Trying to balance your body’s pH level doesn’t work and is unnecessarily restrictive, according to evidence.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Kelly Ripa follows a diet plan designed to optimize pH balance with alkaline foods like fruits and vegetables, soy, legumes and nuts. The plan avoids meats, dairy, grains, eggs, meat, processed foods, caffeine, and alcohol.
pH refers to the scale from 0 (acidic, such as battery acid) to 15 (basic, like lye or bleach), with pure water in the middle. But your body naturally works to keep your levels stable, regardless of what you eat, according to the Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, so there’s no proof this actually does anything.
The diet is also needlessly restrictive and, to do it properly, you’re supposed to test the pH level of your urine regularly. While there are some benefits of the eating plan, they’re mostly common-sense, like eating more vegetables and less red meat and junk food. Also coffee has plenty of benefits, so ditching it is not only needlessly hard but not that helpful for most people.
