Alkalising Lemonade (plus WTF is alkalising?!)

Mama Sprout and I are eating a lot of "alkalising" foods lately, so I thought I'd bust some gin & tonic cravings and give our guts some love by whipping up a refreshing lemonade. This baby will do wonders for you. FACT.

Alkalising Lemonade (serves 1)

Ingredients:

• Zest and pulp of half a lemon (or just the juice of a whole lemon, if you have a magical lemon tree that is full of fruit and aren't paying extortionate prices for the suckers!)
• Half a lebanese cucumber, skin on (about half a cup or so)
• 5 big/10 small mint leaves
• 2 tsp stevia granules (or honey or agave syrup if you're that way inclined)
• Sparkling mineral or soda water
• Ice

Method:

• Roughly chop the lemon (pips removed), cucumber and mint
• Pop about 1/3 cup ice into the blender along with a splosh of just-boiled water - this'll help the ice slush up so you don't bust your blender!
• Pop the lemon, zest, cucumber, mint and stevia into the blender and blitz until the ice has turned into a slush and you don't have any chunks of ingredients. If you find you have a chunky monkey on your hands but your ice is slushy, add a wee more ice and hot water and blitz again. If your ice isn't slushifying, add a dash more hot water.
• Have a quick taste of the slush to see if you need to adjust the flavours
• Pour into a glass to about two thirds full, then top the glass up with cold sparkling water. Give it a gentle stir and enjoy!

For even more alkalising oomph, you could add a tablespoon of liquid chlorophyll! In Australia, Grant's does a good quality spearmint flavoured chlorophyll.

Why this refresher is so good for your tum, skin and general wellness:

Not only is this stunner virtually calorie free (if you use stevia as your sweetener), it's packed full of alkalising properties. Lemons and cucumbers, and liquid chlorophyll, have an alkalising effect on the body. Yes, those sour acidic lemons are actually alkalising! Why should you think about consuming alkaline foods? The body should maintain a pH of just above or below neutral (6.8-7.2), but if we overdo it on foods that lower the pH (acidify), it means we're not functioning optimally and instead start creating an environment where disease can thrive. You can also create a bodily environment that is too basic/alkaline....but unforch, we're more likely to swing the other way because acidifying foods are generally more delicious and associated with larger portions (sugar, MSG, yeast, artificial sweeteners, refined grains and predominantly most foods that are classified as naughty). So, the body likes to be just alkaline (about pH 7.3) and is constantly trying to reach equilibrium by drawing nutrients from the food you eat which in turn acidify or alkalise your blood. If your food doesn't contain enough nutrients to get to that slightly alkaline state, the body starts to draw from its backup reserves like your bones - not good when these reserves are used up and there's nowhere else to resort to! This is when chronic diseases are like "heck yes!" and they start setting up shop in your bloodstream.

I'll go into alkaline foods in a different post, but here's a snapshot of some of the best alkalising foods you should add to your plate/cup/sometimes I eat things straight from the pan so if you do that too, that's cool just make sure these foods are in your pan: Spinach, cucumber, broccoli, kale, lemons, tomatoes, avocado, cabbage, celery, ginger, garlic, sprouted breads...