cell functioning
• Mitigation of chronic diseases
• Improved cardiovascular health

Can you include collagen in your alkaline diet? 

Yes, an alkaline diet supports bone and skin health when paired with a high bioavailability collagen dietary supplement. Collagen is a protein that supports skin, joints, bones, and connective tissue health. While it is technically acid-forming, its health benefits may outweigh that aspect—especially when balanced with alkaline foods. Adding collagen dietary supplements to your alkaline diet will therefore help you maintain your diet goals and optimum health.

Whether you’re following an alkaline, keto, or other health-focused diet, collagen can enhance overall wellness. Since Collagen is a protein, taking collagen dietary supplements can increase the feeling of fullness, helping you reduce the number of calories you consume daily, therefore ensuring weight loss. Also read benefits of collagen for keto diets .

Furthermore, adding collagen to your food significantly benefits your body and overall health, whether you are on a diet or not (see collagen food supplements for our range of the best collagen supplements). Collagen is the main structural protein found in the body's connective tissues. It is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content.

Health benefits of adding collagen to your diet:

1. Promotes healthier skin - Adding an all-natural collagen peptide powder supplement to your diet helps your skin cells repair and renew.
2. Helps reduce the appearance of cellulite - collagen Improves your skin’s elasticity, thus helping your body rebuild and repair the fibres that cause cellulite to appear.
3. Helps reduce arthritis pain - quality collagen peptide supplement increases your joint mobility and reduces arthritis pain.
4. Helps protect your cardiovascular system - having healthy amounts of collagen is one of the best ways to prevent the hardening of the arteries.
5. Detoxifies your liver - Glycine, found in collagen supplements, absorbs toxins that shouldn’t pass through our livers; this helps minimize liver damage.

Many people who want to support the health of their skin, joints, nails, and hair add collagen supplements to their diet. An alkaline diet is not an exception.

By adding collagen to your alkaline diet, you don’t only enhance the impacts of the diet on your body and health, but you gain from its additional benefits. Check out our range of collagen dietary supplements .

Conclusion: should you follow an alkaline diet?

If you’ve been asking “what is an alkaline diet” and whether it’s right for you, the answer lies in its ability to support pH balance and overall wellness.

By choosing nutrient-rich, alkaline-forming foods, you may reduce the risk of chronic diseases, increase your energy, and support healthy aging. For an added boost, consider integrating high-quality collagen supplements into your daily routine.

Explore more about the benefits of adding collagen to your diet by visiting these blog posts:

1. Does collagen help treat inflammation? 
2. The benefits of collagen for a keto diet
3. Which collagen supplement should you use?

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