In other articles, I have talked about the benefits of the alkaline diet for boosting your energy level and preventing or even resolving chronic health problems, including osteoporosis and kidney stones. This time, I would like to say a few words about losing weight, a topic of concern to many people as obesity becomes a worldwide epidemic.

Before we can judge whether or not the alkaline diet in particular is an effective way to lose weight, we need to know a few things about weight loss in general. Then we can decide whether or not the alkaline diet measures up to those standards. There are really two approaches to weight loss. One approach is to count calories, and the other approach is to avoid specific kinds of food, such as meat, carbs, or soft drinks. Both ways can work, and when they do, it’s for the same reason — they cause you to consume fewer calories than you burn.

Whether you follow an alkaline diet, a low-carb diet, the Pritikin plan, or still another diet, the bottom line is that weight loss occurs when you consume fewer calories than you expend. Therefore, the question we need to ask is how well the alkaline diet will help you to reduce your caloric intake.

Unfortunately, there is no cut-and-dried answer to this question. On the positive side, the alkaline diet encourages you to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, foods that are rich in fiber and complex carbs, but low in fat and sugar. This nutritional profile makes these foods ideally suited for anyone who wants to lose weight.

On the other hand, weight loss is not an inevitable result on the alkaline diet. This is because some alkaline foods, such as almonds and avocados, are high in fat and calories. If you go hog wild on these foods, you could theoretically maintain the same weight, or even gain weight on an alkaline diet. As in many areas of life, moderation is important.