Mary wrote:
> Does anyone here believe in alkaline foods??

When someone touts the virtues of alkalinizing foods, my response is, "What
is being alkalinized?  Saliva, stomach secretions, urine, or blood plasma?"
As I understand it, an alkaline food means one that leaves an alkaline ash
after it is digested.  (Otherwise, tomatoes and citrus would be classified
as acidic foods.)  Interestingly, most "alkaline foods" acidify the venous
blood plasma, and most "acidic foods" (such as meat) alkalinize the venous
blood plasma; see Dr. George Watson's "Nutrition and Your Mind" (1972) or
Rudolf Wiley's "Biobalance" (1989) for a description of this phenomenon.
So, a discussion of "alkalinization versus acification" is meaningless
unless you specify *what* is being alkalinized or acidified.

Cheers,
-- Aaron