Your body’s internal environment is affected both by what you eat and by what’s left over in your internal system after what you’ve eaten has been digested. And, most foods leave post-digestion leftovers. Foods such as hamburgers, broccoli, ice cream, pizza, peanuts, or grapes leave an “after-glow” called ash.

“Ash” is the leftovers of “oxidized food fuel.” The ash in your body is similar to the ash left from logs – the fuel – burned in your fireplace. But, since internal ash is in a fluid environment, the ash isn’t dry. However, it can “blow” around your body anyway. It didn’t’ result from dancing flames. It’s the part your body can’t “burn” to produce energy – it’s incombustible.

Ash is the part of food that’s left after your body has used the good stuff – vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Ash is part of the useless stuff that must be eliminated – roughage and other undigested food remnants.

Ash from foods comes in essentially two “flavors” – acid and alkaline. The ash of high-protein foods is fairly strong acid. Strong acid burns. The ash of most vegetables and fruit is the opposite of acid, it’s alkaline. Very strong alkali can burn, too. But slight alkalinity, the strength best for your body, is soothing. For now, think of acid as being like vinegar – harsh and burny, and think of alkaline as being like bicarbonate of soda, or baking soda – mild and soothing.

Your body must handle ash leftovers as best it can. Most fruit, including citrus fruits, and most vegetables leave alkaline leftovers – minerals that can assist in handling dietary acid. Foods that leave alkaline ash are called “alkaline ash-producing” foods. Remember, it’s the leftovers we’re talking about. The foods themselves aren’t necessarily alkaline. You might think that lemons or grapefruit would be strong acid producers. Actually, even though they themselves are very acid in their natural state, they leave an alkaline ash, not acid ash. It’s meats, grains, and most nuts that leave acid ash. We call these “acid ash-producing” foods. The ash of acid ash-producing foods contains fairly strong acid, especially for inside your body.

Your body was designed to handle little skirmishes with an occasional invasion of acid ash-producing foods. The acid can be eliminated. But first, it must be neutralized – toned down, buffered, made weaker. No problem. You come equipped with neutralizing minerals that take care of the situation nicely. These minerals are part of your alkaline reserve. And, as long as you don’t abuse your neutralizing system, your internal environment chugs along rather smoothly. That’s the way you were designed.