mind-the-thorns:

thereluctantrawfoodist:

My diet now keeps my body alkaline. I also do not eat high histamine foods and food containing gluten. My diet change has made a huge difference to my life. 

rawlivingfoods:

The Acid Alkaline Balance

Human blood pH should be slightly alkaline ( 7.35 - 7.45 ).  Below or above this range means symptoms and disease.  A pH of 7.0 is neutral.  A pH below 7.0 is acidic.  A pH above 7.0 is alkaline.

An acidic pH can occur from, an acid forming diet, emotional stress, toxic overload, and/or immune reactions or any process that deprives the cells of oxygen and other nutrients.  The body will try to compensate for acidic pH by using alkaline minerals.  If the diet does not contain enough minerals to compensate, a build up of acids in the cells will occur.

An acidic balance will:  decrease the body’s ability to absorb minerals and other nutrients, decrease the energy production in the cells, decrease it’s ability to repair damaged cells, decrease it’s ability to detoxify heavy metals, make tumor cells thrive, and make it more susceptible to fatigue and illness.  A blood pH of 6.9, which is only slightly acidic, can induce coma and death.

The reason acidosis is more common in our society is mostly due to the typical American diet, which is far too high in acid producing animal products like meat, eggs and dairy, and far too low in alkaline producing foods like fresh vegetables.  Additionally, we eat acid producing processed foods like white flour and sugar and drink acid producing beverages like coffee and soft drinks.  We use too many drugs, which are acid forming; and we use artificial chemical sweetners like NutraSweet, Spoonful, Sweet ‘N Low, Equal, or Aspartame, which are poison and extremely acid forming.  One of the best things we can do to correct an overly acid body is to clean up the diet and lifestyle.

To maintain health, the diet should consist of 60% alkaline forming foods and 40% acid forming foods.  To restore health, the diet should consist of 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acid forming foods.

Generally, alkaline forming foods include: most fruits, green vegetables, peas, beans, lentils, spices, herbs and seasonings, and seeds and nuts.

Generally, acid forming foods include: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, grains, and legumes.

Click here for more information.

okay, this is great and all, but I need someone to tell me where I’m supposed to get the money to buy all this goddamn produce and fresh, organic shit.  This is a super expensive lifestyle and simply not realistic for people living on a college student’s budget (i.e., me).

seriously.  I do not have the disposable income required to eat in this way, and it bugs the hell out of me when people accuse me of eating unhealthily because I am “lazy” or “unwilling to try things.”

I exercise, I portion control, but I have to shop at Walmart, okay.  My bank account would be suffering far more than my health if I tried to do this ;-;

tell me about it, sister! ‘health food culture’ is fucking privilege laden, and frequently scientifically inaccurate. yeah, it’s nice to buy organic wholefood freerange blah blah blah but who legitimately has the time or the money to hunt down, buy and prepare this stuff? people act as though time is something we are unwilling to spend when in fact it’s a commodity we don’t HAVE. being a student just trying to stay alive, just keeping your head above financial water, while somehow keeping healthy, maintaining relationships, cleaning your toilet AND passing is exhausting.

i’m a student on a virtually nonexistent food budget (let alone a budget for anything else), and here’s a few tips i’ve figured out that may help you too if you are able. diet culture too frequently assumes that people physically have the spoons to do this shit, and i’m fed up with the ‘lazy shaming’ attached to eating when unhealthy food is so much cheaper, quicker and more accessible.

but anyway, i digress.

• frozen fruit and vegetables last longer and are often cheaper. fresh broccoli, for example, depending upon the season, can cost up to £3 a head, when i can get a kilogram bag of it frozen for £1. just fill your freezer and toss ‘em in a pan! i’ve found frozen food is often quicker to cook, bizarrely.
• canned fruit and vegetables last forever too. tinned sweetcorn, carrots, peas, etc, are always great to have on hand. even baked beans are good for you, and can cost as little as 11p a tin. baked beans in tomato sauce actually cost less than haricot beans on their own, which is all kinds of wrong.
• your college might have a ‘bulk buying’ or ‘wholefood group’. my university’s absolutely tiny but it runs a program called Scoop that buys in bulk from local farmers so it can sell cheaply to students. through it i can get stuff like couscous, quinoa and lentils for as little as 13p per 100g.
• dried foods like those mentioned above pack tons of vitamins and protein, stretch far (i like anything that doubles in mass by absorbing lovely free water!), last forever, and fill you up. having bags of dried pulses, beans, lentils and grains may make you feel like a 1970s hippy but they are so good for you, and great on a budget.
• buying from small grocers, farmer’s markets, or even straight from the farmers themselves can often be cheaper, but again, it’s a matter of time and accessibility to transport.
• smoothies can be a good way to get a lot of good stuff into your diet at once. frozen fruit is so much cheaper than fresh fruit. just toss it in a blender with a bunch of cheap, frozen spinach and you have a green monster smoothie that won’t destroy you.