Understanding Acidifying Foods

Acidifying foods are foods that have an acidifying effect on the body. Interestingly, the types of foods within this category are the ones most people tend to consume most often. They’re the foods full of proteins and carbohydrates, saturated fats and sugars. Just take a look at a few:

Proteins: meats, seafood and fish, poultry, sandwich meats, meat extracts, eggs, strong cheeses, legumes, peanuts, white beans, and soybeans.

Carbohydrates: Breads, pastas, cereal, whole and refined grains, and other grain-based foods.

Saturated fats: Vegetable and peanut oils, margarine, suet and lard.

Sugars: white sugar, syrups, candy, chocolates, cakes and pastries, fruit preserves and jelly, soda, energy drinks, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.

Beverages: wine, tea, coffee and cocoa.

Although this is just a partial list of acidifying foods, it includes the foods that are commonly consumed, often to excess. Let’s start by taking a closer look at the proteins.

The production of amino acids during the digestive process is what makes proteins, especially those that are animal-based, so acidifying. What also makes them acidifying is that our cells use the proteins and once used, what remains of those proteins helps create components that cause the degradation of acids. In particular, uric acids are produced. They result from eating animal products because the proteins in animals are used to help build the core of the animal’s cells. An easier way to say this is simply that uric acid is found in most foods that contain animal tissue. Milk and cheeses do not carry uric acid because these are not made from animal tissue. One last thing about animal-based protein: The amino acids within animal meat contain sulfur, which is a very acidic mineral.

Even though they are not made from the tissue of animals, soybeans, chickpeas and other leguminous plants are considered acidifying. The purines in these foods are a source of uric acid. The purines really should be part of the alkaline food group, but in order to be eliminated from the body, they must be converted into uric acids. Large quantities of purines are found in our favorite beverages including coffee, tea and cocoa which is why these beverages, as well as chocolate are included on the acidifying foods list.

Foods high in saturated fat such as meat, cooking oils and animal fats affect acids two ways. Our bodies do utilize these fats once they’ve been turned into fatty acids. But the body does have difficulty metabolizing these fatty acids. Toxic substances such as acetone, betahydroxybutyric acid, and acetylacetic acid result when fatty acids are not thoroughly digested, as can be the case if you have a problem with digestion. If your body’s ability to digest fats is normal, fatty acids will be the end result of digestion. Unfortunately, we tend to consume way too much fat in our diets which is why acidification from fats is a big problem in our society.

Moving on to carbohydrates, these also take on acidifying properties during the many stages of digestion. In order to use carbohydrates, the body must first break them down into glucose molecules, of which there can literally be hundreds of thousands. The body breaks proteins down into amino acids, but not nearly as many result: just a few hundred.

Because it’s sometimes difficult to convert long chains of glucose, acids are frequently the end result. During the transformation of glucose, it changes from an alkaline to an acid. Normally those acids are again converted back into alkalines, but not when the process is interrupted. Again, our diets cause this process to be interrupted all too frequently. Excessive consumption of carbohydrates including pasta, cereal, breads (even whole and refined grains) and others overwhelms the body’s carbohydrate conversion capacity.

Leguminous plants and germinated grains however, have an alkalizing effect on the body. Why this happens has to do with the transformations that occur during germination. Interestingly, germinated grains are classified along with green vegetables because most often they’re consumed while "green."

White sugar is a carbohydrate that is also classified as an acid because during the process of refining, it loses its vitamins, enzymes and other trace elements. The same is true of things that contain sugar like jelly, cookies and other sweets. Without these important elements, the body has real difficulty converting sugar. Since those vitamins and enzymes are not present, when we eat sweets, the body must tap its alkaline reserves in order to assist with the conversion of sugar into energy. When more and more sugary foods are consumed, as they are so regularly in our society, the body at some point will reach its capacity, causing the sugar conversion process to halt mid-way, while at the acid stage, which leads again to acidification.

Don’t be fooled by brown sugar, either. It also undergoes many stages of refinement and as a result, its essential elements are stripped out. Much of the foods we assume are healthy, those containing fruit sugar and fructose, really are acidifying. Basically, the closer a sugar gets during the refining process to white sugar, the more acid it becomes.

Products containing refined sugar are extremely acidifying. Foods containing natural sugars aren’t acidifying because their enzymes, vitamins and trace elements have not been stripped out. Fruits and some sweet vegetables are considered alkaline because their tissues hold onto these enzymes and trace elements. When you eat natural sweets, the body has what it needs to keep the conversion process from stopping mid-cycle. Another alkaline sugar is the sugar cane concentrate that remains after the sugar sap is evaporated.

Because of the high amount of fat, and because they also contain sulfur, protein and phosphorus, oleaginous fruits are also on the acidifying list. Pecans, pumpkin and sesame seeds, coconut, walnuts, hazelnuts and the like are on this list. Brazil nuts and almonds are not, though. Of course, the amount of acid you’ll get from eating a handful on seeds is far less that you’d get from red meat. But nonetheless, the point is that oleaginous fruits also are classified as acidifying.

To summarize, acidifying foods are classified as such because of the effects they have on the body. This category is different from acid foods, which are classified based only on taste. The manner in which an acid food affects the body is inconsistent because different people have different metabolizing capabilities.

It is very important to monitor your intake of acidifying foods because they will turn into acids while they are broken down. Remember, the body can handle only so much acid. The rest is excess and could possibly lead to acidification and all the problems associated with it. Never interpret this to mean you should completely eliminate acidifying foods from your diet. This is absolutely not true. You just need to monitor your intake and try to consume more alkaline foods than acid foods. Remember, every meal counts, so start with the very next one!

Classifying Acids as Strong or Weak