Many of your concerns with minerals can be addressed by having organic
apple cider vinegar (my favorite is Braggs) in water each day (once or
twice) and by eating semi-sweet (or tart-ish) apples.  I think the dose
is about 1 tsp to 1 TBSp per glass of water.  Also you can splash it on
salads and other foods you eat.

Dark green, leafy vegetables usually have good levels of minerals -
zucchini, parsley, celery, cucumber, sorrel, etc.

[recognizing there is controversy regarding acidity and alkalinity in
diet] According to an old book I have (Folk Medicine - A Vermont
Doctor's Guide to Good Health - by D. C. Jarvis, M.D., Henry Holt and
Co. 1958 LOC 58-6454) if you waken each day feeling unfresh or weak or
cloudy or experience chronic fatigue (urine is too alkaline upon
waking), then you need to take more acid foods during the day.  The
alkaline-heavy body can result from too little acid food, cold
temperatures, worry and stress or non-recreational exercise (farm work
versus skiing, e.g.)  In general sweet tastes (watermelon, etc.) become
alkaline, sour tastes (cranberry, etc.) become acid in effect.  The
author insists that the cider vinegar and other sour foods remedy that
problem over time.  He also suggests not eating any wheat (alkaline in
effect), rather, corn, etc. (though not very paleo in concept) and
utilizing hot baths to move from alkaline to acid, esp. to stop a cold
in its tracks; to relieve physical fatigue, e.g.

Regards,

-=mark=-

Ashley Moran wrote:

> This has been bugging me for a while.  Cordain has scared me
> half-to-death over the acid/alkaline imbalance being a source of
> calcium loss.  Now I'm not getting a calcium overdose (one glass of
> milk a day), I'm thinking all the time- "I hope this piece of
> chicken/beef/fish etc doesn't turn my kidneys to vinegar and make my
> bones go soft".  I hope I'm over-reacting.  Anyway here are a few
> observations and thoughts:
>
> - I always feel more full after a meal containing just meat, but I
> enjoy eating meat with vegetables.  When I eat just meat, it seems like
> the meal is unfinished some how, but when I eat a bit of veg, then I
> want more of both.  So it seems unfinished either way, just in a
> different sense.
>
> - Since soils are so depleted of minerals, can we get an adequate
> supply of them from eating a "paleo" quantity of veg?  I do like veg,
> but I increasingly enjoy variety more than quantity (except for onion
> family veg, which I can eat in huge amounts- apart from raw onions, of
> course).
>
> - Living in England or Northern Europe, my ancestors would have had
> cold winters with very little vegetation.  I am assuming, then that it
> is possible to spend a long time eating land meat and limited veg and
> not suffer calcium deficiency.
>
> - The Innuit must have a good supply of calcium as they have (or had)
> an acidic diet of mainly fish.  I've noticed, that when eating small
> fish (eg herring) you eat most of the small bones.  But what if you
> only ate big fish or land meat?
>
> - I have a low tolerance to vitamin C (500mg induces diarrhoea).
> Perhaps this is a sign that I don't need much veg?
>
> So perhaps, bearing all this in mind, someone could set my mind at
> rest- do I need to worry about the acid/alkaline ratio of my diet?  How
> can I tell if I eat enough veg?  And do any of you have any interesting
> experiences that taught you what balance of meat/veg to eat?
>
> Thanks all.
>
> Ashley
> .
>