The pH Miracle

Tai Chi Man has been reading lots about the health benefits of eating certain foods to alkalinise the body. Most of what we eat is acid-forming in the body which in turn creates weight problems, illness and disease. Take some of the things which form the standard diet - coffee, meat, dairy - and research shows that they are acid-forming.

We currently have two books from the library by Robert and Shelley Young - The pH Miracle and The pH Miracle for Weight Loss. Both are good, but I think I'd like to buy the second one - not only does it have a list of foods and their alkaline/acid effect on the body, but it has an excellent rebounding (small trampoline) workout and a lot of recipes.

This weekend, Tai Chi Man and I are undergoing a three day juice cleanse. We are drinking diluted green juice (that I make in my juicer with salad greens, parsley, celery and cucumber) and lots of water and Barlean's Greens powder. One of the staples of the alkalinising program is "green drink" which we call Nile Water! To a litre of water, I add a teaspoon of the green powder, the juice of half a lime and a few drops of hydrogen peroxide. I am drinking three litres of the Nile Water each day plus two litres of plain water, plus my fresh juice.

I'm glad that we're both doing this cleanse, because it helps to have support. Most of the time I feel fine, but I have noticed a little weakness in the muscles which is a sign of detoxifying.

After the three days, we will be eating only alkalinising foods for at least a month. For us, this won't be as hard as it would be for someone eating the usual omnivorous diet. Being vegan, we don't eat meat, fish and dairy, and we don't drink coffee or black tea. However sweet fruits have always been a favourite of mine, and those are out. Some nuts and grains are also out.

After a period of eating just alkalinising foods, we will be able to introduce some of the foods from the acidic side of the chart, but keeping them to a maximum of 20% of our diet. It is also recommended that at least half of what you eat is raw, which is fine with me.

I am hoping to see some great results - I already lost a couple of inches in the first day and would love to say goodbye to cellulite forever.

What's for dinner?

Whenever my kids ask me what's for dinner, I usually say, "Food"! Drives them nuts!!

Anyway, knowing that they like rice noodles, I made a noodle salad today. I thought it looked lovely - I made sure to add lots of colourful ingredients, like radishes, bell peppers, green onions and blanched kale. I made a dressing with olive oil, sesame oil, tamari, lemon juice, ginger, rice vinegar - haven't a clue what the amounts were, I just tossed them in until it tasted right. Pretty or not, the younger two took one look and decided not to eat it!

I also made a lettuce salad and a tomato/pickle/olive salad which were more acceptable.

And the dessert (top of the picture) was only rejected by one kid. I can't give out the recipe as it's from one of my books - Raw Gourmet. But I can tell you that it's a raw version of date squares, but way better than the baked ones. The top and bottom layers are made with almonds and steelcut oats, ground up and mixed with maple syrup (or in this case rice syrup). The filling is made from fresh Medjool dates soaked in orange juice and blitzed in the food processor.

I read in the Vegetarian Times magazine that all almonds have to be pasteurized before consumption in North America because of two cases of salmonella. TWO! What about all the cases that have resulted from people eating flesh foods? Now that the almonds are heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit, they are not really raw, as they cannot be sprouted. I'd like to be given the choice between raw and unpasteurized. The irony is that if the almonds are being exported, they don't have to be treated. That's nuts!

You learn something new every day!

I learned something this week. If you want to rant, sometimes it’s a good idea to type it into an Appleworks document and leave it on your “desktop” overnight. It gives you a sense of perspective and means that you are less likely to say something you’ll regret in public!

So this post is a very different version from the original, but that’s a good thing!

I also learned that it’s very easy to find something that will support your point of view. Google the subject you want to read about, and there’ll be a million sites with a million points of view, so you’re bound to find one that says what you wanted to hear.

So I might google “the benefits of a vegan diet” and find some very reassuring articles and research which support my beliefs, and if I choose I can then refer to this “evidence” when arguing my point with others.

We don’t like it when others disagree with us, do we? Or is it just me? I have had someone disagree with me twice in an online forum this week, stating that she has read that vegan and/or raw diets are not sustainable or optimally healthy and that there is no evidence that our ancestors ate that way.

Of course, my hackles rose and I started typing up my rant ready for publication.

Then I had second thoughts.

I realise that I have read much to support my point of view, both online and in books. She has done her own reading, which obviously comes to a different conclusion.

We can try to make assumptions on how our ancestors lived, how early humans ate, from archaeological finds. We can make assumptions on what the human body is designed to eat based on the fact that our digestive system is similar to a herbivore’s and totally different from a carnivore’s. Some people use religious texts as their “proof”, but that has no influence on me, as I do not subscribe to any organised religion.

So I have decided that in future I will keep it simple. When someone asks me why I am vegan or eat a lot of raw food, I will keep the answers personal. My personal reasons cannot be refuted, argued or questioned (although people will undoubtedly try).

I am vegan because I believe it is good for me, I eat a lot of raw food because I feel great, I lose weight, I have more energy, my conscience is clear as I am not contributing to the mass slaughter of sentient animals, and I am helping the earth as I have a smaller “footprint” (I read today that becoming vegan is better for the planet than buying a hybrid car).

Even though I believe, totally, that the first humans must have eaten a raw plant diet, those first humans didn’t keep journals, so we will never know how they really lived. I believe that the perfection of nature means that the food we are designed to eat is the fruits of the trees, unadulterated - our bodies are perfectly designed to digest these foods as they come, straight off the plant, not cooked to death, or processed into something that can’t really be called food. I cannot believe that humans are the only species on the planet that have to cook their food.

Oops, I’m off again - better stop now before this post gets to be a mile long!

Mmmm, lunch

I'm sure many people think that a rawfood diet is very boring, or limiting, or ascetic, or...insert a negative adjective here.

In fact, it is tasty, healthy and simple, and I believe that it's the way we are all meant to eat.

A raw meal can be as easy as eating some fresh fruit. No preparation, no mess, no waste for the landfill. Or it can be made complex by soaking, sprouting, blending and dehydrating, if you have the time and inclination.

I originally read the book Nature's First Law about 5 years ago. I was totally convinced. I don't think that anyone who reads this book could deny the obvious - that all the creatures on this planet were designed to eat a raw diet, just the way all the wild animals do now.

Many of us get defensive when our beliefs or lifestyle are questioned but we need to remember that just because we've been doing something for years, or just because it is tradition, that doesn't mean that we should continue doing it.

Think about it - why would humans be the only species on the planet that should cook their food before they eat it? Every animal (and I include humans in that) has a perfectly designed system for eating and digesting and eliminating and the food that grows around us (plants) is perfectly designed for nourishing our bodies. If we mess with that perfect system, what do we get? Degenerative diseases, of course.

I have been an aspiring raw foodist since I read that book, and whilst I don't maintain a 100% raw diet 100% of the time (I tend to have more success in the summer and fall off the wagon in the winter) I totally believe that my goal should be 100%. I managed it today - a whole pineapple for breakfast, a small salad and a couple of energy orbs* for lunch, a mango and an orange before Taekwondo and a couple more energy orbs afterwards. I didn't go hungry, I had lots of energy, and I'm glad I had the willpower to avoid eating the fresh bread that I made for the rest of the family. (Bread does NOT agree with me.)

*Energy Orbs
2 cups of raw nuts (almonds are good, or a combination - today I used almonds, brazils and cashews)
15 fresh Medjool dates, soaked in water for 20 minutes
half a teaspoon of cinnamon
half a teaspoon of vanilla extract (not the artifical kind)

In a food processor, grind the nuts up finely. Add the rest of the ingredients and process to make a cohesive mixture. Take small spoonfuls and roll them in your hands, then roll them in coconut (today I used a mixture of coconut and ground up raw cacao beans).