The other day, during an unplanned visit in a raw food and detox smoothies store…
What a wonderful premise for a comic about Evil Acid and the Mighty Alkaline Diet!
According to some people, our bodies are full of acid and constantly fight to preserve the acid-base balance, which wear us out and make us sick. It is said to cause illness, such as osteoporosis, eczema and even cancer.
Acid-base balance and blood pH do matter a great deal in medicine. There is also available research on how diet can impact those.
Unfortunately, we only hear half-truths on the matter. As an example, you can read online about a so-called “alkaline diet”, made out mostly of fruits and vegetables, which allegedly prevents multiple illnesses. Websites and books supporting that diet are full of claims like:
- “Meat increases the levels of acid in the body!”
- “Fruits and vegetables are alkalizing!”
- “Acid excess is unhealthy! ”
- “Cancer cells cannot grow in an alkaline body! ”
Those statements are more or less true… but more often than not, they’re part of a discourse which has no scientific ground, spread by people who don’t seem to understand how the human body works.
Let’s sort this out! This comic strip examines 4 half-truths regarding the acid-base balance… and adds the missing pieces of information that make up the whole picture.
Translated by Patricia Rainville; proofread by Stéphanie Alcaraz-Robinson.
Posted in Comics
Tagged acid, acid-base balance, acidic, acidic load, acidifying, acidosis, adjust, ailment, alkaline, alkaline diet, alkaline water, alkalinizing, alkalizing, amino acids, antacids, ash, astronauts, blood, body fluids, bone health, bones, breathe, breathing, calcium, cancer, cancer cells, carbon dioxide, cell, change, CO2, cure, deadly, diabetes, eczema, effort, emergency, fights, filter, fluctuate, food, fruits, functions, half-truths, health, high-protein, holistic, human life, illness, intensive care, internal, intestine, kidney stones, kidneys, lemon, long-term, low gravity, lungs, meat, medicine, minerals, molecules, NASA, neutral, neutralize, neutralized, nonscientific, osteoporosis, overload, pH, phosphate, plant-based diet, plant-rich diet, prevent, protein, residues, skeleton, stable, stomach, test strips, tolerate, unhealthy, urine, vegetables, veggies, vitamins, weaken
After toxins, vaccines, and milk, I’m ready to face another worthy opponent: Gluten.
Or rather the absence of gluten, as many people seem to believe that it’s a good idea to remove it from their diet. Truth be told, for some people, avoiding gluten is a necessity, especially for those who suffer from celiac disease.
Because celiac disease is strongly under-diagnosed, it would be cool to hear more about it… but nowadays, we constantly hear stuff like:
- Gluten is a useless toxin
- Eating gluten-free is healthier
- Eating gluten-free makes you lose weight
- Gluten causes digestive disorders in all people
- Gluten-free food is more organic
- Wheat was genetically modified, resulting in more gluten
- Eating gluten-free is easy
Yet all of these statements are pretty much FALSE.
Do you want to hear more about the topic? You’re in luck: I made a comic that contradicts each of the aforementioned statements! What a coincidence.
To make this project possible, I have had the privilege of collaborating with dietitian Sarah Le, a nutrition scientist specializing in weight management and sports nutrition. She also taught me tons of new words, like “sorghum” and “manioc”!
This comic strip is not intended for two types of people:
- People suffering from celiac disease, as diagnosed by a physician. Gluten is toxic for you, so removing it completely is your only option.
- People who have stopped eating gluten for any reason and deem their health is much better since. I don’t intend to change your mind; after all, you know your body better than anyone else.
This comic is rather intended for the vast majority of people who ask themselves:
‘‘Why is everyone tripping about gluten?!’’
Translation by Hadrien Laforest, proofreading by Lauren Knight.
Posted in Comics
Tagged 150 years, 9000 years, abdominal, additives, allergic, alter, amaranth, arrowroot, Australian, barley, beer, bloatedness, bread, buckwheat, calcium, calories, celiac, celiac disease, cereals, cheat, chromosomes, cold cuts, corn, cramps, crust, culprit, dessert, diagnosed, diarrhea, diet, digestive disorders, disaccharides, dough, dressings, eat, eating, elastic, evolution, expert, fast food, fat, feces, fermentable, fiber, FODMAPs, food, food industry, food items, gas, genetically modified, genetics, glue, gluten, gluten intolerance, gluten-free, glyphosate, GMO, health, healthier, healthy, herbicides, ice cream, intestines, intolerance, iron, irritable bowel syndrome, ketchup, legumes, link, manioc, marketing, meat substitute, medical supervision, millet, mock duck, moderation, monosaccharides, monotone, Monsanto, mushy, nature, nutrition, nutritional value, nutritious, oligosaccharides, organic, permeability, pesticides, physician, pollock, polyols, portions, processed, prohibited, proteins, quinoa, removal, resistant, restaurant, restrictive, rice, rich, Roundup, rye, salt, sauces, seitan, snacks, soft, sorghum, soy, study, sugar, sweet potato, teff, total, toxin, tripled, useless, vitamin B complex, waste, weight loss, wheat, whole-grain
