Going to a body and nutrition expert with my husband is one of the best things we’ve done for ourselves. What was the key take away? Warning! Turn Alkaline!

Turn Alkaline? Are we magicians? Well according to biochemists we are! You can change your body chemistry with what you eat!

Chemicals have seeped into foods, air, and water, which in turn lower our system’s ability to control the chemistry of our body fluids, increasing illness and chronic disease.

The sad fact is that most food consumption in the wealthiest nations has shifted from nutritious raw foods to low nutritional value processed foods and we need to shift it back. Now that our total biological terrain is at risk, we urgently need to do some clean up by shifting our body chemistry back to the raw, organic foods it was designed to function on as we’ve evolved.

Below I’ve listed out a quick list of the good foods (alkaline) to treat your body to often…

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I’m a big slacker this year.  My big, fat, Eco-Confession?  I didn’t plant a garden this year.  This means we have been relying on farmers markets and u-pick to survive!  Ugh.

But, wait… I have a pretty good excuse.  We moved this Spring.  Our Spring was consumed with painting, cleaning, packing and unpacking.  It was pretty crazy around here.  Then my beloved Mama passed away and I didn’t want to do much of anything for a good two months.  Now, I’m up and running… but my yard is far from it!  Since this is a new to us home, there was already a bunch of yard work to do.  Needless to say, we haven’t gotten around to much of it, which includes clearing the garden beds and replanting.

So, that’s the plan this weekend.  Get those beds cleared and start our transplants inside the house.   Good thing I have plenty of kids.

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Take a tip from Annie Somerville, acclaimed chef at the Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, when you explore the upcoming first farmers’ market of the season, check out some of the more unusual, fresh fare that showcase spring flavor.

Chef Somerville knows her seasonal offerings.  For the past 28 years, she has helped lead the Greens Restaurant to become a national showplace for creative, fresh, local vegetarian cuisine that features the local abundance from sustainable and organic California growers.  Her signature dishes, like the Warm Cannelli Beans and Wilted Greens recipe below, draws inspiration from her regular forages at the Embarcadero Farmers’ Market and area farmers.

“At the market the last couple of weeks, you could really start seeing big indicators that the season is shifting and spring has officially arrived,” explains Chef Somerville, as she vividly and affectionately describes spring produce as if they were beloved old friends returning for a visit.  For an artistic chef like Somerville, the farmers’ market provides a culinary palette, a place where she can wander and draw cooking inspiration from the ingredients she sees.

Take a tip from Chef Somerville and explore some of the more unusual, uniquely flavorful fare that appears this time of year.  Here’s some ideas on using three of her favorites:  Nettle, chervil and kale.

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Leafy greens are some of the easiest and most beneficial vegetables to incorporate into your daily routine. Kale, for example, has more nutritional content and few calories than almost anything else. Although it can be found throughout the year, it is in season from the middle of winter through the beginning of spring when it has a sweeter taste. Kale is part of the Brassica family, which is known for their health promoting benefits and cancer fighting properties. Kale boosts the body’s detoxification enzymes, thus helping to clear potentially carcinogenic substances more quickly. Research shows that diets high in cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, are associated with lower incidence of a variety of cancers, including lung, colon, breast and ovarian cancer. One cup of kale contains just 36.4 calories, but provides 192.4% of the daily value for vitamin A, 88.8% of the daily value for vitamin C, and 7.0% of the day’s needs for manganese which helps produce energy from protein and carbohydrate. Kale also contains calcium, fiber, vitamin E, iron and B vitamins. Here is an easy and delicious kale recipe to get you started on eating for Spring.

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You may be wondering what a green smoothie is exactly. Or maybe not, they seem to be getting really popular in healthier living circles everywhere lately. A green smoothie does not refer to being “green” in the eco sense of the word. Although they can be that too. The green in a green smoothie refers to what is in the smoothie and usually the color as well. Quite simply, green smoothies are blended beverages that combine fresh or frozen fruit and leafy greens like Kale, collard, spinach, or wild edibles. Veggies like carrots may make a cameo appearance in green smoothies as well. The genius of a green smoothie is that they are jam packed with nutritional goodness, usually in its raw life living form, and they taste absolutely fantastic! When was the last time your kids begged you for fresh spinach? Well, mine ask me daily for some.

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This superfood can be found in most grocery stores all year round, but is truly in season from the middle of winter to the first part of spring.   During this time it tastes its best, and is most widely available.

Kale, (along with its relatives such as Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and cabbage) is full nutrients such as vitamins A, C, and E, fiber, calcium, manganese, and loaded with sulfur containing phytonutrients which have been shown to protect against many kinds of cancer including breast and ovarian.

Try adding kale to soups, casseroles, and salads… or whip up a batch of crunchy kale chips.  They make a great guilt free snack the whole family will enjoy!

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Here’s my guide to making the most of these five fabulous winter veggies:

1. Play Squash

I actually look forward to winter just for its squash varieties. Acorn, banana, butternut, spaghetti, delicata, hubbard, sweet dumpling, buttercup, and turban squashes—not to mention pumpkin—add a colorful and sweet accent to your plate. Plus, they are among the healthiest types of complex carbohydrates (the best kind of carbs), with high fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C content. Roast ‘em, mash ‘em, or slow cook ‘em into a heaping bowl of soupy goodness for the perfect warm winter meal.

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What is your favorite summer kale recipe? 

Here’s one of mine . . .
Kale is not one of my favorite veggies, but somehow Green Diva Jen, (AKA Jenifer O’Neill) has been slowly converting me. She contributed this recipe as well as the actual dish for our wonderful staff picnic last year (photo was taken on my back deck!). She seems to find great ways to get more kale into the mix!

Ingredients

1/2 head kale (any variety)
1/2 head green cabbage
1/2 head red cabbage
4 large carrots
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or umeboshi plum vinegar
1 cup your favorite mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
Freshly ground pepper
Splash of water

Instructions

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I’m always surprised that quinoa hasn’t caught on mainstream, given how easy it is too cook, and its high nutritional content. Despite the fact that in cooking it’s treated like rice or barley, quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain. Known as the staple of the Incas (and also a staple of the vegans, as it’s a complete protein), this crop originated in the Andes Mountains. It’s used more often in Mexican dishes, but I really enjoy it in this Asian-inspired salad.

The kale is chock full of iron and the nori is rich in calcium and iodine. If you opt for a fat-free dressing, then the only fat comes from the avocado. (Which is, you know, a good fat… at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m scarfing down guacamole.) Here’s the full recipe:

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When my friend, business partner, and the managing editor of our magazine, Relevant Times shared this recipe with me, I was skeptical too. I’ve learned to trust Green Diva Jen’s (AKA Jenifer O’Neill) recipes. She is not only a WiseWoman herbalist, she is an amazing natural foods and Macrobiotic chef.

Ingredients
2 cups raw kale
1 cup pine nuts
1 cup olive oil
1 cup Romano cheese, grated
4 cloves garlic peeled & chopped
salt & freshly group pepper to taste

Directions

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“Our first farmers’ market of the season is like an anticipated family reunion for me,” Dietz says with a smile. “To reconnect with the folks who regularly buy our produce every week and watch them act like kids in a candy store when they see our fresh kale for the first time this year confirms that farming is where my heart and passion lie. To contribute to the local food system by taking things from seed to community, that’s priceless to me.”

Dietz’s path to farming represents current trends in small-scale agriculture. While she grew up in a small town setting, she and her husband, Lonny, had no growing experience. After years in traditional office settings, the Dietz duo started their five-acre market garden in 1996. Like many new farmers in training, they met seasoned Obi Wan Kenobi mentors to help them get established. “The strong network of organic farmers helped us get started and keeps us connected today,” Dietz adds. Dietz also represents the changing face of women in agriculture, as increasing numbers of women (particularly those under 55) are purchasing new farms and operating organic and sustainably-managed farms.

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Of course, I didn’t know any of this my first year of eating local. Thanks to the grocery store experience, I had become very much out of touch with what was in season when. Each week’s CSA bag and trip to the farmers market brought a surprise, and then I had to scramble to figure out how to fix the bounty while it was still at its best.

Early spring crops must be frost-tolerant and hearty to withstand the cooler temperatures. The vegetables that get planted earliest include cole crops like broccoli and kale, lettuces and greens, carrots, turnips, beets and onions also go in the ground in the first month of spring. Asparagus, which is a perennial, has to be planted three years before it can be harvested. (seasonal guide and recipes after the jump).

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Luckily for me, I love communicating - through talking (just ask my husband), writing (is anybody reading this?), and other means - and I never get tired of expressing the joy that comes from living a life that reflects compassion, kindness, and non-violence toward others. I am amazed, however, at the questions that arise in people once they encounter a “vegan.” Questions are great; don't get me wrong. But, it's as if people don't start thinking about health, nutrition, and animal rights until someone says the word "vegan” or even “vegetarian."

Despite the very real health concerns associated with the human consumption of animal fat, animal protein, and animal's milk, how many of us express genuine concern for our friends, coworkers, and family members as we watch them eat this stuff several times a day? How many of us have asked fellow meat-eaters where they're getting their fiber, complex carbohydrates, magnesium, potassium, folate, vitamin A, phytochemicals, and antioxidants, such as vitamin C and vitamin E — nutrients that people are truly deficient in. These nutrient deficiencies are not because people are eating too many vegetables; it's because they're not eating enough!

As a group, vegans tend to eat more vegetables than non-vegetarians. Yes, there are some junk-food vegans, but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with veganism in and of itself; rather it’s a comment on the fact that whether you’re a non-vegetarian or a vegan, there are healthy and unhealthy habits within the entire spectrum. But the general perception that nutrient deficiencies exist in a plant-based diet and not in a meat-based is not only false, it completely ignores the fact that Americans are simply in the worse health they’ve ever been. The population of vegetarians in North America is under 5%, so when we read the studies about increasing rates of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, etc., we’re reading about non-vegetarians – not vegans.

This is not to say that every vegan is in superior health to every non-vegetarian, but I do think it would behoove us all to shift our criticism of plant-based diets to the problems with our daily consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs. Of course, everyone should be concerned about getting proper nutrition, but we’ve become so obsessed with single nutrients that we make it all much more complicated than it needs to be. We’ve also been bombarded by slick, expensive marketing campaigns by those who have the most to gain by our consumption of animal flesh and secretions that we’ve lost sight of the fact that the nutrients we need are actually plant- (or bacteria-) based.

Let’s take a look at calcium, as an example. The dairy industry has convinced the public that in order to obtain and absorb calcium, we need to drink cow’s milk. (Goat’s and sheep’s milk are growing trends and touted as health food, and if you go to other places of the world, camel’s milk is considered manna from the gods. And it’s true – if you’re a baby camel.)

Calcium is a mineral found in the ground. While it’s true that cow’s milk contains a lot of calcium, it’s because cows eat grass. Grass – like all green-leafy plants, such as kale, chard, collard greens, mustard greens, and beet greens – contain high amounts of calcium. However, since most dairy cows are raised on dry lots and not given grass to graze on, their feed is supplemented with calcium. Their feed is supplemented to provide the calcium they’re not consuming, the females are continually impregnated in order to keep her lactating (her pregnancy is as long as that of a human), her babies are taken away and either killed immediately (if they’re male) or killed a few years later after a life of servitude (if they’re female) – all so humans can drink this “calcium-rich” fluid meant only to nourish the mammal’s offspring. Ethical concerns aside, just from a resource perspective alone, this is an incredibly wasteful process.

Not only do grown cattle stop drinking the milk of their mothers, humans also stop drinking human milk after they’re weaned and thriving on solid foods. In fact, there have been countless comedy sketches about how repulsed adult humans are at the notion of drinking human breast milk. If the marketing campaign for such milk were as large as that for the cow’s milk industry, perhaps things would be different. Humans have absolutely no nutritional requirement to drink the milk of another animal – whether that animal be hoofed or clawed; in fact, the link between cow’s milk and many preventable Western diseases, including diabetes and certain types of cancer is indisputable, such that we are actually harming ourselves with this seemingly innocuous secretion.

Humans do, however, have a nutritional requirement for calcium, but – in the case of Americans, at least, — though we drink more cow’s milk than any other nation, the average diet contains 40-50% of the recommended daily allowance. The best way to consume calcium is to go straight to the source, just like the cows do: to those dark green leafy vegetable I named above, as well as broccoli, beans, and seeds. It is the absence of calcium-rich plant foods as well as the presence of calcium-leeching animal protein in people’s diets that lead to such low calcium levels.

Another nutrient we obsess over is Omega 3 fatty acid, and most people identify fish as the primary source of this essential fat. Fish oil supplements are flying off the shelves, and people are eating more fish than ever. Aside from the considerations of the fish themselves and the fact that people are eating too man Omega 6 fatty acids from processed foods, there are definitely health concerns over the human consumption of these aquatic animals, not to mention the environmental concerns over how they’re “raised” or caught. Nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of methylmercury, a toxin that’s poisonous to the brain and central nervous system. No fish is completely free of mercury and other pollutants, and the “fattier” and larger fish just absorb more of them. Like mercury, other pollutants, including PCBs, accumulate in fish and in the body tissues of people who eat fish regularly. These pollutants can remain in your body for decades, creating a higher risk of serious diseases, including cancer.

Though we would never drink polluted water, fish – where the toxins are the most concentrated – is one of the most polluted things we eat. In terms of Omega 3s, it’s true that the flesh of salmon contains high amounts of such Omega 3s as EPA and DHA, but it’s only because they’re eating the plants that contain these fats. Like the cows consuming the calcium from plants, fish eat phytoplankton and algae – the plant foods that contain these fats. Whereas you have the mercury contamination in the wild-caught salmon, you have an absence of Omega 3 fatty acids in farm-raised salmon, as well as a number of other considerations that have to do with “raising” animals in confinement. The bottom line is if the fish don’t get Omega 3s, the person eating the fish doesn’t get Omega 3s. Killing animals to get the nutrients that are contained by plants in the first place is – as in the case of dairy – unnecessary (and thus cruel) as well as terribly inefficient and wasteful.

In this case, too, we can cut out the middle man and go right to the source. Flax seeds are the most concentrated source of Omega 3 fatty acids, and they don’t contain mercury. They’re healthful, beautiful, easy to digest, and relatively inexpensive in terms of the bang you get for your buck. Buy the seeds whole in the bulk section of your natural foods store (brown or golden), and use a coffee grinder to grind them. When they’re whole, they can be stored in the cupboard, but once they’re ground, they need to be stored in the fridge or freezer. Stick them in a container, and add two teaspoons a day to your morning smoothie, oatmeal, cereal, salad, or soup. (Incidentally, if you don’t grind them before eating, you’ll find what an effective laxative they are.) Walnuts, hemp seeds, and chia seeds are also high in Omega 3s, or you can go straight to a DHA supplement.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning B12, since that’s often another nutrient people point out to demonstrate that humans need to eat animals to survive. It’s true that B12 is found primarily in meat and eggs, but this vitamin doesn’t occur in the flesh of living animals, so why is it so prevalent in meat and eggs? The reason is that B12 grows on bacteria. It’s not an animal-derived nutrient; it’s a bacteria-derived nutrient. There tends to be B12 on meat, because meat is – how shall I say this? – the flesh of once-living animals. I’m being tactful here; forensics experts on your favorite medical show say it more plainly than that.

Though we all used to consume some B12 from the ground when we ate our vegetables and thus ate some soil, we now scrub our veggies clean because we’re (justifiably) concerned about pesticides and toxins. We’re also depleting our soil of nutrients, decreasing the chances even more that we’ll consume B12 the old-fashioned way – through the soil. It’s important to note that B12 deficiency is present in vegans and non-vegans, alike, so we should all make it a priority to ensure we’re taking it regularly. Because of all of these factors, the best way to ensure we get B12 is to just take it as a supplement; it’s found in most multivitamins, and many cereals are fortified with it.

The point here is to demonstrate that far from being deficient in essential nutrients, plant-based diets are actually brimming with them. It’s simply inaccurate to say that we need to consume animals and their secretions to survive and thrive. Rather, we need essential nutrients, all of which exist in and are available to us through plants. The bottom line: your mom was right. Eat your vegetables!

Steamed Kale with Tahini Dressing

It’s safe to say that kale is the most nutrient-dense food on the planet. This calcium-rich vegetable is enhanced by the calcium-rich tahini, a paste/butter made from sesame seeds. Serves 2

Ingredients
1 bunch kale (curly, dinosaur, or Lacinato)
½ cup tahini
¼ cup (more or less) water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Aminos (or tamari soy sauce)
1 large pitted medjool date, chopped or 2 deglet noor dates
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped

Directions
Wash the kale well by submerging it in clean water a couple of times. Use a sharp knife to cut out the ribs of the kale and coarsely chop the leaves. Prepare the tahini dressing by blending all the dressing ingredients together. You can make it thicker and use it as a sandwich spread or thinner to use as a sauce, as with the kale. Pour over the kale, and enjoy!

Asparagus and Carrots with Walnut Dressing

You can use this dressing with other steamed vegetables (broccoli, kale, etc.), but I really love it with asparagus and carrots. It’s very simple but absolutely delicious and full of Omega-3-rich walnuts. Serves 4

Ingredients - Vegetables
10 asparagus spears, with thick ends removed
4 carrots, peeled and finely sliced into 1-inch matchsticks
1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Ingredients – Dressing
¼-½ cup walnuts
2 teaspoons white/light miso or 1 teaspoon red miso
2 tablespoons mirin
2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons rice vinegar or any white vinegar

Directions

1. Steam the asparagus and carrots for 5-7 minutes, until softer but still crispy. Squeeze the lemon juice over the cooked veggies, and set aside.

2. Using a food processor, blend together the walnuts, miso, mirin, tamari, white wine, and rice vinegar.

3. In a large bowl, mix the carrots and asparagus with the dressing, and arrange on a serving plate.

What is Mirin?

Mirin is a kind of rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content. It has a slightly sweet taste and is a common ingredient in teriyaki sauce.

More recipes can be found in our online cookbook.