FRUIT & VEGETABLES SHOULD EQUAL 70% OF OUR DIETS

This means a minimum of 70% of our diets should be vegetables and fruits, with a majority focuses on leafy green vegetables.

A rule of thumb is 5-7 portions of fresh vegetables and fruit a day (1 cup = 1 portion) with a ratio of 5:2 of vegetable:fruit.

Choose locally grown and in seasonal varieties.

Our system turns carbohydrates and proteins into acids in our bodies so it’s important to eat certain foods to help the system stay alkaline.

When choosing the other 30% of your diet avoid processed or refined carbohydrates and proteins, choose organic and rotate protein and carb choice daily.

We talk more about how to balance your carbohydrate and protein intake for optimal skin health in this blog post.

OTHER FACTORS THAT ALKALISE THE BODY ARE GENTLE EXERCISE AND GOOD QUALITY AND SUFFICIENT SLEEP

Any acidic food increases the time taken for digestion, making the intestine work harder. 

When the body is working hard to digest food late at night the brain is unable to fall asleep. Even if you manage to fall asleep, if your sleep quality is poor it could be the effect of an acidic diet.

Less sleep means less regeneration and more acidity within the body. Sleep quality is vital so we suggest to not drink any green tea or Matcha after 3pm and absolutely no caffeine after this time also.

If you eat late at night, our bodies only start digesting your food a few hours later. The body doesn’t produce as many digestive enzymes at night as it does in the day so the fermentation and breakdown process isn’t as effective. This also causes acidity within the body.

DRINKING FILTERED WATER AND HERBAL TEAS HELPS THE BODY ALKALISE

Avoid drinks that inflame our bodies such as sodas and iced teas.

We suggest drinking thyme, sage, rosemary, turmeric/curcumin and ginger teaswhich are all extremely anti-inflammatory.

Green tea and matcha is something that is rich in antioxidants but you have to be careful about how pure green tea is. Like with everything quality is the most important aspect.

Another aspect to take care of is the temperature and brew time for green tea – if it is brewing too long or too hot the leaves can turn acidic (and we want to keep the body alkaline).

WATCH OUT FOR RAW FOODS

Chewing is a problem linked to poor digestion, but especially with raw foods.

Doctors recommend chewing 40 times before swallowing (which of course almost no one does) to fully breakdown the nutrients in raw foods, so if you struggle with digestive issues we suggest steaming or boiling raw foods, and to avoid eating them after 5pm when your body’s natural digestive enzymes are not as prominent.

Smoothies made out of raw fruits and vegetables can also be hard to digest. Take your time when drinking them in order for your body to send the right signals that it needs to produce digestive enzymes to digest the nutrients within well.

Smoothies shouldn’t be replaced with your normal diet and solid food consumption.

HEALTHY FATS

Are important for cell regeneration and alkalinity also. Replace low quality oils and butters with cold pressed high quality olive oil, avocado oil, nut oil, nuts and nut butters without mineral or vegetable oils within.

To summarise Eat Locally, Eat Seasonally, Let Fruit and Veg dominate your daily intake and always choose foods that do not require an Ingredient List to be sold.