Many people often experience muscle soreness, joint pain, and mental fatigue after physical exercise. In order to relieve fatigue as soon as possible, they will eat 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 alleviate 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, nor by its chemical properties 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 proteins, fats, and carbohydrates and contain elements like potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. After being metabolized in the body, they produce alkaline substances that can prevent the blood from becoming more acidic. Therefore, sour-tasting fruits are generally alkaline foods, not acidic foods, while chicken, fish, meat, eggs, and sugar, although not sour in taste, are acidic foods.
A pathologist in the United States, after long-term research, pointed out that only when the body 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 caused by the massive breakdown of sugars, fats, and proteins in the body. During this process, acidic substances such as lactic acid and phosphoric acid are produced. These acidic substances stimulate the body's tissues and organs, causing a feeling of muscle and joint soreness and mental fatigue. If one consumes only foods rich in acidic substances such as meat, eggs, and fish at this time, it will make the body fluids even more acidic, which is not conducive to relieving fatigue. On the other hand, consuming fruits and vegetables like sweet potatoes, oranges, 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, one should eat more alkaline-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and soy products, to help maintain the basic balance of acidity and alkalinity in the body, maintain health, and quickly eliminate fatigue caused by exercise.