Monday, April 27, 2009

Raw Pea Soup



Grace writes, "I discovered this delicious raw soup at Ross's Alkaline Diet blog. I made it last night for an early dinner. Super scrumptious!"

Someone care to fill us in on what it means to eat alkaline?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

even though this look like a nice soup, the alkaline diet thing is definitely not backed up by science. basically the idea is to achieve a pH balance within your body by eating acidic or basic (alkaline) foods. naturally, this doesn't make sense because the food's acidity does not affect your blood acidity, which is what they're trying to balance. actually, your body has a complex system to regulate the pH of the food as it passes through the gastrointestinal system - as you probably know, stomach acid has pH 2, and it's neutralized as the bolus (chewed up food) passes to the small intestine.

Manda said...

The body has a narrow pH range that it needs to maintain in order to sustain life. It's controlled through the respiratory and metabolic systems, and these two systems will actually help to compensate when the other is down. We mainly worry about pH in critical respiratory situations, or when the pH is thrown off metabolically during diabetic keto-acidosis.
In daily life, the body will compensate with small checks and balances. The theory behind alkaline diets is that when we eat too many acidic foods, the body will compensate by excreting trace minerals to neutralize the acid. These are generally trace minerals that we'd rather keep, such as calcium.
To me, I don't really buy into it. The stomach is highly acidic, much moreso than any particular food item. The acid is naturally neutralized as it moves into the duodenum and through the intestines.
I like the bottom line, though - to encourage people to eat more veggies - but wouldn't go as far as trying to take alkaline supplements, etc.

Anonymous said...

Basically, the theory is that the more alkaline your diet is the less inflamation you'll have thus reducing your risk for heart disease, arthritis, and everything else triggered by inflamation. It's in the book called The Anti-Inflamation Zone by Barry Sears.

Marcelline Block said...

made this soup tonight. since i didn't have fresh mint used mint tea...worked wonderfully. don't know about the alkaline diet thing but this soup is wonderful-served it hot, with lots of crusty white bread and butter...perfect meal for a slightly cool evening.

Elizabeth Leigh said...

The soup looks great! I can't begin to explain the whole alkaline issue but Kris Carr, from My Crazy Sexy Life, does a great job and putting it in the simplest terms possible! check out this link to read her description of alkalizing your body.

http://crazysexylife.com/2009/a-little-ph-refresher-course/

To Give Back said...

Despite the nonsensical responses of the first few comments, eating an predominately alkaline diet is not only sound science but common sense. Unlike as Christine says above, the body's alkalinity is influenced by the foods we eat. It is when the food is digested, the resulting ash is what tilts the scales of alkalinity or acidity. If you are uneducated or skeptical, a simple trip to Whole Foods and purchasing PH test strips will allow you to test your own bodies PH levels. It is common sense that you are what you eat, and if you eat dead, cooked and acidic food devoid of live enzymes and oxygen, your body will be acidic. What you eat influences your bodies eco-system. I personally have eaten a predominately alkaline diet and have seen great changes in weight and energy and overall health when I adhere to about a 60-70% alkaline diet.