10 Eating Out Tips to Help You GET OFF YOUR ACID!

November 12, 2015 Dr Daryl Gioffre 1 comment

Smiling family standing in the kitchen together As a doctor, I have always been on a mission to discover why some of my patients are so full of energy, healthy, and fit, and why others are tired all the time, sick, and out of shape.

There are so many different types of diets and health regimes, and they are so contradictory and confusing. Today’s super food is tomorrow’s enemy, and this changes all the time.

Is kale good for you, or really bad? Some say high protein, some say low protein… Some say yes to fat, some say no to fat, high carb, low carb… Who should you believe?

More importantly, what is the key factor in making you healthy or sick?

I followed the evidence and the evidence led me to ACID. It didn’t matter what the condition or symptom was. People who had…

• stubborn weight gain
• constant fatigue
• skin problems
• reflux
• joint and muscle pain
• tummy trouble
• insomnia
• brain fog

The common denominator and the smoking gun was always ACID.

The alkaline diet is about balance. It is very manageable, and anyone can do it. People who I coach who have tried every other diet have success when they transition to the alkaline diet because it’s not about deprivation, it’s about moderation, and giving your body the nutrients and foods it needs to maintain a healthy pH balance.

The alkaline diet is based on the scientific foundation that your body (specifically the blood) is designed to be slightly alkaline at a pH of 7.365 (scale goes from 0-14, where 0 is burning a hole through metal, 14 is pure alkaline, 7 is neutral).

I want you to look at this scale as good and bad – anything below 7 is acidic and is bad for you, and anything above 7 is alkaline and good for you.

Just like your body will do whatever it takes to tightly regulate your temperature at 98.6, it has elaborate control systems in place to keep your pH tightly regulated.

Certain acidic foods like sugar, gluten, dairy, alcohol, soda, processed food, caffeinated drinks, artificial sweeteners, carbonated water, and even stress drive your pH down, which triggers a panic response in your body to compensate.

Collage of pub food including cheese burgers, wings, nachos, fries, pizza, ribs, deep fried prawns and calamari. The problem lies in the Standard American Diet (the SAD Diet) being 90% acidic, and is heavily deficient in the necessary alkaline minerals like calcium and magnesium your body needs to neutralize all that acid on a daily basis. Your body simply gets overwhelmed.

Here is why ACID burns a hole through metal, and if it can do that to metal, think about what that’s doing inside your body, to your digestive system, your joints and muscles, and your cardiovascular system.

And your body will do anything to prevent that from happening.

So if you’re not getting enough minerals from the foods you eat and drink to neutralize the acid in your body, it will find any alkaline mineral store that’s available.

It will grab some minerals from your mouth (tooth decay), magnesium from your muscles (muscle pain and cramps), and your largest mineral bank, calcium from your bones (joint pain and osteoporosis).

The pH of your blood is that important that it will let your body fall apart before it allows its pH to veer off course!

This is WHY the alkaline diet is so important.

The purpose of the alkaline diet is not aimed at trying to make your body more alkaline, and this is where so much confusion lies when it comes to this lifestyle.

It’s about giving your body nutrient-dense foods high in alkaline minerals like organic leafy greens and fresh vegetables, salads, low-sugar fruits, healthy fats like avocados, omega oils like chia, olive, flax, nuts, seeds, smoothies, green drinks, and healthy whole grains, so that your body doesn’t have to rob its own resources and do all of the regulating.

There are many benefits to eating an alkaline diet, but the biggest is that your body will have all of the tools it needs to maintain its healthy pH balance, and it can shift its resources to do what it was designed to do, energize and heal your body.

It’s about adding the small things that make the biggest difference and doing them daily.

You are in total control of the outcome and how you feel! How empowering is that?

One of the most common questions I get is what should I do when I eat out to maintain an alkaline lifestyle?

Beautiful young woman eating vegetarian food in a restaurant Here are some of my favorite eating-out tips to keep you on track without getting rid of the foods you love…

Slow down and chew your food. Digestion begins in the mouth, so make sure you chew your food and help your digestive system out. It takes your brain 15 minutes to catch up to your digestive system, so if you eat too fast, it will be too late before your brain lets you know that you are full.
Drink Water. Avoid soda, carbonated beverages, and alcohol when possible. Have a glass of water instead and always add a lemon or lime wedge. While they are both a citric acid, they are very alkaline-forming inside your body. If you are going to indulge and have a soda or an alcoholic beverage, have an extra glass of water with lemon beforehand and be sure to have a glass of AlkaMind Daily Minerals before bed to neutralize all that acid.
Avoid the basket of bread altogether. Out of sight, out of mind! If it’s not in front of you, you will be less inclined to go on auto-pilot while waiting for your meal.
Go green. Whether at home or out, I love salads. They are high water-content greens that give you an alkaline edge, and it will also help to fill you up faster.
On the side, please. Ask for ALL dressings and condiments on the side, as most are highly acidic, and you want to have control over how much you use, if any. Better yet, ask for some extra virgin olive oil and lemon slices on the side and make your own dressing.
Stay away from table salt. Over 77% of our sodium intake comes from restaurant and processed foods, so avoid it. You can even bring your own (Celtic Grey Sea Salt, Himalayan, or Redmond Real Salt) like I do!
Consider apps and sides. Instead of a full entrée, try two appetizers or even look at the side dishes and put them together as nice meal with an alkalizing soup, or have a side dish of steamed or sautéed veggies, quinoa, or brown rice. Most importantly, if you are going to have meat or fish, you want the portion size to be the side show and NOT the main event.
Ask your waiter. Put my new swap this for that list to good use and don’t be afraid to ask your waiter to substitute an ingredient.
Instead go for steamed, sautéed, grilled, roasted, broiled, dehydrated, or baked.
Dessert – sharing is caring. Instead of everyone ordering their own dessert, order one for the table and share. Use my good - better - best philosophy when it comes to making your dessert choices. While it’s not the best choice to have some fresh fruit after a meal, it’s a much better choice than the molten-lava chocolate cake. The best option, however, is to skip dessert all together.

In summary, the aim of the alkaline diet and lifestyle is NOT to make you more alkaline. Its purpose is to minimize the acid load on your body so that your body doesn’t have to do all of the regulating.

When your body requires little effort and energy to maintain its tightly regulated pH of 7.365, it can stop reacting, and in its place, use resources to do what it was DESIGNED to do – energize and heal itself.

I can’t say it enough; being healthy is not about trying to be perfect, or cutting out EVERYTHING you enjoy for the rest of your life! It’s about progress, no matter how big or small the steps.

It’s about adding the little things to keep your body alkaline that make the biggest difference and doing them daily.

That’s why adding AlkaMind Daily Minerals and Daily Greens is a huge step toward getting off your acid – it’s a like a safety net for times that you eat more acid-forming foods.

I share tons of delicious smoothie and juice recipes in my Get Off Your Acid 7-Day Cleanse, and I’m excited to let you know that the fall cleanse is now available! Included are 100+ new recipes, plus shopping lists, meal plans and more tips than I can count.

Get started now!

As a Certified Raw Food Chef, every season I change the recipes so that you can take advantage of what’s in season. Even if you don’t do the full on cleanse, there are so many ideas and tips in the digital cleanse materials that you receive that you can start using on a day-to-day basis that will make a difference in your life and your health.