December 27, 2016
I have always loved salads, and tend to have items in my fridge at all times to make anything from a basic salad to an exciting combination of items you can call a salad. Basically a food group all on their own.
Salads are easy to quick to add a whole lot of alkalizing foods to your diet. Also, they never get boring because you can create something new every time! Definitely high on the list of great alkaline foods to eat.
Our blood is slightly alkaline, having a normal pH level of 7.35-7.45. A typical American diet consists of primarily acid forming foods. These foods are either processed, refined, containing GMO’s or animal foods.
Too many acid forming foods can have many consequences for our health. These acid forming foods may disrupt the blood’s normal pH level and trigger the loss of essential minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, and sodium. This imbalance is said to increase your susceptibility to illness, whereas a plant-based diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in processed foods may help you to achieve overall wellness.
An alkalizing salad is quite simple to come by because most vegetables and all leafy greens are alkaline forming in the body. I tend to have a couple types of leafy greens on hand at all times.
To create this vibrant alkaline salad you will need the items listed below:
- Cucumber, celery, radish, sweet pepper, avocado, cabbage or brussels sprouts, other sprouts of your choice (alfalfa, mung bean, radish, etc.) lemon or lime, parsley, arugula, spinach or other leafy green, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, green onions, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar.
Instructions:
Before beginning to put this salad you will want a large bowl to toss all the items together. My favourite trick here is to cut everything up quite small so that you can get lots of flavour in each bite.
Start with taking 2 cups of both arugula and spinach, place them onto a large cutting board and chop it into smaller bite pieces. You may add the parsley while chopping the greens. I love doing this with so many of my salads so that it is not a struggle to get the greens into your mouth without also getting the dressing all over your face!
Once chopped, put these greens into the large mixing bowl where they can wait to be tossed with the other ingredients.
**Be sure to wash all of your veggies before slicing and dicing.
From here it really depends on your preference, I like to create skinny matchstick style veggies out of the ingredients and then add the seeds and sprouts.
The dressing is simple:
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 4 tablespoons of lemon juice with some lemon zest.
- Add himalayan salt and pepper to taste!
Toss the salad all together with the dressing and avocado on the side if you would love to save some for later. I generally eat it all in one day and toss together with the dressing when I am making the salad.
ENJOY!
