DAY 29 ALKALINE YEAR Drink, Don’t Eat! (Just foolin’)

October 26, 2009 Even while eating alkaline, I tend to eat more snacks than I need, as evidenced when a pound of almonds or sunflower seeds disappears overnight!  To change that habit may take me some time, but I’ve started by substituting water for snacks some of the time. Will report back in a month!  A constant companion these days is a trusty stainless steel quart bottle full of alkaline water and a teaspoon of powdered greens to be sure I get enough.  The stainless prevents people from asking dumb questions such as, “Are you still drinking swamp water?”  As I drink about three quarts of water a day,  it’s a handy way to prevent over-snacking.

I first started drinking powdered greens in Honolulu ten years ago, because my co-workers and I found a small place that served both powdered greens and juice made from kamut sprouts.   We found that the greens gave us an energy boost.  Every time we went there, one or two people would be drinking the fresh juice and discussing their recoveries from various diseases.    Knowing I wasn’t eating enough veggies, I bought a greens supplement made, if I recall rightly, by Dr. Hajiwara.  I did this intermittently for several years, but for the last two or three have switched to DocBrocs, made by the pH Miracle folks.  Both preparations can be found online.

Some people have told me they can’t eat kale, one of the highest alkaline-forming vegetables, on doctor’s orders because it interferes with calcium absorption.  It’s true that the oxyates found in such greens as kale, as well as phytates, found in cereal grains such as oatmeal and bran, interfere with calcium absorption.   Just don’t eat them within two hours of consuming foods that you depend on for calcium, including supplements.  So if you have a blender soup for breakfast, as detailed in yesterday’s blog, and are taking a calcium supplement, use the latter at lunch.  If you're drinking water with added powdered-greens, as suggested above, make one quart of clear water and take your calcium supplement an hour into that bottle.   If it takes you three hours to finish a quart, there should be no interference with the absorption.