For those of you who want to follow an alkaline diet, perhaps you are considering taking some alkaline supplements. Some people are big fans of supplements, others aren’t. I’m not actually convinced there’s one right answer for everyone. I’ve personally spent a fortune on supplements in the past and at the time I was happy doing so. Today though, my beliefs have changed and I’m now much more interested in getting my nutrients from fresh sources. I’m not against supplements. However, it’s important to work out if they provide good value to us, the consumers (rather than just making lots of money for the people selling them). That’s what I want to discuss today. In particular, I’m going to be taking a look at the cost of Dr. Robert Young’s Doc Broc’s Power Plants™ product vs. buying and juicing fresh produce at home ourselves. I chose this brand because it was created by Dr. Robert Young, a guru of the alkaline diet movement.
The current cost for a 1 pound (454 grams) tub of Doc Broc’s Power Plants™ is $94.00 excluding shipping. How does this compare to fresh produce? The ingredient list includes:
Avocado, Cucumber, Tomato, Lemon, Lime, Broccoli Sprouts, Spinach, Celery, Parsley, Cabbage, Collard Greens, Okra, Kale, Soy Sprouts, Lemon Grass, Wheat Grass, Barley Grass, Shave Grass, Oat Grass, and Couch Grass.
However, the pH Miracle website doesn’t provide the ratio of these ingredients. And to make the math easier, I’m going to pick just one green ingredient, spinach. The calculations below will show that if you can buy fresh (ideally organic) spinach for less than $7.80 / pound, then it is better value to make your own green drinks. Or course, if you cannot find spinach for less than this price, it may make financial sense for you to use the Doc Broc’s Power Plants™ alkaline supplement.
Values are taken from the USDA Nutrient Database.
What is the dry weight of fresh spinach?
In 100 grams of spinach, there is 91.40 grams of water.
Therefore, 8.6 grams of dry weight per 100 grams of spinach.
How many grams of spinach give us 1 pound of dry weight?
454 grams = 1 pound
454/8.6 = 52.7
52.7*100 =5270 grams
5270 grams of raw spinach = 454 grams of dry weight (the rest of the weight is water!)
How many pounds of fresh spinach do we need for the same dry weight as Doc Broc’s Power Plants™?
5270/454 = 11.60 (let’s round up to 12 for simplicity)
We need 12 pounds of raw spinach to get the same dry weight as is in 1 tub of Doc Broc’s Power Plants™
Maximum cost per pound of fresh spinach
$94/12 = $7.80
If you can find spinach for less than $7.80 per pound, it is cheaper to buy the raw spinach. I get my spinach for less than $5 per pound so for me it makes financial sense to make my own green drinks.
Alkaline Diet Supplements
On a personal level, I much prefer to eat fresh foods than those that have been processed. Would you rather eat mashed potatoes that you peeled, boiled and mashed yourself, or some dehydrated potatoes that you mixed with water? I don’t drink milk anymore. But when I did, I would never have considered drinking powdered milk! So for me, just because I eat an alkaline diet doesn’t mean I have to be taking alkaline supplements. The more foods that I eat as close to their natural state, the better I feel.
References:
https://www.phmiracleliving.com/p-378-doc-brocs-power-plants.aspx
