acidity in the body.....

[louielewis]

i have pulmonary sarcoidosis and pulmonary hypertension and was told to go on a strict vegetarian diet o get my body back to an alkaline state...i love the paleo diet but am wondering if the meat is too acidic...any thoughts on this ??

[rheagan]

Chris Kresser does a good job of debunking the acid/alkaline hypothesis on his website. According to him, protein, despite it's acidity, actually increases the body's ability to excrete acid. He goes on to say that the pH of the urine is not necessarily reflective of the pH of the rest of the body and there is little evidence that diet has a significant affect on the acidity of the body. He also points out that many of the traditional diets studied by Weston A. Price would be considered highly acidic due to their high protein intake and low plant food intake (like the Inuit), yet they were some of the healthiest cultures.

chriskresser.com/the-ph-myth-part-1
chriskresser.com/the-acid-alkaline-myth-part-2

With that being said, there are people, like my husband, whose kidneys may be over-loaded or not functioning well and cannot process protein as they should. For him, this creates a "back up" of protein in the body and results in increased edema in his legs (he suffers from primary lymphedema). As such, he does better on a lower protein diet, but not because of the acid/alkaline theory.

My question about the acid/alkaline theory has always been whether it's the acidity causing the problem or systemic inflammation. If you consider that the standard American diet is both highly acidic and highly inflammatory, how do you know to blame the acidity rather than the inflammation? In my opinion, there is far more evidence for the dangers of inflammation than there is for the dangers of an "acidic" diet. Have you considered trying AIP to address any potential inflammatory issues that might be hindering your health?

[louielewis]

what is AIP ??

[rheagan]

Sorry! AIP is short for the autoimmune protocol. It is a paleo elimination diet designed specificially to reduce inflammation in the body by eliminating common inflammatory foods (even if if they are paleo) and focusing on nutrient density to allow the body to heal. Sarah's book, The Paleo Approach, goes through it in great detail, but she has a ton of information about it on her website (http://www.thepaleomom.com/autoimmunity/the-autoimmune-protocol).