Alkaline Diet for Weight Loss: What Works and What Doesn't

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Why an alkaline diet can help you lose weight

If you eat an alkaline-leaning diet, you automatically eat differently: more vegetables, salad, fruit and potatoes, less processed meat, cheese, white flour and sweets. That helps with weight loss for three reasons that have nothing to do with acid-base balance:

• Lots of volume, little energy. 100 g of spinach or lamb’s lettuce has 18 kcal, 100 g of zucchini 22 kcal. A full plate of vegetables fills you up before many calories add up.
• Fiber. Vegetables, potatoes and legumes keep you full longer than white bread or pasta. More: Fibermaxxing: fiber and PRAL.
• Less processed food. If you cook more yourself, you eat less hidden sugar and less fat.

During alkaline fasting, the scale often drops quickly in the first few days. Part of that is water: if you eat less salt and less bread, your body holds on to less water. It comes back once you eat normally again. In the long run, only the calorie deficit counts.

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What the PRAL misses when you want to lose weight

The PRAL only uses protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium. Calories, fat and sugar are not part of the formula. Dried and fried foods end up at the top because the minerals become concentrated when the water is removed.

For weight loss, a second look helps: how much base a food provides per 100 kcal.

PRAL values and calories: Basentracker food database.

At the top of the table are the foods that help twice when you want to lose weight: leafy greens, salad, tomatoes, zucchini and carrots. Potatoes and bananas sit in a good middle range. Chips, banana chips and dried fruit are alkaline, but deliver the same base with far more calories. A handful of raisins (30 g) has 86 kcal, as much as 480 g of spinach.

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Does a high acid load make you gain weight?

That has not been shown. Two reviews of observational studies come to different results. In one, obesity was slightly more common at the highest acid load than at the lowest, 30% versus 27% (Abbasalizad Farhangi 2019). The other found no link between acid load and body mass index (Public Health Nutrition 2019).

Even where a link shows up, it doesn’t prove cause and effect. People who eat a lot of processed meat, cheese and white flour and few vegetables have a high acid load and usually eat more calories, too.

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Protein: acid-forming, but important for weight loss

Protein keeps you full for a long time and protects your muscles while you lose weight. At the same time, it is the main acid-forming factor in the formula. Low-fat quark is +9.4, cooked chicken breast +13.2 and a boiled egg +10.6 per 100 g.

That’s not a contradiction as long as the protein comes with vegetables. Low-fat quark with potatoes and lamb’s lettuce is clearly alkaline overall, as the sample day below shows. Cutting protein to improve your balance would be the wrong move when you’re trying to lose weight. More: High-protein diet without an acidic balance.

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An alkaline sample day for weight loss

Four meals from the Basentracker database, about 1,340 kcal in total with a daily balance of about −35. Adjust the amounts to your own needs.

Every meal includes a protein source: yogurt, quark, chickpeas, almonds. Vegetables and potatoes offset them. More ideas for the whole week: Alkaline diet meal plan.

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How to lose weight on an alkaline diet

1. Fill half your plate with vegetables or salad. That brings base and volume with few calories.
2. Protein with every meal. Quark, yogurt, eggs, fish or legumes keep you full. The vegetables next to them offset the acid.
3. Potatoes instead of white bread and pasta. Boiled potatoes are −6.5 and 76 kcal, cooked pasta +5.8 and 146 kcal per 100 g.
4. Snacks from vegetables and fresh fruit. Chips, dried fruit and nuts are small calorie bombs, no matter what color they show.
5. Drink water and tea. Juice, soda and alcohol bring calories that don’t fill you up.
6. Look at calories and balance together. An alkaline day is not automatically a day in a calorie deficit.

Alkaline powder doesn’t help here. It has almost no calories, but it doesn’t burn fat either. More: Alkaline powder: what’s in it and does it actually work?

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you lose weight on an alkaline diet? +

Yes, if it creates a calorie deficit. That is easier because vegetables, salad and potatoes bring a lot of volume and few calories. The alkalinity itself doesn't melt away any fat.

How much weight do you lose with alkaline fasting? +

That depends on your calorie deficit, not on the PRAL. In the first few days, part of what the scale shows is water, because you eat less salt and bread. That part comes back after the fast.

Does alkaline powder help with weight loss? +

No. Alkaline powder has almost no calories, but it doesn't burn fat and doesn't keep you full. It only supplies mineral salts that, by calculation, provide as much base as a serving of vegetables.

Does an acidic body make you gain weight? +

There is no evidence for that. Your kidneys excrete the acid from your food every day, and your body doesn't store it in fat. Observational studies on acid load and obesity come to conflicting results.

Which alkaline foods are filling and low in calories? +

Leafy greens, salad, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots and potatoes. Spinach provides −67.5 per 100 kcal, boiled potatoes −8.6. Chips (−3.2) and banana chips (−2.1) are far behind.

Are potatoes okay when you want to lose weight? +

Yes. Boiled potatoes have 76 kcal and a PRAL of −6.5 per 100 g, and they are filling. They only become a problem as fries, chips or with lots of butter and cream.

Sources: Abbasalizad Farhangi et al., PLOS ONE 2019;14(5):e0216547. Review on dietary acid load and cardiometabolic risk factors, Public Health Nutrition 2019. PRAL values and calories: Basentracker food database, PRAL calculated according to Remer and Manz (see Sources).

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