The Seven Most Alkaline Fruit and Vegetables for Preventing and Reversing Dis-ease

1. SPINACH -All leafy greens should be eaten in abundance but spinach is one of my favorites because it’s easy to buy, easy to use in recipes and salads and is delicious. Baby spinach or fully grown spinach are nutritional powerhouses and are incredibly alkaline. As with all green foods, spinach is rich in chlorophyll (see more about the health benefits of chlorophyll here), a potent alkalizer and red blood cell builder. It is also super high in vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin c, vitamin b2, calcium, potassium, vitamin e, dietary fiber…I doubt there is a more all round healthy food on earth and I highly encourage you to eat spinach throughout the day, every day.  Add spinach to your favorite green juice or soup.

2. KALE -Kale is another leafy green beauty that is widely known for its cancer-fighting, cholesterol-Lowering, antioxidant-rich, and detoxifying goodness. Less popular than spinach, but only because it has a history of being cooked poorly (like cabbage) – when done right it is absolutely delicious. If you eat kale 2-3 times per week you will decrease dietary and metabolic acids. Like spinach it is massively high in vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin C and being leafy green it also has a huge chlorophyll content for building and improving red blood cell hemoglobin and hematocrit. The reason it is so powerful against acids that cause cancer is that kale contains at least four anti-acid or acid-buffering Glucosinolates. Glucosinolates are converted by the body into alkalizing acid-buffering compounds that protects the body cells from metabolic and dietary acids that are the cause of ALL sickness and disease. Also, kale is quite amazing for lowering cholesterol because it will ower metabolic and dietary acids that causes the release of cholesterol.  It should be noted that steamed kale is more effective for lowering metabolic and dietary acids and thus cholesterol lowering than raw.

3. CUCUMBER - The beauty of cucumber is it’s water content – 95%. That is phenomenal and you won’t find that in any other fruit. It’s the grand daddy of alkaline water-content. This of course makes it an incredibly hydrating food to consume, that ALSO contains superb amounts of antioxidants, including the super-important lignans. These highly beneficial polyphenols have more commonly been associated with the cruciferous vegetables, but their content in other veggies such as cucumbers is gaining more and more attention. Cucumbers contain a right load of lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol , three lignans that have a huge and very strong history of research in connection with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease as well as several cancerous types, including breast, uterine, ovarian, and prostate cancerous conditions. The best thing about cucumber is that they provide the base for practically every alkaline soup, smoothie and juice – giving you a very alkaline, very nutritious base that also tastes great. In terms of the actual nutrient RDA per serving, cucumbers contain fair amounts of vitamins K and C, and slightly less of vitamin A and the B vitamins. Cucumbers also contain the following alkaline minerals: calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium, copper, manganese, iron and zinc.

4. BROCCOLI - Broccoli is just a must. If you are serious about living with health, energy and vitality you simply have to eat broccoli, if not on a daily basis, then at least 4 times per week. Broccoli has been proven over and over and over again to be incredibly powerful in inhibiting the acids that cause cancerous conditions.  Broccoli supports the digestive system, the cardiovascular system, the detoxification processes in the body and also supporting the skin, metabolism, immune system, being a wonderful anti-Inflammatory and providing ample acid chelating antioxidants. Eaten steamed or raw its a hugely alkaline and a hugely nutritious food. Please, please, please eat lots and lots of it. Put it in salads, juices, smoothies, soups…steam it with other green veggies – you can even roast.

5. AVOCADO -I eat a LOT of avocado because we grow them here at the Rancho del Sol. Not a salad, smoothie or soup goes by without me adding at least one avocado. I probably eat at least seven to ten avocados per week. Now, I know a lot of people give avocado a bad rap because it is a high-fat food (85% of it’s calories come from fats) – but this is totally good fat. These are good fats that will not make you gain weight. If anything, due to the high content of oleic acid (making it an Omega 9 fat and very similar to olive oil), it can lower total cholesterol level and raise levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) while lowering low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), also known as the cholesterol that chelates metabolic and/or metabolic acid. Oleic fat also slows the development of heart disease, and promotes the production of acid chelating antioxidants. These beneficial omega oils also help speed the metabolism, actually leading to weight loss rather than gain. So now we’re over the fat issue, avocado also contains a wide range of other nutrients that have serious anti-inflammatory, heart health, cardiovascular health, anti-cancer, and will lower naturally blood sugar acid. Containing key antioxidants such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein, selenium and more – it is a powerful, alkaline, nutrient-dense superfood.  The most powerful anti-acid is the antioxidant luctein which has been shown to prevent and reverse prostate cancer.

6. CELERY - Celery, like cucumber is a favorite because it’s alkaline AND really high water content, so is used very frequently as a base in juices and soups. One of celery’s big benefits is it’s vitamin C level, which has the well known benefits – but two of it’s lesser known nutrients are phthalides which have been shown to Lower cholesterol and coumarins which have been shown to inhibit several cancerous conditions. The beauty of vitamin C rich foods are that they help with the most common and most challenging health concerns – they support the immune system, inflammation (so helps with arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma etc), and vitamin C also helps significantly with cardiovascular health. If you are on a weight loss journey, you’ll also be happy to hear that this alkaline staple contains plenty of potassium and sodium and so is a diuretic – meaning it helps rid the body of excess acidic fluids.  Because celery is a great source of sodium, this vegetable helps to maintain the alkaline design of the body.  The high sodium levels in celery helps to transport energy ions in the form of electrons and is fundamental in the production of sodium bicarbonate.

7. CAPSICUM / BELL PEPPER / PEPPER - The antioxidant superpower, bell pepper is one of my all-time-favourites because it is crunchy and refreshingly delicious. You can use it in almost any meal raw, steamed or lightly roasted and it is always a winner. Impressively beneficial to our health cartenoids are highly researched and get a lot of attention in the health field and bell peppers contain over 30 different members of the carotenoid nutrient family. The only other food that is close to this is the tomato. Bell peppers have shown up in research relating to decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, macular degeneration, cancer, inflammation and more. Alongside these lesser known or more complex-named antioxidants, bell pepper is one of, if not the best food source of the more common antioxidants: vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E. In fact, bell peppers contain twice as much vitamin C as oranges without all the acidic sugar. Here are just SOME of the antioxidants bell pepper contains: - flavonoids – luteolin – quercetin – hesperidin - carotenoids – alpha-carotene – beta-carotene – cryptoxanthin – lutein – zeaxanthin - hydroxycinnamic acid - ferulic acid – cinnamic acid.