25 Acid-Promoting Foods

Check out this list to see if you could be overloading your body with potentially toxic acids.

The typical American diet is full of foods like meat and dairy products that tend to increase the acidity of your blood. Recent research suggests that eating too many acid-promoting foods could potentially damage your kidney and your liver and might even raise diabetes risk.

See if your favorite foods are on this list of 25 common acid-promoting foods, which are ordered from neutral to most acid-forming. If you find your favorite foods on this list, you don’t have to cut them out entirely. Rather, check out this list of 25 common foods that help to neutralize acid and maintain a healthy body mass.

  1. Olive oil (neutral)
  2. Low-fat yogurt
  3. Whole milk
  4. Butter
  5. Lentils, boiled
  6. White bread
  7. Whole-wheat cooked spaghetti
  8. Plain bagel
  9. Peanuts, dry-roasted
  10. Walnuts
  11. Hot dog
  12. Chicken
  13. Pepperoni
  14. Lean beef
  15. Wild cooked trout
  16. Whole egg, hard boiled
  17. Oats
  18. Brown rice
  19. Cooked salmon
  20. White canned tuna fish
  21. Mozzarella
  22. Canned sardines
  23. Cooked turkey bacon
  24. American/cheddar cheese
  25. Parmesan cheese (most acid-producing)

To learn more about how to avoid toxic acidity in your diet, follow this alkaline meal plan.

Overeating for Pleasure or Just Can't Get Full? This Hormone Could Be to Blame

Here's how to get things back on track.

Q: I end up overeating because it makes me feel better and I never really get full. I'd like to lose weight but this makes it hard. Any suggestions?

A: Being persistently hungry can cause big trouble. So can overeating for comfort/pleasure. These two behaviors, say researchers from Baylor University's Children's Nutrition Research Center, are controlled deep within your brain by serotonin-producing neurons, but operate separately from each other — one in the hypothalamus, the other in the midbrain. They both can, however, end up fueling poor nutritional choices and obesity.

Eating for Hunger

When hunger is your motive for eating, the question is: "Does your body know when you've had enough?" Well, if you are overweight, obese or have diabetes you may develop leptin resistance and your "I am full" hormone, leptin, can't do its job. The hormone's signal to your hypothalamus is dampened, and you keep eating.

Keep Reading Show less