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 "His daily regimen consists of two hours of cardiovascular activity as running on a treadmill, two hours of weight lifting and six meals. He eats about 600 grams of protein a day -- mostly chicken, steak and supplements. He insists his diet is all natural, although he said he hates vegetables."
Ronnie Coleman didn't eat vegetables but new research suggests that vegetables may enhance muscle mass by reducing blood acidity according a new study released. For years, nutritionists and anti-aging doctors have suggested that an acidic diet is associated with a wide range of health problems but more importantly to bodybuilders is that acidic diets are associated with a reduction in lean muscle mass2. Acidosis is an increased acidity (i.e. an increased hydrogen ion concentration). The term acidosis describes the state of low blood pH. At least 3 signals have been identified as causing loss of muscle mass: defective insulin action, glucocorticoids, and a less well known mechanism: acidosis22. In disorders that cause chronic metabolic acidosis, protein degradation in skeletal muscle is accelerated, which increases the production of nitrogen end-products that are eliminated in the urine, thereby inducing negative nitrogen balance18, 19, 20. Although it's unlikely that bodybuilders would ever have severe acidosis which occurs in kidney dysfunction; researchers have found that consumption of high protein, high sodium, low vegetable diets can cause a mild acidosis in normal healthy individuals. The purpose of the article is not to condone a vegetarian diet, but to emphasize the importance of the role of vegetables in the diet. The following article is going to be especially important for those bodybuilders following a Low Carb diet that consume little to no vegetables.
Among the many health problems resulting from this mismatch between our genetically determined nutritional requirements (Paleolithic diet) and our current diet (Western Diet), some might be a consequence in part of the deficiency of potassium, which are amply present in the plant foods that our ancestors ate in abundance, and the exchange of those salts for sodium chloride (NaCl),which has been incorporated copiously into our current diet, which at the same time is inadequate in potassium-base-rich plant foods. For example, an estimated 3000 kilocalorie diet of a Paleolithic man, meat constituted 35 percent of the diet by weight and plant foods were 65 percent by weight. By contrast, modern humans consume less than one-half that amount of animal protein, and only about one-third that amount of plant protein, per kilocalorie of diet consumed. Sodium intake was estimated at about 29 milliequivalents per day, and potassium intake, in excess of 280 milliequivalents per day. By contrast, modern humans consume between 100-300 milliequivalents of sodium per day, and about 80 milliequivalents of potassium per day. That is, in the switch to the modern diet, the K/Na ratio has been reversed. Thus, the electrolyte mix of the modern diet is profoundly mismatched to its processing; additionally with age there is a natural increase in the acid production in the body due to a normal decline in kidney function. Age and diet both contribute to blood acidosis, whereas diet has a slightly smaller effect than age on blood acidity14. As a consequence of the diet-kidney mismatch, contemporary humans are not only overloaded with Na+ (sodium) and Cl- (chloride) but also deficient in K+ (potassium) and HCO3 (bicarbonate). Here some to consider next time you stop at McDonalds for a Big Mac and Fries (loaded with sodium): intravenous infusions of sodium chloride have been shown to induce metabolic acidosis26. Normally, Ketogenic diets include copious amounts of cheese, read meat, nuts, bacon, ect all which are high in sodium chloride. Researchers have identified three variables which are the best predictor of net acid production in the body27:
•ü Net acid production of the diet (amount of acid producing foods)
•ü The degree of age related decline in renal function regulatory function.
•ü The amount of sodium chloride in the diet
Low Carb Diets without Vegetables Increases Acidosis
I once listened to a famous bodybuilder whom mentioned that during his Low Carb diet he consumed a half of cup a green beans a day for greens. Low consumption of vegetables is associated with a mild acidosis, before I go any further this is not diabetic acidosis! Diabetic ketoacidosis is characterized by extreme disturbances in acidosis, and high levels of circulating ketone bodies. It is understandably difficult to think "metabolic acidosis" when the values for plasma acid-base composition are in the range traditionally considered normal. What researchers are now discovering is that even though blood pH is in the normal range, a mildly acidic state over a number of years can accelerate muscle loss2. For example, researchers measured endogenous net acid production in normal healthy adults. All subjects consuming the traditional western diet were considered mildly acidic; however administration of potassium bicarbonate resulted in a net alkaline resulting in normal pH balance21. It has been found that the net acid-producing diets do indeed characteristically produce a low-grade systemic metabolic acidosis in otherwise healthy adult subjects.
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Research and Review 
