Alkaline foods for better health and weight loss
The 9 most alkaline foods
Including alkaline foods into your diet helps rid your body of inflammation that causes disease. For optimum health, research says your diet should contain 80% alkaline food and 20% acid.
I’ve been using the alkaline-acid food chart with great success during my hypnotherapy sessions for weight loss and recommend it to my clients as an easy way to change eating habits for the better if they choose. A couple of great and inspiring websites to look at are: hungryforchange.com, and alkalinedietmadeeasy.com. Rawfamily.com is a great place to find some delicious alkaline green smoothie recipes which will help you start the day on the right track. My favourite is banana, mango and english spinach – you can find the recipe in my “Being Free of Smoking” booklet, which you can download here.
In the meantime, here’s a great list of delicious and easy to prepare foods that will help alkalise and heal your body:
1. Avocado
Avocados are an excellent source of alkalinity and fantastic for cleansing. They are such a good source of health-promoting fats, which help speed the metabolism to help reduce weight, promote healthy skin and help stimulate the digestive system.
Avocados also encourage elimination of toxins from the body from the absorption of fat soluble vitamins including vitamin A, D, E and K. They are a great source of the super-cool antioxidant glutathione, the so-called “master-antioxidant” which helps the immune system detoxify the body.
2. Cabbage
Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin K and vitamin C, along with being a good source of fibre, manganese, folate, vitamin B6 and potassium.
Containing fibre, antioxidants, alkaline minerals and more good fats, it’s a great all round cleanser, and is a powerful anti-inflammatory – always hugely beneficial during a cleanse.
Don’t let it’s past bad press put you off – cabbage is a great food to cleanse your body all year round as part of your every day alkaline lifestyle.
3. Kale
Kale is a green leafy vegetable, and is a natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
Kale is also rich in vitamins, including vitamin A, vitamin K and vitamin B6. It’s great to take whilst cleansing, because it helps to reduce your overall cholesterol levels. It is also wonderful to eat after cleansing, as it helps to rebuild your body with new material.
Kale is also high in vitamin k, vitamin a and vitamin c and being leafy green it also has huge chlorophyll content.
Remember, when you’re cleansing it’s especially important to cleanse the blood – so getting a big boost of chlorophyll is always fantastic.
Kale is also great in green smoothies.
4. Cucumber
The best thing about cucumber is that it provides the base for practically every alkaline soup, smoothie and juice, giving you a very alkaline, very nutritious base that also tastes great.
Nearly 95% of the cucumber is made up from water, therefore making it very hydrating to consume, and also providing vast amounts of antioxidants. Cucumbers are a key source of conventional antioxidant nutrients including vitamin C, manganese and beta-carotene.
5. English Spinach (commonly known now as baby spinach)
We all know spinach is good for us!
That’s because it’s one of the most nutritious and alkaline vegetables you can eat. There are a variety of different flavonoid compounds that can be found within spinach with function as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents. Furthermore, this and the carotenoid nutrients found within the spinach also provide the body with antioxidant benefits. Spinach also contains a rich amount of vitamins, which all contribute towards reducing the many health problems related to oxidative stress.
The huge amount of chlorophyll in spinach also helps with cleansing the colon and blood, which again – is always recommended on the alkaline diet.
6. Broccoli
Broccoli is incredibly powerful in inhibiting cancers, supporting the digestive system, the cardiovascular system, the detoxification processes in the body and also supporting the skin, metabolism, immune system, being an anti-inflammatory and providing ample antioxidants.
Broccoli contains an unusual combination of three phytonutrients, glucoraphanin and glucobrassicin. This unique combination of nutrients allows broccoli to have a solid impact upon the body’s detoxification system.
Eaten steamed or raw it’s a hugely alkaline and nutritious food. Broccoli also contains good amounts of Vitamin A which helps to maintain your eye sight. Broccoli contains Vitamins A and K, which help to keep the metabolism of Vitamin D in balance.
7. Celery
Celery is packed with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and it’s high water content and fibre content mean it is brilliant for cleansing.
Celery is often overlooked, however is a great food to complement your meal, which also keeps well and its roots, stalks and leaves call all be eaten!
It’s a great base for all alkaline juices which makes it one of the most commonly used ingredients for cleansing the body.
8. Ginger
Modern scientific research has revealed that ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds, and direct anti-inflammatory effects.
Ginger promote detoxification specifically by increasing the movement of food through the intestines, and can be a great addition to your favourite vegetables, to flavour juices, soups and smoothies and can even be eaten raw if you like it spicy.
9. Garlic
Garlic adds fabulous flavour to your food, and it’s great for you (unless you are like my friend Phillip, who can’t bear the smell of it!)
There are literally dozens of well-studied sulfur molecules in garlic, and virtually all of them have been shown to function as antioxidants. In addition, many provide you with anti-inflammatory benefits. Garlic is also an excellent source of manganese, vitamin B6 and vitamin C, and has been used for centuries as a natural antibiotic.
I can’t live without garlic every day!