Many people often experience muscle soreness, joint pain, and mental fatigue after physical exercise. In order to relieve fatigue as quickly as possible, they will indulge in a large meal of chicken, fish, meat, eggs, etc., believing that this can replenish nutrients and meet the body's needs. In fact, consuming these foods at this time not only fails to relieve fatigue but can also have adverse effects on the body.
Human food can be divided into acidic and alkaline foods. The acidity or alkalinity of food is not determined by people's sense of taste or the chemical properties of the food when dissolved in water, but by the acidity or alkalinity of the final metabolites produced after the food enters the human body. Acidic foods are typically rich in protein, fat, and carbohydrates and contain elements such as potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. After metabolism in the body, they produce alkaline substances that can prevent the blood from becoming too acidic. Therefore, sour-tasting fruits are generally alkaline foods rather than acidic foods. Although chicken, fish, meat, eggs, and sugar are not sour, they are acidic foods.
A pathologist in the United States pointed out after long-term research that only when the body's fluids are slightly alkaline can human health be maintained. The body fluids of a healthy person are slightly alkaline. After physical exercise, the feeling of muscle and joint soreness and mental fatigue is mainly due to the massive breakdown of sugars, fats, and proteins in the body. During this breakdown process, acidic substances such as lactic acid and phosphoric acid are produced. These acidic substances stimulate the body's tissues and organs, causing a person to feel muscle and joint soreness and mental fatigue. At this time, if one simply consumes acidic-rich foods such as meat, eggs, and fish, it will make the body fluids even more acidic, which is not conducive to relieving fatigue. On the other hand, consuming vegetables, sweet potatoes, citrus fruits, and apples, due to their alkalizing effect, can eliminate excess acid in the body, reduce the acidity of urine, increase the solubility of uric acid, and reduce the possibility of acid forming stones in the bladder.
Therefore, after physical exercise, people should eat more alkaline-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and soy products, to help maintain the basic acid-base balance in the body, maintain health, and quickly eliminate fatigue caused by exercise.