Okra is a member of the mallow family, which places it in the same family as cacao, hibiscus, and cotton. It’s a flowering plant, native to West Africa. Traditional belief is that it made its way to the Americas coincidentally through the slave trade.

It is a good source of fiber (3.2 g./c. raw), vitamin A, vitamins B6 and B9 (folic acid – 88 mcg./c.), vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. See vitamin notes at end of article.

Okra is high in both soluble and insoluble fiber, making it beneficial in controlling blood sugar, increasing regularity while preventing hemorrhoids and constipation, and assisting with weight loss, while lowering the cholesterol absorption.

The pH and Alkaline Buffer Charts have been redrawn for better resolution.  The links to download them are below.

http://www.veganfamilyliving.com/Daily-pH-Chart.pdf

http://www.veganfamilyliving.com/Alkaline-Buffer-Chart.pdf

Now that we’ve discovered that living on the alkaline side of life has serious “benies” (benefits), how do we discover where we are in the pH scale of things?  Since we can’t readily check our blood plasma, we’ll have to settle for checking the waking state of our first and second most popular body fluids: saliva and urine.

First, you’ll need perHydron strips to test for acidity/alkalinity.  We have been fortunate to locate an affordable source for pH test strips and will be offering them for those interested.   See details at the end of the next article.  Saliva must be tested first thing after rising, after sleeping 5-6 hours and before anything at all is put into the mouth and the urine is tested twice and must be from the very first and second “tinkles” after waking.

Because of the amount of important information on this topic, it will be offered in a series of articles.

The topics of alkaline foods and antioxidants have been in the health “limelight”, and we’d like to discover and discuss which foods are best for increasing our alkaline and antioxidant intake. We will begin to feature tips, recipes and gardening ideas for growing and using alkaline and high antioxidant ingredients.  For now, we’ll begin with alkalinizing foods that will assist in acquiring a beneficial systemic pH.

The lifestyle focus of our site is being highlighted with a new series under development, but that’s not enough. Please share your ideas, experiences, activities and outings that you have enjoyed doing and/or visiting.  Please send us your input as a response to this post so that we may include specifically include you in our effort towards holisitic living.