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    Glass of green juice on a wooden coaster with a small plastic straw on a blurred wooden table background

    As a TCM reader, you already know it’s healthy to drink warm lemon water, alkaline water, apple cider vinegar and fresh-pressed green juice. Sure, they all improve your body’s detox abilities, boost your immune system, and give you a mega dose of much-needed nourishment – but that’s because each of these drinks helps raise your body’s pH, turning your system from acid to alkaline.

    When your body is in an alkaline state, it becomes more resistant to disease, inhibiting the growth of pathogenic organisms like bad bacteria, viruses, yeast, fungi and even cancer. The oxygen levels are raised in the tissues, blood and organs, allowing them to function more efficiently and effectively. Reducing acidity and maintaining an alkaline state also helps to encourage healthy cell turnover, energy production and regular toxin excretion.

    While there are many factors that impact the pH levels in the body, the easiest way to influence the acid-alkaline balance is through your diet. By eating alkaline-forming foods and minimizing the consumption of acid-forming ones, your body can more easily maintain an alkaline state. Alkaline-forming foods are plant-based, and are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They are typically easier to digest than acid-forming ones, improving immune function in the gut and helping to lower inflammation and mucus production.

    Alkalizing foods are not always what you think, though – so we’ve taken a few notes from Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson, authors of Honestly Healthy for Life, to find out which ones to focus on. Turns out, you’ve got plenty of options! Make your list, and start filling your plate with these super nourishing foods:

    The 80 Best Foods for Balancing Your pH

    The Most Alkaline

    Raw almonds, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, broccoli, unrefined sea salt, pink salt, chard, cucumber, endive, fennel, wheatgrass, kale, parsley, alkaline water, kelp, nori, wakame, spinach, sprouts, sprouted beans

    Very Alkaline

    Arugula, avocado, basil, bee pollen, beets, cabbage, celery, chia, Chinese cabbage, chives, cilantro, eggplant, escarole, figs, garlic, ginger, green beans, lemon, lettuce, lima beans, lime, mustard greens, navy beans, okra, onion, peppers, quinoa, radish, red onion, scallion, spring greens, tomato


    Almond milk, artichoke, asparagus, avocado oil, Brussels sprouts, buckwheat, carrot, cashew nuts, cauliflower, chestnuts, coconut (flesh, milk, water, oil), fava beans, flax oil, grapefruit, herbs, spices, leeks, lentils, new potatoes, olive oil, peas, pomegranate, pumpkin, rhubarb, summer squash, winter squash, sweet potato, watercress

    These values are based on biochemical test results of foods once they are digested.

    From our friends


    1. This is such a useful post. I eat quite a lot of the food above on a weekly basis so i’m glad to know i’m helping to neutralise the acidity in my body! Thanks for posting such a helpful post.

      Emma | 02.02.2015 | Reply
    2. How do we know these foods make are body alkaline? Is there any research that explains how this works? How does coconut oil help alkalize our bodies more than let’s say… olive oil? butter? I’d like to see the science behind this.

      riley | 05.30.2017 | Reply
    3. @Riley Why do you need someone to PROVIDE you with the science. Google it. This is the first step in PROVIDING you with useful info. It’s your job to figure out the rest. Be grateful. If you don’t believe this info about PH then move on, but do your own research or just deny this info and eat whatever you please.

      Kristen | 06.21.2017 | Reply
    4. @Kristen that is incredibly unhelpful. The comment by Riley did not imply denial of the claim about the foods listed, it asked for research to back up the claims. It is not wrong to ask for evidence to support the claims on this alkaline page. You can read 10 pages and get 10 different lists. Just because a food is alkaline in and of itself it does not mean that when consumed it will alkalinize the body. If the owner of the page wants to make claims, let them back it up with science.

      Allgaul | 07.23.2017 | Reply
    5. Maybe the owner has done his or her research,and only posted these nutritional nuggets to help give someone a great base to start from. I say look up these items for yourself and not lean solely upon what you see. If you believe this then go for it. If not read it,and give no thought to this. But it seems that you are very interested O’Riley,which is why you asked for evidence. I say give it a try. Couldn’t hurt.

      Melinda Francis | 12.19.2017 | Reply
    6. I agree with Melinda and Kristen- I appreciate the poster kept it short and simple: people usually will get deterred from seeing a long post with too much information. I know I do.
      I just came here for the facts, and if I don’t understand something, or I want to know more, I take the time to look it up. Just because the poster left it simple doesn’t mean it’s untrue, although it is always wise to triple check information for sure.
      If you care enough, don’t blame others for your laziness by expecting them to do everything for you. It literally takes a few seconds to do another Google search just as it did to find this one.

      Kate | 01.24.2018 | Reply
    7. I don’t understand how lemons, which are full of acid, could possibly be alkaline.

      Jason | 06.02.2018 | Reply
    8. When you consume lemons or limes they leave an alkaline ash behind that then neutralises the acid in your body.

      Jerslin Dixon | 12.05.2018 | Reply

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