It’s Not a Diet – It’s a Lifestyle: Why Going Alkaline is Different

July 19, 2018 Dr Daryl Gioffre 3 comments

Here’s a question for you: Why do some people struggle with their weight again and again, yo-yo-ing up and down on the scale?

Is that because those people are lazy and doomed to fail?

No, of course not. Many of those same people are successful in their careers, their families, and their social lives.

So what makes their health and well-being different?

Why do so many Americans have trouble sticking with their goals to eat nutritiously and maintain a healthy weight?

And at the same time, why are more and more people turning to the alkaline diet and finding that where they have faltered in the past with so many other diets they’ve tried, they’re seeing the results they want now?

Today, we’re going to answer these questions and explore the 4 reasons why the alkaline diet is different, and while many people call it a diet, it really is LIFESTYLE and new awareness of how you take care of your health.

Diets don’t work. This does.

Low carb, low calorie, low fat, Paleo, vegan, keto, Mediterranean, Keto, Buddha, you name it. For every diet out there, people have tried it. And people have failed it.

Why? Those diets are based on deprivation and taking away. “Cut down on your calories.” “No more eating that way.” “Don’t ever eat your favorite food again.”

In other words, it is a DIEt (that was not a typo 😊)!

Depriving yourself of what you want just doesn’t work. It’s the quickest way to sabotage your health!

So what does work?

ADDING…not taking away.

Over time, the good starts to outweigh the bad.

That’s how I went from eating a whole bag of candy and 3 sodas every single day to very little sugar at all!

In other words, it doesn’t CONTROL me anymore like it used to (sound familiar to anyone out there?)

I didn’t have room for all of that sugar because I was full of other tasty foods like avocados, yummy soups, smoothies, and greens juices.

It’s a totally different way of thinking about your health and as long as you are taking small, baby steps towards living an alkaline based lifestyle, it’s sustainable.

It’s not all or nothing, so you can’t “quit” like a diet.

Statistics say that as many as 95% of people “fail” the diets they go on.

Now, I don’t think that number is fair, because most diets set people up for failure. So it shouldn’t be any surprise when that’s exactly what happens.

That said, the most common reason people “fail” a diet is that they stop eating according to the RULES of the diet.

So what happens is this… People slip up here or there, eating things that are off limits, and the next thing they know, they’ve stopped losing weight or started gaining.

Discouraged with their results, they give up, and then any weight that was lost comes back with a vengeance.

The alkaline diet doesn’t work that way. There’s no way to quit, or give up, or even slip up, because as you will see below, it is truly about an 80/20 BALANCED LIFESTYLE, and you don’t have to give up the guilty pleasures in your life (we will teach you how to make your body deal with them so that they don’t create inflammation or chronic acidosis).

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!

Think of it like driving a car… When you start to veer off into another lane, do you slam the brake and put the car in park in the middle of the road? No, you smoothly steer back into your own lane. In other words, you course correct.

When you notice that your 80/20 lifestyle (80% alkaline-forming foods, and no more than 20% acid-forming foods) has come closer to 60/40… you course correct.

Remember, it’s about progress, not perfection.

We ALL veer of course from time to time. It’s the ones who get back on track and don’t beat themselves up for their mistakes that quickly bounce back and sustain what is right.

Success isn’t just about pants size.

On your typical diet, it all comes down to whether or not you’re losing weight. And let’s be honest – chances are, if you aren’t losing, you’re gaining.

That couldn’t be further from the truth with the alkaline lifestyle. First off, the goal isn’t losing weight. The goal is to reduce the acid levels in your body by adding more alkalizing foods and supplements.

You see, in the short run, fat is actually helping you. Your body uses fat as a BUFFER to neutralize the acid. Simplifying it, your fat holds onto the fat so that it can’t harm your more vital organs, like your kidneys, your liver, and your blood!

So when you alkalize, you are detoxifying, and the acids are shuttled out of the body, and guess what? So is the FAT that is attached to it!

Losing weight is just an awesome byproduct or side effect of reducing the acid levels in your body!

And once you’ve lost any weight you’re looking to drop, maintaining, not regaining is an awesome side effect.

It’s not just about what you eat.

With your typical diet, it’s just about what you consume. Some diets might tell you to exercise too for better all-around health, but often, what you eat is what it all comes down to.

What makes the alkaline lifestyle different is that it really is a lifestyle – a whole way of taking care of yourself that encompasses your food and so much more.

In addition to what you eat, there are 6 other principles of living the alkaline lifestyle:

Breathe – regular deep breathing using my 3:6:5 power breath (sit in a good position, as you breathe in through the nose for 3 seconds, hold breathe for 6 seconds, and exhale out of the mouth for 5 seconds. Do this 10 times, every morning when you awake. It should take less than 3 minutes, and the oxygenation will energize you and change your day!)
Water – drink half of your body weight in ounces of good, pure water (filtered, alkaline with an ideal pH of 8-9.5) every day
Exercise – my favorite is the rebounder, which gets the lymphatic system moving like the rebounder, which is 68% more effective at improving your cardiovascular health than running
Healthy fats – fats that heal like avocados, healthy oils (coconut oil, MCT, avocado, macadamia nut, EVOO, black cumin), raw nuts (almonds, macadamia, walnuts, pecans, Brazil, hazelnuts, pine nuts, etc), raw seeds
(chia, flax), raw nut butters (almond, coconut, cacao), hummus, and wild-caught Omega-3 fish (salmon, trout, herring, sardines, anchovies).
Supplements for Sufficiency – Probiotics and Vitamin D3, in addition to Daily Greens, Daily Minerals, and Daily Omega-3 of course.
80/20 Moderation, Not Deprivation – this means aiming to eat 80% alkaline and no more than 20% acidic on each plate or each day.

Staying alkaline means balancing all of these components.

So if you have a day where you eat more acidic foods, you can help counter the effects of all of that acid by pushing yourself a little harder during your workout, deep breathing, and taking extra servings of Alkamind Daily Greens and Alkamind Daily Minerals.

In my new book, Get Off Your Acid: 7 Steps in 7 Days to Lose Weight, Fight Inflammation, and Reclaim Your Health and Energy, you will find all of these principles and SO MUCH!

It is full of recipes (65 of my BEST, that taste so good you’ll feel like you’re cheating), tips, and ideas to take you from sluggish and in pain to healthy, energetic, and slim.

Kelly Ripa, who wrote the Foreword, had this to say:

“What I like most about Dr. Daryl’s method is that it’s not a ‘diet’ but more of a lifestyle change. There’s no counting calories or limiting portion sizes, only a new awareness of ‘alkaline eating.’

Once you learn the difference between alkaline and acidic ingredients, you will know what to eat and will be able to benefit from keeping this balance in your bodies.

“Whether your goal is to lose weight, sleep deeper, feel more rested, think more clearly, or boost your energy, this plan will get you there…” Alkamind Daily Omega-3