"Testing Your Diet with Pee & Purple Cabbage"
If our body isn't buffering the acid formed from our diet with our bones,
how is it neutralizing the acid?
Maybe with our muscles!
Our blood gets more acidic as we age, as our kidney function declines,
and this may be a reason we lose muscle mass as we get older.
The modern Western diet based on animal products
generates an acid load that may cause
"a lifespan state of unnoticed and growing metabolic acidosis"
and this chronic low-level diet- dependent metabolic acidosis
might contribute to the progressive shrinking
of our muscle mass as we age.
See muscle wasting appears to be an adaptive response to acidosis.
When our muscles break down,
amino acids are released into the bloodstream.
Our liver can then take these amino acids
and make something called glutamine,
which our kidneys can use to get rid of the excess acid.
And indeed, in this 3 year study,
those over age 65 eating alkaline diets
were better able to preserve their muscle mass,
which they think may be because
the alkaline-producing fruits and vegetables
helped relieve the mild acidosis that occurs
with the ingestion of the standard American diet.
But show me a study in which fruits and vegetables
aren't associated with health benefits.
So when the latest review asks
does an alkaline diet benefit health?
If you're asking does a diet low in meat, eggs, and dairy—
all acid producing,
and high in fruits and vegetables with lots of dark green leafies,
well then of course the answer is YES!
An alkaline diet benefits health.
But if you're asking does it matter what the pH of your pee is,
(whether your urine is acid or alkaline)
regardless of what actually goes into your mouth?
Then the answer is... actually still yes, it does matter.
But the accepted benefits of having alkaline urine
appear limited to two areas:
lower risk of kidney stones and better uric acid clearance.
We knew about kidney stones, but the uric acid data is new.
Researchers found that alkalization of the urine
is effective for removing uric acid from the body.
And if you remember uric acid is bad stuff,
potentially increasing one's risk of fatal stroke, heart disease, and death.
So, those eating plant-based diets are at an advantage.
The average vegetarian diet is alkaline producing,
and the average meat-eating diet is acid producing.
Even though there are some acid-forming meat-substitutes,
like some of the quorn products,
they're not as bad as something like, tuna,
and they're typically consumed in smaller quantities
than meat consumers consume meat.
As the protein in plants is usually accompanied by much more potassium,
which is alkalinizing,
there is good reason to meet protein needs preferably from plant sources.
And if you actually measure urine pH,
those eating strictly plant-based diets have the greatest advantage,
significantly more alkaline urine than omnivores.
How can you tell what your urine pH is?
Well, you can be all boring and order some pH paper strips to pee on—
or, you can use what you should have right now in your crisper,
a purple cabbage.
Everyone should have a red or purple cabbage in their fridge
since it's one of the best nutrition bangs for our buck,
but you can also do science with it!
You either boil some until the water turns deep purple,
or a quicker safer way (since then you're not dealing with hot liquids)
is to just blend some raw in your blender with some water
for that gorgeous purple and then just strain out the solids.
Then what do you do with that royal purple liquid
is you pour it in the toilet bowl after you pee.
(You can imagine how much fun kids have with this).
If it stays purple, your urine is acidic
and you should eat more dark green leafy vegetables.
If the toilet bowl turns pink your urine is really acidic
and you should eat more dark green leafy vegetables.
You're looking for blue.
If it turns blue that means your urine is neutral
or even alkaline, if it's sky blue,
and that means you should…
continue to eat more dark green leafy vegetables.