Acidic Foods Pin It

Minimizing our consumption of acidic foods is an ideal way to restore our body ph balance to its optimum state.

Body pH is measured on a scale between 0 and 14. Our bodies can survive on a very narrow range within that scale. Maintaining a ph level of between 7.36 to 7.42 should be our goal for good health. Get more information about pH levels here.

Most of us probably have a pH level that is at least slightly too acidic, due to the highly acidic diet we follow in the western world. That can lead to acidosis, which is the basis of many diseases. (You can read about body ph and acidosis in more detail here.)

While acidosis can be caused by a mix of excessive acid in the diet, emotional stress (that mind body spirit connection again), toxic overload, or immune system reactions, diet is the key for most of us.

So how do we know what to eat to maintain this all important balance in our system?

As complicated as the lists on this page and the other pages in this section make it look, it can be pretty simple.

Acidic food (those that are acid forming in our bodies) are mainly animal proteins, grains and processed foods.

It has nothing at all to do with how a food tastes. Acidic foods don't taste acidy. They have an acidic reaction when they are digested by our body.

Eat less of these acidic foods and the body chemistry becomes less acidic.

I have attempted on this page to list acidic foods from the most acid forming to the least.

The issue with it is that the "experts" sometimes categorize various foods differently. On one person's list for example, chicken is a very acid forming food, while on another it is only moderately acidic and on a third very low acid.

I have compiled the lists anyway to help give you some idea of which foods are the most acidic and should be consumed only in moderate amounts.

You can find another list of acidic foods on the site here. That lists foods by their type (grains,proteins etc), which may be an easier way for many of us to learn them.

You may want to print out either or both lists and keep them with you as you are trying to move towards a more alkaline diet.

Either way I think the point is not to stress out about it all too much.

The most important thing to remember, in an effort to maintain a more alkaline system is that meats, cheeses, fried foods, sugars and grains (pastas, breads, rice) are all acidic foods, while almost all vegetables and fruits are alkaline.

Consume a lot more fruit and vegetables, especially leafy green vegetables, cut back on sugars, meats, breads and pastas and you are well on your way to creating the optimum body ph balance and avoiding acidosis.

List of Acidic Foods From Most Acid Forming to Least

Extremely Acidic Foods Artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, NutraSweet, Spoonful, Sweet 'N Low or Equal Barley Beef Beer Black Tea Brazil nuts Bread Brown sugar Carbonated soft drinks, especially colas Chocolate Cigarettes and tobacco Coffee Cocoa Cream of wheat Custard (made with white sugar) Deer Drugs Flour (white, wheat) Fried foods Fruit juices (with sugar) Goat Hazelnuts Ice cream Jams and Jellies Lamb Liquor Lobster Maple syrup (processed) Molasses (sulphured) Pasta (white) Pastries & cakes from white flour Pheasant Pork Processed cheese Pudding Rabbit Seafood Semolina Soybeans Sugar (white) Table salt Turkey Walnuts Wheat bread White rice Whole wheat Wine White vinegar (processed) Yeast Yogurt (sweetened)

Moderately Acidic Foods Bananas (green) Basmati Rice Blueberries Bran Breads (refined) made of corn, oats, rice or rye Brown Rice Buckwheat Cereals (refined wheat or corn) Cheeses (sharp) Chicken Cigarette tobacco Corn Crackers (wheat, rye or rice) Cranberries Cream of Wheat (unrefined) Dried beans (mung, adzuki, pinto, kidney and garbanzo) Dry coconut Egg whites Egg whole (cooked hard) Fish Fructose Fruit juices with sugar Garbanzo beans Goat's milk (homogenized) Honey (pasteurized) Ketchup Lard Mayonnaise Maple syrup (processed) Milk (homogenized) Molasses (sulphured or unsulphured) Mussels Mustard Nutmeg Oat bran Oats Olives Pasta (whole grain) Pastry Peanuts Pecans Pickles (commercial) Pistachios Plums Pomegranate Popcorn (with salt & butter) Potatoes without skins Prunes Rye Seeds (pumpkin, sunflower) Shellfish Squid Snow peas Soy milk Soy sauce Tapioca Veal Wheat bread (sprouted organic) Wheat germ Whole Wheat Wine Yogurt (sweetened)

Low and Very Low Acidic Foods Adzuki beans Aged cheese Alcohol Almond oil Amaranth Balsamic vinegar Black-eyed peas Boar Buckwheat Butter Canola oil Chard Chutney Coconut Cream Curry Dates Dry fruit Elk Farina Fava beans Figs Goat milk (raw) Goat/sheep's milk cheese Game meat Gelatin Goose Grape seed oil Guava Honey Kamut Kasha Kona coffee Lima beans Millet Mutton Maple syrup Navy beans Organ Meats Pine nuts Pinto beans Pumpkin seed oil Red beans Rhubarb Safflower oil Seitan Semolina Sesame oil Soy cheese Spelt Sunflower oil Tapioca Teff Tofu Tomatoes Triticale Turkey Vanilla Vinegar White beans Wild duck

These foods are considered alkaline forming by some researchers, acidic by others. They are probably all quite neutral, so I wouldn't be too concerned about them in terms of acidity.

• Brazil Nuts
• Brussels Sprouts
• Buckwheat
• Cashews
• Chicken
• Corn
• Cottage Cheese
• Eggs
• Flax Seeds
• Green Tea
• Herbal Tea
• Honey
• Kombucha
• Lima Beans
• Maple Syrup
• Milk
• Nuts
• Organic Milk (unpasteurized)
• Potatoes, white
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Quinoa
• Sauerkraut
• Soy Products
• Sprouted Seeds
• Squashes
• String beans
• Sunflower Seeds
• Tomatoes
• Wax beans
• Yogurt
• Zucchini

Pin It

Please Note:
None of this information is meant to diagnose, treat or prescribe in any way. It is provided for your information only. Please consult with your own doctor or other health care expert before making any drastic changes to your diet or health care routine.

New! Comments

Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.