Popeye was Right: eat your spinach!

I was visiting my brother in San Jose last week.    He’s an avid cyclist and has a copy of Joe Friel’s Cyclist Training Bible.   Of course, I picked up to leaf through the pages.   I’m on this aging athlete kick lately, so I looked that up in the index, and went to the pages to read up.    I found more really great stuff about aging athletes and nutrition:

Popeye was right: eating spinach can make you stronger and more muscular, especially if you’re over age 50. Let me explain.

It’s apparent that as we grow older muscle mass is lost. Although this loss is slowed somewhat by weight lifting and vigorous aerobic exercise, it still happens. Even athletes in their 60s typically demosntrate considerably less muscle than they had in their 40s.

Now there is research that shows why (1). Nitrogen, which is an essential component of muscle protein, is given up by the body at a faster rate than it can be taken in as we get older. This is due to a gradual change in kidney function that comes with aging producing an acidic state in the blood. Essentially, we are peeing off our muscles as we pass the half-century mark in life.

Joe goes on to talk about how

“there is also a natural way of achieving this same result through diet by eating foods that increase the blood’s alkalinity – fruits and vegetables. “

Read full article here.

Find Joe’s books on Amazon.

Here is a nice list of foods that are either alkaline or acidic.  (Note, the food is classified based on how it impacts your blood alkalinity, not the ph of the actual food.  That is why lemons, tho very acidic on their own, are high on the alkalinity list)

Greenopedia alkaline list of foods

I tried making a green smoothie out of kale and oranges.    Not having the right type of blender, it came out kinda chunky.  It was good, tho.    Kale is an amazing vegetable…fry it up and add it to any dish, mix it into your favorite salad, or blend it for a smoothie.

Some more links:

Dr. Oz talks about how to balance ph in eating in this article:

Tips:

• Try to eat two alkaline producing foods for each acid food.
• Drink lemon or lime water with alkaline spices.   Good Idea!

Acid / Alkaline levels of spices.