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Z is for Zucchini + Alkaline Recipes to Try

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This is the 26th installment of our alkaline foods series where we feature a food from A-Z, sharing the benefits of the food along with suggested recipes to try!

Z is for Zucchini

Zucchini is rich in fiber, water, vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, calcium, copper and potassium.

Zucchini promotes health in many ways. It:

  • Has antioxidant properties
  • Supports a healthy immune system
  • May prevent cellular damage
  • Normalizes blood pressure
  • Aids in digestion
  • Prevents constipation
  • Curbs overeating
  • Has anti-inflammatory properties

Zucchini recipes to try:

For more alkaline recipes from around the web, visit and follow our Alkaline Diet & Recipes Pinterest board. See previous alkaline foods series posts.

Click here to grab your free Chanson Water Alkaline/Acid Food Charts!

Why the Standard American Diet is SAD & What We Recommend Instead

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Although the food pyramid was updated to “my plate” in May 2011, and recommendations such as covering half your plate in fruits and vegetables and reducing the amount of grains were implemented, it still doesn’t quite hit the target.

Americans spend more on healthcare than any other industrialized country, yet we remain among the sickest. There’s a fast food restaurant on nearly every main street corner, and the majority of the shelves at the grocery store are packed with unhealthy processed foods. Obesity, diabetes, cancer and other diet and lifestyle diseases remain at all time highs, and as a nation we are   more sedentary than we’ve ever been before.

Studies have been done on the healthiest and longest-living people in the world–the Hunza, the Vilcabama, the Abkhasia and the Okinawa people–to learn their secrets. They eat a largely alkaline diet using freshly picked organically grown fruit and vegetables, keep active with daily walks and climbs, and many also drink naturally ionized alkaline water from uncontaminated fresh-flowing rivers and streams.

What is the alkaline diet?

The alkaline diet is comprised of 80% alkaline foods and 20% acidic foods. Alkaline foods include most vegetables, non-sweet fruits, healthy oils, beans, nuts and seeds, while acidic foods include meat, dairy, and processed foods. People who follow an alkaline diet may experience weight loss, more energy and overall improved health. It is a largely vegan diet that is meant to be a lifestyle and not just a fad or crash diet. The alkaline diet has finally hit Hollywood and has captured the interest of stars such as Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Aniston, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Alkaline diet pioneer Dr. Robert O. Young advocates a C.O.W.S. plan which includes the following:

C – Chlorophyll, Clay and Cleansing (green plant foods, green vegetable juices, liquid chlorophyll, and montmorillonite clay)

O – Oils (2-3 ounces of unsaturated oil from avocado, hemp, pomegranate, pumpkin, flax or olive sources.)

W – Water (ionized alkaline water with a pH of 9.5)

S – Salt (increase in sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium mineral salts)

In addition to dietary changes, Dr. Young also recommends one hour of daily alkaline exercise and 30 minutes a day of sunshine.

You’ve likely been taught to avoid salt and oil and direct sunlight, so these recommendations may come as a shock. But your body needs healthy salts and oils to thrive, as well as the vitamin D that sunshine provides. We offer alkaline recipes, food charts, and shopping guides for those who are interested in trying an alkaline diet and lifestyle for themselves.

Related articles:

9 Ways to Get Fit & Healthy in 2013

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Would you like to lose weight or start eating healthier but don’t know where to start?

The following is an outline of habits you can shift in order to achieve best health. Try to choose at least a few of them to start implementing today, and gradually shifting more habits as you master the first changes.

#1. Stop Drinking Soda

Soda is quite frankly the worst “edible” thing we could possibly consume. Not only does it pack on the pounds and contain excessive amounts of sugar, but it contributes to an acidic environment in the body which breeds sickness and disease. Try to scale back slowly until you are consuming no soda at all or one every blue moon. Click here to read what the experts have to say on soda.

#2. Start Drinking Ionized Alkaline Water

75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and ionized alkaline water is the best drinking water of all because it contains bioavailable minerals, antioxidants, an alkaline pH, and is super hydrating. Try drinking half your body weight in ounces daily in order to stay fully hydrated (here are 7 Tips on How to Drink More Water). If you can’t afford a water ionizer just yet, start drinking quality filtered tap water by installing a Chanson prefilter.

#3. Try an 80% Alkaline/20% Acidic Diet

The alkaline diet is rich in whole foods like non-sweet fruits and vegetables and severely limits things like meat and dairy. It is not for everyone, but is very successful at weight loss and strengthening the immune system. Here are some acid-alkaline food charts and alkaline recipes as well as an article on 4 Tips to Shift Your Eating Habits to get you started.

#4. Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Sugar has been proven to be more additive than cocaine, and has been linked to cancer and other diseases. We eat way more of the white stuff than is healthy or natural. Here’s how to conquer your sugar cravings and choose some natural alternatives.

#5. Develop a Green Smoothie Habit

Have you heard? There’s a green smoothie revolution going on! Health-conscious people all around the globe are juicing and blending green concoctions like kale, avocado, grasses, cucumber and celery on a daily basis to give them a severe nutrition boost! Start experimenting with your favorite alkaline fruits and vegetables and aim to drink at least one green juice or smoothie a day. Here’s a tip on how to save time and money on your juicing and smoothie-making.

#6. Go on a Detox

You can jumpstart your health by clearing out some of the crud that has been accumulating with a detox. Try it for a day, a week, or even a month and feel the results!

#7. Green Your Home

Our homes are actually more toxic than a polluted city street. Everything from the carpet underneath your feet to the chemicals under your sink contain known carcinogens that wear down our immune systems and add to our bodies’ toxic load. Here are 10 ways to reduce toxins in your home and five all natural cleaners.

#8. Switch to Natural Beauty Products

The average woman wears over 500 chemicals on her face daily, 60% of which is absorbed into her bloodstream. Here’s how to alkalize your beauty routine (bonus: without all those wrinkle-causing chemicals on your face, you’ll look younger longer!)

#9. Alkalize Your Workout

We all know that we should work out more, and the benefits of exercise. But did you know that vigorous exercise can actually create acids which are harmful to the body and weaken joints? Pick some soft alkaline exercises you are comfortable with and start doing them regularly.

16 Resources to Help You Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions

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Is your new year’s resolution to lose weight? Start eating healthier? Establish an exercise routine? Live greener?

We’ve got you covered.

Here’s a list of free resources we’ve put together to help you reach your dietary, fitness and lifestyle goals.

Diet:

Weight Loss & Fitness:

Lifestyle:

We wish you the best of luck for a fit and healthy 2013 and are here to answer your questions.

Say ‘No’ to the Flu Shot & Boost Your Immune System Naturally

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Think you need an annual flu shot to protect yourself from getting sick this winter?

Think again.

According to Dr. J. Anthony Morris, the former Chief Vaccine Control Officer at the FDA, “There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine, thus far developed, is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza.”

In fact, studies show that flu vaccines only have a 1.5% effective rate. There are over 300 strains of the flu virus and the flu shot only addresses three of them, while actually increasing your risk for paralysis and brain damage in the form of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Why the risk?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention, “The following substances are found in flu vaccines: aluminum,  antibiotics, egg protein, formaldehyde, human aborted fetal apparatus (dead human tissue), monosodium glutamate (MSG), and thimerosol (mercury).”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay to have myself and my loved ones injected with toxins and dead human tissue for a 1.5% chance of avoiding the flu (which we only have a 20% chance of getting in the first place).

“The winter flu shot myth is based entirely on junk science designed to serve the interests of pharmaceutical companies who sell the vaccines,” explains Natural News founder Mike Adams. “An honest look at the science reveals the unavoidable truth about flu shots  — they’re virtually worthless at preventing the flu. People would  be much better off to skip the shots and engage in healthier exercise and  dietary habits.”

A Natural Approach

Flu shots are said to boost the body’s own immune system in order to make it more resistant to disease. But all vaccines contain chemical toxins which are acidifying to the body and actually weaken our immune system.

According to Dr. Robert O. Young, sickness and disease cannot thrive unless it has an acidic environment to live and grow in, and by alkalizing our bodies, we create a more disease-resistant body.

Alkalizing the body can be achieved by switching to ionized alkaline water, eating more alkaline fruits and vegetables, reducing stress, getting adequate sleep and soft exercise, and reducing exposure to acidic substances like drugs, alcohol, chemical cleaners and commercial beauty products.

Taking vitamin D supplements and drinking herbal tea have also been found to bolster the immune system naturally. By nourishing your body from the inside out you will be able to protect yourself from flus and colds this winter, rendering flu shots completely unnecessary.

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

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Are you feeling sluggish? Not sleeping well? Have a case of the sniffles that’s been going on a little too long?

It’s time to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Often we get so caught up with our day-to-day stresses and responsibilities that we tend to ignore the little signs our bodies are sending us that things are not quite right. We pop a pain pill to relieve that headache or back ache, chew an antacid when heartburn flares up, and chug coffee or energy drinks when the afternoon slump settles in.

But the problem with all of those short-term solutions is that they are all acidifying to the body, which only exacerbates the problem. In fact, when left untended too long, those little aches and pains can result into major medical bills and prescriptions.

Better to do a periodic self-evaluation to see if your diet or lifestyle is lacking and how you can improve it.

Perhaps you got totally on board with the alkaline diet and lifestyle weeks, months or years ago and have since backslidden, or maybe you have never even heard of the alkaline diet and lifestyle before today. Either way, we invite you to take our Overacidity Test to see just how healthy or at risk you may be.

According to Dr. Robert O. Young, all disease is a result of an overacidic body, and disease cannot thrive in an alkaline environment. Also, many conditions are a result of dehydration and inflammation.

Here are our solutions on how to reduce acidity and contribute to an alkaline internal environment:

The time to get healthy and prevent disease is now, not after your doctor has delivered a diagnosis. Don’t let those little seemingly insignificant irritants go unnoticed–stop and listen to what your body is trying to tell you. For more information on the benefits of ionized alkaline water visit www.chansonwater.com.

A is for Avocado + Alkaline Recipes to Try

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Today marks week one of our alkaline foods series, where we will highlight an alkaline food from A-Z, sharing the benefits of the food along with suggested recipes to try!

A is for Avocado

Alkaline diet pioneers Dr. Robert and Shelly Young consider the avocado to be “nature’s butter” and a perfect food, believing that you should consume 2-3 avocados per day!

While some people shy away from avocados mistakenly believing them to be fattening, science has shown that they contain mostly healthy fats, provide fuel for the body, and are easy to digest. Avocados are also a fruit, not a vegetable, despite their non-sweet taste.

Avocados are rich in nutrients, with vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, H, K and folic acid. They also contain magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, potassium and many other trace elements which help buffer acids. They provide all 18 of the essential amino acids plus 7 fatty acids, including omega 3 and 6. At 70-80% water, avocados are hydrating, contain more protein than cow’s milk, and more potassium than bananas.

Consuming the vitamins, minerals and amino acids found in avocados have shown many health benefits including: lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels, ability to inhibit the growth of tumors (particularly prostate tumors), defends against diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and cancer, slows the aging process, protects against eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration, aid in red blood cell regeneration and the prevention of nutritional anemia.

Avocado recipes to try:

Other alkaline foods that start with A:

  • Artichoke
  • Asparagus
  • Amaranth
  • Almonds
  • Avocado oil

For more alkaline recipes from around the web, visit and follow our Alkaline Diet & Recipes Pinterest board.  Stay tuned for the next installment of our alkaline foods series: B is for Broccoli.

The Truth About Antacids

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Antacids are the #1 selling over-the-counter medication, and the 4th most prescribed prescription drug in the world today.

They provide a quick fix for common digestive problems like heartburn, acid reflux, bloating, and gas pain which are caused by excess acid in your system.

The science behind it

The reason that antacids like Tums, Alka-Seltzer, Mylanta, Rolaids and Maalox work is because they all contain alkaline minerals like calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, and sodium bicarbonate. These alkaline minerals are then able to help neutralize the acid.

But just like how that adding alkaline minerals like baking soda and sea salt to your water to turn it alkaline is not a long-term solution because it can create health problems of its own, so can taking antacids like Tums on a regular basis.

When you ingest overly acidic foods, your body seeks to neutralize those acids naturally by pulling alkaline minerals from its internal reserve. This is because our blood must remain at 7.4 pH in order for us to live, and the body will do whatever it needs to in order to preserve that delicate pH balance.

When your alkaline reserves are low (as we age and continue to eat more and more unhealthy foods), it may have to resort to pulling alkaline minerals from places like our bones, heart and eyes, hence the rise in osteoporosis, heart failure and poor eyesight among middle-aged and elderly people.

The dangers of frequent antacid use

Blocking or reducing the production of your stomach acid by ingesting antacids can leave you undernourished, because your body may not be able to properly absorb the proteins and vitamins from your food.

When you are undernourished your immune system can break down, making you more susceptible to things like food poisoning, parasites, peptic ulcers and more. These can be caused by the fungi and bacteria in your food that would normally be killed by the stomach acid.

A better solution

When you follow an alkaline diet consisting of 80% alkaline foods and drink plenty of ionized alkaline water, your odds of experiencing common digestive problems decrease dramatically.

Think about it. When was the last time you experienced heartburn, bloating or gas pains? It most likely wasn’t after finishing off a plate of steamed veggies or a healthy salad. No, those issues usually arrive after you eat things like a burger and fries–unhealthy acidic foods our bodies have a hard time digesting.

Many people are confused about the effectiveness of ionized alkaline water, believing that stomach acid will render it useless. Dr. Robert O. Young explains, “Alkaline electron-rich water…does not trigger the release of sodium bicarbonate and thus does not cause the creation of the acid HCl, so it does not interfere with the alkalizing of the food. In fact alkaline electron-rich water with its high concentration of electrons helps the alkalizing of the food and also helps to neutralize the caustic acidic poisonous HCL, preventing the acidification of the blood and tissues.”

So rather than treat the symptoms of overacidity with an over-the-counter or prescription antacid which can cause further health issues, we recommend that you eat more alkaline foods and drink Chanson ionized alkaline water daily. For more information on the benefits of ionized alkaline water visit www.chansonwater.com.

DISCLAIMER: The information in this article is intended for educational purposes only. The author of this article is not a medically trained physician; therefore, any theories or suggestions put forward are intended to supplement and not replace the advice of medically or legally trained professionals.

5 Ways to Conquer Your Sugar Cravings

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The American Heart Association recommends that women limit their sugar intake to 6 teaspoons a day and men are allowed 9 teaspoons. But in reality we are consuming an average of 22 teaspoons a day, and just one soda exceeds the daily limit at over 9 teaspoons.

With excess sugar leading to a myriad of diseases and conditions like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, weight gain, premature aging and candida, its important that we try to limit our sugar intake as much as possible. Artificial sweeteners are not a solution as they often contain dangerous toxins that should be avoided.

So what is one to do when one of those pesky sugar cravings strike?

Here are our suggestions for conquering your sugar cravings:

1. Give Your Body What it Really Needs, Not What it Thinks it Needs

Studies show that when humans crave sweets, what we really need is chromium, sulfur, carbon, phosphorus, and tryptophan. Healthy foods like broccoli, grapes, dried beans, nuts,  legumes, fresh fruit, sweet potato, spinach, kale, cabbage, and calciferous vegetables contain those elements and should be snacked on when sugar cravings strike.

2. Drink Ionized Alkaline Water

Ionized alkaline water from an electric water ionizer contains an electric charge which creates a craving to drink more water. Additionally, prolonged use of ionized alkaline water can cause sweets to become too sweet for your taste, making them less appealing. Ionized alkaline water is also very detoxifying to the body and may help flush out Candida. By replacing one sugary beverage like soda for a glass of water, you will take in about 45 less grams of sugar.

3. Swap Your Sweetener

Stevia is an all-natural sweetener with a low glycemic index that is available in both powdered and liquid form. It actually offers some health benefits and is sweeter than sugar so a little can go a long way. It is a great alternative to white and brown sugar and artificial sweeteners.

4. Reduce Temptation

As with any diet, clearing the pantry of the unhealthy foods you are trying to avoid will reduce your chances of overindulging on sweets. Start reading labels and stop buying the sweets you know you shouldn’t be eating. Even non-sugary junk foods should be avoided as they can be addicting.

5. Keep Your Hormones in Check

Stress creates cortisol, which increases blood sugar levels and creates sugar cravings. Meditation can help keep sugar cravings at bay by reducing stress, and eating small frequent meals will keep blood sugar stable. Also, when your serotonin levels are stable, you are less likely to have cravings for sweets, so try boosting your serotonin levels with a low glycemic diet, daily exercise and plenty of sleep.

Chanson Water USA believes that a plant-based alkaline diet supplemented with ionized alkaline water from a water ionizer is the key to natural health and wellness. Grab your free copy of their new Alkaline Recipes Ebook and visit www.chansonwater.com for more information.

How to Save Time and Money on Your Juicing & Smoothie-Making

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Juicing and homemade green smoothies have become a global phenomenon, and a healthy daily routine in many households. And for good reason: they pack an abundance of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and nutrients in each glass, and are a great way to start the day.

But as Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy says in the film Cancer is Curable NOW, “Juicing isn’t easy.” Unfortunately, daily juicing and cleanup can be quite messy and time consuming, and it’s not always easy to keep a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand, or to consume all produce you do have before it goes bad or you get tired of it.

Green smoothies are slightly more forgiving since most blenders are quicker to clean than juicers, and smoothies can usually be poured in a glass instead of having to be shaken up in a container with a lid.

But while some people revert to quadrupling juicing and smoothie recipes and storing the leftovers in the fridge for a few days to save time, the truth is that fresh juice and smoothies need to be consumed within 8-12 hours for best results.

Our solution?

Freeze it.

The next time you juice or make a smoothie, try doubling the recipe and pouring the excess in ice cube trays (before adding Chanson water or non-dairy milk to dilute it). When frozen, transfer the cubes to a freezer-safe bag and label.

They’ll be ready for you the next time you are short on time and/or ingredients. Just pop 6-8 cubes in the blender along with some 9.5 Chanson alkaline ionized water for juices or unsweetened non-dairy milk for smoothies, blend, and you’re good to go!

This method works great for using produce that would otherwise go bad in the pantry, and being able to add seasonal ingredients to your juices and smoothies year-round.

The result will be rather slushy, and separation may occur which is why we recommend using a glass with straw or a container with a lid in order to stir or shake. If you’re really short on time you can just add the cubes as you would ice to flavor your Chanson water.

We recommend that you drink at least one juice or green smoothie a day, and enjoy them fresh whenever possible. And keep in mind that you can always add a combination of fresh juice or produce to your frozen cubes for variety.

See 5 other ways you can use Chanson alkaline ionized water to enhance beverages and try our juice and smoothie recipes! Chanson water ionizers are available at www.chansonwater.com.