Why green juices helps with a weight-loss diet

Green veggies can be eaten whole or juiced and help all weight-loss programmes

I’ll give you 3 reasons to green-juice

1. A green juice containing  kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley and wheatgrass, is rich in the minerals calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and potassium. It  is naturally low in acid (protein), thereby having a highly-alkalising effect on the body.

2. A green juice is low in sugars,  low in calories but rich in nutrients and water which fits with both my programmes. Other juices contain more sugar as they typically include banana, apple and 2 to 3 other fruits.

3. A diet rich in animal product and dairy which my Low Carb food plan has along with with bread and grains in the Low Fat porgramme can be acidic. I balance this with green vegetables  to alkalise it.

A short explanation of Acid and Alkaline

pH is a measure of how acidic or alkaline out body is. Humans are 70% fluid and our bodily fluids have a pH.  Various areas of the body need a specific pH in order to work properly.

To maintain a healthy pH, our body has built in protective systems, it

1. Breathes out carbon dioxide and it sweats
2. Urinates acids out in urine
3. Uses minerals in the body to buffer / correct a high or low pH

Our diet can affect our pH

The food we eat, once digested and absorbed, has an acid or alkaline-forming effect on fluids.

So What!

Well to buffer an acid, our body links the acid with another chemical called a “base.” Sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium are minerals that readily form bases for our body to use as acid buffers. One readily available source for calcium and phosphorus is bone.

So your bone may suffer in the long-term if your diet is too acidic.

Top Tip: Eat the most Alkaline-forming foods with every meal  – Spinach, Dried Figs, Dried Raisins, Fennel, Rocket, Watercress, Wheatgrass, Kale, Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, Herbs especially Parsley, Cucumber, Courgette, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Peppers, Onion, Radish, Garlic

Tips – a few examples

• Seafood linguine – mussel, prawn, hake, squid with a little spaghetti balanced with spinach, broccoli and fresh chives, dill and parsley
• Cheese spread on celery sticks
• Beef roast with 3 to 4 veggies
• Egg salad with rocket, onion, grated courgette & carrot, tomatoes and chives
• Green juice for breakfast or snack during a blow-out indulgent weekend
• Figs with dark chocolate

Why bother

1. Convenient and processed foods can be high in sodium but low in potassium and magnesium creating an imbalance
2. Disease states such as cancer, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis are known to create acidic environments in the body. Dietary change can positively influence disease, complement medical treatments for the disease  and affect quality of life living with the disease
3. As we age our  renal acid-base regulatory function declines and a poor diet will add to that general decline in health and lead to increased risk of kidney stones
4. It has been shown that using enough potassium bicarbonate in the diet neutralizes the daily net acid load in postmenopausal women resulting in a significant increase in growth hormone and resultant osteocalcin. ₁ Improving growth hormone levels may improve quality of life, reduce cardiovascular risk factors, improve body composition, and even improve memory and cognition. ₂ It also resulted in lower calcium loss from the bones. ₃ A diet rich in fruit and vegetables and good hydration will provide the body with  plenty of potassium.

References:

1. Frassetto L, Morris RC, Jr., Sebastian A. Potassium bicarbonate reduces urinary nitrogen excretion in postmenopausal women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1997;82(1):254–259.
2. Wass JAH, Reddy R. Growth hormone and memory. Journal of Endocrinology. 2010;207(2):125–126.
3. Frassetto L, Morris RC, Jr., Sebastian A. Long-term persistence of the urine calcium-lowering effect of potassium bicarbonate in postmenopausal women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.2005;90(2):831–834