Food Elimination & Alkaline Diet

In my quest to rid my skin of inflammation (otherwise known as acne caused by the wonderful world of mid twenties stress hormone imbalance central!) I have grabbed onto all the information I can about what causes skin flare ups. I was talking to my acupuncturist a few weeks ago about dietary adjustments, and he said I need to stay away from foods that create heat and contribute to my inflammation (for those who have never realized the connection between food and skin, recognizing that the skin is the largest detox organ is a great start- your skin is a minefield of pores constantly pushing things out of your body - unwanted toxins that didn't detox the normal route through the digestive track). He listed garlic, tomatoes, fried foods, spices, and citrus foods.

So I stopped eating citrus, as I don't eat any of the other foods anyway. While I haven't seen a drastic improvement I am smart enough to know that with a situation as complex as mine, one thing is not going to be the cure-all. The real test for how I (and all of you for that matter!) would be to reintroduce it into your diet. The great thing for me is that I eat the SAME THINGS all the time so I definitely know when something is out of wack, and I can use the information indefinitely. For example, I didn't eat peanuts for 5 months or so, and I had them back in November and woke up the next day with a burn on my nose. I tried to recall burning it on my curling iron but obviously I would remember something like that. I could only blame it on the peanuts! Amazing.

So in googling "acid citrus" I came across what is known as the Alkaline diet: eating foods that have a high pH so as to lower the level of acids in your body:

The Alkaline diet' (also known as the alkaline ash diet, alkaline acid diet and the acid alkaline diet) is a dietary protocol based on the consumption of foods which metabolise (burn) to leave an alkaline residue (ash). Minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, are the principal components of the residue as they are incombustible. -Wikipedia

Very fascinating to say the least. Turns out that citrus actually is alkaline , not acidic. And foods like pineapples and pomegranates are more acidic. Obviously I really overwhelmed right now and just exploring it - there's already so much to look out for - wheat, dairy, soy, high glycemic foods, non-organic foods, you could pretty much narrow your diet to broccoli and spinach alone based on everything I've read about what to avoid.

Most of the alkaline/acidic charts I find are contradictory on a lot of foods, but a lot concur with each other on others. Research is the best answer in my opinion.

All sources of protein such as meat and fish are highly acidic. So yet another reason to try and reintroduce soy into my diet via tempeh (a more fermented form of soy that is much more easily digested by our bodies). And I'll be looking for subtle shifts to know if I'm reacting to it or not - the best way to know if you are intolerant or allergic to something!

High alkaline foods include green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, avocado, beets, kale, barley- basically all of your favorite foods I'm sure!