Raw alkaline recipes are hydrating to the body, as they retain all of their nutritional properties and enzymes. Since processing and cooking foods above 115F (more or less) denature many of these properties, raw foods are an essential part of any detoxification and healing plan.
Here are a few of my favorite plant-based alkaline meal recipes to help you make healing with food fun and tasty!
Why Chronic Inflammation Occurs
There are many common causes of chronic body inflammation. However, our diet, lifestyle (which includes thoughts and emotions), chemical exposure through personal products, and environmental toxins are the three biggest culprits!
Those of us who suffer from inflammation have pain and swelling in our joints and/or muscles. When you experience inflammation, your whole body is sending extra blood to the affected area so that it can start repairing itself.
Over time, this process can take its toll on both the immune system and elimination organs. And without proper detoxification of waste, the inflammatory agents can easily make their home in our tissues and cause damage.
But how does the body get “injured” if we don’t physically feel the injury as it happens? That’s because the effects of chronic inflammation take time to develop. What it really comes down to is the crux of body chemistry and how the pH levels of the body are maintained for homeostasis.
Alkaline vs. Acidic Chemistries and What They Do to The Body
Essentially, there are two sides of chemistry in nature – the acidic and alkaline, and like all nature, our bodies are a reflection of the 80% alkaline and 20% acidic biological principle that governs all life. Our blood and lymphatic system are in homeostasis at a slightly alkaline level of 7.365.
And although the blood cannot acidify much past that number (or death would occur within minutes), the lymphatic fluid, or the body’s sewage fluid, acidifies quickly, since it is a transport system for toxins, chemicals, and metabolic waste.
If these acids accumulate and cannot be expelled rapidly by the kidneys or if toxic elements stay in the colon for too long due to infrequent bowel movement, the toxins find their way inside body tissues and fat, where they burn and degenerate tissues, causing coagulation, pain, swelling, and chronic disease.
Some of the most ‘silent’ signs of inflammation include being thirsty very often, feeling lethargic and needing a lot of rest, and feeling feverish, bloated, and very sleepy after a meal.
The following are some of the most common symptoms of high body inflammation as it manifests into disease:
pain, swelling, and tenderness in the joints
inflammation of the colon (colitis)
arthritis (inflammation of the joints)
high blood pressure
high cholesterol
inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS)
acne, eczema, rashes, dermatitis, and psoriasis
ulcers, colitis, pancreatitis
Crohn’s disease, Celiac disease, and leaky gut
chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic headaches
cancerous tumors
auto-immune diseases (conditions where the body turns against itself)
allergies and asthma
Inevitably, if we don’t take measures to address inflammation symptoms, our health will be in jeopardy until body homeostasis is achieved. What side of chemistry is needed to neutralize acids? You guessed it – alkaline!
A raw, plant-based diet, is one of the primary antidotes to inflammation, as it alkalizes the body and brings in the much-needed astringency and hydration to neutralize acids.
Raw Alkaline Foods and Why They Are Nature’s Healers
Raw foods are found in their primary composition and chemical structure. When we choose to eat them, we are providing our bodies with living enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, as opposed to the denatured nutrients that cooked and processed foods provide.
More specifically, alkaline-producing foods refer to raw fruits and vegetables, whereas acid-producing foods allude to overly produced, preserved, and cooked foods, dairy products, poultry, fish, and red meat.
To maintain a slightly alkaline balance in our bodies, especially given the toxicity of modern-day life, it is essential to include a high raw diet in our daily lifestyle.
Raw foods contain holistic nutritional elements that synergistically work together to aid one another’s absorption, utilization, and efficiency.
For example, an apple contains Vitamin C, Potassium, and Vitamin K, among other nutrients. But if a chemist was to extract just the Vitamin C from the apple and create a pill from the isolated compound, it would have fewer nutritional and healing benefits than if the nutrient was utilized and supported by the other nutrients and enzymes.
This is the unique wisdom of nature that simply cannot be replicated in a man-made laboratory. By consuming and supplementing with whole foods, we can utilize the synergistic benefits of food nutrition as nature intended it!
Additionally, raw foods include live enzymes that help our bodies break down the foods we eat into energy, which helps our bodies assimilate nutrients more efficiently. And since enzymes are temperature sensitive, when they are heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius), they become inactive or even destroyed.
Most of the enzymes in fruits and vegetables are found in their seeds, skin, membranes, and peels, which is why it is recommended to eat the entire fruit or vegetable for the greatest nutritional benefits.
And since pesticides can be found most readily on the skins and membranes of produce, the best way to ensure your food is the medicine it is designed to be is to go organic!
Another important aspect of hydration is compatible food combining that ensures our bodies convert our foods into alkaline chemistry. In fact, “how” we eat matters as much as “what” we eat!
The Right Food Combinations & Healthy Digestion
Essentially, food combination determines how we create or break down mucus within the digestive tract, especially the small intestine, which is where most nutrient absorption occurs.
A lot of people suffer from various food-created problems because they wrongly combine their foods. For example, most people don’t realize that protein and starches cannot be consumed at the same time without adverse consequences.
When eaten together, most often than not, food becomes indigestible for the body and will not go through the digestive tract smoothly, resulting in constipation and inflammation, as well as acidosis. Or if a lot is eaten at one time, it will create gas or bloating with acid refluxing into the esophagus.
My Healing Journey With Raw Alkaline Foods
Almost a decade ago, I found myself living with severe eczema with little relief and many questions. Since eczema flare-ups spike whenever there is an increase in the inflammatory response of the body, I was able to monitor which foods and lifestyle choices had the most impact on new eczema outbreaks and which promoted healing.
Constitutionally, I am very sensitive to the environment, toxins, and the impact of food, so my body is almost like a barometer for how chemistry is utilized, and ironically enough, this has helped me experiment on myself and understand the intelligence of the body through trial and error.
It has truly been a blessing in disguise – helping me become a better healer. In fact, my journey with eczema opened up doors to a life path that is my true calling – one that is aligned with my values, talents, interests, and heart!
After much exploration and learning, I discovered the healing power of raw foods! I spent months following an alkaline diet of predominantly organic fruits and light salads made from bitter greens.
My breakfast consisted of astringent fruits like oranges, watermelon, peaches, kiwi, and bananas with coconut shreds, raw cocoa powder, cinnamon, and tahini.
My lunch was usually a banana-berry smoothie packed with a superfood powder, maca, ashwagandha, and other Ayurvedic healing herbs. My light dinner entailed a salad with bitter greens, avocado, vegetables, lemon juice, curry/turmeric, fresh/dried herbs, and organic extra virgin olive oil.
After keeping it simple on this diet for about three months, I saw profound changes to my skin: the severe eczema had almost completely healed, with smooth skin replacing itchy, inflamed patches of coarseness. It was a testament that the body can heal itself if given the most essential tool – alkaline chemistry!
After these three months, I incorporated other raw alkaline recipes and dishes into my diet to keep up with the hydrated state of my body and was profoundly amazed by how creative, delicious and feel-good these foods were on my body.
That’s when I decided to never look back, to keep learning, and to teach others the truth about health !
My Favorite International Raw Alkaline Recipes
My absolutely favorite raw vegan dishes are healthy spins on popular multicultural dishes that include plenty of creativity, spices, and herbs — and which are incredibly flavorful!
Having come from a background where I lived and worked in various countries both as a child and as an adult, I have had the privilege to try various dishes that, as a big foodie, had left a mark on me and my taste buds.
It doesn’t hurt having vegan sisters who often share raw vegan recipes with me and who make food with me whenever we get together in various parts of the world.
Our vegan food escapades are some of my favorite moments of bonding with them, since our common values and a shared outlook on life are only strengthened through our appreciation and healing knowledge of herbs, raw foods, and spices.
In fact, my sister Sebila decided to share some of her favorite recipes with me, inspired by her own raw vegan journey and our shared moments of making food together.
As a detoxification coach, both of our missions are truly aligned – to help others heal naturally and understand the healing properties of organic, raw, plant-based foods.
She desired to show and inspire others to make their healing journey with foods simple, fun, delicious, memorable and never boring!
Five years ago, she published one of my favorite raw-vegan recipe e-books featuring 59 international recipes that are mouthwatering and very simple to make!
Maybe I am biased, since she is my sister, but because I have been a part of that journey and had tasted many of her recipes, I can personally vouch for how creative, mouth-watering, and unique they are compared to many others that I had tried.
She put her heart and soul into making them and sharing them with others, and to this day, I use these recipes for meal preparation often!
4 Delicious Vegan Recipes to Heal Your Body
Here are my 4 favorite quick and easy raw alkaline recipes that are incredibly delicious. These recipes come from my sister’s raw alkaline recipe e-book, Raw Magic Around the Globe: Simple Raw Vegan International Food Recipes.
Each represents a popular international cuisine, namely Eastern European, Ethiopian, Thai, and Mexican, that has been raw veganized for optimal nutrition and health benefits. Did I mention how much I love global cuisine? I hope you do too – enjoy!
*Note that these recipes require a food dehydrator, although you can absolutely improvise without one.
1. Stuffed Cabbage – Eastern European
Ingredients
Sauce- tomato, lemon juice, fresh parsley, fennel seeds, fresh or dried dill, olive oil, green onions, sea or Himalayan pink salt (you can even substitute this with seaweed powder)
Stuffing- mushroom, zucchini, carrot, olives, bell pepper, avocado (optional)
Cabbage- cabbage leaves (Savoy cabbage is best)
Cabbage leaf marinade- lemon juice, sea or Himalayan pink salt (or seaweed powder), fennel seeds, black pepper
Preparation
Make the cabbage leaf marinade by blending lemon juice, salt or seaweed powder, fennel seeds, and black pepper.
Marinate cabbage leaves for about 1 to 2 hours.
Blend all the ingredients of the sauce together.
Chop the stuffing ingredients finely (grate the carrot) and combine them with the sauce.
Take a marinated cabbage leaf and wrap the stuffing inside it. Garnish with additional sauce, fresh parsley or dill, and radish gratings or slices.
2. Fasola String Bean and Carrot Stew – Ethiopian
Ingredients
String beans, carrots, onion, garlic, tomato, fresh ginger, fresh jalapeño pepper, fresh cilantro, olive oil (or coconut oil), lemon juice, berbere (Ethiopian spice mix with paprika, cayenne pepper, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and turmeric)
Preparation
Cut string beans in half and cut carrots into narrow strips the size of the halved string beans.
Chop up finely onion, ginger, tomatoes, cilantro, and jalapeño pepper. Add olive oil (or coconut oil), lemon juice, and berbere to all the ingredients and mix well.
Dehydrate at 113ºF (45ºC) for 6 hours or until you reach the desired texture.
3. Green Coconut Curry – Thai
Curry ingredients
Mushrooms, cabbage, carrot, zucchini, snow peas, fresh ginger, coconut flakes, red bell pepper, sprouts (your favorite kind)
Green curry paste ingredients
Lemongrass (or lemon balm), fresh cilantro, fresh basil, fresh ginger, fresh turmeric, cumin powder, green onion, garlic (optional), lime juice, fresh green hot pepper, black pepper, sea or Himalayan pink salt (or seaweed powder)
Preparation
Make coconut milk by soaking coconut flakes in water (about 2 cups of water to 1 cup of coconut flakes) overnight in the fridge.
Blend soaked coconut flakes and separate the coconut milk from the pulp using a strainer.
Make the green curry paste by blending the paste ingredients together.
Spiralize zucchini and carrots, and chop up all the other ingredients except sweet peas and sprouts.
Dissolve the green curry paste in coconut milk. Add water if necessary.
Combine the curried coconut milk with all the other ingredients. You can eat the curry right away or you can dehydrate it at 113ºF (45ºC) for a few hours to warm it up.
4. Yellow Tamales – Mexican, Latin American
Ingredients
Crust- zucchini, raw sweet corn (optional), yellow bell pepper, turmeric powder, lime juice, orange juice, olive or coconut oil, flax seed powder, sea or Himalayan pink salt or seaweed powder (optional)
Filling– bell pepper, onion or green onion, fresh cilantro, fresh ginger, tomato, lime juice, cumin powder, black pepper, dried oregano, hot pepper or cayenne pepper powder, mushrooms, raw sweet corn (optional), avocado (optional), sea or Himalayan pink salt or seaweed powder (optional)
Preparation
Coarsely blend together all the crust ingredients and let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes.
Pour the mixture onto a dehydrator sheet and shape it into medium-sized rectangles, making sure that they are not too thin.
Dehydrate the tamale crusts at 113ºF (45ºC) for about 10 hours, turning them around at about 7 hours (when you can easily peel them off the dehydrator sheet).
Finely chop up all the filling ingredients, add lemon juice, salt or seaweed powder, herbs, and spices, and mix well.
Roll the tamale filling into the tamale crust. You can also dehydrate the tamale filling at 113ºF (45ºC) for 4 – 5 hours to soften it and warm it up.
Top the tamales with a sauce of your choices, such as golden mole sauce, red salsa, or green chili salsa, and fresh cilantro, radish slices, and avocado chunks.
Heal Your Body With Alkaline Foods
The alkaline diet recipes listed use a variety of raw, vegan ingredients that can be utilized for creating other similar dishes. The point is to be playful and enjoy working with and discovering raw foods – to see them as both tasty and nourishing and also as medicinal fuel that will support you through all your endeavors, dreams, and manifestations!
Illness takes a vast amount of attention and energy away from living one’s best life, and by investing in health by eating to stay healthy, you will have more energy for the things and people you love.
And if you’d like to start healing your body with food but don't know where to start, my healing reset bundle will help teach you how to detoxify waste, reverse inflammation, and restore cellular function through food and other natural practices. It is my signature program that has been used and recommended by other health coaches!
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