The Alkaline Diet for Men’s Health

By Maria Banfield

Posted 4 years agoHEALTH

Popular among the famous of this world, alkaline diet, also known as the ‘alkaline ash diet’ or ‘alkaline acid diet’ helps to lose weight and prevent severe health problems such as diabetes, cancer and arthritis.

The foundation of the diet is that some foods, like meat, processed foods, wheat, refined sugar, and, cause your body to produce acid, which has a negative impact on our health. By eliminating certain foods we can help our body to maintain its blood pH level. It’s quite easy to apply the diet which you can do on your own.

As with a lot of diets, they are generally followed by women, but the Alkaline Diet is no different. The question is, how does it affect men? From a man’s perspective, there are three things that may worry them the most about the Alkaline Diet.

Is Alkaline Diet Suitable for Men?

Men worry they will lose muscle.

Men worry that they will have to give up some of their favourite foods e.g. meat

They are worried they will not be able to consume enough protein.

The above things are a few of the misconceptions of the Alkaline Diet, firstly, nothing has to be given up, as long as everything is taken in moderation. Actually, you can still have meat and go out to dinner, it is also possible to have snacks or treats.

As for protein, if you were on a full Alkaline diet, following the recommendations, you would be having 60 to 80 grammes per day, while many dieticians specify between 30 – 50 grammes is ideal for most people. If you work out in the gym, the rule of thumb says you should consume about 1 gramme for every pound of bodyweight if you want to build muscles.

If you follow the Alkaline Diet 20/80 rule, muscle loss is not an issue, thanks to the number of nutrients, protein, and good fats.

So, to debunk the three worries is easy.

One of the main reasons people quit any diet is they try to be near perfect, but this leads to frustration with a tendency to quit as they rush into it and feel deprived.

Many men look at the term, “healthy eating” and associate it with a temporary diet. Actually, following the Alkaline Diet is a long-term strategy that will make small changes over time, and this will lead you into a much healthier lifestyle.

By its very nature, exercise is an acid-forming activity, where part of the recovery process is where the body tries to overcome the formation of acids. This is where the Alkaline Diet is especially useful, as people have lost a bit of their natural ability to burn fat due to a high acid-forming diet.

This is particularly true with foods that contain gluten. Now when you are following the Alkaline Diet, the body is able to make full use of the pancreas, where the body can now access its fat stores which have a high impact on stamina and endurance.

For muscle building, there is now a fully fuelled diet that is high in antioxidants, and which helps cleanse and build new oxygen-rich blood cells. Also, there are sufficient protein, healthy fats and oils and ample amounts of hydration available, so it is also highly adaptable to fit in with any training program you may be following.

It has always been shown, that eating a high quantity of nutrient rich foods has always been good for the body, especially if you are into training or sports a lot. Digestive issues become a thing of the past and irritable bowel syndrome or stomach issues become eased.

As most men tend to like eating meat, they should improve their quality. So, when shopping, it is much better to choose the free-range, pasture raised or grass fed meats. Essentially, it may lead to a slightly smaller portion, but it will be more nutrient-rich if it comes from a more sustainable source and will contain much more flavour. Not only this, the animals will not have been treated with antibiotics or steroids as happens with mass farmed animals.

Which Foods Should You Eat More According to The Alkaline Diet?

Basic Foods

The alkaline diet emphasises alkaline foods such as vegetables, fruits and certain whole grains.

Proteins

Tofu, Almonds (Almond Milk is a good alternative for fresh milk).

For the best effect, it is best to make sure the protein you eat comes from a variety of sources rather than just one source. Instead of 1 or 2 servings of meat, your protein can be spread over other alkaline-forming foods like leafy greens, legumes, nuts and seeds etc., and if this is still not sufficient while you are training, you can also add a scoop of sprouted, alkaline non-dairy protein powder. It is advisable to give the artificially flavoured and chemical-based ones a miss.

The sprouted brown rice protein powders contain protein levels of around 25-30 grammes per glass, and if mixed with non-dairy milk, the level will be up to 35 grammes of protein per glass.

Fruits

Bananas, Berries, Apples, Pineapple, Grapes, Lemons (acidic by nature, but converts to high alkaline in the body, and Melons (especially Watermelon).

Vegetables

Kale, Spinach, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Broccoli.

All of the above foods are packed full of nutrients and vitamins and give the right amount of carbohydrates and protein.

It may seem eating like all of these can be a huge task, especially the amount of spinach and kale that is required. The Alkaline Diet recommends a proportion of your foods should be eaten uncooked, thus preserving any nutrients that are lost while cooking.

If eating more vegetables is kind of boring for you, you can always spice them up with delicious and health-boosting herbs! You can purchase some very original herbs like damiana, blue vervain, linden flower, jamaican sea moss or strawberry leaf at alkaline eclectic herb store.

So, these can be obtained via a smoothie, and there are several blenders on the market now, that unlike a juicer, use the skins and stalks of certain fruits and vegetables as part of the drink. The blender breaks everything down to the micronutrient level and into a consistency which is drinkable, and very refreshing.

You can take this a little step further, and add nuts or seeds to the blender. When these get broken down, you have superfoods in a glass, full of proteins and nutrients, and much more convenient for consuming at any time of the day. Either for breakfast or after a good workout.

Supplements

There are a wide range of supplements available for men, especially if they are highly active or heavy gym goers. It is more advisable to stick to the more natural options if possible -rather than the man-made variants. By keeping this simple, you are adding to all the nutrients from the foods rather than replacing them with pills or drinks.

Greens

Powdered green drinks are a very good addition to your diet, and you can have either pure wheatgrass or a grass blend. The grass blend is the better of the two, while the pure grass is the more cost-effective option.

Minerals and Salts

As a buffer against the high acid formation, you can take alkaline salts or supplements that include magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium which are very good for this.

If you are unable to find a good alkaline salt supplement, find a good multi mineral and take with a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate, in a glass of water once per day.

Alcohol

As was previously mentioned, everything is ok in moderation. Alcohol is the same, if you make conscious decisions of when it is actually worth having a drink, then you will find that more often than not, you will want to make the right decision.
So ultimately, this conscious decision will help you get the balance right in your lifestyle. You will also come to know this is a night off from your regime, and the following day you will be paying it back with your green smoothies and vegetables. Try to limit your intake, because you are in control here.

Once you have been following the alkaline diet for a while, you will find you have become self-moderating your intake, as your goals of being fit and healthy are in sight. You can see what is achievable and stick to a real plan, for the long term. After all, you deserve to be healthy.

About the author Maria Banfield

Maria Banfield is a blogger. She currently writes about health and nutrition for the leading website Fitandheal.com.

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