We all know just how critical it is to stay hydrated. But staying hydrated isn’t always easy.

In this guide I’m going to teach you how to overcome one of the biggest hurdles of hydration by showing you how to make water taste delicious, while keeping it alkaline.

We all want to drink more water and we all know how much better we’d feel if we did, but let’s face it – drinking water is boring after a while….right?

Not any more. Let’s make alkaline water delicious!

How to Make Delicious Water

Before we get into my four methods of making delicious water, we should really cover off the topics of water quality and quantity. Just quickly. Because they’re important.

Water Quantity

Ideally, you should be aiming to drink somewhere between 2-4 litres of water each day.

The official equation I use and that I think is brilliant is this:

1 litre of water per 40lbs (18k or 2.85stone) of body weight

For example, 12st = 4.2 litres per day.

This, I have found, accurately works out to between 3-4 litres for most people each day. And if you stick to this, every day, I promise you there will be a massive increase in your health, energy, mental clarity and vitality.

Water QUALITY

This is a topic I could write about all day long. In fact I have here, and here, and here.

So for the purposes today we’re aiming for water that is preferably:

1) filtered
2) alkaline (see the different methods to make alkaline water here)
3) ionized (find out more about ionized water here)

But as a starting point, just make sure it is filtered. Tap water is pretty rubbish. It’s acid-forming and oxidising (meaning it kills cells rather than replenish them).

Delicious Alkaline Water Method #1: Fruits & Veggies

This is my current favourite (certainly in summer) and is really easy, really impressive looking and works brilliantly. It also allows you to get some of the big flavours of fruits back into your life without being overly acidic (note: fruit sugars are acid forming – if you need to learn more about that click here to read about fruit and the alkaline diet).

Some of my favourite combinations are:

• Cucumber, Mint & Lemon
• Rockmelon & Ginger
• Watermelon & Mint
• Strawberry & Basil
• Cucumber & Lime
• Cherry & Lime

The possibilities are endless, they really are!

To prepare each, simply roughly chop and smash up the ingredients, tear the leaves etc and throw them into a large jug/pitcher and then fill with the alkaline water.

If you want to go the extra mile you can even buy a muddler to really infuse those flavours!

Delicious Alkaline Water Method #2: Herbs & Spices

Similar to above, you can also use herbs and spices to flavour the water. This is often easier on a smaller scale as you can add a pinch here and there to a big glass, rather than having to go the whole hog and make it in bulk.

Herbs such as basil, thyme, rosemary all work amazingly. And spices such as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne etc are all fantastic too.

When using these spices and herbs you may wish to strain at the end of your prep, and I recommend getting a mini strainer such as this so you don’t end up with bits stuck between your teeth!

Delicious Alkaline Water Method #3: Iced Teas

Iced teas are so easy to make but are so often overlooked! All you need to do is make the tea as normal and then make it cold! Et voila!

There are so many combinations and teas you can either infuse yourself (see here for my delicious alkaline tea guide) or just buy the teabags/leaves to infuse.

This is one of those killer tips that can be the difference for some people. Let’s face it, you need to drink 3-4 litres of water per day, so what if you made a litre of delicious iced tea each morning and drank that throughout the day? That’s one of your litres done, and really enjoyably so!

What a thought!

My personal favourites for alkalinity AND that work well as iced teas are:

- Peppermint
- Homemade lemon & ginger
- Rooibos (redbush) with lemon
- Rosebush
- Hibiscus
- Peppermint, Spearmint & Chamomile

PLUS I love to simply steep some fresh mint leaves from the garden with some root ginger too. That is delicious hot or cold. You simply simmer the mint and ginger in a big pan of water for about 30 minutes and then let it cool!

Delicious Alkaline Water Method #4: Herbal Teas

And OF COURSE, the hot version can be just as good. Again, thinking back to your hydration goal of 3-4 litres per day, consider that just three cups of herbal tea during the day is roughly one of those litres!

Life is a lot easier than we’ve been led to believe.

Again, check out my post on the most herbal alkaline tea here.

Delicious Alkaline Water Method #5: Good Ol’ Lemon or Lime Water

And we couldn’t go past this without referencing the original, the best flavoured alkaline water! First up, let’s get the question about lemon being alkaline or acid out of the way.

Lemons and limes, while being a citric fruit of course, are alkaline-forming to the body. Once consumed they have an alkaline effect on the body due to their containing alkaline minerals and very little sugar.

Gareth Edwards explains more in this video here about lemon water, if you want to know more.

So, now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what it is and how to make it!

Lemon water (or lime water) is simply filtered, alkaline water with fresh lemon squeezed in. There are no hard and fast rules and you can make it however you like, but my rule o’ thumb is to squeeze 1/3 lemon into 500ml of water.

If you like it more lemony then squeeze in a 1/2 lemon. If not so much, go for a 1/4.

It’s as simple as that.

You shouldn’t add any sweeteners or syrup as these will make the drink highly acid forming, but a little cayenne pepper is fine.

I like to make this with lukewarm water and enjoy early in the morning as part of my morning ritual. It’s mildly alkaline, gets the metabolism going and really wakes and freshens you.

BONUS Delicious Alkaline Water Method #6: Coconut Water

Ha! I just remembered this as I was typing/editing this guide to post it to the site…and OF COURSE – coconut water is amazing, alkaline, full of alkaline minerals and electrolytes and it’s, above all else, delicious! Now, it’s not officially in this list because you can’t make it yourself…

But you can buy either fresh young green coconuts and cut them open to drink OR buy packaged coconut water in the shops. Just be SURE that it’s 100% coconut water and has not had any other sweeteners, preservatives or anything added. Coconut water preserves itself and is sweet enough by itself.

It needs nothing adding!

Definitely enjoy this every day! It’s my favourite treat.

Easy Way to Four Litres Per Day

With all this in mind, consider this little hydration schedule and how easy it is to get enough water per day!

• Upon waking 500ml of lemon water: water so far 500ml
• After cleaning your teeth another glass of plain water: water so far 1000ml
• Mid morning cup of herbal tea: water so far 1330ml
• Make 1 litre of iced tea to have before and after lunch: water so far 2330ml
• Another cup of herbal tea with your mid afternoon snack: water so far 2660ml
• As you prepare dinner a glass of standard alkaline water: water so far 3160ml
• After dinner a cup of herbal tea: water so far 3490ml
• Before bed, a glass of warm lemon water: water so far 3990ml

There you have it, an easy 4 litres of water throughout the day and only two glasses of ‘plain’ water all day!

Make the Alkaline Diet Easy…

My whole mission is to make the alkaline diet easy, enjoyable, simple and sustainable – and I hope guides like this help to make it far less daunting for you to get alkaline and healthy!

If you like what I’ve written here – please hit the ‘Like’ button, ‘Pin’ it, ‘Tweet’ it or just email it around.

And if you have any questions or tips of your own, please do post them in the comments below – I’d LOVE to hear from you!

Ross

Related Posts:

Top Seven Herbal Alkaline Teas
The Ultimate Guide to Alkaline Water
The Guide to Alkaline Water Ionizers
Don’t Eat Fruit

Don’t Get Dehydrated!

From Energise Alkaline Diet Blog - how to get alkaline and stay alkaline for life...

When people first start the alkaline diet they almost almost make all (or almost all) of these mistakes.

Making these mistakes cripples their efforts and undoes almost all of the hard work they put in. It’s why so many people find the alkaline diet so hard at first, when in reality it should be fun and enjoyable.

Turn These Mistakes into STRENGTHS!

But when you take these mistakes and turn them into strengths (which I am about to show you how to do!) the alkaline diet becomes easy, enjoyable, easy to stick to and fun. Plus the results you get are double or triple what you would have gotten before, with less effort required.

It has always been my mission to make the alkaline diet easy, enjoyable and fun (and therefore long-term and sustainable). And in my nine years experience (NINE YEARS! It’s gone so fast!) I have truly gotten to the core of why some people get alkaline and get results easily, while others struggle and give up.

It’s not down to body type. It’s not down to blood type. It’s not down to your previous diet. It’s not down to how fit you are. It’s not down to whether you give up meat or not. It’s not down to anything other than your approach, and those first few days and weeks.

When you take these common mistakes and turn them into strengths you’ll get exponential results. You’ll get the compounded results of not just one or two improvements, but five or six huge improvements – all pushing in the same direction to give you a benefit far greater than the sum of it’s parts.

It’s scary, exciting, fun and brilliant to see and feel such rapid change in your body.

The First Few Days & Weeks Are the Difference Between Success & Failure

Bigger than that: the first few days are the difference between:

• An alkaline life or a life of giving up, yo-yo dieting, never reaching your full health potential
• Finding it fun and easy or feeling like you’re fighting your body, struggling, hungry, fed up and tired
• Getting results FAST or hitting a brick wall for days and weeks before you push hard enough to break through

So let’s get into those mistakes and I will show you specifically, step-by-step how to turn each around and make it a strength!

The FIVE Biggest Mistakes Most Alkaline Beginners Make (…and how to turn them into strengths)

Mistake #1: Perfection

In my nine years of experience, working with people from all walks of life, with all different backgrounds and history and with all different goals – one thing is almost always certain. When people first start the alkaline diet, they start off striving for perfection.

After reading the pH Miracle (or another book!), going to a Tony Robbins event, reading an article online or in a newspaper somewhere, going alkaline makes a LOT of sense to most people. But when they start out, common sense seems to go out of the window and they try to do it all at once!

This is probably true of most people when they start with most changes to their health or lifestyle with any diet plan or new gym regime.

But let me make this clear:

When you try to be perfect from day one, you set yourself up for failure!

I’m here to tell you now – in all of my experience, there is nothing that will lead to failure faster than striving to be perfectly alkaline from day one. Plus it makes it no fun, unenjoyable and incredibly difficult to sustain.

The good news is that starting slow, building up, taking it day-by-day and one step at a time is the FASTEST way to succeed. It truly is. My old driving instructor, Ron Ricker used to tell me “Sometimes the fastest way is to take your time” and in this instance I couldn’t agree more with Ron.

When you try to be perfect all at once, there are lots of pressure points and potential points of failure.

…and most of all – the hardest thing is this: trying to give up everything at the same time as introduce new foods and habits…all at the same time…is too much!

When you’re in the process of giving stuff up, you have to battle the cravings, the habitual changes, the stress, the psychological battles, and then all at the same time as trying to think of alkaline meals to make.

This is hard.

There is a lot to take in at the start so I recommend (highly), taking it slowly and focusing at first on GETTING THE GOOD IN, not on trying to cut the bad stuff out. Sounds much easier doesn’t it?

I have a very detailed video on this coming up for you very soon (I’ll send it through once it’s ready!) but in the meantime, just keep this in mind….

Focus on the big, most important stuff. The core fundamentals that I discuss in my Beginners Guide (get this by signing up at the top of this page, or at the bottom of this article). If you focus on nailing these fundamentals (hydration, greens, oils, minerals, movement) then you’ll get 1000% bigger results than if you try to do it all at once.

Summary: Making It Into a Strength

• Don’t try to do it all at once and don’t strive to be perfect from the start!!
• Focus first on getting the GOOD in and not on restricting the bad. This will make it more fun, easy and still get you big, big results
• Take it one day and one week at a time when it comes to eliminating and transitioning away from bad foods: this week dairy, next week coffee. And don’t move onto the next one until you’ve nailed the current one!
• Focus on the FUNDAMENTALS first, the 20% of things that will give you 80% of the overall benefit: hydration, greens, oils, minerals and moderate exercise. Just these five small changes, when compounded, will get you a huge benefit.

Mistake #2: Preparedness

Be prepared. Oh yes, the boy scout motto has never been truer!

A lack of preparation will undo even the most experienced alkaliser!

I have been studying and coaching the alkaline diet, as I mentioned, for a long time now. I’ve closely examined what makes people succeed, what makes them fail and success always leaves clues.

I have seen, over and over, that in a vast number of cases where people are going great and then suddenly crash – a lack of preparation is the reason. Hunger kicks in and there is no healthy option.

Picture this:

…you get home from work, tired, stressed and HUNGRY. The kids are hungry. It’s time for dinner. It’s dark and cold outside and there is no way you’re going out there, even if you had the time, to go shopping for groceries. What’s in the house will have to do it. BUT what’s in the house is not a pretty sight. So you just have to grab/cook whatever is easiest and quickest to make to feed all of these hungry bodies. And convenience foods, the stuff that’s left in the cupboard when everything else has been eaten is almost always acidic.

And even if that isn’t the situation, when you’re not prepared but you DO have a bunch of raw ingredients in the fridge and pantry, if you’re not prepared and knowing what you’re going to cook it can be soooo hard to invent a meal that’s going to be not only alkaline, but delicious enough that the whole family will want to eat it.

And if that isn’t the situation either, consider that time when you’re hungry for a snack but don’t have anything alkaline on hand to make it a healthy snack. But the hunger is gnawing away at you. What will you eat?

And even if none of those are the situation(!) – imagine breakfast time when you’re in a hurry, late for work and don’t have something that is quick AND alkaline to grab? Can you imagine what you might have?

Being prepared is simple. It’s about developing a bank of easy, delicious, alkaline recipes that become your staples. Meals that you can always fall back on.

Being prepared is also about knowing what meals you’re going to eat in the next few days, forward planning and then, shock horror, shopping for those ingredients you need so you can make those meals!

It’s all about having a little bit of preparation, foresight and planning so that it enables you to live alkaline easily, and deliciously!

Again – I have a few videos coming up on this in my Alkaline Diet Made Easy series in the next week or so that is going to walk you through all of this including:

- how to make your favourite ‘normal’ meals heaps more alkaline
- how to plan so that you can shop for just a small number of ingredients but always be able to make 6-8 meals from those same ingredients
- how to turn the list of alkaline foods into a collection of mouthwatering meals

So look out for it!

Summary: Making It Into a Strength

• Don’t leave it to fate! If you live and shop and eat day to day you will get caught out – hungry but only with access to acidic foods
• A little bit of forethought will go a LONG way: plan your meals ahead at least 3 days in advance and shop for those foods!
• Always have a shortlist of ingredients – 8-10 ingredients you can always have in the house which mean you can make 5-6 simple alkaline meals and snacks at the drop of a hat.
• Always have a couple of ‘get out of jail, free’ snacks available to you at all times – nuts & seeds, sprouted breads, avocados, tomatoes make excellent options

Mistake #3: Digestion

So few people realise the important of the digestive system. I think it’s the most important thing to focus on when you first start to go alkaline. When you have been eating an acidic, less than healthy diet for a while, your digestive system gets clogged up and impacted. It gets chock-a-block full of yeast, bacteria, mycotoxins and candida. Both of these situations are not good for you and your health goals.

And worst of all, they will mean you’re only getting a fraction of the benefit from the hard work you’re putting in. Let me explain.

1. When your digestive system is compromised and acidic, you will get into a cycle of bacteria, yeast, acidity, candida and more.  The more there is, the more wastes these produce, the more they then feed on these wastes and grow and the more acidic and bacteria you get.

   SO many problems emerge from this.  Candida, of course, reflux, and research STRONGLY links digestive issues such as IBS with the existence of bacteria and yeasts in the digestive system, for example.

   The more acidic you are, the worse this gets and it snowballs.

   If you believe you have a yeast/carb/sugar addiction – this is a symptom AND a reason.

2. A clogged and impacted digestive system will mean you’re only absorbing a fraction of the nutrients you’re consuming! When your digestive system is full of undigested matter, yeasts etc. these wastes coat the walls of your large intestines, which is where your nutrient absorption is supposed to take place.

   Your large intestine walls are covered with tiny little finger like things called villi that have the job of absorbing all of the nutrients from the foods you consume.

   But of course, when you’re intestine walls are covered in old fecal matter, candida and bacterial overgrowth, these villi are covered and impacted and cannot do their job!

THIS IS EXCITING NEWS!  It means that as soon as you start to clean out your digestive system your results will suddenly POP – even though you’re not doing anything different!

More results, with no extra work required!

While going alkaline will make this process of cleansing start to work, there are some simple things you can do to speed this up considerably – especially when you’re first starting out.

Digestive Foods

There are certain foods you can include more of that will rapidly speed the cleansing of your digestive system. In another guide I’ll go more into each of these foods, how to use them and give some recipes, but for now, just shop for them and include them!

- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
- Husks
- Beans
- Greens (collards, kale, spinach etc)
- Avocado
- Celery
- Broccoli
- Chickpeas
- Sweet Potatoes

Plus a special shout goes to grapefruit as a snack as it is mildly alkaline and helps support the digestive system with a high content of pectin fiber which is a great cleanser.

Plus of course these foods are terrible for your digestive system – processed foods, fast foods, fatty foods (as in trans fats), low water content foods, sugar, yeast etc.

Digestive Supplements

The two best supplements you can use, in my opinion are:

1) Psyllium Husks: which are a combination of insoluble and soluble fibre and are the very best cleansing fibre supplement I have ever come across. Cheap and easily found online and offline.

2) pH Miracle’s pHlush: powerful, so use gently and slowly at first. It’s an oxidiser in the alimentary canal and acts like an ‘at-home colonic’! It’s fantastic for clearing out the digestive system! [click here to find out more]

Hydration

Hydration, hydration, hydration. You simply cannot be dehydrated and have a properly functioning digestive tract. It just ain’t gonna happen. Aim to drink between 2-4 litres of clean, filtered and preferably alkaline water each day, without fail. Your whole body, not just your digestive system, will thank you for it.

Chewing

Incomplete chewing and talking while eating can cause premature swallowing. Our digestive systems are not designed to digest large pieces of food, so putting large pieces in our stomachs can lead to incomplete digestion (aka: digestive discomfort). The digestive process starts with chewing, which naturally churns the food. Chewing also releases digestive enzymes to further aid in the digestive process.

The same goes for having massive mouthfuls. When you have a big mouthful, then chew – it expands and forces you to swallow prematurely, putting even more pressure on the digestive system.

Relaxing

Eating when you are rushed increases your stress and slows down the digestive process. Create a nice calming atmosphere while eating. And take your time. Here’s a simple rule I put into place for myself to stop myself hurrying through meals:

– don’t allow yourself to touch your fork until your current mouthful has been completely chewed and swallowed.

So many people start racking up their next mouthful before they’re even chewing their current mouthful. Don’t do this. Savour each mouthful. Enjoy your meal.

Eating Regularly

Having big meals less often is much more stressful on the digestive system than having smaller meals more often. Eating little and often will also prevent you getting into that position I mentioned earlier of being so hungry you just have to grab whatever you can (which is almost always acidic!).

Summary: Making It Into a Strength

• Don’t ignore the digestive system! Give it love (especially in the early days) and your results will be SO FAST!
• Focus on the high fibre foods to begin with green vegetables, beans, chickpeas, grapefruit, avocado, celery etc.
• Try to move away from the foods that will encourage yeast to keep growing in your digestive system: simple carbs, refined foods, processed foods etc
• Get some psyllium husks!
• Eat slowly, relax, enjoy your meals
• Hydration, hydration, hydration!

Mistake #4: Quantities

This is a funny one, but true. When most people start the alkaline diet they eat so little! For some reason quantities go out of the window and they start eating these tiny little meals!

I don’t know why!

The best thing you can do to repair and alkaline, cleanse your body and digestive system is to flood your body with nutrients, and you’ll only be able to do that by eating lots!

I generally don’t like to talk about calories in/out – especially when it comes to weight loss, but in this instance I will reference it simply to say: these people are getting nowhere near enough protein, calories or fats!

You really do need to keep on eating lots when you go alkaline. It’s no good to cut out all the crap and replace it with a plain salad. You still need to be getting a varied, mixed diet, with protein, complex carbs, oils, loads of veggies, high water content foods, nutrient dense foods etc.

Important: you should NEVER be hungry on the alkaline diet.

If you are often hungry, you’re doing it wrong and you should email me to trouble shoot with you to make this right.

So make sure you’re getting enough food each day! Here is a sample day’s meal plan for you that will definitely keep you full and not hungry or missing any of your vital nutrients!

Breakfast: 1. Scrambled Tofu Brekkie | 2. Quinoa & Apple Warmer | 3. Alkaline Power Smoothie

Lunch: 1. Mexican Tortilla Soup | 2. Fill You Up Salad! | 3. Almost Alkaline Fajitas

Dinner: 1. Marinated Asian Salmon | 2. Alkaline Lentil Curry | 3. Alkaline Sushi

And if you throw in snacks like almonds and other nuts and seeds, sprouted bread toasted with avocado & tomato, an alkaline salad wrap, hummous with veggie sticks etc you will NOT be going hungry.

(note: all recipes taken from my Alkaline Diet Recipe Book)

Making It Into a Strength Summary:

• Never go hungry
• Eat LOTS
• Remember to get enough oils, complex carbs and proteins, if you’re ever worried
• Make 2x your main meals and freeze some to eat later as snacks or as a second serve if you get hungry an hour or so later
• Being hungry is an acidic state – don’t let it happen!
• Have alkaline snacks handy at all times when you’re first starting out

Bringing It All Together: Turning Potential Pitfalls into Big Wins

If you follow this guide to avoid these common mistakes then what you are actually doing is this:

1) Focusing on the core, most powerful alkaline actions you can take (avoiding perfection)

2) You’re ensuring you’re always eating highly alkaline, delicious meals (being prepared)

3) Eating an abundance of alkaline foods that will cleanse your digestion to give you double the results, twice as fast (digestive cleansing)

4) Eating LOADS of alkaline, nutrient dense foods to allow your body to cleanse, repair and then thrive (getting the right quantities).

These four common mistakes are now all pulling in the same direction to give you a compounded benefit. Doing these four things will give you a benefit greater than the sum of it’s parts.

Using this in conjunction with the Beginner’s Guide (sign up below if you haven’t already) will leave you feeling AMAZING, but more importantly, they’ll make the alkaline diet exactly what it should be (and what I strive to make it): easy, enjoyable and sustainable.

Enjoy
Ross

From Energise Alkaline Diet Blog - how to get alkaline and stay alkaline for life...

The Seven Most Acidic Foods (Avoid These Every Day)

I‘m pretty easy going compared to most. When it comes to helping/teaching/supporting/coaching people to get alkaline and break through their health goals, I have a very realistic, achievable, relaxed (but powerful) approach.

In the nine (9!) years that I’ve been teaching and living the alkaline lifestyle I’ve learned and proven over and over again that getting alkaline is easiest, most enjoyable and most likely to be stuck with if you take it day-by-day, step-by-step and don’t have perfection as the goal. By that I mean:

…you should always allow yourself treats, you never have to give up everything and you can still live a normal life, still go out with friends, still socialise and still feel like you can have your favourite foods.

I’ve talked a lot in the past about my method of ‘Focus on The Good, Crowd Out the Bad‘ which is a whole other topic, but in short it’s all about making sure you focus on getting the good in rather than worrying about going cold turkey and putting your brain into a state where you’re always worried about restricting yourself, giving stuff up and therefore missing and craving your favourite foods.

But…! There are certain foods that you should try to let go of asap. These are the worst of the worst. The most acidic of the acidic. And I really want you to transition away from these seven foods as soon as you can.

Certainly don’t let these exist in your everyday life. For each I’ve given some of the known negatives and some scientific research – this is here to try and help increase your motivation to eat these foods less! We all face crossroads every day – when these acidic treats are calling our name, so hopefully this will help you to say no more easily!

The Seven Most Acidic Foods

1. Cola/Soft Drinks:

Cola has to come in at number one and I could write a whole thesis on why. But let’s just touch on the main points as to why I quite literally never touch colas, lemonades, sports drinks and other fizzy, carbonated beverages. Full of sugar, chemicals, sweeteners and ingredients that are actually known and proven as being dangerous for human health (hello phosphoric acid).

It’s almost impossible to know where to start with listing out how SHOCKINGLY BAD cola and soft drinks are for our health (and chemically addictive), so I’ll start with the ingredients and then move onto the research that proves just SOME of the health problems that cola causes (again, proven).

• Sugar: colas contain sugar. Loads and loads of it. About 10 teaspoons per 330ml can. This. Is. Crazy. Remembering that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, it would be very wise to begin your transition away from cola and sodas right now. Today. As Mercola says “It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar.”
• Phosphoric Acid: known to interfere with the body’s ability to use and absorb calcium, this is one of the main reasons why cola consumption is so strongly linked to osteoporosis
• Caffeine: caffeine is of course not only highly acidic, but also a cause of dehydration (as a diuretic). Most colas would contain around 55mg of caffeine, which is just shy of the 65mg found in a shot of proper espresso. This is a LOT of caffeine to get from a beverage that isn’t even coffee! Caffeine has also been shown to increase the risk of insomnia, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects and more.
• High-fructose modified corn syrup: geez, where do you even start with HFCS. Unquestionably linked to obesity, type II diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, liver failure, kidney failure and more. It’s no surprise to find that since the US consumption per person of HFCS went from 0 to 60 lbs per person per year obesity has tripled and diabetes has grown seven-fold. Of course, there are other variables but you can’t ignore this. Now I could go into a LOT of depth here on HFCS but let’s just leave it here. It’s a horrible, horrible curse that has been put upon our modern society by the food industry in the last few decades. Thank goodness for people like Dr Mark Hyman and others – we’re all smartening up!
• Other random chemicals: While the federal limit for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb), researchers have found benzene levels as high as 79 ppb in some soft drinks, and of the 100 brands tested, most had at least some detectable level of benzene present
• Aspartame: the worst of the worst when it comes to sweeteners (and the reason why diet sodas and colas are just as bad as the regular kind), aspartame is the sweetener with over 92 different health side effects that have been associated with it’s consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilispsy/seizures and more.

And the simple fact is, sugar, caffeine, HFCS, sweeteners are all HIGHLY acidic, and sodas contain them in abundance.

Let’s put it like this – you can’t be alkaline and consume cola on a daily basis.

But here are some other scary facts about regular cola/soft drink consumption:

• The British medical journal “The Lancet” published a study showing that, during a two year study, those 12-year olds who drank soda on a daily basis had a 60% increase in the risk of obesity!
• One cola per day can increase your risk of diabetes by up to 85%
• Sheffield University research discovered that the chemical called sodium benzoate which is found in almost all colas and soft drink actually disrupts and damages DNA! The researcher reported that “And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA – Parkinson’s and quite a lot of neurodegenerative diseases, but above all, the whole process of aging.”
• and so much more!

————————————————
Known Negatives of Cola/Soda: cola consumption is linked to an increased risk of: obesity, diabetes, liver damage, tooth decay, chronic kidney disease, heartburn/reflux, osteoporosis, heart disease, gastrointestinal diseases, cancers, gout and so much more.

Scientific Research:
Bray, G.A., Nielsen, S.J., and B.M. Popkin. 2004. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 79(4):537-43.

1. Caroline M. Apovian, MD. 2004. Sugar-Sweetened Soft Drinks, Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes. JAMA. 2004;292(8):978-979. doi:10.1001/jama.292.8.978.

2. Matthias B. Schulze, DrPH; JoAnn E. Manson, MD; David S. Ludwig, MD; Graham A. Colditz, MD; Meir J. Stampfer, MD; Walter C. Willett, MD; Frank B. Hu, MD. 2004. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Weight Gain, and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in Young and Middle-Aged Women. JAMA. 2004;292(8):927-934. doi:10.1001/jama.292.8.927.

3. Hyon K Choi,Soft drinks, fructose consumption, and the risk of gout in men: prospective cohort study. 2008. British Journal of Medicine. BMJ 2008; 336 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39449.819271.BE (Published 7 February 2008)

4. J James, D Kerr. Prevention of childhood obesity by reducing soft drinks. 2005. International Journal of Obesity (2005) 29, S54–S57. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803062

5. Malik, SV et al. Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes. 2010. Diabetes Care November 2010vol. 33 no. 11 2477-2483

—> and SO many more, I could go on all day!

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2. Ice Cream

All dairy is acidic (yes, milk is not good for you and doesn’t lead to stronger bones, it actually leads to weaker bones) but ice cream is the worst because it’s just so dense! Something that is always scary is the amount of something alkaline needed to neutralise a strong acid – the ratio is 20:1.

That means it takes 20 cups of something alkaline to neutralise 1 cup of a strong acid. Unfair isn’t it? This ratio is certainly true of milk – it would take 20 glasses of alkaline water to neutralise 1 glass of milk. Not good. But it actually works out that it would take twelve times as much, that’s 240 cups of something alkaline to neutralise ONE cup of ice cream! Crikey!

It’s that bad. Truly.

Personally, if I ever have even a little bit of ice cream I feel tired instantly and get a headache. It’s instant. I hate the stuff for it. It literally couldn’t taste good enough for me to want to eat it and get that response in my body. It takes 12lbs of milks to make 1lb of ice cream – always remember that.

And this doesn’t even take into consideration the additives, colourings, sweeteners and other chemicals and acidic substances that go into ice-cream to make it so addictive and sweet.

Ice cream is an easy one to get rid of. Do it!

[note, if you need any more convincing, I just found this on forbes.com about vanilla ice-cream:]

If you’re a label-reader like me, you may see castoreum listed on vanilla & raspberry ice cream. Ick factor: What they don’t say on the label is that castoreum is the anal secretions & urine from a beaver. While not known to be harmful, knowing there’s beaver pee in your ice cream may help you cut empty calories!

Hope that helped!

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Known Negatives of Ice Cream/Dairy: highly acidic, mucous forming, causes acne, heightens allergies, contains hormones, pesticide residues, microforms, mycotoxins, saturated acidic fats, lactose, bacteria, can lead to bone weakening, weight gain and digestive issues, high impact on cardiovascular health.

Scientific Research:

1. Soedamah-Muthu SS, Ding EL, et al; Milk and dairy consumption and incidence of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality; American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2011 Vol 93 no 1, 158-171

2. Adebamowo, CA, D Spiegelman, CS Berkey, et al. Milk consumption and acne in adolescent girls. Dermotol Online J. 2006;12:1

3. Lanou AJ, Berkow SE, Barnard ND. Calcium, dairy products, and bone health in children and young adults: a reevaluation of the evidence. Pediatrics. 2005;115:736-743.

4. Feskanich D, Willett WC, Colditz GA. Calcium, vitamin D, milk consumption, and hip fractures: a prospective study among postmenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003;77:504-511.

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3. Sugar

Sugar is sugar is sugar. It’s at the root of all acidity!

Sugar is quite literally an acidic waste product that for acids in the body is like petrol on a fire. And this counts for all sugar, white, brown, raw, cane, corn, malts, honey, molasses, sucrose, fructose (yes fruit), lactose, maltose, glucose and anything else ending in -ose.

Now, I know this isn’t exactly an easy one to give up entirely and so it sticks out in this list a little (and this article as a whole) but I do want you to start to lower the amount of sugar in your life and move slowly away from it. It’s at the root cause of all sickness and disease.

All sugars cause a rapid rise in blood sugar, which then creates an environment for the creation of bacteria, yeast and mold within the body (i.e. a hugely acidic digestive system, candida overgrowth, digestive issues, mal-absorption of nutrients and any sickness or disease you can think of).

The worst thing is, of course, the more sugar the body gets, the more acidic it gets, and so the more it craves – to keep feeding these acidic microforms. As I said earlier – sugar is more addictive than cocaine – and so the only way to cut this off is to alkalise the body and slowly transition away.

Giving up sugar is normally really hard, but with the alkaline approach – the more alkaline you get the less you’ll crave. It makes it so much easier and less stressful to give up this drug.

But as you look at our sugar consumption increase over the past 300 years, it’s clear to see that something needs to be done:

Refined Sugar Consumption Trends in Past 300 Years:

In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
In 2009, more than 50 percent us consume 1/2 pound of sugar per day, which is 180 pounds of sugar per year.

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Known Negatives of Sugar: highly acidic (like nothing else), .

Scientific Research:

1. Bostick M et al. Sugar, meat, and fat intake, and non-dietary risk factors for colon cancer incidence in Iowa women (United States). Cancer Causes & Control January 1994, Volume 5, Issue 1, pp 38-52

2. Michaud DS et al. Dietary Sugar, Glycemic Load, and Pancreatic Cancer Risk in a Prospective Study. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (2002) 94 (17): 1293-1300.

3. Slattery ML et al. Dietary sugar and colon cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev September 1997 6; 677

4. Meyer KA et al. Carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and incident type 2 diabetes in older women. Am J Clin Nutr April 2000 vol. 71 no. 4 921-930

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4. Hydrogenated and Partially Hydrogenated Fats/ Trans Fats:

As healthy as the healthy oils (omega 3, 6 and 9) are to the body, the wrong fats are devastating. We all know just how bad the bad fats are, and we’ve been told about them for many decades (clogged arteries, heart disease, cancer etc). Animal fats, cheap vegetable oils, butter and (worse, much worse) margarine, trans fats and a lot of saturated fats (coconut aside) are all absolutely shocking for our health.

Trans fatty acids, also known as trans fat, is an artery-clogging fat that is formed when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening. It’s found in all of the most acid-forming foods – takeaways, fried foods, refined foods, cakes, biscuits, chocolates and chocolate snacks, chips, pizzas etc. You know the drill.

The consumption of trans fats is one of the main causes for the current obesity epidemic and absolutely a huge reason for the diabetes epidemic. Trans fats are proven to increase blood levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad” cholesterol, while lowering levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), known as “good” cholesterol. The swines!

Sadly, and truthfully, many food companies use trans fat instead of oil because it reduces cost, extends storage life of products and can improve flavor and texture.

Bear in mind too, and you’ll know this if you’ve seen Hungry for Change, you’ll know that the three ingredients that food companies use to get us addicted to foods are the acid-forming-combo of fat, sugar and salt.

Steer clear of these fats!

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Known Negatives of Trans Fats/Hydrogenated Fats: artery clogging, raised ‘bad’ cholesterol and lowered ‘good’ cholesterol, high impact on cardiovascular health, obesity, cancer, diabetes and more.

Scientific Research:

1. Mozaffarian D, Katan M et al. Trans Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease. N Engl J Med 2006; 354:1601-1613 April 13, 2006

2. Erkkilä A, de Mello VD, Risérus U, Laaksonen DE. Dietary fatty acids and cardiovascular disease: an epidemiological approach.Prog Lipid Res. 2008 May;47(3):172-87.

3. Mensink R, Katan M. Effect of Dietary trans Fatty Acids on High-Density and Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Healthy Subjects. N Engl J Med 1990; 323:439-445 August 16, 1990

4. Salmerón J et al. Dietary fat intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in women. Am J Clin Nutr June 2001 vol. 73 no. 6 1019-1026

5. Van Dam M R et al. Dietary Fat and Meat Intake in Relation to Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Men. Diabetes Care March 2002 vol. 25 no. 3 417-424

——————————————

5. Monosodium glutamate:

Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, a non-essential amino acid. Even though it was classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) the FDA still stated that:

“Studies have shown that the body uses glutamate, an amino acid, as a nerve impulse transmitter in the brain and that there are glutamate-responsive tissues in other parts of the body, as well.

Abnormal function of glutamate receptors has been linked with certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s chorea. Injections of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in the brain.”

Eeek. If the FDA are saying things like this then it’s time to get worried…

Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills” explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death (the same as aspartame and other sweeteners which we’ll get on to), causing brain damage to varying degrees and possibly even causing the worsening of learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease plus more. Wow.

MSG was always known as being something that we only found in Chinese food. This is very misleading – it’s everywhere. Well, it’s everywhere if you eat a lot of refined and fast foods. MSG is a very powerful flavour enhancer so it’s used in products such as crackers, chips, microwave meals, canned foods etc in order to make them taste fresher and more flavoursome.

MSG is hidden in lots of foods within ingredients, so look out for the following on your food labels: Autolyzed Yeast, Calcium Caseinate, Gelatin, Glutamate, Glutamic Acid, Hydrolyzed Protein, Monopotassium Glutamatem, Sodium Caseinate, Textured Protein, Yeast Extract, Yeast Food, Yeast Nutrient.

…and is often found in Flavors and Flavorings, Seasonings, Natural Flavors and Flavorings, Natural Pork Flavoring, Natural Beef Flavoring, Natural Chicken Flavoring, Soy Sauce, Soy Protein Isolate, Soy Protein, Bouillon Stock Broth, Malt Extract, Malt Flavoring, Barley Malt, Anything Enzyme Modified, Maltodextrin, Pectin Enzymes, Protease, Corn Starch, Citric Acid, Powdered Milk, Anything Protein Fortified, Anything Ultra-Pasteurized

[props to Mercola for his research on MSG]
——————————————
Known Negatives of MSG: highly acidic, numbness, burning sensations, tingling, facial pressure, chest pains, breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, weakness, fatigue, obesity, kidney failure & more
Scientific Research:

1. Ka He, Liancheng Zhao, et al. Association of Monosodium Glutamate Intake With Overweight in Chinese Adults: The INTERMAP Study. Obesity, 2008; Volume 16, Number 8, pp. 1875–1880.

2. Olney, JW, Ho OL. Brain Damage in Infant Mice following Oral Intake of Glutamate, Aspartate or Cysteine. Nature, August 8, 1970; Volume 227, pp. 609 – 611.

3. Redding T.W. · Schally A.V. · Arimura A. · Wakabayashi I. Effect of Monosodium Glutamate on Some Endocrine Functions

4. Nakanishi Y et al. Monosodium glutamate (MSG): A villain and promoter of liver inflammation and dysplasia. Journal of Autoimmunity Volume 30, Issues 1–2, February–March 2008, Pages 42–50

——————————————

6. Yeast:

Having too much yeast in the body is predominantly the most acidic thing we can do, and also the biggest cause of acidity!

When we consume yeast, it’s like we’re throwing acid after acid into our body. The outcome of this is that your body is constantly in a state of absolute acidity and the worst thing is the consumption of yeast and the body’s production of yeast is a vicious cycle – the more yeast we throw in, the more yeast we have in our system and the more acids the growth of these yeasts creates, which then feeds the yeast to grow further. Here is my super-simple-diagram to help explain what happens when we keep consuming yeasts, sugars (which turn into yeasts) and more:

In an acidic state, the body is constantly being ravaged. The stress of maintaining this level of alkalinity is just too much and so we get sick, tired and full of disease.

Yeasts from bread, pasta, alcohol, baked goods and anything that is made from yeast can cause huge microform overgrowth!

——————————————

Known Negatives of Yeast: highly acidic, kidney stones, digestive issues, liver complaints, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, candida, fungal infections and more.

——————————————

7. Sweeteners:

I’ve kept this broad as ‘all sweeteners’ because they’re all pretty bad, even the natural ones. BUT from here on presume I’m talking about the super-commercial artificial ones (not the stevia types).

If you use these sweeteners in your daily diet – please stop asap! They’re SUCH bad news for your health! And worse still, many are truly not proven as safe for human consumption. Let’s look at Splenda. At the time of it’s approval for the FDA it was claimed it was proven as safe after the review of 110 pieces of research. However, further investigation of that research uncovers some interesting facts:

1. Of these 110 studies only TWO were human studies
2. The longest human study lasted FOUR DAYS!
3. It included only 30 participants
4. And the study was on tooth decay not our health!

This just goes to highlight another example of the complete and utter bull***t that exists out there when money talks.

The REAL story is this – use of Splenda has been shown to decrease our healthy stomach bacteria by up to 50%.

Ultimately, whichever brand you use you’ll be ingesting one or more of the following: aspartame, saccharine, neotame, sucralose, acesulfame and or cyclamates. These are all highly acidic to the body. For instance, when ingested, aspartame breaks down into formaldehyde in the body!

Please just don’t let them into your body!

——————————————

Known Negatives of Sweeteners: highly acidic, carcinogenic, migranes, dizziness, fatigue, insomnia, weight gain, loss of taste and linked to a worsening of Parkinson’s fibromyalgia, Alzheimers, thyroid disorders and many more.

Scientific Research:

1. Maher T J , Wurtman R J . Possible neurologic effects of aspartame, a widely used food additive. Environ Health Perspect. 1987 November; 75: 53–57.

2. Mead N. Sour Finding on Popular Sweetener: Increased Cancer Incidence Associated with Low-Dose Aspartame Intake. Environ Health Perspect. 2006 March; 114(3): A176.

3. Vartanian LR et al. Effects of Soft Drink Consumption on Nutrition and Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Public Health: April 2007, Vol. 97, No. 4, pp. 667-675.

4. Yang Q. Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings. Yale J Biol Med. 2010 June; 83(2): 101–108.

——————————————

What Next >> The Alkaline Diet Fundamentals: The Easy Way to Rock It

I’m all about mastering the fundamentals. The core handful of super-effective stuff that will make the biggest amount of difference (80/20 rule). This, to me, is much more preferable to trying to aim for perfection and doing it all at once. And in all of my experience this has helped me get more than 4,000 people alkaline and living in their dream body, with their dream health, vitality and energy – while enjoying the process.

If you can master the few simple, core fundamentals then you’ll get 80% or more of the benefit with only 20% of the hard work needed.

I’m going to be talking about this a lot in the next few weeks and months, but right now I want you to consider this guide as being one of the core fundamentals.

Here are a few of the others:

1. Eat the seven most alkaline foods daily – especially the greens
2. Transition away from the seven most acidic foods
3. Stay properly hydrated with good quality alkaline water
4. Exercise daily – even if just a 15 minute walk or some squats or something! (note: it’s the habit that’s important
5. Consume omega 3 oils daily
6. Get plenty of alkaline minerals
7. Get sunshine and smile!

And even if you want to narrow that down I’d say: greens, oils, hydration & alkaline minerals. Get those four every day and you’ll see huge improvements.

If You Want To Get Alkaline: Here is What to Do Now…

If you’re ready to start getting alkaline and getting to (and way beyond) your big health goals then I recommend you start with my Beginners Guide to the Alkaline Diet!

This three-video, absolutely free training can be accessed from my homepage right here – sign up next to the video of me!

This will take you through all of those core fundamentals I mentioned plus more and get you on the fast track to getting alkaline now.

And if you have any questions – just post them below in the comments and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can!
Ross

From Energise Alkaline Diet Blog - how to get alkaline and stay alkaline for life...

Hey guys

It’s been a REALLY busy week for me and I’m buzzing with excitement about some new projects that I have lined up for you.

Seriously, this is like nothing else I’ve ever taught and nothing like the way I’ve ever taught either.

I know I’m sounding a bit cryptic but I just can’t quite reveal any more detail than that just yet – just be sure you’re going to LOVE it!

Of course, there is always time for more reading and learning. As Tony R says, if we’re not growing we’re dying. And I am always on a quest to improve, learn and develop myself and my knowledge.

Ultimately – that’s the best thing I can do to ensure I will always be improving the way I teach and coach you.

So let’s get stuck in – here’s my recommended reading for this week:

• Food Revolution Summit: first up – let’s talk about the upcoming Food Revolution Summit! Ocean and John Robbins are running interviews with some of the biggest and most influential names in the world of health, nutrition and vitality – all totally for free!

  You can listen to training from:

  • Kris Carr
  • Dr Neal Barnard
  • Dr Mark Hyman
  • Dr Dean Ornish
  • Dr Joel Fuhrman
  • …and many more!

  a href=”http://www.foodrevolution.org/summit?orid=99771&opid=16″>And you can access it all for free here. Just sign up and they’ll let you know when the interviews are taking place.

  They are running 3 interviews per day between April 27-May 5, 2013, and it’s going to be awesome!

  I’m definitely going to be listening to as many as I can!

• The Hidden Danger in Teabags: Good ol’ Mercola, never afraid of the controversy, this week highlighted the hidden danger in certain brands of tea bags. It’s a consideration a lot of people don’t make – but can really be a cause for concern if you’re drinking a lot of tea – as a lot of people do!

  The big and easy takeaway is to avoid the fancy-schmancy teabags (pyramids, funky shapes, technological diffusion systems etc).

  – and you can see more of Dr M here on twitter: @mercola

• 8 Simple Ways to Live Greener (and Healthier): with Earth Day fast approaching I really enjoyed this lovely (and beautifully presented) post from Sonnet at From the Love of Food. I especially loved #2 and #3 but KNOW I need to work harder on #7 and #8…! It’s a fantastic post – please do go and check it out.

  – check out Sonnet’s tweets @SonnetLauberth

• 10 Sources of Protein for Vegans: from Mind Body Green comes another fantastic article. This is one of the most oft-asked questions I get and they do a great job of listing them out with just enough info on each to motivate you to give it a try!

  – find MindBodyGreen on Twitter here: @MindBodyGreen

• The Physician’s Role in Nutrition-Related Disorders: this is a SUPER interesting article from the ever-inspiring and inspirational Dr Neal Barnard. For those of you who don’t know Neal he is the founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). In other words – holding the medical community to account and ensuring they focus on prevention (nutrition) rather than simply masking symptoms.

  The PCRM also undertake research for great causes – such as proving that milk is NOT good for you.

  Anyway – in this article it is discussed the role that physicians should play in supporting their patients when the patient has nutrition-based conditions (such as diabetes).

  It’s a thought provoking and fascinating read.

  – Catch Neal’s tweeting here: @DrNealBarnard

• Healthy Food Swaps That Are Good For You And The Planet: another Earth Day inspired post, this time from the Huff Post – with 7 healthy food swaps you can make to go from unhealthy to nutrient dense, while helping the planet at the same time! I definitely vouch for swapping rice for quinoa – that’s my favourite swap ever!

That’s everything that caught my eye and taught me something new this week! If you’ve seen an article/guide/post you love please let me know in the comments below!

Ross

From Energise Alkaline Diet Blog - how to get alkaline and stay alkaline for life...

Hey guys – how would you like to get the best of ME, Kris Carr, Daniel Vitalis, Robert Young, Jon Gabriel, Food Matters, Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins and more delivered to you every single week?

Read on to find out how…

You might remember back in the 00′s I used to run a weekly roundup called the Thursday Health & Diet Blog Roundup (THDBR) each, well, Thursday, which…well…rounded up the best health and diet blog posts from the past week.

I have decided to do this again! Each week I’ll be sending you a rundown of the most influential, inspirational, informative and free health resources, articles, guides, how-to’s, recipes that I’ve run across through my own reading and searching during the week.

I’ve got all sorts of tools and programs to get this news every day, so this is your fast-track to get the best of the best.

Expect articles from the likes of Kris Carr, Health Ranger, Robert Young, Food Matters, Mercola, Ronnie Ruiz, Mark Hyman, Daniel Vitalis, Russell James, Jason Vale, Mindvalley, Jon Gabriel, Tim Ferris, Leo Babuata, Joel Fuhrmann, MindBodyGreen, Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra and then a whole host of underground, personal bloggers (which is often where you find the real juice).

I hope you love it! I certainly love researching it!

The BEST Alkaline Diet, Health & Nutrition Reading This Week (3rd-10th April 2013)

• OK This One Is B.I.G. – following in the footsteps of Hungry for Change, Joe Cross is also allowing you to watch Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead for FREE! Click here to watch it in full for a limited time. No opt-in, no catch, no offer. It’s just free. It’s simply on youtube! Joe, for those who don’t know is an extraordinary man who runs Reboot with Joe and has recently launched the global juice brand Reboot Your Life Juices. Definitely check out the free screening and Joe’s other work. He’s a great dude.

  – Joe spreads the love on Twitter on @JoetheJuicer

• Mercola has a fantastic article here on Vitamin D and Strength Training: A Powerful Combo to Reduce Visceral Fat. It also lists out seven other benefits of this oft-forgotten vitamin that is definitely in short supply in the Northern Hemisphere!

  – Dr M is rocking Twitter here: @Mercola

• Kris Carr is a well known alkaline diet fan (as you can see from my guest post here on her site I wrote about the alkaline diet!) – so this post about ‘What’s in Kris’ Fridge‘ is great. It’s a really lovely insight into the health/diet of someone who is totally rocking it.

  – Kris is on Twitter on: @Kris_Carr

• This is an oldie but one I only discovered this week from Daniel Vitalis’ team on Visonary Nutrition. Daniel’s approach is best explained by his business name “Rewind Yourself” – it’s taking it back to nature, whole foods and living chemical free. It’s a very admirable and cool approach which goes beyond what I’ve ever spoken about. If you want to take things deeper this is a cool article to start with.

  – Find Daniel on Twitter on: @DVitalis

• Dr Mark Hyman is one of my nutrition heroes. Author of The Blood Sugar Solution, the UltraSimple Diet, The UltraMind Solution and UltraMetabolism, he’s the medical editor of the mighty Huffington Post and one of those medically trained doctors that GETS nutrition. This article he wrote this week called “Do We Need a Health Revolution” is a great discussion point and just the first line “being healthy in today’s world is a revolutionary act” really speaks to me.

  The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of his ‘Eat In’ concept – which I’ll leave to Mark to explain in his video here.

  – Find Mark on Twitter at @markhymanmd

• And on the subject of the Huffington Post, I was delighted to read their article on Mindfulness this week. This is an area I’m becoming increasingly interested about thanks to my beautiful friend Dr Ruth Buczynski at NICABM. In the Huff’s post, they give 20 simple, straight up benefits of Mindfulness. Check it out and then Google ‘how to start mindfulness meditation’ and get started! There will be more on this on the Energise blog soon.
• And of course I couldn’t wrap up without including a delicious recipe for you, so here is a cracker Quinoa, Cucumber & Avo salad from Robert Young to get your tastebuds a rockin.

  – Robert Young is a great twitterer to follow here: @drrobertyoung

I hope you like it!

This is always a lot of fun for me, so if you love it – share it, like it, retweet it and Google +1 it below!

Thanks heaps
Ross

From Energise Alkaline Diet Blog - how to get alkaline and stay alkaline for life...

Getting motivation is massively important. It’s the difference between success and failure. BUT just as important is keeping yourself going when you face a challenging day.

If you can get yourself excited again or keep yourself excited to keep going, you’ll get there eventually.

But if you give up, you won’t. It’s as simple as that.

So this short guide is a walk through my 7 ways to sustain your motivation.

1. Just start: resolve to make it happen right now!

There are some days when you don’t feel like heading out the door for a run, or whatever it is you’re supposed to do that day for your goal. Well, instead of thinking about how hard it is, and how long it will take, tell yourself that you just have to start. You just have to do something in the right direction of that goal.

My rule with running for example is to just get going. Get your running kit on and get out of the door.

Even if all you think you’re going to do is go for a five minute walk, or a 10 minute jog, or once around the block – because once you get out there you just keep going.

Nobody ever did a workout or went for a run and regretted it afterwards.

2. Stay Accountable

This is where friends, connections, social sites and forums come into their own. If you can commit yourself publicly…AND stay accountable to that group of people then you’ll almost definitely stick to it, even if just through fear of looking like a failure.

Every now and then we all need to have the threat of a negative outcome to keep us going!

3. Banish Negative Thoughts and Replace them with Positive Ones.

This is one of the most important motivation skills, and I suggest you practice it daily. It’s important to start monitoring your thoughts, and to recognize negative self-talk. Just spend a few days becoming aware of every negative thought. Then, after a few days, try squashing those negative thoughts and replace them with a corresponding positive thought. Get rid of, “This is too hard!” and replace it with, “I can do this!” It sounds silly, but it works.

4. Focus on the Benefits

Thinking about how hard something is is a big problem for most people. Juicing every morning sounds so hard! Just thinking about it makes you bored of the chopping and washing. But instead of thinking about how hard something is, think about what you will get out of it.

For example, instead of thinking about how hard it is to get juicing every morning, focus on how good you’ll feel when you’re done, and how your day will be so much better. The benefits of something will help energize you.

5. Get excited again!

This starts with setting goals as the secret step one. If you don’t set goals then you’re making life 1000x harder for yourself. If you don’t know how see Leo Babuata’s simple guide to goal setting. It rocks.

Fast forward to now, when your motivation is waning. Think about why you lost your excitement … then think about why you were excited in the first place. Can you get that back? What made you want to do the goal? What made you passionate about it? Try to build that up again, refocus yourself, get energized. Go back to your goals and re-write them, by hand, on paper. This action forces you to focus on every word and it works like a treat!

6. Find Like-Minded Friends

Again here is another hint to get out there, get social, get friends and family members involved! Staying motivated on your own is tough. But if you find someone with similar goals see if they’d like to partner with you. Or partner with your spouse, sibling or best friend on whatever goals they’re trying to achieve. The beauty of this is – you don’t have to be going after the same goals — as long as you are both pushing and encouraging each other to succeed.

Build on your successes. Every little step along the way is a success — celebrate the fact that you even started!

And then did it for two days! Celebrate every little milestone.

Then take that successful feeling and build on it, with another baby step. Add 2-3 minutes to your exercise routine, for example. With each step you will feel even more successful.

THEN celebrate these successes in the forum and by yourself, promise yourself a gift at each milestone, write these out and enjoy them when you get there! A new pair of jeans, a massage – it could be anything.

7. Never Skip Two Days in a Row

This rule takes into account our natural tendency to miss days now and then. We are not perfect. So, you missed one day … at the end of that day take a moment to really think about why you skipped that day, what you enjoyed about that day and make the resolution to yourself then and there that tomorrow you’re going to work twice as hard. Who knows, maybe you’ll even benefit from the rest.

They are my 7 Ways to Stay Motivated! If you have any questions OR if you have your own motivation suggestions leave them in the comments below the video.

And finally, always remember the words of my hero Winston Churchill, who said, quite simply:

“Never, never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill

From Energise Alkaline Diet Blog - how to get alkaline and stay alkaline for life...