If your body craves hydration, cleansing, and plant-based nutrition, an alkaline smoothie is a great option. These smoothies are designed to support your body's natural pH balance and flood your cells with nutrients, using leafy greens, hydrating vegetables, citrus, and fruits.
The Importance of Alkalinity
The concept of an alkaline diet isn't new and is known to be beneficial for overall health. The most alkaline foods are fruits and vegetables. All foods can be classified as either acidic or alkaline (basic). It is what happens to food during metabolism that creates more acid or base. This is known as Net Endogenous Acid Production (NEAP). Citrus may taste acidic, but it’s actually quite alkalizing.
One way to measure how much acid or base a food produces is by using a tool called Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL). Most fruits and vegetables produce base, while protein foods produce a substantial amount of acid, specifically animal protein. Diets high in animal protein, such as the Standard American Diet (SAD) have been correlated with the progression of CKD. Diets that include more fruits and vegetables and limit animal protein are well known to slow the progression of CKD and also to be preventive against other chronic diseases. Reducing the amount of animal protein and increasing fruits and vegetables can help improve your kidney health!
Alkaline Foods and Their Benefits
Alkaline-ash-forming foods can boost health and avoid disease. Foods like fruits and vegetables produce beneficial alkaline "ashes". The diet encourages the consumption of fruit, vegetables, and unprocessed foods while reducing animal products and added sugars. Leafy greens like spinach, lemon juice, ginger and cucumber are some of the best alkalizing foods out there.
Alkaline Smoothie Benefits
Starting your day with a healthy green juice is a practical way to boost nutrient intake, detox, and feel at your best. A green smoothie packs lots of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, vitamins and minerals. Also, thanks to the high water and low sugar count, it will keep you hydrated, control blood sugars, and help detox your body.
Read also: Plant-Based Alkaline Wellness
Alkaline Smoothie Basics
An alkaline smoothie has a high pH level and shouldn’t cause acid reflux or GERD symptoms. Smoothies can be loaded with acid once you add in things like berries, and juices. It’s important to make sure that you’re not just consuming an acidic smoothie if you easily suffer from indigestion. Stick to eating smaller meals about 5-6 per day, ones that don’t make you feel overfull. Once you feel full your stomach contents will rise up into your esophagus. Skip sodas, coffees, teas, and opt for water.
If you want a non-acidic smoothie, then use high pH produce like citrus fruit, bananas, watermelon and avocado with leafy greens like kale and spinach. You can use alkaline water as a great base to increase the pH of the smoothie. Make sure to fill your smoothies with non-acidic foods like spinach, kale, cucumber and lime. Using alkaline water as the liquid base also helps. Cantaloupe, bananas, watermelon and avocado are all considered alkaline. These low-acidic fruits can be blended into smoothies or enjoyed as is.
Alkaline Smoothie Recipe
This alkaline smoothie is full of alkalizing fruits and vegetables.
Alkaline Green Power Smoothie
This Green Power Smoothie tasted so refreshing and I loved knowing that it was chock full of nutrients!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup unsweetened rice milk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened dairy-free yogurt
- 1 cup baby kale
- 1 apple core removed and diced
- 2-4 ice cubes
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil melted
- Optional: 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste
Instructions:
- Add all ingredients except coconut oil into the blender.
- Blend until smooth, adding more rice milk as needed to blend and achieve desired consistency.
- While the blender is running, open the cap in the lid and slowly stream in your melted coconut oil. This prevents the oil from clumping.
- Add maple syrup and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste.
Variations:
- Higher Calorie: Substitute coconut milk for rice milk or add ¼ of an avocado for extra calories and creaminess. Note that this will add on more potassium.
- Higher Potassium Variations: Use spinach instead of kale; substitute 1 frozen banana for the ice cubes.
- Higher Protein: Add chia, flax, or hemp seeds before blending.
Nutritional Information (Optional):
Calories: 320kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 114mg | Potassium: 371mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 348IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 153mg | Iron: 1mg
Read also: Foods for Alkaline Diet
Alkaline Smoothie
Made with leafy greens, hydrating veggies, citrus, and fruit, it’s designed to help support your body’s natural pH balance while flooding your cells with nutrients.
Ingredients:
- Spinach
- Kale
- Alkaline water
- Cucumber
- Frozen peaches
- Lime
Instructions:
- Start by adding spinach, kale and your alkaline water to the blender. Let your blender run for 30-60 seconds, or until the mixture looks smooth and no visible pieces of greens remain.
- Next, add your remaining ingredients-in this case, cucumber, frozen peaches, and the lightly peeled lime. Peel the lime just enough to remove the outer zest while keeping some of the white pith intact.
- Blend everything again until your smoothie is silky smooth and evenly combined. If it’s too thick, add a splash more water.
Super Alkaline Cherry Smoothie
This Super Alkaline Cherry Smoothie is our favorite alkaline smoothie recipe. Cherries are in season, so it is time to make all the deliciousness possible with these beautiful red fruits. To make the smoothie as nutritious as possible, I look to the list of alkaline foods, and choose several to enhance the cherries. Adding almond milk, kiwi, cashews, fresh grown kale, beets and almond milk, I then mix up some magic. Try it!
Ingredients:
- Cherries
- Almond milk
- Kiwi
- Cashews
- Fresh grown kale
- Beets
- Almond milk
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to high speed blender.
Kale: A Kidney Health Superfood
Kale is not only one of the lowest potassium leafy greens, it is also low in oxalates and is extremely alkalizing, making it a superfood for people with CKD! One of the reasons we love using kale is that it’s just so darn versatile. Don’t love the taste and texture of raw kale in a salad? Try chopping it up and throwing it into a soup, sauce, or smoothie! You’ll hardly notice it’s there while reaping all of the benefits!
Tip: We used baby kale in our smoothie as it is more tender, easier to blend, and less bitter. However, you can use curly kale, lacinato kale, or dinosaur kale too, if that’s what you have on hand.
Read also: Foods for an Alkaline Vegan Diet
More kale recipes to love!
Looking for more ways to add more kale into your day! Check out our creamy kale stuffed vegan quesadilla, the toothsome kale and chickpea salad, or the delicious Mediterranean pasta with kale
Hydration and Alkaline Water
Most Americans are chronically dehydrated, which can lead to low energy, poor sleep, and dry skin. As we age, hydration becomes even more important. Alkaline water supports cellular hydration, helping our cells function better and flush out waste. Alkaline water is made with an ionizer that raises its pH. While the body regulates pH on its own, our acidic diets (full of sugar and processed food) can benefit from more alkaline options. Brands like Jovē now offer bottled alkaline water with a pH of 9.5+, enhanced with liquid silica for smooth taste and hydration that supports skin and cellular health.