Curing Stomach Acid Problems

My friend Adam had serious stomach acid problems. He was chronically on ant-acids, and had a close call when overdosing on baking soda dissolved in water to treat the intense burning symptoms. I encouraged him to heal himself with foods. The Standard American Diet (SAD) has a way of causing too much acid to build up. I simply suggested that his meals should include green vegetables, such as broccoli, green beans, collard greens, kale, zucchini, snow peas, snap peas, salads. I encouraged him to get a lot of celery and cucumber to have on hand - eating a couple of stalks of celery or cucumber quarters in case of emergency, and for maintenance to have one or two stalks of celery with each meal. (He prefers celery to cucumber.  My personal fave is sweet snap peas when in season.)

These super simple practices completely cured him. He hasn’t touched an ant-acid since making this simple change in his diet.

Vivacious Variety: Vegetables and More Vegetables

Here is a delicious and substantial salad you can have as a side dish to supplement meals, or as a snack when those late night munchies hit. Vegetables balance meals to the alkaline side and contribute vitamins, minerals, fiber. You will find you can use this basic recipe with all sorts of variations.

1 large or 2 small zucchini
1 red bell pepper
4 medium or 2 large kale leaves
1 green onion
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
juice of 1/2 lime
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Chop the vegetables in to large pieces (Chopping for a food processor should take only a moment - you just want to get the pieces to a manageable size. For example, cut the zucchini into 4 pieces, the bell pepper into 4-6 pieces.)
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse about 10 times - or until the veggies are of a uniform size.  I prefer chunky chunks, though some folks like closer to salsa sized bits.

Variation suggestions: Use snap peas, snow peas, green beans, celery, save your broccoli stems - peel them and add to the melange. Add parsley, watercress, or cilantro. Use fresh herbs: thyme, basil, dill or oregano.

Having a simple basic recipe that you can change up to keep variety in your meals helps stay healthy and stimulated.

Habit Forming - Forming Habits

image by Ron Leishman: http://www.toonclipart.com/

I have always found replacing “bad” habits to be much more feasible than quitting anything. Quitting just leaves a void. Want, need, longing, fury, agitation, frustration - just to name a few - were my new companions in the void. Why not just find something I enjoy to replace the thing I enjoyed but found to be detrimental in some way.  It isn’t so much a question of will power as of energy.  Energy constantly transforms, but it doesn’t go away.  A habit is a pattern of energy.  It is constructive to work with it, creating change and transformation.

During the holidays I found myself inundated with ambivalence about all the sweets and treats I was confronted with constantly at that time of year. What should I do? I was tortured by the ice cream, chocolates, and egg nog. They made me suffer! - I want! I shouldn’t! I mustn’t! I want I want!

Ice cream was always one of my greatest addictions. Great in quality and size and challenge. Recently I have found a substitution which I find full-filling and delightful, leaving me without cravings. I make a shake. Not a milk shake! Young coconut banana shake. Delectable.

1 young coconut - water and meat
1 banana
6 pieces of ice
Blend all ingredients in a blender or vitamix

For instructions on how to open a young coconut, you can search youtube.com or google.com. If you are a beginner, just be very careful!
The consistency of the shake will vary depending on the youth of the coconut - but I find all variations to be yummy.

Good luck and please post questions!