Honestly Healthy....Eat with your body in mind, the alkaline way

I've had the Honestly Healthy book by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson since it first came out in 2012, and I've dipped in and out and looked at all the fabulous recipes but never really done as much with it as I wanted to. 

The philosophy behind it makes perfect sense, eating for balance is definitely the way forward, and most of us don't eat this way. All the processed foods, refined carbs, sugars, dairy and alcohol throw our systems out of line, and the more we eat of this 'stuff' the greater the scales are tipped towards an acidic imbalance.

I can tell when my body is acidic; I get bloating, I get headaches, I get moody, I get aches and pains, and just a general lethargic feeling creeps in, and that's where I'm at right now! Urrgh! I can't wait to do something about it and today is the day to start! 

Natasha and Vicky give details, in chart form, of which foods are acid forming and which are alkaline but to be honest I didn't find many surprises. Green veggies, and other non starchy ones are great , most fruits, a few starchy grains such as barley, and millet, and coconut oil and almonds. Raw honey is alkaline - phew! as it's my preferred sweetener, sea veggies are good, herbal teas, lemon water, apple cider vinegar (maybe that sounds surprising , think we assume anything to do with vinegar would be acidic) .

So,the opposite end of the scale, the very acidic foods, you can probably guess: alcohol, meat, eggs, coffee, sugar, tea, peanut butter, breakfast cereals in brightly coloured boxes, cows dairy, wheat..... no surprises there!! 

Nuts fall mainly in the mildly acid forming category apart from almonds; also sweet potato, buckwheat, lentils, quinoa, oats and rice . 

So hopefully you're getting the picture. In an ideal world we should follow the 80/20 rule, as with everything, and eat mainly alkaline. When we veer too much towards the acidic foods and get out of balance, dis-ease starts... Well that's the theory behind the book, and it's one that I can understand and take fully on board. 

I know if I have too much to drink I don't feel good. I know if I eat too much wheat I feel bloated and lethargic. I know if I indulge in too many refined sweet things (very rare these days) I feel shocking. So for me, eating 80% alkaline sounds like the way forward. 

The cleanse aims to remove all those foods and drinks that we consume in a regular or addictive pattern, to lighten the load on the digestive system. I've read through it, it sounds time consuming, but only because it's all new and obviously all the recipes are made from scratch.

I'm starting today but have swapped today's breakfast with tomorrow's as shopping on Easter Monday for everything I needed probably wasn't the best idea! I'm short of a few ingredients but I'm guessing that mixing up the days foods abit won't hurt!? 

The best thing about this cleanse is the daily green juice - I always start my day this way, after a warm lemon water, so this is the easy bit! There is food for breakfast each day too! I know I'm not going to be  going hungry, I've got three meals and a snack to look forward to and the recipes sound delicious. 

So I'm off to do some yoga, and then make my juice and breakfast : Toxin Reducer Juice and Amercian Style Buckwheat Pancakes. Sounds yum! Photos and a full report later.

Have a great day!

Rx