alkaline/acid diet vs. raw diet? same thing?

[selfmade2009]

So far, I've been reading about people going on a raw diet. From what I've been reading, it seems that not all items in a raw diet are alkaline forming, but it's prolly enough to be considered an alkaline diet.

I'm interested in a raw diet, but more so in an alkaline diet. Can anyone experienced clue me in on the difference in effect for someone taking an alkaline focused diet vs. a raw diet?

I hit up the internet for list of foods that are considered alkaline forming and a list that is acid forming just to get an idea of what to avoid and what to move towards. from my preliminary research, I'm a bit disappointed to find that brown rice (all rice), eggs, fish, and oatmeal are on the list for acid forming foods! I have come to understand that there are degrees of alkalinity and acidity for each food and that you're good to go if you can do 80% alkaline to 20% acid foods as a standard diet.

As I had mentioned above, it seems that raw diets are typically alkaline, but I have not found that alkaline diets are necessarily raw diets. I am setting myself up for optimal/PRACTICAL health. While I agree that health is important, AND I will make the effort to adjust my habits and schedule to accommodate a more healthy diet/lifestyle... I'm not prepared to make it a habit to spend the majority of my time focused on conforming to a "non-practical diet." I suppose my criteria would better help illustrate my goals in my new "health diet"/way of life:

1. I want to eat healthy - it's not difficult for me to adjust my eating habits once I know what the rules are;
2. I don't want to spend half my day preparing my meal or hunting for ingredients to make my meal;
3. I want more energy;
4. I want to detox;
5. I want nutritional completeness;
6. I want something practical, maintainable, and within a weekly budget of $50-75 (assuming home cooked meals)

I don't think that's too much to ask for. To date, I have been eating mostly vegetables and nuts. I have my list of foods, now I have to figure out my menu. I'll go raw as much as I could, and I am getting there by first half cooking my veggies just to get used to a more raw diet. Eating certain veggies (like broccoli or gai lan (chinese broccoli)) can be challenging diving straight in. I'd like to enjoy my meals in the transition, and I've found the % cooked approach a nice transition so far. I'm about 3days into my half-ass transition diet. I will cut out meat and breads (and rice??) completely as soon as I get a better understanding of an alkaline diet vs. a raw diet... or maybe I go the hybrid approach.

Anyway, I was hoping to get feedback from the more experienced/knowledgeable people who are familiar with alkaline and raw type diets.

Thanks!
-sm2009

[Dimond]

You're right they're not the same thing. Most people are acidic and most diets are. Raw can be when people eat too much sweet fruit and other things. Thing is you need to decide what you're most important goal is or you're setting yourself up for failure. Like you mentioned, you want to keep it simple. So either you eat an alkaline diet, without focusing on raw or eat a raw diet and not worry right now about which foods you're eating. Raw alone cures many things without limiting foods. If you want it to be more alkaline, eat high greens and limit fruit more. I believe that's the better diet anyhow. Many also practice food combining because combinations can create problems. But once again not something you should need to focus on right away. The easiest thing to do is just be raw until it's so a part of your lifestyle you don't need to think about it. Then you tweak it later. Or you can just do cooked alkaline and follow the chart of what not to eat much of.

[selfmade2009]

If you want it to be more alkaline, eat high greens and limit fruit more. I believe that's the better diet anyhow. Many also practice food combining because combinations can create problems.

Thanks, Dimond, for your input! had a quick question for clarification... did you mean that you think an alkaline diet is better than a raw diet in your opinion? why? also, what's food combining, and what problems are you talking about?

as for focus, i have been leaning towards alkaline... i am cooking less when doing veggies too... so that's an easy tweak for me to include in my diet.

[sepiagal]

You should eat meat no more than 2 - 3 times a week if doing alkaline diet.

There are foods that are alkaline that are not raw. Baked white and sweet potatoes, whey protein powder, (cooked) buckwheat groats, (cooked) quinoa, (cooked) millet, and patuerized goat milk. Cow's milk is only mildly acidic. I think raw cow's milk may be considered alkaline.

You can and should eat nutritious acidifying foods like brown rice if you enjoy it. But it would be good to also incorporate other grains that are alkalizing. I think either millet or buckwheat groats is only mildly acid. But quinoa is alkalizing.

Sprouted breads like Essence or Ezekeil (sp?) are also good grain foods.

Some unsprouted nuts are alkalizing like almonds and brazil nuts.

Food combining means you should not eat a starch with meat; vetegatbles with meat would be recommended. Fruit should be eaten away from other foods by about an hour.
Sugar isn't really acidic if eaten in small quantities. Too much sugar can deplete the body of nutrients so too much sugar will be acidifying. So too much fruit might not be in keeping with an alkaline diet, like the other poster mentioned.

Not all fruits are alkalizing. Cranberries and pomegranites are acidifying.

The 80/20 breakdown is recommended if you have any health issues; otherwise you can do 70/30 alkaline/acid foods.

It is also recommended to drink fresh squeezed lemon in water (bicarbonate added is also good). An apple cider vinegar cocktail is also alkalizing. (About 2 oz of ACV to 6 oz of water with some raw honey or molasses to taste.)

And green drinks are recommended which means freezed dried greens powder (or other forms of green drinks) in water. I don't know about a raw diet but would think freezed dried greens powder might not be considered raw.

[selfmade2009]

thanks sepiagal!

i think i'll incorporate meat into my diet then... once to twice a week should do it i think. i'd like to eat fish, chicken, beef (in that order of preference), do you know which is most to least acidifying? and it would seem that "splurge" day should be more like once every 3wks instead of once a week (something i'd allow myself on any restrictive diet)... since this is supposed to be my NEW way of eating, i guess once every 2 or 3 wks to start would be good...then once a month, etc.

i'm cooking me up some quinoa right now (maybe i shouldn't eat so late, but i'm eager to try it and i'm hungry!)

i think i'll like the alkaline with occasional raw items hybrid type diet for now (as a transitional thing, and maybe even more permanent).

anyway... so as for meats, is there a preference of acid to alkaline order of meats to eat?

thanks again!

[sepiagal]

Not all that sure about the least acidic meats. I've read that chicken breast is not too bad. I also read that lamb isn't too acidic. Turkey might be less acidic than some others. But I'm not absolutely sure about which meats are the least acidic.

This is the formula to calculate the potential renal acid load (PRAL). There are sites that have the nutritional info on foods. This is some effort but the only way to know for sure. You can try to eyeball the mineral content of different meats to get a rough idea I guess.

PRAL (per 100 grams) =
0.49 * protein (g) +
0.037 * phosphorus (mg) -
0.021 * potassium (mg) -
0.026 * magnesium (mg) -
0.013 * calcium (mg) -

The higher the negative value the more alkaline a food is.

If you want to increase your protein intake whey is the best source I think.

I've read that if you eat an acidic meal you can use some glutamine powder in water afterwards to help your body get rid of the extra hydrogen ions. The only side effect most people experience from glutamine is dry mouth. In some people high doses (8 to 10 grams per day) can cause a manic episode. Too much glut at bedtime might interfere with sleep.

I've also read that some foods are more acidic or more alkalizing for different people. Those ph test strips can help you know if you are on the right track. You should do three urine tests throughtout the day. The idea is that if you are not more alkaline as the day progresses then you're not getting the minerals your body needs from diet and or supplements.

First urine is about yesterdays meals and or supplements. The second and third tests are about that day's meals. You should wait two hours after a meal to test.

If your acidic (below 6.5, I think) you should look at using lemon water with or without bicarbonate and maybe the ACV drink. No more than a teaspoon of bicarbonate per day. (You want to get results that are around 7.0 or 7.25 I think.)

[selfmade2009]

I think i can do quinoa! yum!

Nutritional value
Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthful choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights.
Quinoa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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wow... thanks again for your valuable input sepiagal. thinking about how i'd like to approach my diet, it might be easier to make some more initial effort for me to understand what foods to seek and avoid. altho, i if i can do rough computations, I could just use that to figure what to eat and not eat for meats too. hmmmm..

as for the supplements, the only one i'm taking right now is macro greens on a daily basis w/lemon - a lemon shouldn't negate any ingredients in a green drink, right? hmmmm... hope not! i think i'll keep supplements to a minimum - and hopefully i can find enough natural sources to take care of my protein needs if i skip meat. then again, i'll prolly get my meat intake by my social life of eating out w/others -hmmmm..

muchos gracias!

[selfmade2009]

I kinda feel guilty when it comes to meals. Because I'm only figuring out my new diet, I'm paranoid about certain foods that will just set me back. for example, I'm looking at eating this chicken i cooked up (w/A.C.Vinegar!) I guess I should keep in mind that as long as my volume of alkaline to acid foods are majority than minority...AND the veggies i eat are more raw than cooked (if not cooked at all), THEN i should be ok.

anyway... just thinking out loud from an unsure & paranoid novice perspective!

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UPDATE....
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i think i need to find some options for my menu. i'm so used to stir frying everything (so easy to cook food that way) and adding sauces to make my QUICK meals... this time i tried something different... prolly not a good idea prepping off the cuff.. this is what i "slapped together for lunch":

i'm eating quinoa (soakd in water over 4hrs - will do longer next time - drained), soft tofu (organic, drained, cut, non-cooked) and gai-lan half bunch raw, the other bunch blanched (30sec?)
oh, with some chicken thigh cut up and apple cider vinegar over it added with a carrot (raw).

UGH... the first 5 bites were good...then i got tired of the taste...didn't taste so appetizing. talk about a way to lose weight on a diet.. just put together stuff that's not so appetizing!

eyeballing my meal (there's a lot - well, seems like a lot since i'm not really enjoying this as much as a "normal" meal )... i have about 20% chicken... well... to finish this with SOME enjoyment, i'm gonna have to adjust this... so make that 40% chicken now! so much for slapping together a quinoa based lunch that's mostly raw... i need preparation and education...