Acid/Alkaline food balance for health & great looks

The cause of disease and bad looks?
Many doctors, herbalists and nutritionists believe that the explanation may come down to these simple words: pH imbalance

An acidic pH occurs from an acid forming diet, emotional stress, toxic overload, and/or immune reactions or any process that deprives the cells of oxygen and other nutrients.

Over time, an imbalanced diet of refined foods with excess animal protein and few fruits and vegetables can allow our bodies to slip into a state of mild acidosis.

We consume too much acid producing processed foods like white flour and sugar and drink acid producing beverages like coffee and soft drinks. We use too many drugs and artificial chemical sweetners like NutraSweet, Sweet 'N Low, or Aspartame (in diet drinks and sugar-free products) which are pure poison and extremely acid forming.

If you have a health problem, most likely you are acidic. Research shows that unless the body's pH level is slightly alkaline, the body cannot heal itself. So, no matter what type of method you choose to use to take care of your health problem, it won't be effective until the pH level is up. If your body's pH is not balanced, you cannot effectively assimilate vitamins, minerals and food supplements.

Balancing the pH is a major step toward well-being. To maintain a good health, the diet should consist of 60% alkaline forming foods and 40% acid forming foods. High quality supplements and digestive products help tremendously. Below are some of my personal choices:

Alkaline Forming Foods

• Multi-strain probiotics
• Greens – especially green vegetables, chlorella and wheatgrass, plus fibrous cruciferous vegetables and broccoli, alfa-alfa
• Vegetables and natural herbs like aubergines, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower, celery, chard, chicory, chives, cucumber, dandelion, dill, endive, fennel,green beans, kale, kelp, lettuce, mushrooms, parsnips, peppers, potatoes, radishes, sorrel, soya beans, spinach, squash, turnips, watercress
• Olive oil, fish oils, flaxseed oil, coconut oil
• Sunshine and vitamin D3 (Try Solgar's D3 2200 International Units)
• Ginger, natural willow bark, garlic, onions, apples, curcumin/turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
• Virtually all fresh fruits especially apples, apricot, avocado, blackberries, blackcurrants, cherries, cranberries, currants, raisons, dates, figs, grapes, lemons, limes, lychees, mangoes, melon, olives, oregano, papaya, peaches, pears, raspberries, redcurrants
• Raw honey, especially manuka
• Exercise, yoga, meditation
• Sodium bicarbonate
• Apple cider vinegar, fresh lemon or lime juice
• High quality mineral complex such as Nature's plus Ultra-Mins

An ideal breakfast would be an enzyme rich fruit salad. Good source of enzyme foods are: papaya, pineapple, apple, grapes, kiwi, mango, dates, raw honey. Try to avoid banana only due to it's nutritional density. Plain live yoghurt or raw honey could be added in small quantity.



My lunch usually consists of raw veggies such as tomatoes, broccoli, avocado or fresh guacamole, red peppers, radishes and easy to digest protein such as feta cheese, goats cheese or mozzarella and olive oil.
On the go I'd ideally opt for a chicken salad wrap or a lentil (bean) salad, felafel or salmon sandwitch (wrap or pita bread) and a veggie soup.



Acid forming foods

• Synthetic oestrogens
• Meat, eggs, dairy
• Fruits and vegetables picked unripe and shipped a long way
• Pulses, grains and nuts
• Fish and shell fish
• Processed, prepared, canned foods
• Dried meats – hams, saugage, bacon
• All refined carbohydrate products – pasta, white bread, white rice, pies, pastries, cakes, noodles, refined breakfast cereals, doughnuts, dumplings
• Salted snacks – crisps, peanuts
• All cows’ dairy
• Fizzy sweet drinks
• Prepacked fruit juices
• Caffeine – stimulates liver to release glucose into blood stream (even diet drinks!)
• Preservatives, jams etc
• Pickled products
• Alcohol
• Sugar
• Synthetic drugs
• Lack of sleep
• Stress, negative emotions
• Tobacco

Since 40% of your food have to be acid forming go for the healthy options such as brown rice, pulses such as chickpeas, beans and lentils and fatty fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel.



An excellent sourse of potassium and the fastest way to alkalize your body is by drinking fresh vegetable juices in between meals.

I usually start my day with a carrot/fennel/celery mix from the Wholefoods or Kitchen & Pantry in Notting hill or a fresh carrot/spirulina from Crush! or any Lebanese restaurant. You can always add some ginger in your juice. It aids your body in its sugar metabolism.

If vegetable juice is not your cup of tea, then a great inexpensive alternative is an apple cider vinegar - take 1 tbsp of in a glass of water first thing in the morning. Fresh lime or lemon juice is a great choice as well.
If no-one comments within two weeks on how great you're looking - you must be cheating!

Good luck

London Spa Girl x