The acid vs alkaline diet is one of the less-popular terms for the alkaline diet. This healthy diet is sometimes also described as the acid alkaline diet or the acid alkaline balance diet. Despite the differences in terminology, however, these words all refer to the same principle: By eating more alkalizing foods and fewer acidifying ones, you can make your body more alkaline. In turn, a mildly alkaline state will give you the best opportunity to experience a finely-tuned state of well-being.
To a large extent, health is a matter of balance. Perfect balance means perfect health. On the other hand, an imbalance equals illness. For instance, too high a caloric intake causes obesity, while too low a caloric intake causes wasting. Too much or too little sodium in the diet… Too much or too little LDL cholesterol… Too much or too little acidity… In every instance, the center of the balance beam is the best place to be.
In practice, however, few people in the West are at risk of consuming too few calories or too little sodium, or of having a disturbingly low level of blood cholesterol. Our processed diet pushes us in one direction. Similarly, it is far more common for our bodies to be too acidic than too alkaline. This is because most people eat a great deal of meat, dairy products, processed grains, sugar, and alcoholic beverages, but we don’t get enough alkalizing fruits and vegetables in our diets.
“Alkaline diet” is by far the most popular term for this way of eating. But if we want to be accurate, instead of thinking of it as the “acid vs alkaline diet,” it would be better to think of it as the “acid alkaline balance diet.” Like yin and yang in Traditional Chinese Medicine, acidity and alkalinity are not inherently good or bad. It is our responsibility to achieve a state of harmony between these interconnected elements.