Green Up Your Inner Environment

It's not easy being green for Kermit the Frog but it sure is popular and easier than ever these days to "go green." Paint, flowerpots, paper, shoes, cars and hundreds of other items we use every day are produced in environmentally friendly ways. We care about the environment around us, and judging from the statistics, not a moment too soon.

Your inner environment could benefit from a green movement too; especially those who eat meat, who find it hard to get 9 servings of fruits and veggies into our diets every day, and let's not forget those-like me-who count caffeine and adult beverages among our closest friends. These habits, otherwise fine on the surface, are all acid producing and as such can increase the aging process. Aging as in wrinkles, bone loss, and digestive upsets to name a few.

The nutritional approach for protecting against too much acid is known as acid/alkaline balance. For years this was considered a fringe concept, one only "health nuts" cared about. As scientists learn more and our diets include more convenience foods, animal proteins, dairy, and sugar-all acid producers-mainstream health practitioners have come to see getting this right as an important component of healthy aging.

If our basic western diet is acid forming, what can be done to restore balance?

Do we have to give up all that good stuff? Hell no! Instead, Go green.

Vegetables are alkalizing, greens especially so. Coconuts are too, (don't fear the fat), likewise almonds, avocados, dates and more. If you have plenty of alkalizing food in your diet your body has plenty of reserves to work with when a high acid meal arrives.

Consider what happens to your bones when your alkaline reserves are low.

Bones rely on a slightly alkaline blood ph to maintain their calcium stores. Too much acid, whether created by what we eat, stress, or prescription drugs, has to be balanced out. To do this our brilliantly designed system robs calcium and other minerals to "buffer" the bones and other organs against the acid.

The greatest store of calcium is in the bones and you want to keep it there.

A study done in San Francisco on 9000 women and published in the American journal of Clinical Nutrition found that those with chronic acidosis-the name given to high acid blood levels--are at greater risk of bone loss than those with a normal ph.

Don't despair, just like our global environment, our inner environment can be improved over time by making small changes that won't hurt a bit to incorporate into your life.

Here's the easiest thing you can do; drink water with fresh lemon. Lemons and other citrus fruits are considered acidic but in truth they have an alkalizing effect on our inner environment. Start your day with some citrus to boost your alkaline reserves-especially if your last bit of food or beverage before bed was a sugary one-this includes sweetened yogurt, milk, wine, pretzels, whole wheat crackers-they all contain or turn into sugar in your gut.

Next up but not so easy for some is to increase your greens and all colors of vegetables. Eat some of them raw every day. What to go hardcore? Try adding a scoop of organic greens powder to water, juice, or a breakfast smoothie. Not only will it give you lasting energy, it will boost your alkaline storage for the day. If green drinks or gulp, wheat grass, sound too grassy for you-the taste is an acquired one--don't despair. Just be sure to eat more vegetables and/or cut back on the coffee, alcohol, and animal proteins.

Next time you are recycling or considering a green purchase to help the planet make sure you've done something green for you too.