Interstitial Cystitis is an autoimmune condition where the immune system inflames the lining of the bladder and creates food sensitivities and allergies to certain acidic foods and supplements. This “misplaced immunity” thrives in an acidic terrain.

This acidic environment is created throughout the years by a large refined carbohydrate diet of processed foods and sugars. This environment is further enhanced by the elevated toxic burden of heavy metals and chemicals, antibiotic usage and even stress.

It stands to reason then that one of the key areas to address for this painful bladder syndrome is to alkalize the body and flush out all these lactic acid wastes. Consequently, a diet for Interstitial Cystitis becomes very important in order to facilitate this.

Unfortunately, most urologists give lists of foods to avoid. These foods are not always triggers for everyone, however. When it comes to Interstitial Cystitis, what is one person’s nectar is another person’s poison. Therefore, a genetic food map is a hit and miss proposition, at best. And, what help is it, really, if you avoid certain foods and, yet, the remainder of your diet is mainly made up of the “Typical American Diet” of acidic foods?

The most effective diet for Interstitial Cystitis that we have seen is called the 70-30 diet. It is a diet that is, primarily, 70% alkaline-producing foods and 30% acidic-producing foods. This simply means that every time you look down on your plate for breakfast, lunch or dinner, you should see approximately 70% alkaline-producing foods and 30% acidic producing foods.

The basic science here is that acidity neutralizes alkalinity and alkalinity neutralizes acidity. You can’t expect to have effective results with IC if your daily diet is maintaining a condition of acidosis.

Many experts say that it can take 1 – 2 years to change the cellular pH and the pH of the interstitial fluids when on this diet. This makes sense because many of the people we talk to who have gone into remission or who no longer have most of their symptoms take this period of time to achieve this.

Now, the next question most people have about an IC diet is: Which foods are alkaline and which are acidic? This, of course, is a great question. To see a list of different foods, you can go to any search engine – Yahoo, Google, Ask Jeeves, etc – and enter a search phrase such as “list of alkaline-producing and acidic-producing foods” into the search window. Or you can go to this website: http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm for a complete list of acid/alkaline forming foods.

You will then come up with at least 4 or 5 sites that will list the foods and what they are after they are metabolized and the oxygen is burned off. From this list you can design your own diet. To make a very generic, broad statement: Mainly vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and some grains are alkaline. There are other foods and herbs and spices that are also alkaline.

The basic American diet of refined carbohydrates, packaged foods, sugars or sugary foods, animal protein, dairy, coffee and sodas, has to go into the 30% acidic category because these all create an acidic residue ash after they are metabolized. Protein is going to be very important in order to heal - so we are not saying to become a vegetarian. Animal protein is important – especially free-range poultry, organic eggs and fresh (low or no mercury) fish.

Adhering to this diet, along with proper supplementation and the decreasing of the cumulative toxic burden on the body – has shown great rewards for many folks and is waiting to help many others.