An alkaline diet is a diet that focuses on alkaline-promoting foods, while reducing or avoiding acid-promoting foods. It is believed that following the alkaline diet will improve your overall health by balancing your pH and making the body’s job of regulating pH easier.
The key to the alkaline diet is focusing on the best foods, and replacing or reducing the “acidic offenders” wherever possible.
Some examples of “high” alkaline-forming foods that are included in a healthy alkaline diet include:
apples
apricots
avocados
bananas
beets
bell peppers
broccoli
cabbage
cantaloupe
cauliflower
celery
corn
dates
figs
garlic
ginger
grapefruit
grapes
green beans
kelp
kiwi
leafy greens
lemons
limes
mango
nectarines
onions
oranges
papaya
parsley
passion fruit
peaches
pears
peas
pineapple
pumpkin
pumpkin seeds
raspberries
sea salt
seaweed
squash
strawberries
sweet potato
tangerines
turnips
watercress
watermelon
Some examples of the most acid-forming foods—i.e. foods to avoid—are as follows:
breads (especially white)
carbonated drinks
coffee
fried foods
jams
jellies
meats (beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, seafood)
pasta (especially non-whole wheat)
processed cheese
processed foods
refined serials and grains
sugar
tobacco products
An alkaline diet, quite simply, is a diet that focuses on foods on the first list, while avoiding as much as possible foods on the second list. Obviously, the lists are not all-inclusive, but they should be sufficient to lead you in the right direction if you intend to follow the alkaline diet.

George Knox -
It’s a REAL shame that Coffee is on this list as I struggle to make it 2-steps outside of my front door without my morning latte. Hopefully, the effects of this diet will provide me with all of the ‘getup and go’ I need to perform efficiently throughout the day.
Mark Chapman -
Thank you for the outline of this diet. I have been searching for a list of foods to both avoid and seek, and finally, I have found what I’ve been looking for. I am a big fan of coffee based products, which means that giving it up is going to be a huge task for me, but in the name of my own health I’m willing to give it a try!